Santa' Wayward Elf (16 page)

“God, that feels incredible,” he rasped. “Don’t stop.”

Sosie wrapped her hand more firmly around the base of his
shaft and continued to bob her head up and down, sometimes swirling her tongue
over the tip, other times deep-throating him, keeping him on edge all the while
but not in danger of exploding. Unable to help himself, Derek gently thrust his
hips in time with her movements, pushing his cock down her throat.

He wanted to hold back, wanted to make it last the rest of
the afternoon, but what Sosie was doing felt too incredible for that and before
he knew it, he was shooting a load of hot cum into her mouth. She moaned around
his cock, swallowing all of his cream, then carefully licking him clean until
she got every last bit. When she was done, she sat back on her heels and ran
her tongue over her lips.

Buttoning his pants, he bent over to kiss her long and hard
on the mouth. “God, you’re amazing.”

She smiled up at him. “You’re pretty amazing yourself.”

Derek chuckled and would have kissed her again, but a knock
on the door of the truck interrupted them.

“We’re back,” Aaron called from outside.

Had it been twenty minutes already? Damn. He’d wanted to
return the favor.

Derek stood up and helped Sosie to her feet, then ran a hand
through his hair and cleared his throat.

“Come on in,” he told the men.

Derek waited until Aaron and Tony had climbed in, then
walked Sosie to the door. Behind him, Aaron turned up the sound on the audio
and Saldino’s voice filled the truck.

“…meet at the warehouse down by the docks tomorrow night and
finish that damn punk once and for all. Nobody steals from Sammy Saldino and
lives to tell about it.”

Sosie’s eyes went wide. “Did he mean what I think he did?”

“Yeah.” Derek couldn’t believe their good fortune. He looked
over at Aaron and Tony. Both men were grinning from ear to ear.

“Sammy Saldino finally screwed up and let something slip,
which means we’re going to be able to nail the bastard once and for all.”

“That’s good, right?” Sosie asked.

Derek turned back to her. “It’s better than good. It’s
freaking fantastic, and it’s all because of you.”

“Me?”

He reached out to cup her face, heedless of the two men in
the truck with them. “Yeah. We’ve been sitting on Saldino for years and haven’t
gotten anything, but you come by, and bam, success. You’re one very beautiful
good luck charm.”

Chapter Eight

Derek wanted to know if Sosie could find her way home okay
or whether she needed a cab, but she told him she could get there fine. She was
so happy, she could have floated all the way back to the apartment.

She’d thought the plan Tracee and Linda had come up with to
get Derek to fall in love with her had seemed silly at first, but maybe they
were on to something. Even though she and Derek had only recently met, the more
time she spent in New York with him, the more it felt as if this was the place
she was meant to be—and Derek the man she was meant to be with. She wasn’t sure
if she believed in love at first sight, but she was certainly falling for the
gorgeous detective in a big way, and it seemed as if he was falling hard for
her, too.

But could she give up her elfin heritage and everything that
went with it so easily, though? Working in Santa’s workshops, the Christmas
spirit, her elfin friends? To her surprise, the answer was a resounding yes.
For the right guy, she’d leave it all behind without hesitation. Besides, she’d
already been transferring to the South Pole anyway. Since her mom had retired
and had moved away, there was nothing to keep her tied to either pole.

She smiled to herself as she strolled down the sidewalk back
to Derek’s apartment. Or should she think of it as their apartment? Probably
not yet. That would be presumptuous. He obviously liked her, but that was a
long way from being in love with her, and even further away from him inviting
her to live with him.

They were headed down the right path, though, she was sure
of it. There was this chemistry between them she’d never experienced with
anyone else. That had to be a good sign, right? And then there was the sexual
spark. That was hugely important, she imagined. According to Tracee and Linda,
most romantic relationships among the BPs were based on nothing more than that.
If it worked for them, it would work for her.

