Chase Kalinowski: Coffee Shop Owner and Former Army Ranger

Chase owns Double Shot, a coffee shop that looks out onto the courtyard of New Gothenburg’s mall. His job is great, with the exception of Christmastime. Each year, all hell breaks loose in Santa Land, directly outside of his store. The holiday rush keeps Double Shot in business, but the crowd always leaves Chase, a scarred former Army Ranger, surlier than usual.

This year, however, there is a treat Chase didn’t anticipate in Santa Land, in the form of a sassy little blond elf he can’t rip his gaze from. Chase can tell the elf is a brat from their first interaction, and he wants nothing more than to turn the blond over his knee and spank some manners into him.

Lyndon Hollis: Brat Extraordinaire

Lyn has had a bad month, and it’s about to become even worse. He can just sense that this job as a mall elf is going to disappear long before he can find a new one because everything goes wrong from day one. The final straw? A huge, scary—yeah, okay fine, beefcake—coffee guy manages to dump drinks all over his elf costume.

Lyn rants, says a bunch of things he shouldn’t, and eventually feels remorse for his outburst, but what will it take to get Chase Kalinowski to forgive him? More importantly, Lyn can’t figure out why he cares so much.

This holiday novelette is full of steamy hot coffee and even hotter punishments for bratty little elves. Happy holidays!