Mistletoe (9 page)

“You don’t even know her.”

“And neither do you! Don’t assume the worst. It’s not fair to you, and it’s certainly not fair to her.”

“She lied to me!”

“Oh, I can’t stand it when you act like that stubborn little girl you used to be. It infuriates me!”

“I’m not being stubborn!”

“No, you’re being stupid!” Linda shouted, placing her hands on her hips.

“Jamie, I have known you since you were six years old and I know when you’re scared, and right now, you’re terrified.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Jamison, you’re in love. You’ve fallen for this woman, and it scares you, because all of a sudden, nothing else matters. I know you Jamie, and I know that the thought of not seeing her is driving you crazy, and you’ve channeled your frustration into this…this…this stupid idea that she lied to you.”

“She did.”

“Oh, Jesus Christ, Jamison, you’re acting like a child!”

Shoving her chair away from her desk, Jamie stood up and glared at Linda. “No, I’m not, because children believe in Santa Claus, Linda, and I
don’t
!”

~~~

Looking up from his cup of hot chocolate, Santa smiled as Percy scampered into the dining room.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” he said as he approached the table.

Motioning toward a chair, Santa said, “Sit down, Percy. We need to talk.”

Sensing a bit of foreboding in Santa’s tone, Percy grew worried.

Keeping one eye on the man in the red suit, Percy pulled out a chair and hopped onto the seat.

“It seems we might have a bit of a problem,” Santa said.

“A…a...problem, sir?”

Momentarily forgetting that his lead elf was also his most nervous elf, when Santa realized his mistake, he shook his head. “Relax, Percy, you haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I haven’t, sir?” Percy said, his voice raising an octave.

Amused, Santa asked, “I don’t know, have you?”

“What? No…no, sir. Of course not, sir. Well, other than the small detail about Miss Diana’s letter in the sack lining, but we’ve taken care of that, or we will after I deliver the last sprig of mistletoe.”

“Actually, that’s why I called for you. It seems that the last party our Diana is supposed to attend is not on the twenty-first as we were told.”

“It’s not, sir?”

“No, apparently He has a new secretary, and she misread His handwriting. I received an e-mail from Him this morning with the correction. It seems that Jamison Nash’s party is on the twenty-fourth.”

Tilting his head to the side, Percy asked, “The twenty-fourth?”

“That’s right,” Santa said, waiting for the elf to catch up. It didn’t take long.

“
The twenty-fourth
!” Percy shouted as he jumped from his chair. “Why…why…why…why that’s Christmas Eve, sir! I can’t deliver mistletoe on Christmas Eve, sir. My job is sitting on the sleigh with you. Helping you deliver the gifts. It’s what I work for. It’s what I wait for. It’s what I live for!”

“I know that, Percy, which is why I called you in here,” Santa said, watching as Percy climbed back onto his chair.

“You and I have a decision to make.”

“We do, sir?”

“Yes, we do. As I see it, we have three options. The first is that I send another elf in your place to deliver the mistletoe.”

“But no one else has traveled by themselves, sir. They always go in groups, except for me, that is.”

“Yes, I know,” Santa said. “The next option would be for us to forego the placement of the last sprig, and concentrate on our deliveries for Christmas Eve. We can’t forget that there are millions of children depending on us, so if one wish never gets granted, that’s the way it will have to be.”

“I don’t like that option, sir,” Percy said quietly, shaking his head.

“No?”

“No, sir. Every child gets a wish granted. That’s the rule. We can’t break the rule, sir.”

“You forget. Miss Diana isn’t a child anymore.”

“But she never got her wish! You can’t go with option number two, sir. You just
can’t
.”

Nodding his head, Santa said, “Well, then…there’s only one other option, isn’t there?”

Tears formed in Percy’s eyes as he realized what Santa was saying.

Swallowing back his emotions, the little man took a ragged breath, and then straightening his backbone, sat proud and tall in his chair. “I’ll deliver it, sir. As lead elf it’s my duty to see a job through to the end, no matter what the cost.”

“Are you sure, Percy? I know how much Christmas Eve means to you.”

“I’m sure, sir, because while you’re granting the wishes of the children, I will be granting one for an adult. It’s a first, I believe, yes?”

Smiling, Santa said, “Yes, Percy, it is a first.”

Jumping off the chair, Percy took a deep breath and straightened his jacket.

“Well, then, I best go plan for my trip. May I be excused?”

“Of course.”

Watching as Percy shuffled across the room, Santa called out, “Percy!”

Turning around, Percy replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Make sure you have some eggnog at the party.”

Smiling, Percy nodded his head.

“Will do, sir…and I’ll have a cup for you as well.”

“You do that, my friend. You do that.”

