The Naughty List

"No," she decided, scolding herself for the idea. "Only one stop left on the list, and then you can go home, dig out the biggest, thickest dildo you can find, and fuck yourself silly with that. You're not that desperate, so act like a grown woman, not some horny little teenager."

Firm and decisive as her little resolution was, it suffered from a couple of flaws. One, in mortal terms she actually was a teenager, and two... Two, she had a nasty feeling that a toy, no matter how lifelike, wasn't going to give her the satisfaction her body had started to crave...

"Oh, for the love of... Enough. Just get the last stop done, then go take a cold shower or something."

Glancing down at her lap, she aimed a glare at what lay under the white-trimmed skirt. "And you can shut up. Try letting some other part of my anatomy do the thinking for a change, hmm?"

***

Things had cooled off, in more than one regard, by the time the reindeer touched down on the roof of the last place on Nikki's list. Quite why they chose to land there, rather than on any of the vast expanse of open snow-covered land around the house, she had no idea... but she wasn't going to ask even if there'd been a chance they'd have answered her.

As she hopped out of the sleigh and snagged the present sack out of the back, Nikki looked around at the landscape. Pretty... and lonely. There were lights of other houses a long way in the distance, but apart from a few trees dotted here and there, the whole place was... empty. With a shrug, she blew out a quick huff of air, smiling at the way her breath fogged in a chill that otherwise didn't affect her at all, then turned her attention to the chimney a few yards away.

A quick check showed her that there wasn't a fire waiting at the bottom, which was nice, and she flicked her fingers into the air above the chimney's opening. Glittering motes of slight shimmered into life, then drifted downward into the shaft. About half a minute later, she nodded in satisfaction as the one mote that had remained turned green before disappearing. Nobody awake to see her.

Getting down into the house was easy enough, even if it would have been hard to explain just how she did it without actually climbing down the chimney shaft. It got the job done, though, and she stretched luxuriously as she arrived at the bottom. There was a light on in the corner, low and quite atmospheric. Other lights twinkled on the large, richly decorated tree, and there was quite a hefty pile of presents sat under it. The rest of the room looked quite nice as well, though there were a couple of toys scattered around on the floor here and there. Definite proof of kids in residence, as if she needed it, and-

There was a man on the couch - a piece of furniture she seemed to be having issues with tonight - with his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms folded across his chest. He was looking straight at her... or would have been if his eyes had been open. She watched him warily for a few moments, until she was satisfied that the slow rise and fall of his chest mean what she thought it did, then nodded to herself again. Asleep.

And probably drunk, she thought with distaste as she saw the half-empty bottle sat on the table beside the couch, a glass beside it with an inch or so of amber liquid in it. It was easy to put the pieces together and figure that he'd drunk himself to sleep, which didn't exactly impress her. Even if he was kind of cute for a guy somewhere in his early thirties, with that clean-shaven face, dark hair that suited his complexion quite nicely... and his bare feet showing toenails painted a vibrant rosy pink.

With a snort of laughter, she shook her head at that last bit, wondering if he'd actually done it himself. Maybe not, since one of the three names on the list was a girl...

Shrugging, she left him to his slumber and swung the sack down off of her shoulder. Pulling the list out of her pocket, she looked at the trio of names on it, then checked the names on the gifts tucked under the tree. After a rummage, she frowned in irritation. She was finding plenty for Rosie Donnel, just as many for Jamie.... But none, apparently, for Mark. The only other ones she could find were Marked as for "Daddy", but he wasn't on the list.

Great. Now the damned list is messed up.

"Ahem."

The sound from behind her had Nikki freezing in surprise, then swiftly booting herself mentally up the ass for not making sure he was asleep.

"Do I want to ask?"

He sounded... unsure, not as aggressive as she might have imagined him to be, finding some stranger in his house in the middle of the night. Which was good. He was also, apparently, fully aware of the fact she was there. Which was not.

Gritting her teeth and trying not to scream in frustration at just how bad the night had turned, Nikki rose to her feet, tugging at the hem of her skirt and wishing it was maybe just a little bit longer. The way his brown eyes sharpened on her made her very aware that the outfit she'd settled on might have been fun at the time, but right now...

