One Shifty Santa

By Linda Palmer

Holly Snow can't help but notice the cute guy who's playing Santa in the mini-mall where she works.  Since his costume hangs off his lean frame, she suggests he stuff his fur-trimmed red jacket with bubble wrap. Noel Winter not only takes her suggestion, he lets her help with the stuffing. Does that mean she might have a chance with him?  Maybe in a perfect world.  Unfortunately, Haven, Alabama, home to every species on and off the planet, is far from perfect.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Linda Palmer
• Release date: Mar 18, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224656172

Linda Palmer

Linda Palmer admits it all started when she fell in love with Roy Rogers in the fifties. The family TV was boxy; the picture was black and white. That didn't matter. Roy's cowboy courage won the day and inspired her to  create elaborate scenarios when playing with her sisters and friends outside. Indoors, she read romances in every genre from Sci Fi to Gothic. Linda began writing for pleasure in the third grade, mostly poetry, and has letters from her grade school teachers predicting she'd be an author. Her poems eventually became short stories; her short stories became books. And even though a writing career was never actually a dream, it was something she pursued with intent after winning some writing contests and joining local and national writers' groups. Silhouette Books published Linda's first romance novel in l989 and the next twenty over a ten-year period (writing as Linda Varner, her maiden name). In 1999 she took a ten-year break to take care of her family, but learned that she couldn't not write. She began again in  2009, changing her genre to young adult/new adult paranormal romance. She has now written over a hundred novels and novellas ranging from traditional romance to erotica. Linda was a Romance Writers of America Rita finalist twice and won the 2011 and 2012 EPIC eBook awards in the Young Adult category. She was also a finalist in that category in 2013 and in 2014. Linda has been married to her junior high school sweetheart over fifty years and lives in Arkansas, USA with her family. Ever a hopeless romantic, she still falls for unattainable Hollywood heroes that inspire her to write romances about alpha males and the women who stand up to them. Linda hints that her current crush's name starts with Tom and ends with Hardy. Her website is www.lindavpalmer.com. You can also find her on Facebook: Linda Varner Palmer.

Book preview

Chapter One

W hoa, dude! You're the worst faux Santa I've ever seen!

The guy sitting in front of the mini-mall's cardboard gingerbread house shrugged and glanced down at his bright red velvet costume, which draped his lean frame like the fur on a Shar Pei puppy. His fluffy white mustache plopped into his lap. With a sigh, he picked it up and pressed it to his upper lip. I was a second choice.

My jaw dropped. More than one idiot applied for the job?

The flush on the poor guy's face matched his colorful suit.

I suspected mine did, too. As usual, I'd let my mouth slip into overdrive when I should've slammed on the brakes. I am so, so sorry. You're not an idiot to work for Willy Wilson. I mean, I'm working for him, too, right? I pointed to Wilson Bakery, home of my holiday job. It's just, well, he's such a Scrooge, and I know he's probably not paying you enough to sit in that chair and ho ho ho all day. I stuck out my right hand. I'm Holly Snow, by the way.

The poor guy took, shook, and quickly released it. Noel Winter.

I had to laugh. Don't tell me, let me guess. Your mom's favorite holiday was Christmas, just like my mom's was.

Actually, I never met her, so I don't really know.

Open mouth, insert foot—Act Two. Oh God. I'm sooo sorry. I started to embellish my apology, but his raised hand stopped me. Dead silence followed that. Awkward dead silence. I tried again. I could help you with the costume.

Noel glanced down at that ridiculously oversized garb of his. It does look like shit, doesn't it?

I nodded. Maybe we could stuff it with something. I checked my watch. The front doors won't open for ten more minutes. Come with me, and I'll see what I can do.

He hesitated, but got up from his chair, which I knew was one of the fold-up metal kind that would leave his butt and back aching even though it had been draped with an ugly green tablecloth or something. Old man Wilson didn't waste much cash on Christmas decorations, with the cutout and a fake tree being it. He should've done better, in my opinion. After all, he owned the whole dang building. Admittedly there were only six businesses in it, but all of them were popular and sold food that tasted great. Besides the bakery, there was a blue-plate cafe, a pizza eatery, a sandwich/salad shop, a coffee bar, and an old-time soda fountain with a long counter and juke box. The place stayed busy, especially on the weekends when people shopping downtown had no place else to go.

I led Noel into the back of the bakery, waving to the manager Olivia Franklin, who was counting money and loading up the cash register for the day. Noel stopped at the door, scanning the area. I knew exactly what he saw: carts filled with trays of holiday cookies, pies, and cakes; long worktables; three ovens; and lots and lots of plastic jars of colored frosting as well as a huge stack of flattened bakery boxes, ready to be assembled and filled with treats.

His eyes sort