Kissing Kris Kringle (5 page)
Read Kissing Kris Kringle Online
Authors: Erin Quinn
The rest of the day was filled with cheerful hellos, many
ho ho hos
and a feeling of goodwill that had been missing in North Pole for far too long. Kris grew a little sad thinking that today was the last time he’d wear his Santa suit for the year. He’d enjoyed being the town’s Santa more than he’d ever imagined.
As early dusk fell over the town, Holly closed the store and came out with Joy to join in the festivities. Carolers sang and Gramps and Jenny came out of Sugar Plums with Christmas cookies for everyone. Kris was surprised to see Nick and a beautiful woman he recognized as Vixen. He hadn’t seen her in ages but if the look in Nick’s eyes was anything to go by, she wouldn’t be so hard to find in the future. Grinning, he accepted a hot chocolate from her and shook Nick’s hand.
When Nick climbed his ladder and placed the star on the top of the tree, the whole town cheered and Kris looked for Holly in the crowd. Cheeks rosy and eyes sparkling, she gave him a smile that warmed him right down to his shiny black boots. Over the laughter and joy, they heard something in the distance.
It sounded like…sleigh bells.
And what was that emerging from the clouds?
Holly and Joy came to the gazebo and stood with him as they watched.
“Kris…is that….”
“I think it is,” he said, shaking his head.
He put one arm around each of them and held them close as lights flickered and the bells grew louder, hushing the gathered crowd below. And then suddenly, a sleigh burst from the cover and soared overhead.
Kris’s mouth dropped open as he stared at a sight he never thought to see.
Santa Claus, complete with eight reindeer and a sleigh, gliding over their heads like something out of a movie. Stunned they watched him maneuver to a stop in front of the awestruck gathering.
Santa gave a
ho ho ho
and Kris couldn’t help but answer it. All around him, heads swiveled back and forth between the two of them. Santa winked at Kris. “You did a good job, Kris Kringle.” He looked at Nick next and patted the side of his sleigh. “Runs like a Porsche, Nick.” To Rudy he said, “Welcome home.”
As the others scratched their heads, Santa gave another booming
ho ho ho
and then asked, “Now who wants a ride?”
The children went crazy and raced forward for a turn. Holly looked a little anxious, but how could she say no to a ride with Santa? As Santa gave them a turn above the town square, Joy waved at them from the sleigh. In a few minutes they were back and Santa Claus was turning his sleigh to the sky. As he flew away, they heard him call, “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer, on Vixen….”
“This is the best Christmas
ever!”
Joy exclaimed.
Chapter Four
After the excitement—the
unbelievable
visit from Santa—it seemed that everything else should be anticlimactic. But of course, it wasn’t.
Holly couldn’t believe how nervous she was as she waited for Kris to arrive. Since the morning she’d seen him sitting in the store’s Santa chair, he’d been in her thoughts. If she wasn’t watching him between customers, she was thinking of him when she came home and saw all he’d done to her house. Because she had no doubt that Kris was the Secret Santa who’d fixed her broken locks and doors, faucets and drains. He’d worked miracles and each time she walked through her front door, she felt the warmth and care he’d put into his tasks.
Miracles. This Christmas had been filled with them. Was it too much to hope that one more waited for her? That she and Kris…
She sighed.
Each morning when she saw him sitting outside in that ridiculous Santa suit, she’d fallen a little more in love with him. Oh, it had always been there, that infatuation with sexy Kris Kringle, but lately…Kris had changed and the maturity, the goodness she saw in him had changed her as well. He looked at her like she was someone special. It would break her heart if that look disappeared the day after Christmas, when he put away his Santa suit and all that had happened this Christmas began to feel like a dream.
She shook herself. She couldn’t think about that.
She’d dressed in a diaphanous red blouse and soft, satiny pants. Now she stared critically at herself in the mirror.
“You look so pretty, Mommy,” Joy said, coming in to sit on her bed and watch.
