Eggnog Makes Her Easy: A Boys of the Big Easy Holiday novella Read online

  Eggnog Makes Her Easy

  A Boys of the Big Easy Holiday novella

  Erin Nicholas

  Copyright © 2018 by Erin Nicholas

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN:978-0-9998907-4-5

  Editing: Lindsey Faber

  Cover design: Angela Waters

  Cover image: Wander Aguiar

  Eggnog Makes Her Easy

  A Boys of the Big Easy novella

  Lindsey is expecting silent nights this holiday. Just her and her boys while her husband serves overseas. But her blue Christmas turns merry when things start rockin’ under the mistletoe thanks to a surprise gift from her naughty Santa.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  From Nice and Easy

  1

  “Oh, yes, Santa, I definitely believe in you.”

  “Oh, I am absolutely on the naughty list, Santa.”

  “Holy crap.”

  Lindsey had to agree with that last one. For sure.

  The first two reactions came from women who were happily married to very good-looking guys. Guys who would probably dress up like Santa if their wives asked. Or maybe even if they didn’t ask. The third reaction was from, Bea, the sixty-something self-appointed grandmother of their single parents support group.

  Lindsey laughed at the women. “Easy girls. Your husbands are right over there.”

  Her best friend, Dana—the one on the naughty list, apparently—and Addison, Dana’s sister-in-law, both looked over at her.

  “Logan recruited that Santa,” Dana said with a grin. “I’m going to have to really thank him later.”

  Dana and Addison were married to the very hot, pretty-naughty-themselves Trahan brothers, Gabe and Logan. They both also had babies, as well as elementary-school-aged kids, at home. But they were looking at the Santa who had just walked in as if sugarplums were not what was going to be dancing through their heads tonight.

  “Was it Logan who thought that Santa should wear a red leather jacket instead of the traditional Santa coat?” Lindsey asked. Though, even as she said it, she realized it did sound like Logan.

  Logan had never met an occasion, including something that was already a party, that he couldn’t make even more fun. And this was the adult after-hours portion of the Christmas party. Of course Logan had been involved.

  The Single Parents Support Group got together for a pre-Christmas party every year with their kids, and even though a couple of these women were no longer single, once a part of the group, always a part of the group. So, while Addison and Gabe had started out as two singles in the group, they were now a couple and kept coming to meetings. And parties. Logan had married one of the support group moms and so he was now a part of the makeshift family as well. Lindsey wasn’t a bit surprised that Logan had jumped into their celebrations wholeheartedly.

  There, of course, had been a Santa for the kids too, but that guy had been appropriately built to play the part and had left about two hours ago. The kids were now all over at Bea’s house where the older kids were watching the younger ones while they drank cocoa and watched Christmas movies so the adults could have a few extra hours of holiday fun. Childless holiday fun.

  “Is he a stripper Santa?” Bea asked, studying the guy who was now shaking hands with Logan across the room.

  He sure could be. He looked like Santa. Kind of. He had the full, snowy white beard, white hair, and a red velvet hat with a white pom-pom on his head. But that was where the similarities to Jolly Old St. Nick ended. This Santa was trim and hard. He was wearing a long jacket, but it was red leather and he wore it over a black T-shirt that molded to his flat abs, black jeans that showed off muscular legs, and black work boots. And black sunglasses. Even though he was inside. He also had a big red bag slung over his shoulder and he let out a loud, “Ho! Ho! Ho!”—but it was clear he was smirking behind the beard. The beard that looked really real.

  “Oh my God, I hope he’s a stripper Santa.” This came from another group member, Ashley, as she joined the other women at the snack table where the snacks had been converted from cookies and punch to, well, cookies and spiked punch. Ashley nudged her friend, Lexi, with her elbow. “You’ve always had a thing for older guys. You’ll definitely be sitting on his lap, huh?”

  Lexi blushed but grinned. “Well, that is what you’re supposed to do with Santa. I wouldn’t want to offend him.”

  They all knew that Lexi had a thing for Caleb, one of the single dads in the group, and Caleb was about seven years older, but Lindsey didn’t think that Lexi’s attraction was just about Caleb being older.

  They all laughed at Lexi’s answer and Lindsey’s gaze shifted back to Santa. She had to admit, the guy was making her re-imagine her Christmas list a little bit too. Maybe Matt would be up for some Santa role-playing. They’d gotten pretty good at phone sex and Skype-sex. She could send him a Santa hat and make him say dirty things about tinsel and candy canes. Matt was the epitome of the alpha man from the tips of his blond hair to the tips of the toes on his big feet. He loved being dominant and bossy. He could be Santa and she could be an elf who just wasn’t getting the toy-making right…

  “Linds?”

  She focused on Bea and realized the other woman must have said something to her that required an answer. “Sorry. What did you say?”

  “I asked if you were going to sit on his lap too?”

  “Oh.” She thought about that. There wasn’t really any harm in that. It was just some fun at a Christmas party.

  “Oh, you guys have to,” Dana said. “Seriously, Logan will be crushed if no one plays along with this.”

