Page 24 of Santa Daddies

“Tell us, Emily, does Santa Daddy give good spankings?” someone asked.

Instantly our eyes met. I don’t know if I was imagining it, but I think Little Red might have shivered.

“I’ll need a lot more champagne before I start spilling my secrets.” To prove her point she grabbed one of the champagne bottles and left the room.

“Think it’s time we put on our bikinis and head to the hot pool!” Madeline hollered. “A little warmth might loosen her tongue.”

Great, now the thought of Little Red in a bikini was the only thing that filled my mind. And picturing it made all the blood in my body reroute toward my cock.

“Thanks for stopping in to check on us, and for setting up an amazing day tomorrow, Kristoffer,” Madeline said with a jab of her thumb over her shoulder. “Gotta keep an eye on these ones.”

I gave her a wave and left them to their girls’ night.

“So the lioness’s den, huh? You walked into the chalet with all those women and came out in one piece?” Neil, Charlotte’s younger brother asked.

“Are you kidding me? This guy could walk into a ladies’ night at the strip club after the male strippers leave and still come out in one piece,” David said, leaning back in his chair. “He’s a lioness tamer.”

Neil’s eyes went wide but the others laughed. I just shook my head. Neil was young, only eighteen. Something else David and Charlotte had in common; much, much younger siblings.

“I own several high-end resorts, and a successful charity organization, and have several younger siblings, so I can tame lions, lionesses, any cat really, and possibly a grizzly bear, however, herding them is beyond me,” I said looking down at my watch, noting the girls were ten minutes late for lunch.

“Where are they?” David asked, and the guys started ribbing him about missing his little wifey.

“Now, now, she’s not your wife for a few more days, so give her some length on that chain, little brother,” Madeline said, gliding up to sit at the table next to her husband, Blake.

Blake leaned over and kissed her cheek, and I felt a twang of something resembling envy. I’d dated Clara for a while, but it was never serious, and it was never comfortable like it was with David and Charlotte, or Blake and Madeline. Sure, we were exclusive and long term, but neither of us had been looking for anything serious or considered our future, which is what made the gorgeous but superficial Clara ideal. She was career-oriented and wasn’t bothered by a ticking biological clock since she never planned on having children. And I hadn’t considered having children, at least not with any more thought than a hazy daydream. It was abstract, just like marriage, and something for me to worry about in the future.

Lately though. I’d been starting to think I wanted more. Hell, maybe Clara had felt that and that’s why she’d strayed. I wasn’t even angry when she did it, not more than surface level mad. Seeing my best friend make wedding plans and listening to himtalk about his future with Charlotte, it had stirred something in me, but it wasn’t until last week that I actually put my finger on what it was I was suddenly longing for. I wanted more from my love life than sexual satisfaction and someone who didn’t annoy me with too many expectations. But what that was hadn’t been clear. Not until…

My thoughts halted instantly and as if my attention had been called by some invisible force my head turned toward the woman walking into the room.

Little Red.

I swallowed hard. She looked amazing dressed simply in a cream-colored cable-knit sweater and jeans. Her hair, such a gorgeous coppery red, hung in long loose waves down her shoulders and back, and I didn’t know what my spa girls did, but her face was glowing. Sweet, shy, and sexy as hell, a killer combo for any man suddenly contemplating his future. And wasn’t that just it? I hadn’t started thinking of any of this until after my night with her.

That was insane though. We hadn’t even had a date. We’d had sex. Amazing sex, but what else did I know about her, other than she liked to be dominated and spanked in the bedroom, had a thing for Santa Claus, and that her O face could make a man fall to his knees?

I did know things about her though. Her brother, David, always talked about her.It was my baby sister this, and my baby sister that…And obviously, I knew they’d been orphaned. Little Red had been raised by her older sister, Madeline and her husband Blake. I knew that because it was part of David’s tragic story. He almost didn’t get his MBA because he wanted to stay back and help Madeline raise Emily. She refused to let him quit school though. He’d been twenty-two, and Little Red was only ten.

I gathered a breath.Ten.Which made her twenty-nine years old. Twenty-nine was a far cry from forty-five. I’d already been driving when she was born. I’d already had sex, for fuck’s sake. I was a middle-aged man, and she was a vibrant young woman.

No, fuck that. I wasn’t going to turn myself into a grandpa because she was sixteen years younger than me. I was in the best shape of my life. I owned several resorts thanks to hard work, determination, and some very savvy investments.

I had started mowing lawns and shoveling driveways at twelve. By sixteen, it was a small business with all the necessary equipment, and by the time I went off to college I had a landscaping and snow-removal business with twenty-plus employees. I was nothing if not determined when it came to getting what I wanted. And what I currently wanted was walking this way.

I stood, pulling out a chair for Emily as she came to the table. She smiled at me, albeit awkwardly, and sat.

“Hi everyone. Sorry I’m late. I broke the rules and checked my email. Ugh, regret. But there was something important from one of my charity clients that I had to deal with.”

“Don’t worry, you’re only the second to arrive, so everyone’s late,” Madeline said with a frown. “Even me. I only arrived a few minutes before you.” Little Red’s eyes widened, and Madeline laughed. “Right?” And she turned to me. “Those ladies at the spa can rub time away in more than one way. I feel ten years younger.” Madeline looked at her watch then.

“I only hire the best,” I replied as she turned to David.

“The wedding may not start on time, David. Even without the spa morning, getting these women moving is like herding cats.” She chuckled and someone mentioned my saying something similar, but I tuned them out.

As I pushed in Emily’s chair, the scent of her shampoo, something orange scented with a hint of spice, drew me in and I leaned down to whisper in her ear.

“Tardy girls end up over Santa’s knee.” I sat down in my chair as if I hadn’t spoken at all. Emily’s head snapped in my direction and her cheeks flushed pink. I winked at her and picked up a carafe to pour her some tea. That was something else I knew about her. Tea was her favorite choice of morning beverage. I knew this because David always hunted down specialty teas for her when we travelled for the business.