“You don’t think it’s too…tight?” Holly asked, but what she meant was,
“Do I look fat? Old? Tired? Like I’m trying too hard?”
Always worried about projecting her own self-esteem issues onto her daughter, she didn’t ask any of those questions, though.
“No. You look like a princess.”
In Joy’s estimation, this was the highest compliment anyone could give.
“Are you all dressed up for Kris?”
Kris had insisted she call him by his first name and since Holly could see him cringe each time her daughter said “Mr. Kringle,” Holly had agreed.
“What do you think of him, Joy?” Holly asked.
“He’s got a cute puppy,” Joy said. More praise of the highest order. “And Santa thinks he’s the best assistant he’s ever had. He told me so. I like him.”
“Santa?”
“Kris. Well, and Santa.”
“You don’t mind that Kris is going to spend Christmas Eve with us?”
Joy gave Holly a look that seemed too adult for such a little girl. “He makes you happy, Mommy. Everyone should be happy for Christmas.”
The doorbell rang and Joy scampered off the bed and raced to answer it. Kris had arrived.
They talked all through dinner—well, as much as they could between Joy’s incessant chatter about her ride on Santa’s sleigh and all she’d seen. Holly had worried that Kris would grow short-tempered as her daughter babbled on, but he’d listened with focused attention, never acting as if her non-stop prattle annoyed him. The one time Martin had come to see Joy, he’d shut down as soon as her sweet daughter opened her mouth. She’d been three and heartbroken when he’d abruptly left after just twenty minutes.
Not Kris. They had a leisurely dinner with probably too much wine. But it had been one of the best nights she could remember. Holly didn’t understand the forces that had brought Kris into her life and she couldn’t believe the hot looks he kept casting her way. Plump and worn down by life, Holly was no
femme fatale
. And yet the way he gazed at her across the small table, made her feel like one.
And the way he’d kissed her….
She shifted, feeling overly warm. Her soft clingy pants chaffed her sensitive skin and she was horrified to realize her nipples had hardened beneath his lingering gaze and stood out like signals against her clingy top.
“May I be excused?” Joy asked. “I think Cupid needs to go outside.”
“Put on your coat. It’s cold.”
“I will.”
And with that, Joy scurried away, calling happily to Cupid.
The silence that fell when she closed the door seemed to resonate from the floor, the ceiling, the walls. Holly felt her face growing hot as Kris’s gaze moved over her, willing her to look up and meet it.
At last she could resist no more and her gaze tangled with his, wrought with emotions so dark and sweet she couldn’t begin to decipher them. The way he looked at her…
She remembered that first day, when he’d said,
“You need to look at yourself through my eyes for awhile.”
What had he meant? What did he see when he stared at her? All the worries? All the heartbreak Martin had delivered? All the weariness?
Looking into his green eyes, she knew he did. He saw it all. And yet…he saw more than that. He saw the woman she used to be. He saw the woman she was now. And he saw the woman she wanted to become more than anything.
But how could any of this be real? How could she hope that he’d be there tomorrow or the day after? Life wasn’t easy and men liked things to be uncomplicated. Hadn’t she learned that lesson with Martin?
But she’d been dreaming about Kris Kringle for years. Having him here all tall, dark and sexy…who could blame her for thinking it would never last?
They made short work of the cleanup and while Joy played, Holly and Kris wrapped presents. Then they all settled in her tiny living room to watch A Miracle on 34
th
Street with Joy. Dressed in her favorite reindeer PJ’s, Joy fell asleep before little Susan in the movie got her Christmas wish—no surprise there. It had been a very big day. When Holly made to carry her daughter into her bedroom, Kris stepped in and scooped her up. Holly followed, holding the snoozing Cupid in her arms.
She almost wept at the gentleness with which Kris laid Joy into her bed. She settled Cupid at her daughter’s feet and as Kris pulled the covers up, his eyes met hers again. Once more, Holly felt swamped in the power of emotion that filled her.
