Shelby loves her job as one of Santa’s helpers at the mall: she gets to make people happy and absorb enough shiny cheer to last her through the new year. When her job is over, she has to go back to hiding her glitter eyeshadow and stuffed animals under a blanket in the back seat of her car for when she needs a hit of dopamine. But there’s one thing she can’t stuff under that blanket: her crush fon her hot, teasing barista, Harvey. As she skips into his cinnamon-scented sanctuary, the bells on her shoes jingle so merrily that everyone can tell she’s got mistletoe on her mind.

 

Shelby knows he’s not looking for love in a “retail hellscape.” But behind his grinch façade, he’s sweeter than the free sugar cookies he sneaks her on break. His piercings and tattoos imply he’s into alternative lifestyles, just maybe not hers of cuteness and childish wonder. He grits his teeth through Christmas songs on repeat and enforces rules in the shop for the sake of dignity. She's a grown woman in a polyester uniform—he's probably only flirting for tip money. But he also lies down beside her in the icy parking lot, his fingertips grazing her snow angel wings as their warm breaths intertwine.

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Shelby wants more. Now she has to decide whether to protect herself with her mall elf persona and preserve the magic of their flirtationship or show Harvey what’s in her heart—and her backseat—and risk a rejection far worse than a lump of coal in her stocking. She could be banned from coming back to the job she loves more than anything.