Chapter 1

"I have to get dressed up in this again? It's so ugly!" Candace "call me Candy or I'll pout" Murphy groaned. She held up the ratty green and red monstrosity for me to see. Her elf costume, of course, even more tattered than last year. It was awful, there was no doubt about it, but of course at Christmas it's Santa Claus who gets the glamour, not the elves. There was nothing to do but commiserate with her.

"Sorry. That's horrible."

"I know." She slumped to a chair to take a closer look at the worn piece of clothing and groaned dramatically. "There are holes in it!" she wailed, poking her finger up through one of them as proof. "How am I supposed to wear this for the next three weeks?"

"Maybe it's not so noticeable once you're wearing it?"

"Bobby! I couldn't wear this. Not in public!" She looked at me in annoyance, almost accusing me with her angry stare. "At least you have a good costume."

She was right, of course. Like I said, the Santa suit always looked good, and I looked good wearing it, even though it took three layers of padding, in addition to a couple bulky sweaters, before I finally had Santa's build.

"What can I say?" I shrugged. "I suppose I could talk to Helen about it. Maybe she can figure something out." Candy looked at me hopefully for a moment before shaking her head.

"Doubtful," she sighed, glancing at the clock on the wall. "We go on in thirty minutes."

As if on cue, Helen Martin, head of Human Resources for Taylor's Department Store, poked her head around the door.

"Robert? Candace? Everybody decent in there?" she called out loudly, making sure we could see her eyes were scrunched tightly closed.

"Wait!" I yelled. "We're both completely naked!" Helen jumped, backing out of the doorway as quickly as possible. "I'm just kidding, Helen. All clear," I laughed. "Come on in."

Helen grinned nervously, shaking her head as she entered the room. Her smile faded as she saw Candy.

"Candace?" she queried. "Why aren't you dressed? You two go on in half an hour." She stopped suddenly, as if noticing Candy's expression for the first time. "What's wrong, honey?"

"This," Candy groused, holding up the costume.

"Oh my!" Helen frowned, reaching out to run her fingers over the threadbare material. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't know. Mice must have gotten into the costume room during the summer. Is it... is it still wearable?"

"Maybe, but I kind of doubt it." Candace didn't look too optimistic. "I haven't tried yet, but there are little holes everywhere, and it's coming apart at the seams, literally."

Helen seemed almost apoplectic with grief as she saw the costume. "Do the best you can, okay? I'll see if we can't get a replacement rushed here by Monday, but..."

"Monday? That's three days away," Candy said in surprise, obviously less than thrilled about the possibility of being forced to wear the costume through the weekend.

"I know... I know. But I don't think I can do any better than that." Mrs. Martin looked truly upset at the sudden crisis, but was trying to make the best of it.

"Okay," Candy replied dejectedly.

"Very good." Helen clapped her hands. "That's the Christmas spirit. Come along, Robert," she called, gesturing for me to follow her out into the hallway. "Let's give Candace a bit of privacy, shall we?" I considered mentioning that Candy and I had changed into our costumes in the same tiny dressing room for the past three Christmas seasons, but didn't know if Mrs. Martin's heart would have been able to survive the scandal.

"Good luck," I said as the two of us left Candy behind to change. She didn't look hopeful.

My name is Robert Carlson, but I prefer to be called Bobby. As far as I'm concerned, Robert is my father. I've been playing Santa Claus at Taylor's Department Store for the last six years, ever since I graduated high school. While I was in college the job was little more than a way to earn a few extra bucks during my Christmas vacation, but over the last couple of years I found I really enjoyed it. It will never be a career, obviously, but there's just something special about having a little kid look up at me, all wide-eyed in wonder. It's the Santa suit, of course, but that look just gets me every time. I still remembered the first awe-struck child I greeted.

"Good afternoon, little girl," I said in my best, deepest Santa Claus voice, hoping the nerves didn't show. "What's your name?"

"Michelle," the girl answered in a tiny voice. I knew who she was, of course. My older brother Kyle and his wife Melissa were standing behind the ropes, watching their daughter tell her uncle what she wanted for Christmas. She had no idea it was me, thankfully.

"What would you like for Christmas, Michelle?" I asked as I helped her onto my lap.

"A reindeer," she answered, "or a pony." It took a concerted effort on my part to not burst into laughter at her request. I was fairly sure her parents wouldn't appreciate a pony running through their two-bedroom apartment. And a reindeer was definitely out of the question.

"Marvelous," I said. "Although... I'm not sure I have any extra reindeer at the North Pole." Michelle's face fell at this. She appeared almost ready to cry and I hurried to continue. "I'm sure we have something wonderful for you in Santa's workshop though."

