Page 16 of Naughty Elf: Merry

“And now I’m trying to replay every second we’ve had since you appeared in my studio because maybe I do know but I’m talking myself out of it. And I don’t know what to do.”

My babbly mess of words barely made sense to me. There was no way it was making sense to Merry, but when I opened my eyes, braving looking him in the eye once more, he hadn’t turned to leave. That was a good start. But his eyes were unreadable.

I stood there for a few seconds, allowing him time to say or ask what was on his mind, but he watched me, his mouth closed.

“Every time I get a little closer to understanding what’s going on, all I think about is you again—your lips and how much I want to press mine against them. To feel your body flush with mine, to taste your lips, and... and this isn’t making any sense, I don’t know.”

“I want that too.” His voice hitched.

His cheeks flushed, his bottom lip pulled in with his teeth. He was sexy as fuck.

“I-I keep thinking about kissing you.” He stared at my lips.

There was no more thinking to be had. I grabbed him by the hips and pulled him close, brushing my lips against his, gently and tentatively at first. But it didn’t stay that way. Passion ignited between us.

Our lips, teeth, and tongues danced together as if they were made for one another. He tasted like cinnamon, and I wanted more and more and more. I didn’t think I could ever get enough of him.

He reached around me and grabbed me by the ass, pulling me to him so that our hard cocks were pressed together with only the stupid fabric between us.

I groaned into his mouth, the sensations too perfect. And just as I began to let my hands wander, my stupid fucking phone alarm went off. And worst of all, it wasn’t one I could ignore.

“Shit.”

I pressed my forehead against his. “I need to go. There’s a festival meeting on one of the chairs, and I can’t?—”

The last thing I wanted to do was leave him, especially after he’d said he might leave earlier. I couldn’t imagine coming back and finding him gone. But the fear that he’d do exactly that ran high. If he did leave, I wouldn’t begin to know where to find him. It wasn’t as if there were trains to the North Pole, and I was pretty sure that there weren’t the best cell towers there if I did figure it out.

“Hey.” He intertwined our fingers and gave my hand a squeeze. “Maybe... maybe I could come with you?”

“You want to come to a boring meeting where they pretend we have a say, but at the end of the day, we don’t?” I’d been conned into joining a few years back and had instant regret, but the extra-fun part of the job was that you needed to nominate your replacement and they needed to say yes. It was a nearly impossible feat.

“Please? I’d love to see you in action.”

I would too, but not that kind of action.

“Yes.” I let out a long breath. “Please come with me. My dragon doesn’t want me to leave you. And I don’t either.”

I pulled him in for another kiss, this one not as long but still somehow better. It was almost as if it was a promise, one that said he was going to stay and we were going figure this all out. There was so much still left to say, and we’d say it, but first, it was time for local politics.

Yay us.

Chapter 13

Merry

There were so many scary things in the big wide world, but with Hernan at my side and his dragon protecting me, my internal threat level had dropped from ten plus plus plus to about one. Or maybe two. I didn’t want to appear too confident.

The meeting was held in a huge room in the council building. This place needed sprucing up. It was so bad and boring, all browns and more browns, with a touch of white and cream. Ewww!

Hernan introduced me, and after everyone had stared at me and few whispered behind their hands to the person next to them, everyone ignored me as Hernan started the meeting.

This was nothing like the gatherings at the North Pole. Everyone spoke over one another, and they shuffled papers and argued about how little time they had and that people hadn’t answered their calls.

Wow! How did humans and shifters get anything done?

Hernan attempted to corral the committee members into groups, with one being food, the other entertainment, the thirdgoods to be sold, and the last games. Gods, this festival would be a disaster if someone who knew what they were doing didn’t step in.

But after glancing around, there was no one. Hernan couldn’t do it all. Besides, he had a business to run, and I was sitting idle, twiddling my thumbs.