Page 60 of Santa Daddies

I roll my eyes. “It made sense to me, and since I’m the only person who I have to answer to, then it was fine.”

Jim laughs as he turns to face his computer. “Your sass is high today. Let me just make sure there’s nothing else I need from you before I let you go.”

He clicks around for a minute or two as I do some people watching. As much as I have to deal with people in my job, it’s mostly done through indirect channels. The front desk is the first line of defense for the building. I’m the first line for Tank and the other guys. I don’t get near as many in person issues as this area does.

“Everything looks good,” Jim tells me after a bit. “Jerome sounds like a good guy. Pretty handsome too. I’m masculine enough to admit it.”

He swivels the screen my way before I even ask. I’m greeted with a picture of one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever seen. Deep brown skin, hazel eyes, and a sculpted jawline draw my attention first. Then there’s the curve of his lips and the way his shoulders tell me the man has some definite muscle below where the picture cuts off.

I cough and pray Jim doesn’t ask about my blush. A single glance his way shows him nodding as he bites his lip. Bastard clearly wants to laugh at me.

“Yup,” I rasp before turning around and strutting to the elevators. The sound of my friend breaking his control echoes around me as I jab the button.

So what if I think Jerome is sexy?

So what if I think he’d be an amazing Daddy?

My wish is in Santa’s hands now. If it’s meant to be, then it will happen with some Christmas magic.

Chapter Four

Jerome

How did anyone get anything done around here?

I ponder over the question as I sort pile after pile of paperwork. There’s been no rhyme or reason to how it was organized before this. I’m not even sure Grant actually understands it himself.

With my desk right outside of his door, I’m in his direct line of sight. I feel his gaze on me several times throughout the day. It’s like he’s waiting for me to break or ask questions or slack off on work. It could be any of those three or a million other reasons for his helicopter bossing around.

Can’t say I blame him though. The person doing this before didn’t have any type of system. One of the first things I learned about paperwork is the more you ignore building a system, the more chaotic it becomes. The stuff grows like a fungus, spreading and causing issues everywhere it goes.

So, I’m attacking the chaos head-on.

With each new stack organized, my shoulders drop inch by inch. It’s such a relief when I finally get to the bottom and cansee the future filing system clearly in my mind’s eye. No more lost files. No more questionable methods of storing things. It will all be nice, neat, and easy to find.

“This looks amazing already,” Grant says as he comes to stand beside my desk. His eyes are on my stacks, each topped with a sticky note letting me—or anyone else—know what’s inside.

“Thank you.”

“Is there anything you need to complete your process? Tell me, and I’ll get you squared away. I can already tell you’ve worked wonders on all this stuff. It was a bit of a mess before, though he tried his best.”

“He?” I ask before I can stop myself.

Grant startles at the question. “Yeah.” He pauses. “Listen, I’m not saying anything bad about the guy. I love him to pieces since he’s my boy’s bestie. It’s just… Jared isn’t all that good with paperwork. Poor guy gets overwhelmed, then puts it together any which way. I’ve been lost for ages trying to get it sorted back to my original setup. There’s just never enough time in the day.”

“Makes sense.” I nod to let him know he’s not alone in his thinking.

In my opinion, there truly isn’t enough time in the day no matter what kind of job you have. The to-do list is neverending, and sometimes I wonder if the universe loves to mess with us by shaving a few minutes off the day here and there. Maybe us silly humans just don’t notice it.

“Jared is really great. His skill set is more of the charm and distraction variation, which is why he is the guard of the big guy upstairs.”

“You make him sound like a religious figure or something. Do people worship him?” I tease.

“Some probably do. He’s got his own fan base—a mix of admirers for his looks and people who’d give anything to have his business knowledge. Tank is multifaceted that way.”

I already know who he’s talking about, so I don’t ask. When Chance reunited with Tank, I was a bit skeptical about how it would all go. The rumors around the man came through the precinct, each one getting more and more outlandish over time. I couldn’t believe half of them, much less support my friend dating the guy.

But those two were destined to be together. It only took me seeing them together once to realize it. So yeah, I get why they’d call him that. Hearing Grant describe him that way tells me a lot more about the guy than I could have learned from any other question I’d asked.