  “He really will,” Addison added. “He wouldn’t give us any details but the other night at dinner he was really excited about this after-party.”

  “I’m in,” Lexi said quickly.

  They all laughed, but Lindsey nodded. “Yep, me too. It’s all just for fun.”

  “I’m totally in,” Bea said. She adjusted her Christmas sweater over her ample breasts. “Studly Santa better have something good in that bag for me.”

  Lindsey laughed. Like her, Bea wasn’t technically a single parent. She was raising her grandkids, but her husband was an over-the-road trucker, so wasn’t around to help with the kids much. Which really did present her with a lot of the same challenges other single moms had. If nothing else, just someone to bounce ideas off of and rant to once in a while.

  Lindsey was in the same boat, more or less. She and Matt were happily married, but Lindsey was raising their two boys while Matt served in the United States Army. He’d been a career soldier when she’d met him, so she’d known from the beginning this is how it would be. Of course, that didn’t mean she didn’t long for him to be home for holidays.

  That’s why things like Christmas parties with good friends and just having fun were so important. And yeah, sitting on Santa’s lap—hot Santa’s lap, even—and getting adult gifts, and drinking more spiked holiday punch, was part of that. It was just fun with her friends before one of her favorite holidays.

  She downed her punch in one gulp and set the cup down. “Come on, Lexi. Let’s kick this off.”

  Ashley, Dana, and Addison were right on their heels.
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  “Okay, Mr. Claus, where are we going to do this?” Lindsey asked.

  The guy glanced over his shoulder but didn’t turn fully toward her. “You’re an eager one.”

  Santa’s voice was very deep and she had the brief impression that he was making it deeper on purpose.

  “Well, I assume that big bag of yours has toys in it for girls like us.”

  He chuckled, the sound deep and rumbling. “That it does.” He turned slightly. “You’ve been a good girl, then?”

  For some reason, Lindsey shook her head and gave him a little smile that, had she not been happily married—and not had three cups of punch—might have seemed flirtatious. Slightly. But she was married. And a little tipsy. So it meant nothing.

  “Oh, no, definitely not,” she heard herself say.

  Which was a total lie. She was always good. Well, if “good” meant that she was organized and always on time and watched her carbs and worked out five times a week—okay, three and a half times a week—and was always there for her kids and friends and family then she was definitely good. If good meant never gossiping and never thinking about how much she’d love to see Marcy Goodwin trip in her four-inch-are-you-kidding-me-wearing-those-to-drop-your-kid-off-at-school leopard print heels then not so much.

  And she drank too much coffee. And too much wine, if she was being honest. And she hid candy bars from her kids in her bedside table. And she hid her four vibrators in the drawer right under the candy bar drawer.

  Again, Santa chuckled, almost as if surprised by her answer. Maybe he knew about the bad thoughts about Marcy. Or the candy bars. He was Santa, after all. But she had a feeling Santa gave brownie points to moms who were not only able to get seven and eight-year-old boys out the door and into school on time every single day but who then walked down the hall to enlighten the minds of twenty-three third graders from eight in the morning until three in the afternoon.

  “I have just the gift for you then,” he told her.

  Logan laughed. “And I was worried you girls wouldn’t get into this.”

  “Presents?” Lindsey asked. “You thought we wouldn’t get into presents?”

  Logan winked. “We’ve got some games too. And the I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus photo booth.”

  Lindsey rolled her eyes but smiled. The kids would get a kick out of seeing their moms kissing Santa on the cheek. And most of the kids probably wouldn’t think much of the fact that this Santa looked a lot different than the one they’d met. “Well, then let’s get this thing going.”

  “Okay, Nick,” Logan said to Santa. “Right this way.” He led him over to the big chair they’d positioned next to the fake fireplace the guys of the group had moved into the community center.

  “Line forms behind me, ladies,” Lexi said.

  Lindsey glanced over at Caleb Moreau, one of the group regulars, without even really thinking about it. But she wanted to see his reaction to Lexi sitting on another man’s lap. His reactions in regards to Lexi were always funny to watch. He and Lexi denied that there was anything between them other than friendship and a mutually beneficial co-parenting set-up. But the group had their doubts that it was that simple. For either of them.

  Caleb was a firefighter raising his young niece and Lexi was finishing nursing school and taking care of her little guy, Jack. Both had crazy hours, so they shared childcare responsibilities. But really, they shared everything from groceries to laundry duties. And Lindsey, and some of the others in the group, thought they shared quite a few feelings as well.

  Like right now. Caleb was glowering in the general direction of hot Santa and Lexi. She wasn’t perched on his knee. She was full-on in his lap with an arm draped around his neck and she was leaning in to tell him what she wanted for Christmas right in his ear. Santa had a red-leather-clad arm around her waist and his other hand resting on her knee and was grinning about whatever she wanted under her tree.

  “Okay! Mistletoe! You know what to do!” Logan pointed to the sprig of mistletoe mounted over their heads and lifted his phone to take the photo.

