Page 55 of Santa Daddies

Like someone to cuddle with. Someone to guide me with my choices so I don’t have to think so much. I want a man who is strong enough to lift me up and carry me around. I want to feel delicate in his care. I want him to see me as a precious gift in his life.

I want a lot. Probably too much to keep saying. It’s not like I can even begin to make it make sense.

My point is—can you find me a Daddy too? I think you’re my best shot at this. I don’t really know where else to look.

If you make this happen, I promise to be on my best behavior for at least two years. I can’t promise anything past that.

Ok, maybe three years if he’s a reallllyyyy good Daddy.

Do we have a deal, Santa?

I know you can’t write me back. I’m still hoping the answer is yes.

Love you with all my heart (that won’t change when I get a Daddy either, just so you know).

Hopeful,

Jared

I doodle around the edge of the page with hearts, Christmas designs, and a couple of sweet treats. I’m especially proud of the cupcakes since they look the most realistic.

“Here goes nothing,” I say as I fold the page and stick it in an envelope. I only have the kind for cards. Surely Santa won’t mind, right?

Nah. The big guy is used to all manner of communication.

With everything ready to go, I place it by my keys near the door so it’s ready to go with me to the office. I’ll drop it by the mail room in the morning to make sure it gets out.

Happy with my choice, I prepare myself for bed over the next few minutes. Once I’m ready, I drop onto the couch and put on some random cartoon. The noise soothes me enough to calm the anxiety in my chest that comes each night.

Even though I know I’m safe locked inside my apartment, I can’t deny I still feel on edge thinking something bad could happen. It’s the unknown that frustrates me.

If I had a Daddy, then he’d protect me. Maybe then I’d get a full night’s sleep.

Chapter Two

Jerome

“You sure you’re going to be able to adjust to this?” Chance asks me as he holds the door open to the office.

I shrug and step through. “Only way to know is to try. My old life wasn’t cutting it anymore. You and I both know how fucked-up it all was.”

He nods as he points in the direction we need to go. Of all the people in my life who know what the last five years have been like for me, Chance is the only one who gave a damn. There should have been an uproar over it all. People should have been held accountable for their part in it all.

Rather than doing what’s right, the men I worked with chose to vilify me. They made me uncomfortable, often going so far as to threaten me. More than once, I considered taking it all into my own hands. A few punches and it would all be over.

But given our boss, the commissioner, agreed with them, I wasn’t going to be let off easy if I attacked the other officers. Which is exactly what it would have been labeled as: an attack.

Never mind my skill level or the number of cases I’d solved. It didn’t matter when the good old boys got together and made me their enemy.

I shake the bad memories away as Chance presses the button for the elevator. None of the past matters here. Working here is a new start.

So what if I had to call in a favor to a friend? Now that we weren’t city councilman and police officer, we could actually be friends in an easygoing manner. Chance didn’t even bat an eye when I told him I was looking for a position to give me something to do with my days.

Becoming a paralegal is not the move anyone would have expected. For me, it makes complete sense. I still get to help people, I still know the law, but I don’t have any of the hassle I did before.

Plus, I always kind of preferred the paperwork aspect of my former career. While everyone else groans about filling our reports, I’m the type to give ten times the amount of detail they need. It drove my superiors mad.

“Here we are.” Chance’s words draw my attention. “Grant’s office is right inside this area. It’s as close as Tank will allow him with Donny in the building too.”