Right now, the tight coat, skirt that came only half way down her thighs, and high-heeled black boots that came up to her knees were probably doing a very good job of displaying her figure to him - and she wasn't totally convinced she wanted it to at that moment. Deciding to make the best of it, or at least try, she looked him square in the eye and offered a smile.

"Hi."

"Hi yourself," he replied, sitting up straighter and shooting a glance toward where the front door of the house lay. It was pretty clear he was looking for any hint of how she'd gotten in, and she very nearly smirked at the thought that he wasn't going to find one in that direction. "Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house?"

There was a definite edge to his tone, but not as much of one as she had been expecting. With a shrug, she gestured at the sack, then at her outfit. "What do you think?"

"What?" he snorted. "You're trying to tell me you're Santa?"

"No, I'm not. For a start, I'm not a guy, jolly-looking or otherwise." She paused, giving him a moderately hard look until he shrugged to concede the point. "And second... Well, actually, I'm kind of covering for him."

That got her a slow blink, as if he was trying to process what he'd just heard, then he let out a sigh as he put his head in his hands. A few seconds later, he lifted his head again before letting out another sigh. "You got a name?"

"Nikki. Well, actually, Nikkola'claus, but..."

"Huh?"

Nikki rolled her eyes at his confusion, brushing her hair back as she tried to decide what to say next. She paused, though, when she saw his eyes go wide, and for a second couldn't work out why... until she realised that he was staring at her ears.

Oh, right. He's never seen a non-human, most likely.

"Well, I've given you my name. What's yours?"

He was looking at her as if he was in a daze, not quite sure what he was seeing. "Mark," he said softly, sounding uncertain. "I'm Mark."

"Oh, you're Mark. Okay, that explains that... But not totally."

At his look of sincere confusion, she sighed and moved over to the couch, dropping herself down to sit next to him and holding out the list. "I'm assuming Rosie and Jamie are your kids, yes?"

He nodded a little numbly, and she returned it with more firmness. "Okay, so I've got stuff for them. You, on the other hand, are not a kid, and I have no idea why you'd be on the list."

"Hang on," he interrupted. "You're seriously telling me that you're here to deliver presents, like some... some fairy story?"

"You got a problem with faeries, pal?"

That flat look she aimed at him didn't seem to have much of an effect, and he slumped back on the couch, one hand going over his face as he shook his head. "This is insane. I've either gone completely around the bend, or I'm still asleep." He lifted the hand off of his face a little, looking at her from underneath it. "Though I'll admit that if you're a hallucination, I could imagine worse."

"Thanks, I think."

Glancing around, she spotted a framed picture on the wall, a photo showing him, a boy and a girl that looked about three years old, and a rather stunning blond woman with her arms around his shoulders. "Your wife already asleep?"

Mark frowned, following her gaze toward the photo, then sighed heavily. "Maybe. No idea. Not that she's even my wife any more anyway."

There was no mistaking the weary resignation in his tone, and Nikki grimaced in apology. "Umm... Sorry. Didn't mean to hit a sore spot."

"She left us about a month after that picture was taken. Took off with some rich guy she met, never even looked back. I only keep that thing for the kids, so they don't forget her like she seems to have forgotten them."

Okay, Nikki though to herself. Definitely seems to be a sore topic...

With a resigned look on his face, Mark reached out and picked up the glass, lifting it to his lips. Nikki gave him a distasteful look, one that he obviously saw given the wry grin he sent her. "What?"

"Nothing. You want to get back to your drinking, don't let me stop you."

"Heh. I'll have you know, missy, that I've been working on this bottle for nearly seven years."

"Oh," Nikki said quietly, realising that she'd kind of leapt to a conclusion - a wrong one, it seemed. "Sorry. Seems to be my night for things going wrong."

Taking a tiny sip from his glass, Mark gave her a curious look over the rim. Nikki shook her head, trying not to blush as what had happened earlier tried to start replaying in her head. She must not have done as good a job of it as she'd hoped, given the way Mark's gaze sharpened. "Never mind. Please."

"Oh no, I'm thinking I want to know what put that pretty colour on your cheeks."

Nikki gave him a frown, but there wasn't much force behind it. "No, you don't."