  Lexi’s pucker was exaggerated, as was Santa’s. Their lips barely met. It was just a quick peck, but a very cute photo. Lexi bounced up off of his lap and came back to the group of women as Logan’s wife, Dana, stepped up to be the next to tell Santa her Christmas wishes.

  “Caleb didn’t like that at all,” Ashley commented.

  Lexi shrugged, but smiled, almost mischievously. “Really? He was watching?”

  Ashley laughed. “Are you ever within fifty feet of him that he’s not watching you?”

  Lexi’s smile dropped and she sighed. “Yeah, only watching.”

  Ashley sighed. “I need more liquor if we’re going to have this conversation again.”

  “Nope. No conversation. This is a party. In fact, I need to open my gift.” She held up the little box Santa had given her.

  “Oh, yes,” Ashley said with a grin. “You do.”

  Lexi shook the box and something inside clanked. She looked suspicious. “Okay.”

  “Hang on, though. Caleb’s on his way over. Shocker,” Ashley said.

  Actually all of the men of the group came to gather around the Santa chair. Corey and Austin stood back a bit, but Caleb moved in to stand beside Lexi, and Gabe wrapped his arms around Addison from behind.

  “Did you get your gift from Santa yet?” he asked.

  “Not yet. I have to sit on his lap, you know,” Addison responded.

  “Nah, I’m sure he’d just give you—”

  “Oh, I’m sitting on his lap,” Addison said. She looked over her shoulder at her husband and grinned as Gabe gave a low growl. “Are you going to sit on his lap?”

  Gabe lifted an eyebrow. “Uh, no. I’m good.”

  “But you won’t get your present if you don’t.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “What do you know about my present from Santa?”

  She laughed. “I’m guessing I know as much about yours and you do about mine.”

  “Logan asked you for ideas?” Gabe asked.

  Addison nodded. “I think he got input from someone close to each of us.”

  “Hmm.” Gabe gave Addison a hot look. “Maybe I will sit on the guy’s lap. I need to see this now.”

  “Yeah? And I definitely want whatever you suggested?”

  “Definitely,” Gabe told her.

  And Lindsey felt that little stab of jealousy that jabbed her every once in a while. She was happy for Gabe and Addison, but the way they looked at each other was the way that every person wanted to be looked at by another person at some point in their life.

  It was the way Matt looked at her. When he was here.

  “Oh, wow, okay, Santa,” Lexi said, as she pulled her gift from the box.

  She held it up for everyone to see. A pair of handcuffs lined in red velvet with white fur around the edges dangled from her fingertip.

  2

  Lindsey instantly looked at Caleb. His scowl had definitely deepened.

  “Watch that left hand there, Saint Nicholas,” Logan warned as he raised his phone to capture the photo of Dana kissing Santa’s cheek.

  This was a very typical gathering of the group. They were a mix of ages and backgrounds and even parenting styles, but they laughed together a lot. And supported each other no matter what. There was no judgment here. Or, at least, there was no hidden judgment. They disagreed sometimes, but they talked it out, everyone got their say, and minds were sometimes changed. And sometimes not. Which was okay too.

  This was the group that would tell her the truth if she was over-worrying or even under-worrying something with the boys. They would listen when she just needed to get out all of her frustrations with the Army or Matt’s commanding officer or just life in general. They were also the ones who would step up if she needed last-minute childcare or someone to replace a garbage disposal or someone to help her decorate three dozen cupcakes for Liam’s birthday party.

  They met once a week for two hours, but
then once a month they got together with the kids too. Sometimes other family members came along as well. As Gabe’s brother, Logan had been a regular at the once-a-month parties even before he and Dana got together. In fact…now that Lindsey thought about it, and did a little math, last year’s Christmas party might have been when Logan had finally talked Dana into going out with him that first time.

  Which made Lindsey think about the first and only meeting Matt had ever come to. The support group was, of course, to support her because he was gone, but the last time he was home, she’d invited him along. If the group was interested in knowing the kids they all talked about, they would certainly want to meet the husband of one of their members. They’d all met Bea’s husband, Stan, a couple of times when he was home and it was really nice to put a face to the name.

  Everyone had loved Matt, of course, and as she watched Dana open her gift from Santa—a big bottle of body glitter that made her blush and laugh and made Logan look very smug—Lindsey was hit by a wave of longing. These waves came and went. Certain days and events brought them on, of course. Their boys’ birthdays, her birthday, holidays, days when she wasn’t feeling well or one of the boys was sick. Just any time that she felt more alone and vulnerable than usual. There were times, however, that they would hit her out of the blue and she’d feel a sadness come over her that was very hard to describe.

  She and Matt had never had an every-day-together life. He’d been a soldier when she’d met him. But they’d met at Christmastime and that always made this holiday a little harder than the rest.

  He’d been leading trainings at Fort Polk and had been in New Orleans for a weekend of festivities, including the annual Running of the Santas. It was basically a huge street party that included lots of drinks, Santa outfits of all kinds, and a “run”—that went for about three blocks, from one bar to another—all for charity. And fun. But then, that was New Orleans’ specialty and she, as a student at Loyola, had to participate in the event. Or so her roommate and the two girls next door convinced her.