SECRET DIRTY SANTA (A Reverse Harem Christmas Tale Book 1) Page 2

  She pulled out her phone from her purse and those fast fingers whipped across the screen as she began texting this so-called group.

  "Speaking of Alexis, is she actually in that group?"

  "Oh, hell nah. Her ass gone. She pissed me off," YumYum grumbled as she rolled her eyes.

  "What pissed you off this time?"

  "She's just annoying. She legit is always ready to pick a fight with me. Oh, and she's a hoe."

  "How is she a hoe?" I questioned. I bet this story requires more coffee.

  "Can you believe this bitch tried to steal MY MAN!"

  "Devyn? The one you literally said five minutes ago wasn't your man because you broke up?"

  She lifted the Smirnoff and deliberately drank it nice and slow with her, 'Bitch, you know we a thing' look. She sighed and lowered the bottle to the counter and continued.

  "He's still mine."

  "Uh-huh," I replied with a smirk. "Because of Alexis making a move."

  "Yes. Who said she can take my leftovers? Did I give her permission? How about if I wasn't finished and was reserving some for later?"

  "You're too much for your own good." I giggled and sipped more of my coffee.

  "I know." She winked. "And she's been revoked from this chat of good intel. I'll make a list of all the items and send it to your email. You can go enjoy a warm bath and I'll order Chinese for dinner."

  "That sounds delightful. Thank you." I smiled when her brown eyes met mine.

  "Your welcome, bestie. Let's go lingerie shopping this weekend."

  With a groan, I took a big chug of my coffee and placed it down. "Yup, totally need a bath."

  "And to get laid by the sexiest man alive."

  "He's not."

  "Actually, he is."

  "What?"

  "You didn't see the new magazine that got launched yesterday? It sold out everywhere."

  "Stop it. A MAGAZINE?! Those thin, colorful books that are at every corner stand?" I elaborated.

  "Sold. Out. Everywhere," YumYum whispered. "When you have Felton's sexy CEO shirtless on the cover of PEOPLE magazine with the caption '2055 SEXIEST MAN ALIVE', you can expect everyone to buy five copies and keep them in beautiful condition to sell back twenty years from now."

  "Don't tell me you got some."

  Her wicked grin widened as she got up and walked over to our living room coffee table. She picked up two magazines, which led to me realizing there was a whole stack of them on the white surface.

  "I got you two. One for safekeeping, the other for you to put on your wall or desk. Don't worry, I left one in the washroom just in case you wanna masturb-"

  "Shut up!" I laughed and she joined in, the two of us giggling our heads off. She walked back to the island to place one of the magazines on the counter and sighed.

  "Alright, alright. I'm gonna change out of these jeans and into a nice pair of yoga pants to finish this Smirnoff. Then we'll get some work done so we can wine the evening away."

  "Thanks, Yumo," I said wholeheartedly, using her real name, which caught her off guard for a second as she glanced my way.

  "Ah, feels weird when you call me by my actual name."

  "It's weird when people actually pronounce my name," I clarified.

  "Oh, don't hate me. I butcher everyone's name. EVERYONE. Not my fault I call you L-E and not Elle. Too complicated." She headed toward the hall to our rooms.

  "Have fun staring at that Sexy Beast, who's now your Secret Santa Snack."

  I shook my head, deciding not to answer her teasing, but reached out for the magazine to stare at the hot man on the front page.

  The hot shirtless man who is my boss and now my Secret Santa.

  I finished my coffee and tugged my eyes away to peer at the empty cup.

  I'm going to need a lot more coffee.

  "Morning, Elle. That coffee hasn't kicked in yet?"

  I groaned and placed my ‘DO NOT DISTURB UNLESS EMPTY’ mug onto the counter and opened my dedicated 'DO NOT TOUCH OR I'LL MURDER YOU ON SIGHT' drawer with various coffee pods.

  "I'm going to die," I replied, feeling utterly exhausted.

  After a nice bath, two medium bowls of Chinese food, and a glass of red wine with YumYum, I'd spent the night reviewing the latest statistic reports and ensuring I was prepared to help start the planning of our staff Christmas party.

