Page 138 of Santa Daddies

“Good girl. Go make some room at the dining table and I will get us some plates.”

He handed me the pizza box and I scurried away. I’d been starving before he came home but after his declaration, my stomach was suddenly tight and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get anything down. Moving some cookies around, I created enough space for the pizza box to sit and made extra room so we could sit and still have room to eat.

“What’s the plan for cookiepalooza?” Yule asked as he came to the table with plates and napkins.

“We were bored, I guess. Trixie is teaching me to make all different types.”

“I see that.” He looked around.

“Maybe you could take some to the office? The elves can never have too many cookies,” I suggested. I really had no plan for everything we baked and we’d definitely gone overboard.

“Maybe. Is that what Trixie was doing at the offices this morning?”

I straightened my back. “You saw her? I mean, I thought you were at the workshops all morning.”

I took a piece of pizza out of the box and shoved a huge bite in my mouth to stop the lies from coming. With my heightened nerves I was definitely going to give everything away if I wasn’t careful.

“I was there for a good bit, but not all morning.” He took a bite of his own pizza and eyed me skeptically.

“She had an errand, I guess.”

“You guess? She didn’t tell you?”

“Well she did, but, like, I didn't give her the third degree or anything.”

The ruse got harder and harder to keep under wraps the more questions he asked. I had to get the upper hand somehow, but I was so flustered I couldn’t think.

“What was the emergency at the workshop this morning?” I blurted excitedly when the question came to my mind. Asking him about work was a surefire way to get him talking and get his mind off of me for a little while. Hopefully for as long as it took to get my nerves under control.

Sure enough, he set his pizza down and sighed deeply as he launched into an explanation about maximizing performance and reducing waste and how the elves were at odds about whatwas more important. And because they were at odds, work had stalled and they were in danger of falling behind with so little time before Christmas.

“I told you elves were overdramatic.” He finally picked up his pizza again.

“That sounds like you have a lot on your mind. Is there anything I can do to help?” I bit my bottom lip and gave him the most seductive look I could muster. Maybe I could distract him with sex.

“You’re not going to distract me with sex, little elf.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. “Well why not? I promise it will be more fun than whatever you wanted to chat about.”

“Oh it absolutely would be more fun. Especially for you.”

My breath hitched in my chest.

He leaned forward in his chair and his voice dropped to a deep growl. “There will be no sex tonight, because sex and pleasure is only for good girls and you have not been a very good girl today, have you?”

Before I could stop myself I was answering him with a slow shake of my head. “No, Daddy.” I spoke just above a whisper.

“That’s what I thought. Are you finished with your pizza?”

Pizza? There was pizza? Where?I’d completely forgotten about my favorite food the second I’d gotten caught in Daddy’s trance. Looking down at the half-eaten slice on my plate, I felt sick as my stomach tightened. I realized I was in fact done with it because the idea of taking another bite was way less appealing than it should be. It was pizza from Papa’s, for heaven’s sake.

“I’m done.” I pushed the plate away.

Santa snapped his fingers and we were no longer in the kitchen, but in his den. He was sitting in his giant armchair and I was standing directly in front of him, so close we were almost touching. My head spun with the sudden movement.

“I hate it when you do that.” I pouted.

“I know, but I’m all done playing games and maybe I need to keep you a little off balance in order to get the answers I want.” He raised an expectant brow.