~~~

“Any luck?” Gwen asked, walking into the lounge.

Setting her cell phone on the coffee table, Diana said, “No, I just keep getting a message that the line is out of order. Must be the storm.”

“Yeah, well, it’s getting rather nasty out there,” Gwen said as she sat down.

“Did you run an Internet search?”

“Yes, but her home number isn’t listed,” Diana said with a sigh as she leaned back into the sofa. “I guess I’ll just have to wait until Monday when she gets back to the office—”

“Diana, she won’t be in on Monday.”

“Why?”

“She’s on vacation until after the first.”

“Shit! This just keeps getting better and better.”

“Calm down,” Gwen said with a snicker. “I’m sure the phones will be working soon, so just keep trying and when you get through, leave her a message. Since it’s the number she put on the invitation, I’m sure she’ll be checking it. I know it’s not the same as talking to her in person, but it’s better than nothing.”

Drumming her fingers on the sofa, Diana thought about her options. “No, I’m not calling her.”

“Why the hell not? I thought you liked her.”

“I do.”

“Then for God’s sake, call her. Don’t just stand her up. That’s not like you.”

Seeing that Diana was retrieving her mobile from the coffee table, Gwen said, “Thank goodness you’ve come to your senses. Just leave her a message—”

“I’m not calling Jamie,” Diana interrupted as she scrolled through the contact list on her phone. “I’m calling Brenda.”

“Why?”

“To tell her I won’t be up for Christmas.”

“Hallelujah!” Gwen screamed as she reached over and squeezed Diana’s arm.

“I swear to God, Diana, if you hadn’t just said that, I was going to take you by the shoulders and shake some sense into you!”

“Really? I’m not being stupid?”

“Diana, hand me the phone. I’ll dial the number for you.”

~~~

Returning from the kitchen with another bottle of wine, Gwen asked, “Well, how’d your aunt take it?”

“She’s fine and wished me luck.”

“You told her about Jamie?” Gwen asked as she sat on the floor next to a pile of wrapping paper and bows.

“Yeah, when I went up for Joanie’s baby shower.”

“She’s okay with it?”

“Apparently, she’s gay.”

“Joanie’s gay?”

“Not my cousin, my aunt.”

“Your aunt Brenda is gay!”

“Yep.”

“When the hell did that happen?”

Laughing at the wide-eyed look of surprise on Gwen’s face, Diana said, “Do you remember me telling you about a woman named Susan?”

“Susan?” Gwen said, searching her memory. “Susan. Susan. Sus—oh, you mean the one that leases the apartment over your aunt’s gar—age.”

“That’s the one.”

“They’re lovers?”

“Yep.”

“She told you that?”

“Yep.”

“Can you say something other than yep?”

“Yep,” Diana said with a giggle.

Sending her friend a playful sneer, Gwen said, “Seriously, Diana, how did she keep it a secret for so long…and why?”

“She told me that she was afraid that Joanie and I would suffer if people found out. She didn’t come to terms with it until she and Uncle David had been divorced for a few years, and then she met Susan, and they fell in love. So, Susan rented the apartment so they could be close without anyone suspecting anything.”

“Didn’t Susan move out a few years ago?”

“Yeah. Brenda said that she got tired of waiting for her to come out, but it sounds like they’re getting back together, which is the reason that Brenda finally admitted it to Joanie and I.”

“Joanie knows?”

“Yes, Brenda told her a few months ago, but she was waiting until she could tell me face-to-face.”

“Wow.”

“Tell me about it,” Diana said, chuckling as she refilled her wineglass.

“Here I was thinking that my aunt was this prim and proper schoolteacher, and all the while she was banging a librarian over the garage.”

~~~

When Jamie arrived home, she refused to allow her bruised heart to rule her mood. Pushing her disappointment aside, she focused on the task at hand.