"Really?" she said, her face shining with excitement. "As good as a pony?"

"Certainly," I laughed. "My elves just love making presents for little boys and girls like you."

"Really?" she said again.

"Of course!" I laughed, giving my best "ho ho ho!" to her delight. "That's what elves do!"

To my surprise my niece looked less than sure about that as she leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"I don't think that elf likes little kids," she said, pointing with her finger to the line of waiting children, and I had to agree. My helper elf that day was a snot-nosed punk named Jeff who seemed more likely to punch one of the kids than to hand them their candy cane. I was keeping my eye on him. Unfortunately his last name was Taylor, as in Taylor Department Stores and I doubted there was anything I could do to get the boss' son fired. Not on the first day, at least.

"He doesn't make the toys," I grinned, winking conspiratorially to a suddenly curious Michelle.

"Really? What does he do?"

"He cleans up after Rudolph, and Dasher and Dancer and Prancer... " I said, breaking into an honest-to-goodness belly laugh. I knew by her expression the exact moment Michelle realized exactly what that job entailed. Her family kept two dogs, Sid and Nancy, and even though they were fairly well-trained, Michelle knew what "cleaning up" meant.

Looking out over the crowd I saw more than the normal scowl on Jeff's face. I realized I was taking an inordinately long amount of time with Michelle and lifted her off my lap and onto the ground.

"Thank you, Santa," she said as my brother strode up to take her home. Kyle mouthed "thank you" at me as well. I gave my biggest Santa Claus wave before turning to the line of children formed to my left.

"Who's next?" I asked.

"Are you ready yet?" Helen called out to Candy, who was still in the dressing room. The two of us had been waiting in the tiny hallway, me on a bench and the near-frantic Helen pacing back and forth, while Candy changed into her costume. I glanced at the wall clock, which was steadily ticking its way to the moment when Santa and his helpers (assuming the costume was okay), would make their grand entrance. We had ten minutes until "show time."

"Gimme a minute!" Candy sounded nervous, panicked and upset, even through the changing room door.

"Can I come in?" I asked, lightly rapping my knuckles against the door. There was no response, so I knocked again. "Candy? Can I come in?" There was the sound of movement from inside and at last the doorknob turned as Candy unlocked it.

"Robert?" Helen asked, clearly scandalized at the mere idea of me walking into the changing room before Candy was "decent."

"It's okay," I smiled. "Why don't you go check on the kids. I'm sure we'll be out in a minute or two."

Helen looked doubtful, but gulped as she nodded and spun on her heel and strode down the hall. I turned back to the dressing room, grinning as I entered.

"Ho ho ho!" I called out as I walked into the room. "How's my naked little elf doing this morning?"

"Shut up," Candy blushed, grinning in spite of herself. She wasn't naked, to my slight disappointment. The elf costume, as always, left little to the imagination, but seemed to be even more revealing this year. The green and red cloth appeared to have shrunk during the previous eleven months and was now stretched tightly over Candy's breasts and round little butt as she spun in a circle for me.

"Nice," I said truthfully, feeling my own Santa suit getting noticeably tighter somewhere immediately south of the shiny buckle on my big black leather Santa belt.

Candy, dressed up in her elf costume, had been one of my favorite sexual fantasies ever since we started working together during the Christmas season three years ago. At the time I was finishing my senior year of college and Candy, four years my junior, was in her senior year of high school. There had been a definite attraction between the two of us, I was certain of it, but with me going to school two states away and Candy's future uncertain - as well as being in high school at the time - neither of us acted on it.

As I watched Candy smoothing the costume over her firm backside, I felt any hesitancy I may have had beginning to crumble. I wasn't sure what her reasons had been for never making a move on me, but I resolved right then that this Christmas things would be different. I think Candy knew exactly what she was doing and what it did to me, for when I finally allowed my eyes to move up her body I found Candy staring directly at me, a tiny smile on her lips.

"It's okay?" she said, one eyebrow arched in amusement.

"Ah, yes," I mumbled, embarrassed at being caught looking. "It's very okay, even though it seems to have... shrunk a bit," I stammered. Dammit! I was never this tongue-tied around her. But of course I'd never been caught staring at her ass before.

"Thanks," Candy grinned. She spun to head out to the sales floor, giving an exaggerated sway to her hips that I found mesmerizing. "Coming?" she called over her shoulder, a knowing smirk on her face. Caught again!

I hurried to catch up.

