Naughty & Nice (Surrender to Them 7)

“No, she’ll be here tomorrow night.” I shook my head back and forth. “But you don’t have to leave. I’m making Christmas dinner and you should definitely join us.”

“Christmas dinner? It’s a little early for that.” Zach raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah, but I don’t know man. This girl is special and she’s spending Christmas by herself so I just want to do something nice for her.” I leaned back against the chair and sighed. “Maybe that suit is wearing off on me.”

“You and me both.” Zach exhaled sharply.

“What do you mean?” I titled my head inquisitively.

Zach told me about the orphans at the mall and the conversations he had with them. I was surprised to see how much of an impact they had had on him. I knew he was late meeting with me to trade places, but he didn’t have time to explain everything while we were trying to change clothes. It was strange to see my brother displaying so many emotions. He was always a little more emotional than I was, but I saw tears trying to form in his eyes before he finished talking about the kids who were going to spend Christmas day in disappointment. It touched me too, which seemed to be another indication that the Santa suit was warming me up to a holiday I normally didn’t care for. He went to grab another beer and my thoughts started spinning. We had the financial means to help, and our father definitely wouldn’t mind if

we spent some of our inheritance—especially if it went to a good cause.

“Hey, what would you think about helping those kids have a good Christmas?” I took the beer he offered and twisted off the top.

“I thought about it, but it’s a lot of money.” He shook his head and sipped his beer.

“Which we have—just sitting in the bank.” I guzzled my beer and shrugged.

“We’re not supposed to touch our inheritance until we graduate from college.” He raised an eyebrow. “Dad was really specific about that.”

“I know, but come on—he said that because he didn’t want us to waste it on a Ferrari.” I nodded slowly. “I bet he would be okay with us spending it for something like this.”

“Maybe…” Zach words trailed off and he sipped his beer. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”

“Listen to us—trying to become Santa Claus and we can’t even wear the suit for a full shift at the mall.” I chuckled under my breath.

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Actually, if you’re going to be busy cooking tomorrow, I could probably handle the entire day.”

“Are you sure?” I blinked in surprise. “I really don’t mind. I can work half the day and then put something together.”

“No, I think I’ll be okay. Besides, if you’re going to cook Christmas dinner, I want a damn good one.” Zach’s lips spread into a grin.

“Well fuck, I guess I better stop drinking and head to the store to see if they have any turkeys that aren’t frozen.” I sighed and sat down my beer.

“Get some pies too. I don’t care if they’re from the grocery store bakery.” His eyes lit up.

“Okay, yeah—pies too.” I nodded quickly.

The plan was in motion before I really had time to think it through. Zach would handle the suit and I would make one hell of a Christmas dinner. We were definitely getting into the holiday spirit, cooking dinner for someone who wasn’t going to have one on Christmas day and planning to ask our father if we could spend some our inheritance to help orphans have a good holiday season. So much for getting laid. I was treating it like a date instead of a booty call, which was all I really wanted when I laid eyes on the gorgeous brunette. Something changed though. I still had a strong desire to feel her lips again mine, to hold those curves as tight as possible, and watch her panties fall to the floor—but that wasn’t all. I wanted to spend time with her. I wanted to hear the laugh I heard on the phone, see her beautiful smile light up the room, and know that I was the one making her happy.

Now I’m turning into a fucking sap.

I got dressed and headed out to the grocery store. It was mostly deserted since it was a little later, so I was able to quickly find what I needed. Luckily, they had a turkey that wasn’t frozen, so I added it to the cart. I opted for a ham that had a nice honey glaze and was already pre-cooked since my oven was going to be busy with the turkey. The bakery was closed, but there were some pies left over from earlier in the day. It wouldn’t be as good as home cooked, but I didn’t think Zach was going to care. He just wanted some sugar in his veins. I got everything added to the cart and checked out. I was excited to put everything together and actually make Christmas dinner, even if it was early. Once I got back to the house, I spent some time online making sure I had everything worked out so that I wouldn’t end up with something undercooked or burnt to a crisp.

It looks like I’ll be getting up really fucking early tomorrow.

Zach

The next day

I woke up early the next morning to the sound of Andy preparing his Christmas feast. I couldn’t believe he was going all out for a girl he just met. Hell, I couldn’t believe he was going all out for any girl. My brother didn’t do that sort of thing. The girls he normally lured into his bed were lucky to get breakfast. There was definitely something special about the girl he met, and it left me with a little hope for my brother. Maybe he had a heart after all, and when he was finally done with college, he would find a nice woman to marry. I had that once—that feeling of purpose that drove me to be a better person. I missed the feeling. I walked into the kitchen for a cup of coffee and laughed when I saw my brother darting around the kitchen with an apron on. He had barely gotten started and the kitchen was a mess of discarded ingredients, bowls that looked to be in progress, and pages of recipes that appeared to be printed from the various cooking website.

“Don’t laugh. This is serious shit.” He looked up at me with a panicked stare. “The coffee is ready. I’ve already had three cups.”

“You’ve lost it.” I chuckled under my breath and dodged a playful punch as I grabbed a cup of coffee.

“I’ve got a lot more sanity to lose before I have anything that resembles a meal.” He put his hands on the counter and grumbled. “Dad needs a set of kitchen stuff for Christmas. I’m having to wash everything I use so I can use it again.”