Her smile faded. She wanted her relationship with Derek to
be based on more than sex. She couldn’t believe she was saying that—not after
all the hot, sweaty nights of fantasies she’d had back home in her tiny bed up
in the North Pole. But she wanted something more with Derek. She wanted a soul
mate, a life partner.

Surely that could happen between an elf girl and a big
person.

Before it did, however, she was going to have to be honest
with him. There was no way she could hope to have a real, meaningful
relationship with Derek if she started everything out with a lie. He needed to
know she was an elf.

How could she tell him, though? BPs didn’t believe in things
like elves and Santa Claus. Derek would only think she was making it up. Worse,
he’d think she was crazy. And in the BP world, that meant they’d lock her up.

She caught her lower lip between her teeth and chewed on it
thoughtfully. Maybe it’d be better to talk to Tracee and Linda about it first.
As much as she wanted to confide in Derek, it would be easier to share her
secret with the other women first and ask for their advice. They hadn’t steered
her wrong yet.

Sosie intended to go directly up to her friends’ place, but
when she got back to the apartment building, she ran into Ben and ended up
helping him with a few repairs around the place, first fixing a leaky toilet,
then replacing a light switch in one of the apartments on the second floor.

“You’re a better handyman than I am,” Ben said as they
finished up. “I don’t think there’s anything you can’t fix.”

Sosie felt her face color under his approving, fatherly gaze.
“I don’t know about that.”

“Well, I do.” He regarded her thoughtfully. “You know,
there’s always been an extra position for a maintenance person here in the
building, but I’ve never been able to find a person who was qualified for the
job since you have to be a jack-of-all-trades. The pay isn’t great, but it’s
not horrible, either. There’s a free apartment that comes with the position,
too, but for some reason I don’t think you’ll need that,” he added with a
smile. “Are you interested?”

“Very interested.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. We’ll need to do up all the
usual paperwork to make it official, so I’ll need your social security number
and immigration papers.”

Sosie didn’t answer. She had no clue what those things were,
but she knew she didn’t have them. “Um, I don’t have them yet.”

He waved a hand dismissively. “No big deal. You can give
them to me when you get them. I’ll pay you under the table until then, if
that’s okay with you?”

She nodded. She’d be okay with getting paid on top of the
table, but if Ben felt better passing it to her underneath, that was fine, too.
In fact, it was more than fine. She couldn’t believe it. First, she’d found a
place to stay and a boyfriend, then some girlfriends to go window shopping
with. Now she’d found a job, too. Taking a chance and walking out of that
broken-down transport sled had been the best move of her life.

She was so ecstatic, she barely heard Ben ask if she could
run down to the local electronics store to pick up the parts she’d need to fix
the apartment’s central air unit. She’d only had to look at it for a few
minutes to figure out that most of the important parts of the microcomputer
that controlled the massive unit were fried. Ben had groaned, saying the
company that built the unit had said the same thing, but claimed it would take
thousands of dollars to replace the entire unit. Sosie was confident she could
rebuild the unit herself with a good collection of computer chips and some
basic electronic supplies—something Ben had been relieved to hear.

“This should cover anything you need,” Ben said, handing her
two-hundred dollars.

She stared down at the money. “Surely it shouldn’t take this
much.”

“Probably not, but I want to make sure you have enough. You
can keep whatever you don’t spend.”

She looked at him in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Consider it an advance on your pay.”

The electronics store was about a dozen blocks from the
apartment building and though Sosie could have taken a cab now that she had
money, she preferred to walk. She did a fairly good job of following the
directions Ben gave her, only getting confused a few times. She was just
turning down the correct street when she ran right into someone coming from the
opposite direction.

She automatically opened her mouth to apologize only to gasp
when she realized the other person was a fellow elf. And not any elf, either,
but the chief of elfin security—Mendike.

