Secret Santa Surprise
A Kindred Tales Novel
One lonely older woman...
Two younger warriors who think she's beautiful...
Add some spiked punch and a mix-up with the Secret Santa Gifts,
And who knows what might happen?
Melanie Jameson is afraid it’s going to be a lonely Christmas. After a bitter divorce with an abusive husband, she moves to the Kindred Mother Ship to take a job in their PR department. Though she makes friends easily, especially with Sees Clearly, a handsome Kindred warrior who is much too young for her, she doesn’t have anyone to spend Christmas with but her crusty old Aunt Marge.
Clear is smitten with Melanie the moment he sees her. It doesn’t matter to him that she’s older than him—he wants her at once. After a mishap with her Kindred wave oven leaves her with a burned hand, he brings her to meet his other half, Feels Strongly, who is a doctor in the Med Center. Strong agrees at once that the lovely older female is the one for them—but how to convince Melanie of that?
It seems hopeless since Clear and Strong don’t think Melanie is interested. But the Goddess works in mysterious ways. When a mix-up with the Secret Santa presents means Melanie gets a naughty negligee from Clear instead of the oven mitt he intended to give her, she begins to wonder if Christmas might be exciting after all...
Will she end up with a Secret Santa Surprise? You’ll have to read to find out!
1
“So whose name did you draw for Secret Santa?” Sonja plopped into her rolling chair and scooted over to where Melanie was tapping on the holo keyboard projected by her compu-cube. The small cube, about the size of a man’s fist, also projected the screen she was looking at. It hovered above the cube in 3-D color in the air in front of her.
“You know we’re not supposed to say.” Melanie smiled at her coworker, who was grinning eagerly at her. She had only been aboard the Kindred Mother Ship for a month, but she had already found it easy to make friends here.
Of course, working in PR and being a Public Relations Specialist with a Masters degree in Corporate Marketing meant that she was an outgoing person anyway. But it just seemed that the people aboard the Mother Ship were more friendly and kind than the people she was used to down on Earth. Maybe because they were all so happy and fulfilled, with jobs they loved that paid a good wage and relationships that were loving and loyal.
Of course one of those “less than friendly” people down on Earth was Steve, whispered a little voice in her head. Anybody would be an improvement over him!
Melanie pushed the thought of her ex from her mind. Their divorce had been painful and bitter and left her feeling bruised and uncertain of herself. She was glad the Mother Ship was such a kind and welcoming environment.
But kind and welcoming or not, if Sonja thought she was going to spill the beans about who Melanie had drawn for Secret Santa, she had another think coming!
“I’m not telling,” she told her coworker with a grin. “That ruins the surprise.”
“Well that’s okay. I mainly just wanted to say that I’m pretty sure Sahran got me.” Sonja giggled and put a hand to her mouth. “He’s been dropping hints all over the place so I can just imagine what he’s going to get me!”
Sahran was a Blood Kindred warrior who worked in the PR and Marketing department with them. He and Sonja were newly engaged, though they were holding off on getting bonded until after their wedding. When Melanie had asked the reason for this, Sonja’s eyes had gotten wide.
“Girl, my daddy is a Baptist minister! And he’s not one of these ‘meek and mild’ preachers either—he’s all fire and brimstone! So Sahran and I are waiting.” She’d shrugged. “Besides, it’s not long—we’re getting married on New Year’s Day—we can stand the sexual tension until then. But, oooh, can that man talk dirty! You oughta hear him say what he’s going to do to me once he gets a ring on my finger!” And she’d fanned herself with one hand, her eyes eager with anticipation.
From what she was saying now, it sounded to Melanie like Sonja and Sahran were getting a little impatient with all that waiting.
“What do you think he got you?” she asked, grinning at the younger woman who was clearly bursting with excitement.
“Who knows? Maybe something to wear on our bonding night.” Sonja giggled, which made Melanie laugh along with her. Her coworker had an infectious laugh that made her smile even when she was feeling blue.
“What’s so funny, ladies?”
The deep, friendly voice interrupted their laughter and Melanie looked up to see another coworker—Sees Clearly or Clear for short—looking down at the two of them.
Clear worked in the accounting department and he was hands down one of the handsomest men Melanie had ever met. He had blondish-brown hair, broad shoulders, and smoky green eyes that made her think of shadows in a forest.
He’s also more than ten years too young for you and a Twin Kindred, Melanie reminded herself. Which meant that somewhere on the Mother Ship, Clear had a Dark Twin who was probably every bit as handsome as him, but considerably more intense. Dark Twins tended to be more moody and temperamental and, well, dark—at least according to Melanie’s research for her latest PR vid spot.
“Share the joke?” Clear asked, bringing her back to reality. “Are you two talking about the Secret Satan drawing?”
“That’s Secret Santa,” Melanie corrected him, laughing.
“Mmm-hmm. Satan is the Lord of Darkness,” Sonja told him. “You don’t want him coming down your chimney Christmas Eve night!”
“I would think you wouldn’t want anyone coming down your chimney,” Clear objected. “Wouldn’t it be a fire risk? Also, I have seen pictures of this Satan—I mean Santa. He is quite rotund and aren’t most chimneys on Earth narrow? How could he fit?”
“He just does,” Sonja said, giggling again. “He’s Santa.”
But Clear wasn’t done critiquing the problems of Christmas yet.
“Also, how could he get to every house in a single night in order to deliver presents?” he asked, frowning. “By my calculations, he would have to visit one hundred and eight billion individual domiciles in a single twenty-four hour period which gives him only 1/1250th of a second for each visit, in which he has to slide down the narrow chimney (while avoiding the fire), distribute presents, fill the footwear which has been laid out, and consume the bovine squeezings and Christmas pastries that have been left out for him.”
“Bo-bovine squeezings?” Melanie asked with a little gasp. She and Sonja were laughing so hard they could hardly speak. “You mean milk?”
“I suppose.” Clear shrugged. “And even if he only gave each child one present, he would still have to bring three hundred and twenty-one thousand tons worth of presents on his sleigh. Which, according to your legends, is pulled by only eight ‘tiny’ reindeer. So—”
“Stop! I can’t take it!” Sonja was doubled over, giggling through her nose like a crazy woman.
“Clear, you’re clearly over-thinking this,” Melanie told him, laughing herself.