  I had been in charge of the previous year’s—well, all of them, really—and knew that wouldn't change this year. I learned quickly that the early bird always gets the worm and I wasn't going to slack off on it.

  It will just bite my ass later on.

  By the time I'd finished half of the party planning, it was three in the morning. I'd actually fallen asleep at some point and woken up to my previously scattered stack of papers in a neat pile on the coffee table and a blanket resting on my shoulders.

  I knew YumYum had been the culprit and noticed she was working away at the kitchen island, her rose gold Beats headphones covering her ears as her fingers typed rapidly across her mechanical keyboard.

  She was in her zone and I hadn't wanted to disturb her when I had woken up.

  I'd called it a night then and there, but three hours of sleep was barely cutting it. With a quick hot shower and a fresh cup of coffee made by YumYum, who had just shut down her workstation and gone straight to bed before I could thank her, I'd arrived at work twenty minutes early but felt like a zombie.

  Jenica laughed, walking over in her gold high heels to pat my back.

  "There, there. With another batch of rich coffee, you will be back to your perky, living self in no time. Here, I'll make it. Go sit down and take a ten-minute power nap."

  "I hope you know what an amazing friend you are," I praised, dragging my feet to the black coffee table and slumping into my seat.

  "You’re welcome. Though, I don't want to be ranked up too high on the friendship meter. I'm not competing with YumYum. She'd murder me," Jenica emphasized her statement with a dramatic sigh.

  I smirked and rested my head on my hands. "She actually shares her friends, you know?"

  "Uh-huh. Then she stays hidden in the shadows with duct tape and rope to kidnap anyone who messes with you."

  I arched an eyebrow at Jenica, who looked back and rolled her eyes. "Don't act like she wouldn't do it."

  "Oh no, she would," I said confidently. "You just forgot to add the getaway method and how she'd hide the body."

  "Ah. Right. Remind me to never piss you off. In fact, I'll just apologize to both of you if anything happens. Save me from premature death." She laughed and pressed the button of the Keurig and I couldn't wait for that nice cup of coffee to be in my hands.

  "Aren't you excited for Secret Santa? I heard our CEO is participating." Jenica swung her hips and flipped her hair. "I haven't opened my slip yet."

  "Don't remind me," I groaned. "And why?"

  "I've placed it on a shrine and I’m waiting twenty-four hours to allow the gods to give me the name I desire," Jenica confirmed proudly.

  I stared at her for a long minute. "You're not serious."

  "I'm totally serious. I will get Brad for Secret Santa and get between his sheets," she vowed.

  She's not joking…

  "That confidence of yours blows my mind." I sighed and closed my eyes.

  "Aww, don't lose hope in me. Trust me, in twenty-four hours I will unfold that small sheet of holy paper and see my man's name on it in beautiful red ink."

  "I swear the ink was black and you've already claimed the poor man. He's fucked."

  "You mean he will be fucked by yours truly and he'll love it. Then we'll have an amazing relationship, he'll propose to me in front of the Eiffel Tower, and we'll get married in Bora Bora."

  "I'm going to sleep," I announced, knowing she'd continue her fantasy now that she had already passed the marriage mark of her dream.

  "I was getting to the best part," Jenica whined.

  "You'll have three kids, two boys and a girl, get a beautiful mansion
, and travel the world," I summarized.

  "You forgot that I want to go bungee jumping and travel in a trailer across the Grand Canyon," Jenica added.

  "Power nap please…" I groaned.

  "Fine, fine. You have eight minutes. I'll gather the morning reports for you because I care," Jenica replied with a sweet voice that made me smile.

  "You're a saint," I praised and took the opportunity to doze off in less than a minute.

  I wished my power nap could have been an actual nap, but it was enough to give me the boost I needed to finish the mug of coffee Jenica had made for me.

  She gave me a moment's peace to enjoy the rich caffeinated liquid, but it was short-lived when she practically ran into the break room.

  "Are you finished with that coffee?!" she demanded.

