Duncan was late and Elvis was starting to worry, she was visibly upset. Eyes wide like saucers and tears like trickling waterfalls. She was standing halfway between the motel and the sign, with her back against a tree beside the small carpark. Knowing that Duncan had to be there soon, she wiped away her tear-soaked cheeks with the back of her hand. A brief glance at her watch told her he was 20 minutes late.

Still, minutes passed... Until finally, there he was, striding towards the tree from the motel reception.

When he was mere metres away, Duncan noticed her ususally red cheeks were rather puffy. Yet, he asked her ever so casually, "I wasn't that late, was I?"

"No, no, not really," she answered quickly.

Taking her face in one of his hands, he said, "You're cheeks seem to say otherwise."

“I just got worried, you know how I get sometimes,” she said with half a chuckle, trying to lighten up her own emotional mood.

“I missed you.” Duncan wiped a single stray tear, that was rolling down her cheek, with his thumb. “It hasn’t been any longer than usual but I couldn’t wait another day without seeing you.” With his other hand, he moved a strand of hair gently behind her ear, not breaking the gaze into her eyes. "I missed you a lot." Touching the bottom of her neck with the back of his fingers, running them gently up her chin. He could feel her quiver slightly beneath his fingers.

A few seconds passed by as they stared at one another. "I heard talk."

"What on?", she asked, blinking suddenly.

"There's a rumour about an elf and cupid secretly dating."

There was a moment of silence after his last sentence. It was broken after 15 seconds by Elvis sighing and then subtly biting her lip. She looked down, clearly worry had started forming thoughts in her mind. Duncan knew it. He also knew that at some point people would have suspicions. Doing what they had been doing was risky, very risky even, but what they had was too strong. It was worth risking everything than letting it all go.

“Do they have any suspects?”, she asked and looked back up at him.

Looking back into her eyes she had raised again, his right hand still under her chin while his other now dangled by his side. Placing its palm on her thigh, he ran it up, his grip slowly getting tighter until he gripped her buttock.

"We're not on their radar if that''s what you're worried about," he whispered. "But it is why it took me a little longer to get here."

A moan escaped her lips as his grip got firmer. The palms of her hands pressed back on the tree behind her, fumbling for something to hold. When she couldn't find anything, she pushed herself forward on the balls of her feet and locked lips with him. Moving her hands around, she went to his belt and started unfastening it.

Duncan broke the passionate kiss, only to delve lower, proceeding to leave wet kisses on the nape of her neck. Her pale skin flushed red and her rosy cheeks became brighter still. The slightest brush of his skin made her body tremble. Elvis felt herself slowly melting in his warm embrace. Duncan pulled back from his kisses when he noticed she had pulled his belt off and it hit the grass with a soft thud. A light-hearted chuckle escaped his lips.

"We shouldn't give them too much to see, El." Duncan picked her up bridal style and carried her off to their motel room door. He fumbled around for the hotel key, which Elvis figured was more difficult because she was sure he didn't want to put her down yet. Then once he found it, he opened the door as the cold air from the air conditioner hit them full-force.

The room was very simple and cheap, like one would expect from a dodgy roadside motel in the middle of nowhere. But it had everything they needed, not that they even needed much except four walls and a bed.

As Duncan struggled to open the door, he felt Elvis shiver a bit from the hit of cold air since she wasn’t really used to the temperature. Duncan carried her into the room, kicking the door closed behind them, and put her gently down on the bed.

No matter what it says about the North Pole in any scientific research, Santa's workshop was always warm, which is why Elvis shivered after getting blasted with cool air. Goosebumps patterned her body.

After he had carefully placed her down on the bed, Duncan looked down at her; into her eyes and down to her bright green cardigan. Before he could remove it, she placed her hand on his. "What happens if they do find out about us?", she asked, worringly.

"They won't stop us, I promise," he answered soothingly. "I have a plan."

His fingers worked quickly to unbutton her cardigan and flung it open. Upon seeing her red lace brassière, he licked his lips. Placing the palms of his hands down on each side of her stomach, he rubbed them up and down slowly and softly. Lowering his head to nuzzle between her breasts, he traced his lips up to her neck with soft kisses. Elvis only moaned.