"How'd it go?" my father wanted to know when I trudged in the house later that night. I didn't actually live with my parents, but was spending some time with them over the Thanksgiving weekend. My family, which consists of my mother and father, along with my younger siblings Caleb and Mary, had traditionally gone out Christmas shopping the Friday following Thanksgiving. Ever since I started playing Santa, however, that had changed. Now instead of spending my hours shopping I spent them sitting in a chair listening to children prattle on and on about what they wanted "me" to bring them for Christmas. I still enjoyed my family though, and sometimes regretted not being able to spend time together like we used to.

"It was okay." I paused at the kitchen table and grabbed a few cookies from a plate my mother had left out. "Busy. Thanks for letting me spend a couple nights. I wasn't looking forward to the drive back to my place." My father nodded in understanding. My apartment wasn't that far out of the way, but the drive was twenty minutes longer than I'd just made, so it felt a lot shorter.

"How were the kids?" my father asked.

"The greedy little bastards, you mean?" My father looked surprised at my question before I laughed to let him know I was joking. "Okay, I guess. I'm a little tired though. Can we talk in the morning?"

"Long day?" my father asked. I nodded. "See you in the morning then," he said.

I yawned as I turned to head up the stairs to "my" room. I slept in the guest room whenever I stayed over. When I was still living at home the room had actually been my bedroom, but my mother had converted it into her sewing room when I left for college. Except for a few pieces of furniture the room was completely different, and although my bed was still there, I still felt I was intruding.

I slipped under the covers, allowing my hand stray down to the lump in my shorts as I thought back on my day as Santa. It may have been my imagination, but it almost seemed that Candy was teasing me each time she bent down to give the children their "present" (in reality nothing more than a candy cane with a Taylor's Department Store ribbon wrapped around it and tied into a bow). If I wasn't seeing things, she was making sure I got a good look up her short elf skirt, and I certainly took advantage of the opportunity.

As I remembered the way the firm cheeks of her ass moved as she walked, I felt my cock beginning to stiffen in my shorts, helped along by my hand as I stroked up and down my length through my cotton briefs. Glancing at the door to make sure I'd closed and locked it, I reached down, pushing my shorts below my knees and freeing my erection.

Spitting into my hand, I grasped myself and slowly began stroking up and down my hard pole. My thoughts were of Candy and me, of course, in various positions and states of undress. In all of them, however, I found that I was wearing my Santa hat. Somehow I thought she would enjoy that.

In my fantasy, I was sitting in my Santa chair, exhausted from a day of promising presents to children and smiling for photographs. Candy and I were the last two people on the premises.

"Hey Santa," Candy said seductively as she sauntered to where I was sitting. In my mind Candy's elf costume had shrunk considerably, accenting her pert breasts and the cleft between her labia. I was drooling as she walked up beside me, her eyes on the obvious bulge in my pants, somehow visible even through the heavy red felt and extra padding. With a look of excitement in her eyes she reached down to stroke my cock. "Nice," she said.

"Are you ready to unwrap your present?" I asked as I thrust my hips up into her hand, putting more pressure on my erection. In real life my hand was a blur as I brought myself closer to orgasm, imagining Candy laughing as she tugged my Santa pants down over my hips. My erection slapped against the side of her face, but Candy didn't seem to mind.

"I want to suck it," she said, wrapping her fingers around my shaft and stroking me a few times before dipping her head down. Her pink lips opened and her tongue snaked out, bathing me with moisture as she licked around the crown of my cock. I let out a strangled cry as her lips opened wider and Candy engulfed my prick.

"Mmm..." she mumbled as she took almost my entire length into her mouth. I could feel her throat muscles loosening and the head of my prick slipped even further in until my pubic hair pressed against Candy's face.

"Holy shit," I gasped as I felt her throat ripple around my cock. Candy grinned up at me as best she was able before she backed away, slowly revealing my shaft, shiny with her saliva, until only the head of my prick was still in her mouth. He tongue lashed against the spongy tip for a moment, drawing another groan of appreciation from me, until she once again took my entire length into her mouth.

As Candy bobbed up and down my prick, I took the opportunity to reach down and cup her breasts in my hands. They were firm under my fingers, the rock-hard nipples poking out from under the green cloth and digging into my palms. I began to squeeze them, teasing at the turgid flesh, stroking her tits in time to Candy's sucking.

As I felt my real life orgasm quickly approaching, I fast-forwarded my fantasy to keep up the pace. Candy was now topless, her firm breasts swaying ever so slightly on her chest as she stroked my erection in her hands. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked up at me.

"I want you to come all over my tits," she said breathlessly, her hand a slippery blur on my shaft. I grunted in agreement as my own hand mirrored her actions. In my fantasy I erupted all over her breasts, coating them with my sticky semen, as I simultaneously exploded into a tissue I held close to the tip of my cock.