He took her hand as they left the room and she could swear that she felt a fine tremble in his touch. As if he were as shocked by the power of his feelings as she was.
“Joy has your beautiful eyes,” he said as they closed the door behind them. “And your smile.”
Embarrassed but infinitely pleased, she moved to the couch. Kris sat next to her and, instead of reaching for the TV remote to change the channel like Martin would have, he turned the TV off and faced her.
Holly felt jittery and excited as the silence between them stretched out. What was he thinking? Was he looking for a way to extricate himself from this situation? Did he regret coming over now that he’d had a glimpse of the very dull life she led?
He reached for a lock of her hair, rubbing it between thumb and forefinger, watching the play of lights on it with fascination that stole her breath.
“The color of your hair,” he said, almost to himself. “It’s like a rainbow.”
She looked at him helplessly, unsure how to respond, unsure if she could respond. “What are you doing here, Kris?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper, as if she didn’t really want to know the answers to the questions she voiced. “I mean, what’s with you lately? The Santa suit. The
ho ho ho.
Me.”
He smiled and trailed a finger over her cheek. “Well, the first two I could explain, but you’d never believe me.”
“After seeing Santa Claus land in the town square? Try me.”
“Let’s just say Santa decided that North Pole needed a little Christmas magic.”
“And he decided you were the one to deliver it? I mean, you’ve never been very…jolly.”
He grinned at that. “It wasn’t just me and I managed to muddle through.”
“You did more than that. Joy says Santa called you his best helper ever,” she told him, grinning.
“I think I did some good.”
“You did,” she said softly. “I could see it in the faces of everyone who came to see you. Every time you let out that laugh, they laughed with you. Their hearts seemed a little lighter.”
He watched her. “And what about your heart, Holly?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything at first. What could she say? That her heart had wanted to fall in love with his for more years than she could count? That she couldn’t believe gorgeous, sexy Kris Kringle was sitting beside
her
—plain, plump Holly McClaussen—right now?
“You answered my first two questions—what about the third?” she murmured.
“Why am I here with you?”
She nodded, feeling heat spread over her face. She felt like she was thirteen again, mooning over him.
“Holly, I’ve had a thing for you forever.”
She nodded jerkily. “That was before though.”
“Before what?” he asked, frowning.
“Before I got married. Before I had Joy. Before…” She waved a hand over herself, unable to voice
before I got fat. Before I got old. Before I got boring.
“Those things,” he said, confusion glittering in his eyes. “Are they supposed to make me want you less? Because they don’t. Your ex was an asshole. Any man who’d let you go had to be a total idiot.” He paused, looking suddenly unsure. “Sorry if I shouldn’t say that.”
“No,” she whispered, her throat constricted. “He’s not on my favorite list either.”
“When I looked up and saw you that first day, standing beside my chair all bristling with outrage, I felt a bit like an ass myself,” he said, grinning wryly. “I was trying to figure out why I never asked you out. Why it took me so long.”
She shrugged. “You went off to school and by the time you got back I was married and then….”
“You weren’t married that long. And you’ve been divorced for almost five years.”
But a lot had changed since they were young kids, wild at heart.
“I’m not the same girl you used to know, Kris.”
“And I hope to God I’m not the same man.”
For a long moment, they stared at one another and then Kris did what they’d both been waiting for. He breached the short distance separating them and pressed his mouth to hers. Holly felt the kiss from her head down to her toes. She felt it in her jittery stomach, in her pounding heart, in that place deep down that had been so lonely for so long.
He made a sound that rumbled up from his chest and set her afire. It made her feel powerful—beautiful, when she knew that she wasn’t. His hands moved gently over her body and she tried to shut out the voice that cautioned her to be wary. He’d feel the roundness of her belly, the thickness of her thighs. Martin had berated her for the extra weight. Made her feel ugly and ungainly.