  I blinked and took a second to look at the now-empty mug.

  "Well…yes, but if you poisoned it, you might as well call 9-1-1 now," I offered.

  She rolled her eyes and gestured to the door.

  "Good! Matthias asked for you to meet him in the office!"

  Oh, fuck…

  "Are you sure it was for me? He never summons me unless someone fucked up and last time I checked, we were the only ones here yet," I defended.

  "Yes, I'm serious. I took the risk of asking him again to clarify if he meant you, E-L-L-E and not Eli from Department A. Now stop wasting time and go!"

  "Fuck me," I said under my breath, but scurried out of my seat.

  Running to the door, I skidded to a stop to fix my business outfit: white short-sleeved dress shirt, black skirt, black heels, and my rose gold Michael Kors watch and stud earrings. Didn't work to dress too expensively when your boss wore ten-thousand-dollar suits.

  Maybe add an extra zero into the number for safe measure.

  At least I’d made sure my natural makeup look was on point this morning and my slick black hair was in a tight, collected, high bun.

  Jenica walked over to give me a good up-and-down look and nodded in approval.

  "You're ready, soldier. I wish you the best of luck. I hope one of the annoying employees who always show up late gets fired."

  "You wish. The bad ones never get fired first. If that happened, half of the low-life, shit-talking, rumor-spreading, mean girls would have been gone by now," I stressed and took a calming breath.

  The action helped me gain my focus and I turned on my business attitude.

  Time to face Matthias bright and early.

  "Good luck!" Jenica slapped my ass and I looked over my shoulder to give her a look.

  She shrugged, looking not the least bit apologetic.

  "I'm making sure it's nice and plump for him to look at when you walk out of his office with that business confidence of yours."

  That made me grin and I shook my head. "You're too much. I'll see you around when I'm done."

  "Cool! I'll save you another cup of coffee for morning reports."

  Bless her heart.

  Jenica made things around here a lot easier. When your job was to ensure nobody fucks up, having a second partner-in-crime helped a ton.

  Especially because people do fuck up at least three times a week.

  Walking towards Matthias’s office, I took a few deep breaths, knowing I was going to need every piece of calm and resistance to deal with that sexy force of nature.

  I may be a businesswoman who tried my best to not fall for Matthias’s swoon-worthy features, but damn, it was hard to be in the same room as him without envisioning his muscular arms holding you up as he banged you furiously against his desk.

  That’s the sex appeal he has over all the woman here and my little fantasy is a lot better than half the ones I've heard YumYum read out loud from that WhatsApp group. Some women are fine with sharing that they wanna be banged by their boss. Wonderful.

  I reached the black door with the gold-plated sign that had MATTHIAS FELTON engraved on its fine surface. Taking a glance at my outfit, I smoothed out my pencil skirt and made sure the jeweled buttons of my dress shirt were in their place.

  No way can I walk in there without ensuring my outfit is on point.

  With a quick tap of my black heels and a tug at the black hair tie to secure its tight bond around my black strands, I took one final deep breath and officially put my professional mask on. After three firm knocks against the door, I heard Matthias’s smooth voice from the other side.

  "Come in."

  Turning the gold knob, I opened the door slowly, revealing the neat but lavish office that represented Matthias’s admiration for luxury.

  The office was currently black-and-white-themed, including the expensive-looking black tiles that cloaked his office floors, with hints of white that gave the tiles an almost marble appearance.

  It made sense because many of the furniture pieces were white marble, including his large desk that I'd always wished to be laid naked upon.

  Let's just push that thought to the side for now. No need to get carried away, Elle.

  Matthias changed his office decor every few months; the previous look had been styled in red and black. He was definitely neat, not a speck of dust anywhere, and even though his desk had paperwork on it, each pile was stacked perfectly.

  There was a single white leather chair in front of his desk, a sign that our CEO only used his office for one-on-one confrontations and meetings.

  If he needed to talk to a group of people at once, he could easily usher them to the meeting room down the hall that was just as brilliantly decorated as this one.