Tossing the sticky tissue into the trash can beside the bed, I pulled my shorts back up. My breathing slowly returned to normal as I huddled under the heavy blankets. Outside it was snowing and the howling wind kept me awake, my mind filled with thoughts of Candy and how I would behave around her the next time we worked together. Eventually I fell asleep.

"Bobby, wake up!" There was a pounding on my door and I jerked awake with a start. The knocking continued and my mother called through the door once more. "Bobby, are you up yet?"

"I'm up," I groaned, seeing by the clock on the sewing table that it was just after seven in the morning. "What the heck? Why so early?"

"Can I come in?" my mother asked.

"Guess so," I called back before I realized I was nearly naked beneath the bedclothes. "Hang on a second," I said as I jumped out of bed. I grabbed my slacks from the chair where I had deposited them the night before, but wasn't able to get completely dressed before the door opened.

"Oops! Sorry," my mother stammered. I shook my head and turned away as I finished zipping up the jeans.

"It's okay," I said, pulling a clean t-shirt over my head. Fully dressed, or at least now presentable, I turned to face her. "What's up?"

"The twins and I were going to hit the mall," she answered. "We were wondering if you wanted to join us."

"This early? I thought all the good sales were yesterday," I teased.

"Not all of them," my mom answered. "Carlson's is having a sale on sporting equipment and I know Caleb wanted a new baseball bat and glove, and Mary had mentioned hoping to see if the music store had the new CD by... what's that singer's name?"

"I know who you mean," I said. My sister Mary, for some reason, had taking a strong liking to whichever teen idol was on top of the charts that week. Disgusting, bubble-gum crap, if you asked me, but at least she kept her stereo low enough that I didn't have to listen to it. And besides, no one ever asked me, anyway.

"So, what do you say?" my mother asked. "We could always catch a movie when we're done shopping."

I thought about it for a moment. I really didn't have anything to do. I worked on Sunday, but for some reason the Santa rotation (there were three of us), had me off all day Saturday, which was fantastic. The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, but the weekend is always busy, and I was thankful I didn't work two long shifts in a row.

"Sure," I answered. "Why not?" I figured I might as well. It had been quite a while since I'd been able to hang out with my mom or the twins and I really didn't have anything else going on. "What's Dad doing today?" I asked.

"Oh, he's still working on getting the new offices ready." My mom shook her head in mock disgust, but her smile gave away her true feelings; it was obvious she was proud of my dad. He had been, at one time, the youngest full partner in one of the city's most prestigious law firms, and with the recent passing of the founder of the firm my father found himself taking over a large share of the old man's duties.

I certainly envied him his lawyer's salary, which dwarfed the paychecks I received working as a teacher's aide, but I didn't begrudge him the hours, that was for sure.

"Well, his loss," I shrugged. "Now, if you'll get out of here, I'll take a shower and get dressed for real."

"I'm going, I'm going," my mother laughed. "Breakfast in twenty minutes?"

I looked at myself in the mirror, checking out the state of my stubble and the tangles in my hair, along with the acrid taste in my mouth.

"Better make it thirty."

It took me forty minutes to get ready, as it turned out, although no one seemed to mind too much. My brother and sister, Caleb and Mary (the twins), were still seated at the table, reading the comics to each other and laughing hysterically.

"Morning," I said as I sat down to my grapefruit and cereal.

"Morning," the twins answered in unison, not looking up from their reading.

It never ceased to amaze me how in sync the two of them appeared, and I wondered what would happen in a couple years if they decided to attend different colleges. Somehow I doubted that would ever happen, but it was a possibility. Mary was hoping to become a nurse and Caleb had talked about going into one of the sciences - botany or biology or something - and I wasn't sure if any of the colleges in this part of the state would be able to accommodate them both.

"Not so much sugar," my mother scolded as I heaped a third spoonful over my grapefruit half.

"Too sour this early in the morning. You know that," I replied. I didn't need the sugar. I knew that. But it was somewhat of a tradition the two of us had. My mother chastised me for the heaping piles of sugar I ingested with my grapefruit, and I ignored her. It seemed to work out well enough.

"Well, hurry up then." She shook her head, sitting down to her cup of coffee and toast, smothered in all-natural preserves. No sugar for her, I thought. At least none that isn't already in the fruit to start with. I wondered how my teaspoons of sugar compared to her crushed and pressed strawberries, but decided the effort wasn't worth it.

The two of us ate in silence, relatively speaking, our morning meal interrupted only by the peals of laugher from the twins on the other side of the table. Eventually however, my mother picked up her plate and drained the last of her orange juice.