All She Wants for XXX-Mas: An Erotic Christmas Romance Story (3 page)

For that matter, how was she going to face Michael?

As that thought crossed her mind, Christie groaned to herself. The circumstances of what had happened were just so strange that she had no idea how to handle the situation.
Well, Christie,
you’ve done it again,
she scolded herself.
You’ve gotten yourself into quite a fine mess over here.
Why did the problems in her life always seem to involve men?

She couldn’t help but laugh a little at the ridiculousness of it all – and as it turned out, laughter was exactly the boost she needed. She looked again at herself in the mirror, narrowed her eyes, and grinned as she kept laughing. Whatever happened next, Christie would do her best to take charge of the situation. She wasn’t sure yet what she wanted out of it, but she wasn’t going to let Michael call all the shots. She winked at herself playfully, and laughed again.

She straightened up, patted down her shirt, and turned on her heel.
I’ve got this,
she thought to herself. She walked out of the bathroom feeling like a million bucks.

It was a good thing Christie had so much confidence, because no sooner had she left the bathroom than she ran into the nosiest person in the whole office: Alice, getting in at 10 AM on the dot like she always did, walking down the hallway with a coffee mug in her hand.

When Alice saw Christie, she stopped mid-stride, the coffee mug halfway to her mouth. She stared dumbfounded at Christie, her mouth half-open and her eyebrow raised up to the ceiling.

“Hey, Alice,” said Christie cheerfully, and walked right past her before she could say anything, smiling as she noticed Alice’s flabbergasted look.

After a few seconds, Alice came running after Christie. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Alice, stepping in front of Christie’s path. “Just hold on a second there, girl. What the what-what what?”

Alice sure had a way with words. Christie giggled. “I beg your pardon?” she asked.

Alice pushed her glasses up on her nose, and put her hand on her hip. She was smiling like she’d just figured out a secret, but her eyebrow was still raised in a puzzled look.  She pointed her coffee mug at Christie, waving it around as she spoke.

“Now I may not know much,” began Alice, “but in my sixty-four years I think I’ve seen a thing or two. And one thing I know for
sure
is how to tell when someone’s gotten lucky last night. And damn, girl,
you
look like ‘last night’ happened more like ‘this morning.’ Now, no excuses – out with it! Who’s the guy, and more importantly, when can I get a piece of that?”

Christie laughed out loud, rolling her eyes. “Alice, you have
no
shame,” she said.

“You’re damn straight,” said Alice. “Now, come on – fess up! And don’t try telling me it was jolly old Saint Nicholas.”

Just then, Michael stepped out of the back room. He noticed Alice and Christie talking, and shot them a quizzical look. When his eyes found Christie’s, he smiled at her for just a split-second before letting his face fall back into a neutral, un-readable expression. She felt a flash of heat run across her face. Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t hold his gaze.

Then, to her horror, Michael began to walk towards them.
Oh,
no
,
Christie thought.
She
tried her best to act casual as he approached, even if her insides were doing flips.

“Hello, ladies!” said Michael, with a note of laughter in his voice. That damn cocky smile of his was back in full force. “And how are the two most beautiful women in the office doing today?”

“Hey, Michael!” said Alice, oblivious to the look that had passed between him and Christie. “Help me out over here. I was just talking to Christie, trying to find out who the lucky guy is that’s been spiking
her
eggnog.”

“Alice!” Christie cried.

Michael turned to Christie, an amused expression on his face. “Oh, yeah?” he said, folding his arms across his chest. He was obviously enjoying this, and seemed perfectly capable of pretending nothing had happened between them.

“Way to go, Christie!” Michael said. “I
thought
you looked happy this morning. He must have really been something special!”

Christie rolled her eyes. Two could play at this game. “I’ve had better,” she said flatly, and smirked.

Michael burst out laughing. “Is that so?” he said. He opened his mouth like he was about to add another snappy comment, but his normally quick wit seemed to be failing him.

Christie loved turning the tables on him and seeing him at a loss for words. “What’s the matter, Michael?” she teased him. “Cat got your tongue?”

Michael rubbed the back of his neck, and grinned warmly at Christie. He shrugged. He seemed to realize she’d gotten the better of him, and was ready to forfeit this round of verbal jousting. 

“Something like that,” he said with a laugh. “Anyway, this is fun, but I’ve got some actual
work
to do. And besides,” he said, turning to Alice, “didn’t your mother ever tell you not to gossip?”

Alice harrumphed. She wagged her finger at Michael. “Listen, honey, I’m retired,” she said. “Aside from this volunteer work, the most entertainment I get is from the soaps on TV. If I didn’t gossip, I’d have nothing to do all day.”

Michael laughed again. “Well, if you’re looking for gossip, you should go find Rick – word around the office is he was up to no good last night.” He looked at Christie and gave her a mischievous grin.

That piqued Alice’s interest. “Oh, really? All right!” said Alice. “It’s about time that boy got some booty. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some other-people’s-business to attend to. Have a lovely day, sweeties.” She hustled off to find Rick.

