Page 41 of Santa of the Creek

He pats my right thigh and gives it an affectionate squeeze. “Take a deep breath, honey. You’ll be fine.”

I glower at him. “You’re just telling me this so I don’t run away.”

Echo smirks at me. “You know me so well.”

“Isn’t that an old song?”

Echo squints, and I give up. It’s not my fault my pop culture stopped when I was eighteen. Although to be fair, that song was my parents’ era, and I’ve got the title incorrect.

I jolt as he strokes my cheek. “Huh?” I ask.

“Where do you go?” he asks, his voice soft.

“I don’t understand.”

“Sometimes you go off in your brain. I’ve got no idea what you’re thinking.”

“I spend a lot of time on my own, just thinking,” I confess.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” he assures me. “But remember you can talk to me too.”

He leans over to kiss me, and I turn my mouth to meet his. My brain is shrieking “I’m in public kissing a man.” But you know what? I’m sitting outside Will’s house and I’m ninety-nineper cent convinced he’s watching us. It might have been the twitching drape that gives it away.

Echo pulls back and smiles at me. “Let’s go practice.”

“I can’t do this,” I complain as I miss the step again.

“You can,” Echo says. “You just have to pretend to stumble over me.” He holds up his hand, and I haul him up. We’re both dressed as Santa and his elf and I’ve got to admit, he’s so hot dressed in green. The man has fabulous legs in those tights.

We go through the routine again and this time, I don’t screw up the stumble. Echo is amazing, and I tell him so.

“You should do this for a living.”

He shudders. “I’d rather deal with drunk adults than young kids, but I don’t mind doing this once in a while. Think you’ve got it? Because we’ve got to leave soon.”

I shrug. “It’s only an hour, right?”

“Knowing Randy, he’ll have charged the parents for at least three hours.”

I hold up my hand. “Randy can do the other two hours. Santa and Elf are here for one hour and one only.”

Echo grins at me. “One it is.”

He reels me in, and we kiss. I think he wants to give me a chaste kiss, but it gets kind of down and dirty.

I lick my lips when he steps back. “Wow, Mister Elf, can we…uh…do that again sometime?”

“Believe me, I’ve got a lot more planned than a kiss,” Echo assures me.

“Good.” I nod and suck in a breath. “Very good.”

It will be okay. I repeat it like a mantra. It will be fine. Randy will have it under control.

We walk into chaos. The staff have threatened to mutiny if the kids don’t calm down, and Randy is ready to tear what little hair he had left out of his head. So much for he could handle it and how difficult could it be?

Why did I let Echo convince me to do this? I’m faced with thirty kids staring at me expectantly. I ask again, why am I here?

One of the kids squints at me. “I know you.”