Free Santa's Executive by Carrie Ann Ryan Page B

the one you have to answer to.”
    No, that wasn't right. Santa, or Kris Kringle, as he was known to others, was the boss. He was the one who made all the decisions, and Jack was only his second-in-command. Wasn't that right?
    Jack traced her ear then he moved his hand back to grip her hair around the bun. He pulled, and she winced.
    “You don't get to do anything without me. Don't you understand that? You’re lucky I don’t send you back to the North Pole to live in that pitiful basement where you’ll never see anyone you love again and be all alone without anything. Your parents won't even talk to you if I have anything to do with it. You are just an elf. A nothing. You belong on the bottom of my shoe, not here in Holiday acting as if you know what the hell you're doing.”
    She raised her chin, and he pulled her hair harder, breaking the elastic. Her hair fell in ringlets to brush the top of her ass, and he smiled.
    “You are a beautiful woman, Rina.”
    She bit her tongue so she wouldn't say anything that could land her in a world of trouble. Jack had more magical powers than most and could kill her in an instant if he felt like it. She was only a conduit and would be powerless against him. Fear clawed at her stomach, and she closed her eyes.
    She needed to get out of there, now.
    “Rina, like I said before, you should not have left. You're lucky that I'm going to be generous and let you stay here. It's so sad that that Justin fellow slipped through the cracks. I wonder how that happened.”
    What did Jack have to do with it? The way he said it made her think that Jack had done something that meant Justin would fail. An untrained executive was a dangerous thing. Their magic could get out of control like it had in the cafeteria with the food fight. People could be hurt, and the people who desperately needed some holiday cheer might not get it. What had Jack been trying to accomplish?
    “I'm here now, Jack.” She was surprised at how steady her voice was. Go her. “I'm here to help Justin, and everything will be okay.”
    Jack released her hair and smiled a cool smile. “Oh, I know everything will be okay. Because I'm going to stay in town and make sure you know how to do your job.”
    Alarm spread through her. No, he couldn't stay. “But what about the workshop? Don’t you need to be there to oversee everything?” 
    “I can do that from here, Rina. You forget I know all and see all. I'm Jack Frost after all.” He turned from her and walked toward her little desk in the corner where her work was sitting. “I see you've been busy, dear. But, remember, you still need to be punished for what you did. You can't just leave without telling me. That old man can easily forgive you because he doesn't know you. But, I know you, Rina. I know that you are merely a lowly elf who deserves to be in the basement. You're nothing, Rina. You better remember that.”
    She took a couple steps toward him without thinking, and he snarled.
    “You shouldn't have left. You should have left well enough alone. And now you will pay.”
    His eyes glowed with a frightening, icy white stare, and the room grew colder. It was so cold, she could see her breath. Icicles frosted along the window.
    Jack Frost wasn't just Santa’s second, but the man behind the actual legend of Jack Frost. With the flick of a wrist and the thought of an icy tundra, he could freeze anything in his path and create ice by just the water molecules in the air. He could freeze the water inside the human body and kill a person within seconds. She wrapped her arms around herself as her body shivered, her lips going numb, most likely blue.
    He reached down to the desk and grabbed her folder with all the work she’d been working so hard on.
    “You don't need this, do you, darling?” He smiled again, and ice ran down his arm and spread to her folder. When a thick sheen covered the entire folder and its contents, he threw it against the wall. It shattered into a