As soon as Alice was out of earshot, Christie whirled to face Michael. The smile from a few seconds ago had left her face completely, and had been replaced with an angrily furrowed brow. She wanted answers, and she wanted them
now.

“Are you crazy?!” she demanded. “What was that all about?”

“What, just now?” Michael asked innocently.

“No, a week ago,” said Christie sarcastically. “Yes, of course just now!”

“I just thought Alice would get some fun out of bothering Rick,” said Michael, still playing dumb.

Christie was getting exasperated. “I’m not talking about that,” she said. “I’m talking about our little tête-à-tête in the bathroom. Or have you forgotten about that already?”

“Oh, that,” said Michael, grinning devilishly. “What about it?”

“Don’t give me that look,” said Christie. “What, is that just par for the course for you? You just… walk into the ladies’ room and assault whoever you find there?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Michael, putting up his hands. “I would hardly call that assault. Call me crazy, but you seemed to be enjoying it.”

“That’s not the point,” Christie said, flushing again at the memory of their tryst.

“Come on, Christie,” Michael continued. “We both know that was a long time coming.
You can’t deny there’s
been
a spark between us
lately
. I’m just the one who decided to act on it
.”

“And what about earlier, in the break room this morning with Rick?” demanded Christie. “Were you talking about me in there, or some other woman? Don’t lie to me, Michael. You of all people should know how I feel about two-timers.”

As she spoke the words, they both paused suddenly. Both were remembering Christie’s ugly breakup with Steve. Christie was thinking about how kind Michael had been then, how understanding. He’d played a big part in helping her move on.

And Michael, for his part, was realizing that he might have been wrong to try and seduce Christie in the bathroom so abruptly like that. What if she just wasn’t ready for it yet? He might have ruined the one chance he had with her, just by being too eager. He felt like a clown.

“Christie, I’m sorry,” said Michael. “Of course there’s no other woman but you. God, Christie. I’ve had feelings for you for a long time now. I was trying to hold off because of your breakup – I knew you were still hurting. But this past week, things between us have just been…”

“…Electric,” said Christie, finishing his sentence for him. Beyond that, words were failing her. There was so much going through her mind, it was too much to process all at once. But luckily, no more words needed to be spoken between them. Michael opened his arms to her, and she stepped into his warm embrace.

Just then, Alice walked back into the hallway. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw them.

“Well, jingle my bells and call me Santa!” Alice exclaimed.

Christie and Michael looked at Alice, then back at each other. Michael burst out laughing. “I guess our secret’s out,” he said to Christie. He leaned down and kissed her. It was their first real kiss, and it sent sparks shooting all up and down Christie’s body.

As their lips parted, she looked up into Michael’s eyes.

“…Electric,” she said again.

The next three weeks passed in a blur. Around the office, people quickly got used to the idea of Christie and Michael being together. Apparently, the two of them were the last ones to see what everyone else had known for a long time: they were perfect for each other, whether they realized it or not.

And whether it was due to Christie and Michael’s romance or just something in the air, the whole office was buzzing with energy. Everyone put in their best effort, and the mood in the volunteer center had never been better. And it paid off, too: their toy donation program was the most successful it had been in years.

On Christmas Eve, after they’d delivered the last of the toys, Michael rounded up everyone for an informal Christmas party at the local pizza parlor. They were a small group, but over the past month, they’d come together for a common goal. As Christie looked around the room – at Michael, at Alice, at Rick – she realized that now, more than ever, they felt like family to her.

Most people left the party early; it was Christmas Eve, after all. But Michael and Christie stayed out until closing, just talking and talking over a bottle of red wine. Unlike most of the others, they didn’t have a family at home to get back to. But Christie didn’t mind. Her loneliness of the past few months was gone completely, and instead she was filled with a huge sense of excitement for the future.

After the bar closed, they went back to Michael’s place, in what had become an increasingly common routine over the past few weeks. In fact, Christie stayed over with him more often than not these days, and his place was almost beginning to feel like home. As they took off their boots in his foyer, she told him as much. He grinned. “I was hoping you would say that,” he told her.

But Michael had saved one surprise for Christie. As they opened the door, she was greeted by the sight of a huge Christmas tree, heavy with ornaments and replete with sparkling lights.

“Oh, wow, Michael!” exclaimed Christie. “It’s beautiful! When did you have time to do all this?”

Michael just smiled at her, that same teasing smile he’d had since the day they met. “Just call it a Christmas miracle,” he said slyly, and pulled her in for a kiss.

Christie returned the kiss hungrily, then pulled back and looked into his eyes. “I’ve been waiting all day for this,” she said.

Michael grabbed her, his rock-hard biceps pulling her roughly against him. His eyes flashed with lust. He kissed her again, deeply, then lifted her up and threw her down on the couch.

In the next second, he was on top of her, kissing her with a passion that had only grown in the past weeks. Since that first encounter, they’d explored every inch of each other’s bodies, and knew exactly which buttons to push to send each other into fits of ecstasy. Christie now traced Michael’s broad shoulders with her fingernail, relishing the feel of his muscles underneath.