Violet hadn’t tried to communicate back with me yet. Not to my alter-ego, AKA Secret Santa anyway.
She’d communicated with meplentyout at the ice-skating rink.
And I had a hot date with her tomorrow night, too.
I was planning to ask her out on a dateeverynight for the rest of our lives as long as she kept saying yes to me.
I never would have thought that she’d actually go for a guy like me. And I didn’t know for sure that she liked me, but she sure had giggled a lot while we skated, her cheeks flushing pink every time our eyes met. And from what I knew about women, those were some sure signs of interest.
I tore open the envelope to see what she’d written me.
Dear Secret Santa,
While I’ve appreciated your efforts, I feel like it would be unfair of me to string you along any further.
The truth is, I’m in love with someone else. I appreciate the attention. It’s very flattering, and also thoughtful of you, but I have to ask you to stop giving me gifts.
I know that if you’re following the Twelve Days of Christmas song; we have three more gifts to go. But please hold off on giving me anymore. You’ll find the woman who’s right for you. You just need to keep your heart open for love.
With care,
Violet
My heart sank in my chest.
Had I read all her signals wrong?
Was this her way of trying to let me down easily?
We were supposed to have a date tonight, and now I wondered if I should even show up.
I looked at the ridiculous gift I’d put on her desk. It was so heavy she probably couldn’t even lift it. And she was definitely the only person who could benefit from it.
Wavering back and forth on whether I should take it with me or not, I finally muttered, “Fuck it,” and left it on her desk.
But I did snatch the letter back that I’d originally planned to give her. It explained why I deviated away from ten lords a-leaping—which honestly had me stumped—to buy a transmission for her car. I scrawled out a hastily written note in its place while I tried to keep my heart in one piece.
Chapter 16
Violet
December 22nd.
I stared at the giant box on my desk.
The whole office had come around to watch me unwrap it this time.
The box was huge, and when I tested its weight, I realized I couldn’t even lift it.
The letter I’d left for my Secret Santa was gone. And this box and a note were left in its place.
It didn’t feel right to accept this gift when I only wanted a gift from Easton.
Easton was so far out of my league it wasn’t even funny, but if the man wanted to spend time with me, I wasnotgoing to talk him out of it.
Last night I’d even let myself fantasize that not only did he want to fuck me… but that he wantedmorethan that, too.
I’d practically been naming our kids. And Ihadrenamed my vibrator. It was now called theBig Beast, after the nickname he’d given his cock.
