Ribboned (Red Velvet Christmas 5)

Ribboned (Red Velvet Christmas)
Megan Slayer
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2013 Megan Slayer

"Nothing like a job well done." Daria Elf adjusted the lengths of ribbon dangling from the red velvet bow, then placed the bright green package on the conveyor belt. She grinned to herself. For the first time in a long time, she'd found something around Christmas Village she could do -- tying ribbons.

"Daria?" a voice over the loudspeaker called. "You've been moved. Please report to the ribbon department right away."

She frowned at the loudspeaker. "How?" she muttered. She glanced at the Packing and Paper department employee chart. Daria ranked second, only behind Theo, the taping king. She sighed. Might as well head to the new department.

In the hallway, her friend Shawna grabbed her arm. "Hey, congrats on the move! You deserve a better department besides P&P. Santa probably saw your skill with the ribbons on the presents and decided to switch things up. Besides, you get to work in Raven's Red Velvet Ribbon Room. It even sounds sexy."

Daria knew better than to argue with her friend. She probably had been moved due to too many screw-ups. No one wanted to work with Raven. The guy glared all the time and hardly ever left the ribbon room. "Raven's Red Velvet Ribbon Room sounds like a porn club," she snapped. "But it beats getting fired." She shuddered. Her father's love of peppermint nog meant the family spent most of her childhood living on unemployment. Once she'd reached working age, she vowed never to be without a job.

"You'll be fine." Shawna hugged her. "I'm late for work. I'm now in the peppermint department."

Daria waved at her friend, then headed down the hallway toward the ribbon department. A vision of Raven formed in her mind. The elf was handsome. Being the tallest of the elves, he naturally commanded attention in a room. His dark hair curled over his forehead, and his icy blue eyes bored through whoever he happened to be looking at. She groaned.

Most of the elves were afraid of the hulking guy. She should've been. No, Raven featured as the main player in her fantasies. She wondered exactly what he did in the ribbon room to make it the stuff of legend.

Raven, according to rumor, liked rough girls. Girls who could hold their own when he shouted. Could she? Even Santa refused to argue with Raven.

For the love of peppermint sticks. She was there to do a job, not find a partner for her bed. She wrinkled her nose. A decent partner would be a nice change. She'd spent the last few Christmases either alone or with Narville. Pine nuts. She liked Narville, but not enough to jump in the sack with him. He grinned most of the time and told her about snowflakes. Cute, but too nerdy.

Daria smoothed the wrinkles from her skirt, fixed her hat and checked her breath. She sniffed. Sugarplums. Perfect.

Did she remember her compact to check her look in the tiny mirror? She patted her pocket. No compact. Great. Her hand trembled as she gripped the door to the infamous ribbon room. Time to find out what the talk was all about.

She clicked the handle and eased the door open. There, in all his red-and-green, towering glory, stood Raven. His blue eyes blazed and a grimace marred his face. "You were summoned ten minutes ago. Where have you been?" He folded his muscle-corded arms. "Hmm?"

His gravelly voice drew a shiver from deep in her being. She cleared her throat. No way she'd let him scare her -- not yet. "Once I picked my jaw up off the floor, I ran right down here." And worked up her courage to talk to him. She rested her hands on her hips. "I thought maybe Santa was in the nog again and made a mistake."

Raven stepped toward her. Unlike the rest of the elves, he didn't wear a hat. His dark hair slid over his brow, obscuring her view of his eyes. "This request is very real and binding." His voice dropped to a growl on the last word.

Her heart and brain warred. Working in the ribbon room was a year-round commitment. Unlike those in the other parts of the Christmas plant, the people who worked with Raven didn't seem to have much of a social life. Then again, did she recall anyone admitting they worked with him? Looking at the strapping elf in front of her, she wondered if it was the binding part of the job that scared people.

Raven was the stuff of rumor and innuendo. He didn't just use his ribbon for package decoration or house decor -- he dabbled in BDSM and used the velvety strips to bind his lovers. Her body tingled. Would he wrap her in nothing but his ribbons? Make her scream his name?

Oh, holy night, she hoped so.