After calling all the vendors to make sure everything was in order for Christmas Eve, she changed into a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt, and in socked feet, began decorating her house. Asking only that her staff pile the totes of decorations in the main hall before they left for the evening, alone in her home, Jamie set about hanging the lights and garland. Amidst the smell of the pine tree delivered the morning, and the sounds of Christmas carols playing on the stereo, she worked into the night. It wasn’t until her stomach complained, that she finally put the decorations aside and padded to the kitchen to find something to eat. Afterward, with her belly full, she grabbed a bottle of wine and retired to the solitude of her library to have a smoke.

In a room lit only by the glow coming from the fireplace, Jamie sit behind her desk of cherry wood. Watching the cigarette smoke float through the air, she groaned as her body pulsed again. “Shit,” she whispered to the empty room.

Jamie had made a mistake, and she knew it. She had opened a bottle of Cabernet, and the taste of the wine brought back the flavors of a kiss. No longer able to hide from the memories and the desires that raged within her, she closed her eyes and allowed her thoughts to run wild.

In only a matter of minutes, her breathing began to change. Lazy breaths morphed into short gasps as she imagined what it would be like to caress the woman of her dreams. To kiss her.

To hold her...and to taste her.

With a sigh, Jamie unzipped her jeans and lazily slid her hand inside, and a husky moan slipped from her lips as her fingers brushed over her trimmed curls. Snaking her fingers through folds, thick and wet, she closed her eyes and caressed herself as visions of Diana appeared in her mind. Shifting in her seat, Jamie moved her fingers lower, and tentative in her exploration, like that of a lover not yet as accomplished as herself, she tickled her entrance, a soft smile gracing her face at the feel of the moistness flowing from her center.

As her mind conjured up another image of Diana, Jamie’s inner walls pulsed, and letting out a throaty purr, she began to rub her most sensitive erogenous zone. Moving her fingers slowly over the nub, she sighed in the darkness as she felt it begin to grow and thrive. The rhythm she set was gentle at first. Applying just enough pressure to make her juices flow, but not enough to cause release to come too soon, with skilled fingers, Jamie worked her body until her breathing grew labored and sweat covered her brow.

With a grunt, she rose to her feet long enough to push her jeans to the floor, and gasping for air, she returned to the leather chair, its surface now heated and damp. Running her finger over her clit for only a moment, she moved lower, and entering herself, Jamie pushed her finger in as far as it would go. “Yes,” she hissed, flexing her hips to receive all that she could. “Oh, God…yes.”

In and out she drew her finger, teasing herself by sliding it over her sensitive womanly nub for a few seconds, before plunging inside again and arching against the impalement. No longer wanting to hold off the inevitable, her strokes grew faster and her plunges deeper as a guttural sound began to snake its way up her throat. Pushing one finger inside, she reached down with her other hand, slathering her fingers with her desire, and then began drawing frenzied figure eights over her clit.

“Christ!” she screamed as she felt the orgasm begin. “Oh…Jesus…”

Crying out as it washed over her, Jamie stilled her hands, gasping for air as she rode out every wave, and as the tremors faded, so did the images of Diana Clarke. Taking a deep breath, Jamie opened her eyes and reached for her wine. Taking a sip, she allowed the headiness of the vintage to slow her heart, and when her pulse no longer raced and her breathing had slowed, she rose to her feet. Gathering her clothes, she decided it was time for bed.

Tomorrow was another day, and she had things to do.

A
s she turned off the main highway and drove down a tree-lined country road, Diana’s heart began to race. Since deciding not to go to Vermont for Christmas, she couldn’t stop thinking about a woman with soulful eyes and an extremely kissable mouth. After spending part of her weekend shipping packages to her family, Diana spent the rest of it counting the minutes until she'd see Jamie again.

With the freshly plowed section of road barely wide enough for two cars to pass, Diana checked her mirrors twice before stopping and turning on the dome light to check the directions included with the invitation. Realizing that she only had a few miles to go, her smile widened. Tucking the invitation back in her purse, she continued down the road, merrily humming to the sounds of Christmas coming from her radio.

A few minutes later she saw lights ahead in the darkness, and soon the trees gave way to a split-rail fence wrapped in tiny white Christmas lights. Smiling at the simplicity, and thankful for the guiding light they provided, she followed the fence line until she came upon a stone-pillared entrance. Pulling into the driveway, Diana slowed the car to a crawl as she took in the view.