Elfemies to Lovers

by Jennifer Chipman

A flash of reddish-blonde hair caught my attention, but the woman was gone in a flurry of green before I could take proper notice of her.

Her long, strawberry blonde hair was enough to capture my attention, not to mention her delicate facial features and slight frame.

I glanced at her nametag. Ivy. I definitely wouldn’t be forgetting that name.

His perusal of my space gave me ample time to study him. That long, brown hair that touched the top of his ears. It looked soft like you’d want to run your fingers

through it. He was clean-shaven, though I imagined he’d look equally attractive with stubble and that strong jaw. Pink, full lips. And those cheekbones? Ugh. To die for. And yet, none of that compared to his physique. He wore black suit pants and a white button-up shirt with a forest green tie, but he’d rolled up the sleeves, revealing delicious forearms. With those broad shoulders, I could just imagine⁠—

It was

small in his massive hands. God, what was wrong with me? I didn’t usually notice stuff like that.

“See you tomorrow, Ivy Winters.” The matter-of-factness in his tone, the way his stare was full of determination… all of it was hot.

I looked over at the counter, catching the barista pointing at me—and an irritated looking Ivy, who looked like she could have shot daggers out of her eyes. Scary. She looked like an angry kitten.

Even annoyed at me, she was a vision in green velvet. Stunning, with that strawberry blonde hair—that shined golden and red in the sun—curled down her back and her bright blue eyes that sparkled like snowflakes falling from the sky. Today, she was wearing a fresh pair of earrings than she had the last time I’d seen her—a set of sparkly Christmas trees—and she’d done her hair differently.

What would it be like to see the North Pole through her eyes? To see her experience snow, a real Christmas, for the first time?

making me

wonder if I’d ever noticed how beautiful a woman was before Ivy Winters. I didn’t think I ever had.

He was handsome, and sitting across the table from him had made my heart beat a little faster. If I was being honest, I wanted to get to know him better. He was attractive, yes, but it was something deeper. Like something in him called to something inside of my soul. Even if he drove me crazy and had stolen my muffin.

“Brought you something.” He held up a bag from the Gingerbread Bakery. “Got you one before they ran out.” He winked. “Since you like them so much.”

“And a week isn’t long enough?” When had he leaned in so close? “Say yes.”

“Because I want to get to know you better. Because you intrigue me like no one else ever has.”

He steered me to a small red truck—the kind that looked like it should have a tree tied to the back.

My palms were sweating as I gripped the steering wheel, trying to distract myself from the beauty of a woman sitting in the passenger seat. Wow was an understatement. She was stunning. An absolute bombshell.

“Fine. You’re going to make me do this the hard way, aren’t you?” “Do what?” she looked genuinely confused. “Win you over.” And win her heart.

If I invited him inside, would he kiss me? Did I want him to? Yes. I did. And that was the problem. If I invited him inside, I’d want him to kiss me. And if he kissed me, well… That couldn’t happen.

Come home with me.

What she didn’t know was that I would have searched the entire world for her.

Longing unfurled inside of me. It was easier to pretend I didn’t feel that pull of desire when I denied the things I wanted, but looking them in the face, seeing other people living a life I could only dream of… It picked at that wounded part of my soul.

Teddy turned his body towards mine, staring down at me with that chiseled jawline and sharp cheekbones.

“Welcome to the North Pole, Ivy.”

This was my catnip.

I’d never been treated like this by a man in my life. Maybe it was the bare minimum, or I’d just been with a lot of red flags, but I wasn’t used to it.

Teddy and Ivy’s Christmas Checklist 1. Bake Christmas Cookies 2. Decorate A Christmas Tree 3. Take a Sleigh Ride 4. Drink Hot Chocolate While Watching a Christmas Movie 5. Build a Snowman 6. Make a Gingerbread House 7. Go Ice Skating 8. Visit The Christmas Market 9. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party 10. Hang Stockings

11. Matching Christmas PJs 12. Buy and Wrap Presents 13. See the Lights

14. Kiss Under the Mistletoe.

There was a magic to cutting down your own tree. To finding the perfect one, carting it home, and then decorating it together. Some of my fondest memories with my parents had been from those days when I was younger. I wanted to share that with her.

Mistletoe.

There was one thing I knew for sure—Ivy was going to ruin me. Maybe she already had.

“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Ivy Winters. You make me want to do bad things. To break every rule I have. To want things I shouldn’t.”

“Were you ever on the naughty list, Theodore?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know, sweetheart?”Her breath hitched as I brushed my thumb across her lips. “You weren’t, were you? Because you’re a good girl.” “Y-yes,”

“You’re going to ruin me, sweetheart.”

“We could have done this before, you know. If you’d come into my apartment after our first date.”

“So pretty.”

“I’m gonna give you everything you want, sweet girl.”

“Later, I’m going to make you come on my tongue so I can prove to you just how much I want this.”

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you, sweetheart? My mouth on you, tasting you?”

you’re more important.

My entire body was on fire, and each of his little touches against me, the way his fingers kept skimming up my thighs, all of it was driving me crazy.

She was a deep itch I couldn’t possibly scratch, like poison ivy that had seeped under my skin.

The place that was starting to feel like our room. If she left, if this was all the time we had together, could I be in here without thinking of her? Sleep in my bed without wishing she was next to me? Her sweet, cookie scent was everywhere like it somehow permeated every wall of my house without me even realizing it.

Mine. She was mine. Ivy was mine. And there was no way I was letting her go. Not a chance. I’d do whatever it took to convince her to stay. Whatever it took to keep her.

Wanted to know what it was like to be loved so deeply.

Maybe what was crazier was the idea that I would give all of this up in a heartbeat if she didn’t want to stay. That I’d follow her anywhere she wanted to go. I didn’t need to follow in dad’s footsteps someday. What I needed was Ivy. Her laugh. Her smile. Those beautiful blue eyes locked on mine. Losing myself in her, in her body, every night. The future I couldn’t stop dreaming of.