"Yeah, I kinda do."

She looked at him levelly for a second, then shrugged. "Okay, fine. I nearly got caught once already tonight, and it's going to be so much fun explaining how I let that happen. This might be my first time, but I doubt he's going to take that as much of an excuse."

"And that's what got you blushing?"

"No, that would be the fact that instead of being caught, I was stuck hiding behind a couch whilst they had a little Christmas sex on it."

Mark had taken another sip of his drink as she spoke, and she took a certain satisfaction at the way he seemed to choke on it. As he coughed, she reached over and patted him on the back. "Wrong hole?"

"Just... Whew, sorry, just not expecting to hear that."

"Oh? Then I won't go into any details about just how... energetic they were."

"Young lady," he said firmly, "that's hardly appropriate."

That might have been more convincing if he hadn't let his gaze drop to her bare legs. With a teasing smile, she moved them, drawing them up and shifting to tuck them under her. She wasn't quite sure why she did it, but the reaction was amusing.

Tearing his eyes off of what she was doing, Mark set his glass back down on the table with a slow, deliberate movement... one that did little to hide the fact that his hand was trembling just the tiniest bit. "Problem?" she asked innocently, then grinned at the way he let out an irritable huff.

"What?" she asked. "It's not like you've not seen more than legs before. You've got two kids, after all."

"It's not that," he said quietly, keeping his attention on the decorated tree instead of her.

"Then what is it? I can't really stop doing it if I don't know what I'm meant to be not doing."

He gave her a sidelong look, one she met with a smile, then he shook his head with a tired-sounding sigh. "It's not what you're doing, Nikki. It's what you are."

The sound of her name on his tongue sent a shiver through her that took her completely by surprise. So much so, in fact, that it took her a few moments to catch up with the rest of what he'd said - just in time for him to continue. "You're, what, eighteen? Nineteen? And a very good-looking girl. Given how long it's been since I've..." He paused, shaking his head again. "Look, it's my problem, not yours."

"Your problem is that you think I'm cute, and that I'm that young?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Nikki's laughter startled him, and he turned to face her properly as she fought it back down to giggles. "Mark, the fact you think I look good is nice to know. You're cute too, by the way, but I think you're a little off on the age thing."

"How do you mean?" he asked, looking puzzled again. "You're telling me you're older than you look?"

"A little bit, yeah."

She left him hanging for a few seconds, waiting to see if he'd say or do anything, until she eventually relented - if what she told him counted as that. "I'm ninety seven."

"You're what?"

The incredulous look on his face was pretty much exactly what she'd expected, and she burst out into giggles again. "Sorry, it's just... the look on your face..."

"You're seriously telling me you're...?"

He didn't seem able to finish, but she got the idea well enough. With a shrug, she scooped her hair back again, tapping a finger against one of her pointed ears. "Not human?"

Not what he'd been asking, but it did the job.

"Okay, I'm definitely dreaming. I have to be. Anything this fucked up cannot be real."

Nikki shrugged, then watched as he got to his feet and started pacing around the room, muttering to himself. Once he was on his feet, she got a better view of him than when he'd been sat down, and she had to admit that she kind of liked what she saw. It was obvious that he took care of himself, and even the loud, garish sweater he wore did little to mask how well built he was. And as for the ass those jeans he wore were encasing...

You know what? Screw it.

Everything that had happened at her last stop, as well as the effect that the reminder of it had had on her, sparked that thought, and she made her decision before she really realised it. Getting to her feet, she moved to intercept him as he paced, planting herself right in his path as he turned so that he basically walked right into her. That part hadn't been planned on, nor the fact that his arms went around her almost by reflex, keeping her from being knocked over... and, coincidentally, pulling her against that broad chest of his.

Nikki was well aware of how they'd ended up, and the way her breasts were pressed against him - and so, it seemed, was he. His eyes went wide with surprise, and he immediately started to let go of her, stepping backward sharply. He froze in his tracks, though, when she laid one hand gently against his cheek.

"Let me check something," she said to him, then slowly backed away herself. She stepped over to the sack she'd left by the tree, quite deliberately putting herself between it and him so that when she bent down to reach inside, he had a perfect view of the way her skirt rode up her legs until it barely covered her butt at all.