  I stopped analyzing the room and focused my attention on the man in question. Matthias Felton stood at 6'4”, but was currently leaning against the floor-to-ceiling tinted windows. His back was pressed against the divider between the panes, his legs were crossed at the ankles, and he scanned a report in his left hand

  I thought it would be an uncomfortable position to be in, but Matthias looked like a model ready for his image to be hand-painted by an artist.

  Taking advantage of this rare moment, I analyzed his black hair with hints of brown streaks. It was short, combed, and gelled back to give a sleek, professional look.

  His sharp jawline, stubble, and well-trimmed mustache were already doing their work on me, my heart rate increasing at the mere sight of my boss.

  He wore a cream suit with a bright teal dress shirt with cream stripes. I knew by now that Matthias wore suits for days filled with important meetings and boardroom conferences. If it were simply a teleconference, he'd wear a dress shirt and ditch the coat.

  I wish he'd ditch all his clothes and let me lick him right up, but again, I have to tame my fantasies.

  Deciding to find out why I’d been summoned this early in the morning, I stepped forward toward the white leather chair, my heels echoing in the quiet.

  It was enough to pull Matthias out of his current read, his head lifting up so our eyes could meet.

  If eyes as good as Mathias’s could kill, I'd be deceased at this very moment. Those vibrant, sea blue eyes were so pure and marvelous, they practically dug into your very soul. I could get lost in his eyes all day long and not care about the consequences.

  Just imagining those eyes scanning my naked body was enough to send shivers through me, but I shut them down just as quickly, knowing I'd lose my focus if I kept going.

  "Good Morning, Mr. Felton. Jenica informed me that you wanted a word before the day begins?" I handled myself with fearlessness, never really feeling intimidated when I was face-to-face with Matthias.

  Sure, he was my boss, and for many who worked here, being called to his office was like receiving a death sentence. The amount of "accidents" that had happened, resulting in calls to the janitor to come to clean the puddle of urine from a frightened employee, were far too many to keep track of anymore. I understood their pain, but after being in this business from the ground up, I knew my role and performed far better than anyone else could.

  If you have enough confidence in your own skills, not even t
he sexy CEO can bring you down.

  A small smirk formed on Matthias’s smooth lips, lightening his handsome facial features even more.

  He pushed off the window and uncrossed his legs to walk toward his desk, placing the report onto its smooth surface before gesturing for me to sit.

  "Yes, Ms. Castro. I wanted to discuss the upcoming Christmas party. I'm well aware that you assist with the planning every year, but normally don't participate in Secret Santa." The way his baritone voice sent chills through me made it seem as if the man was speaking French.

  Elle, concentrate! I should have downed one more cup of coffee.

  "You've been correctly informed, sir. I was caught off guard at being invited to participate. I'm more than happy to give my slip to someone who wasn't present at the time and to simply help organize as usual. I'm sure anyone who wasn't in yesterday would be more than delighted for the chance," I suggested.

  Weirdly enough, the thought of someone else getting Matthias as their Secret Santa made a disheartening feeling pulse through me.

  It was funny how I’d dreaded the fact that I'd chosen his name out of the hat, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, I didn't want someone else to be given this 'golden' opportunity.

  Or that's what YumYum would term it as. She would have a point. This is my one chance to interact with my CEO on a friendly level rather than as boss versus employee.

  Watching him descend into the rich leather seat of his chair was like watching a drop of ice cream roll off the safety net of the waffle, a mesmerizing slow movement that reminded me, yet again, to snap out of it.

  He crossed one leg over the other as he leaned back to continue gazing at me. My mind was telling me it liked what he saw before him, but I could never be sure.

  Matthias loved to play games with his employees, but I was doing a good job hiding my attraction to him.

  If you didn't count the lip licking…or the delayed introduction of my arrival…did I miss anything?

  "There's no need. I called you into my office this morning to state that I'd like your participation in the Secret Santa." His words threw me off my game and I couldn't help revealing my confusion.

  "But sir, I could easily allow another employee to take part while I help organize. With you participating this year, I'm sure there will be double the turnout at the party as well," I stressed.