She’d never met the other elf personally, but she’d heard
horror stories about what a grinch he was, always hassling worker elves like
her about missing parts and equipment up at the workshops, accusing them of
being petty criminals and saying they were ripping off Santa. When she’d
thought Elf Central would send out a rescue party, she hadn’t expected Mendike
to come after her personally. Figgy, she should have known some fly was bound
to show up in the Christmas pudding sooner or later.

He glared up at her with beady, accusing eyes. “Sosie, I’ve
been looking for you everywhere, do you know that? The transport crew didn’t
figure out you were missing until they landed in the South Pole. First, the
idiots tried to cover it up because they figured they would get in trouble.
Then Elf Central spent a day trying to figure out which bureau had
responsibility for tracking you down, North or South.”

“Looks like the North won,” Sosie muttered. “Lucky me.”

“Yes, you are lucky.” Mendike squared his shoulders and drew
himself up to his full height, which was still a good foot less than her. “Now
that I’ve finally found you, we need to get going. I have my sled on the top of
a building near here. It’s cloaked, so no one will probably see it, but I’d
rather not take the chance in broad daylight.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but turned on his heel and
started walking. He didn’t realize she wasn’t following him until he was
halfway down the block. When he finally did, he marched back over to her.

“Why the fig are you still standing there?” he demanded.

That first night, she would have been thrilled to see
another elf had come to take her home—even a grinch like Mendike—but things had
changed since then. She didn’t want to leave anymore and no one was going to
force her to go. Especially not Mendike. She was a free elf.

She returned his glare with one of her own. “I’m not
leaving.”

He stared up at her as if unable to believe what he’d heard.
Then his eyes narrowed. He swore under his breath. “Up to this point everyone
has been content to consider this a simple mistake, Sosie. You wandered away
from the transport sled and it took off without you. But if I call this in as a
runaway, then things will go very differently for you.”

Sosie was sure Mendike thought he came off as menacing and
scary to his fellow elves. Maybe he did. But his threats didn’t have the same
effect on her as they would on another elf. Being a foot taller than he was
probably had something to do with that. Besides, they were on a sidewalk full
of people. He wasn’t going to try anything here.

She put her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do,
tell Santa that I’ve been a bad girl so he’ll put me on his naughty list?”

Mendike’s mouth tightened. “Trust me, girl. We have ways of
dealing with runaways, and you aren’t going to like them.”

Sosie bent over to look him in the eye. “You don’t scare me,
Mendike. Now run on back to the North Pole and tell Santa that I quit. He can
keep my last check, including the Christmas overtime.”

Mendike regarded her in silence, then shrugged. “If that’s
the way you want to play it, okay by me. But you’ll be sorry, Sosie, mark my
words.”

With that, he turned on his heel again and marched down the
street, disappearing into the crowd.

Sosie watched him go. Mendike didn’t scare her. He was a
bully and a blowhard and all his posturing was a bluff.

She hoped.

Okay, she couldn’t deny she was worried. Mendike said they
had ways of dealing with runaways, as if Elf Central had a method for punishing
elves who’d done it. She’d never heard of another elf running away, so she had
no idea if that was true or not.

Shivering, Sosie hurried down the sidewalk to the
electronics store and went inside. Seeing the vast array of fascinating things
they sold helped take her mind off Mendike and his threats and she spent the
next hour browsing around. The items she needed were very reasonably priced, so
she was able to get everything and still have plenty of cash left over.

She was thinking about how she would rebuild the central air
control unit as she walked back to the apartment building when another store
caught her eye. She stopped in front of a window display of female mannequins
wearing very sexy lingerie. The sign on the wall behind them said the store
also sold adults toys. From her time in the sex toy department up north, she
knew exactly what that meant.

Sosie tried to tell herself it was professional curiosity
that made her go inside, but it was more than that. She wanted to see what kind
of naughty stuff they had available here in New York, and whether she could
afford to buy any of it to surprise Derek. He seemed like the kind of guy who
appreciated a bit of playfulness in the bedroom—or any other room for that
matter.