She paused in puzzlement, though, when she only found two presents inside it, and when she pulled them out, shooting Mark a grin at the way he groaned faintly as she straightened up, it turned out that they were for the kids. Which meant that his name was on the list... but there was no gift for him.

"Hmm..."

"What?" he asked, though it seemed to take a couple of attempts.

"Seems we're a gift short. We've got these..." she said, kneeling gracefully down by the tree to slip the gaily-coloured parcels under it. "But nothing in there for you."

She rose to her feet again, a thoughtful expression on her face, and the temptation to do what she was thinking of was... well, tempting. Very tempting.

"I can think of something you can do for me," he told her, and one delicate eyebrow arched upward on her face. "Don't bend over like that again."

"Oh? What, you didn't like the view?"

"That's not what I said, he answered tightly, and she gave him a knowing grin.

"Personally, I don't think you mean it. I think you liked the view. Did you? Did you like seeing my backside up in the air like that?"

"Nikki..."

It came out almost as a growl, and, if anything, her smile turned even more fake-innocent.

"Would you like to see it again?" she asked sweetly. "Maybe something else instead?"

"Don't. Push. Me."

There was no way to miss the strained look on his face, not to mention the rest of him, and Nikki made no effort at all to hide her glance down at the front of his jeans. What she saw there had her grinning even more, but she decided that she was probably being too hard on him. He certainly seemed to think so, anyway.

"Sorry," she apologised, her expression sobering. "It's been a while for me, too, so... You want to sit down again? I promise, I'll stop teasing."

It wasn't totally clear whether he was happy to hear that or not, but he nodded anyway. The pair of them returned to the couch, and Nikki made sure there was plenty of room between them as she parked herself as demurely as possible in that outfit. Silence settled over the room, until eventually she decided to break it before it got too awkward.

"You know... If you're so sure this is a dream, then what's stopping you?"

"What's stopping me?" he asked, then let out a harsh bark of laughter. "The idea that I've got at least some self control."

"Now, that's what gets me. Why would that matter if none of this is real?" And that was an idea she was more than happy to let him go on believing in. After all, it wasn't adults that she was supposed to be leaving an impression on. "I mean, if this is nothing but a fantasy, why not let go?"

"You have no idea how tempting it is to do just that."

You'd be surprised, she thought to herself, but kept it to herself.

"Your decision," she said out loud. "Even if I think it's a silly one."

Silence descended again, but this time it was Mark that broke it, shifting to meet her eyes with his own.

"Is this a dream?"

Instead of answering, Nikki rose to her feet and made something of a show of examining the tinsel and baubles hanging from the tree. It was hard to decide what sort of answer to give him, no matter how hard she tried. Eventually, she just gave up on the whole notion and walked back over to where Mark sat, coming to a halt right in front of him. "Do you want it to be?"

The reply was a long time coming, and when it did, Mark sounded... almost resigned. "I don't know."

Nikki nodded, then rested a hand on the arm of the couch beside him. With a glance down at his lap as she shifted to stand beside his legs she gave him a questioning look, and after a very long few seconds he gave her a tiny nod. Carefully, but making no effort to turn it into anything but a move to get her where she was going,. She lowered herself onto his lap and shuffled a bit to get settled - which drew a tight hiss from Mark.

"Uh... that was just to get comfy. Not anything else, I promise."

"I know. It's just... Let's just say that normally, a girl sitting on my lap doesn't have the effect you are."

Nikki's answer was a smile as she touched his cheek again. "I can imagine. You want me to get off?" Mark gave her a smile that seemed more than a little knowing, and she wondered why... until she replayed the last thing she'd said. "Not that way, you perv. Though, now I mention it..."

As she looked into his eyes, Nikki found herself totally unable to miss the tired sadness that lurked inside them. Summoning up her energy, she let herself take the tiniest peek deeper into the brown gaze... and what she saw there nearly made her cry. There was love there. Boundless love that welled up at even the slightest hint of the twin children his wife had given him before she'd left them all. There was bitterness, too, for that same woman who Nikki decided was probably one of the biggest idiots on the planet, since he'd felt for her almost as deeply as he did for their kids.