Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa Page 12

  “Look, Nick, I have a meeting with the mayor in ten minutes. I’ll call you later and we’ll discuss. Okay?”

  “All right, but I’ll expect to hear from you after your meeting.”

  “Okay.” She flipped the phone closed and turned to smile up at Ricco just as he stepped beside her.

  “Everything okay?”

  Her smile stiffened. “Peachy.” And she felt like a rotten apple. Lying did not come naturally to her, and although she had to sometimes shade the truth when it came to business, she always did it with great hesitation. She might be in the business of hostile takeovers, but she did it aboveboard and honestly. Nevertheless, she told herself that while she had an honest physical addiction to the man standing beside her, he was also the key to her gleaning information she would not otherwise be able to access without him. Only so much was public record. She ignored the baby twinge of guilt poking at her conscience.

  “I need to go down to city hall and give Jimmy the partial license plate and tell him what happened,” Ricco said as he looked down at her and brushed back the hair from her face. The instant his fingertips brushed her cheek, she warmed. And damn if she didn’t feel all weak at the knees. Ricco Maza did things to her she didn’t realize she was capable of. Her cheeks flushed and her gaze caught his, then held. The world seemed to pass them by at that moment. Sound quieted, the breeze halted, and there was no temperature. There was just him.

  He moved into her. He gripped her chin and tilted her head back. Bringing her face up to him, he lowered his lips. “I stopped at the apothecary,” he whispered.

  The earth beneath her feet shifted. “I hope you bought them out,” she whispered back.

  His lips brushed across hers, and she went liquid. “All ten boxes.”

  Kim laughed, melting against him. “Is that all they had?”

  Ricco slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. “I told Jules to order more.”

  Kim’s cheeks flushed hotter. “Ricco! When he sees me with you, he’ll know!”

  He grinned down at her. “He’d know just by the way I look at you.”

  Kim looked up at Ricco and smiled. Yeah, she could fall in love with him. Hard and fast, just like every other woman who crossed his path. But she was smarter than that. Emotions screwed up everything. So why go down that road when she knew exactly where it would lead?

  No, thank you.

  “I’m going to rent a snowmobile and go down to the lake and into the surrounding forest,” she told him.

  Ricco scowled. “There’s a lot of snow out there. It’s dangerous.”

  “How about horses?”

  “Worse.”

  “Well, I’ll take my chances with the snowmobile. I won’t go far, and I have a locator on my cell phone if I get lost.”

  Ricco shook his head, then pulled her along with him. “If you can wait a couple of hours, I’ll take you.”

  She considered his offer but thought it would be better if she went alone. If she looked too nosy, he might get suspicious. “If you don’t mind, I’d like some time to myself.”

  “Suit yourself,” he said, his voice clipped.

  As they walked through the crowded Santa’s Workshop area, Kim saw another Santa in the sleigh. This town didn’t miss a beat. “Who’s that Santa?” she asked.

  “That’s Peyton. His side job is mayor.”

  “Oh, really? I’d love to talk to him.”

  “Do you always talk to mayors when you vacation?”

  “Well, I’ll admit I’m doing a wee bit more than vacationing while I’m here.”

  Ricco chuckled, his humor restored. “Tell me something I don’t already know.”

  She had to hurry to keep up with his long strides. “Oh, really? What do you think I’m doing here?”

  He glanced down at her and said, “Spying.”

  She nearly stumbled. “Spying? What on earth for?”

  “You tell me.”

  “I-I’m not. I have a client who’s interested in purchasing some property here. I wanted to get away for the holidays, and it seemed like the perfect solution.”

  As they weaved around the congested boardwalk Kim didn’t miss the turned heads that Ricco’s open Santa jacket caused. He’d stuffed his Santa cap in his pocket, and his beard hung down around his neck. And he hadn’t worn a padded belly. With the jacket open, revealing the thick black leather belt cinched around his narrow waist and his chest clearly defined under the white wife beater, his tousled hair and his sure stride, he was so worthy of a total neck crick.

  “So, you’re a real estate agent?”

  Kim grinned and looked up at him. “Yeah.”

  Ricco nodded.

  “So what should I tell my client? Is Evergreen in trouble?”

  He scowled and glanced down at her. “Maybe.”

  Evergreen City Hall was a monument to lumberjacks everywhere. It was an impressive two-story building that fit right in with the rest of the town. The only thing alerting anyone to its official status was the seal of Evergreen on the beveled glass of the wide double doors.

  Ricco held one open for her. The inner sanctum bustled with activity. It appeared from the signs carved into wooden plaques that this building housed the town’s courthouse, police department, city officials’ offices, and anything else associated with the mechanics of running a town. Kim noticed a county recorder office annex just down the hall. There was a small courtroom to the immediate right of them, where a deputy stood by to screen for weapons.

  “Detective Maza, how’s it hanging, man?” the big redheaded deputy said, stepping toward them. He grinned, and Ricco grinned back.

  Detective Maza? As in a cop, Detective Maza? After the initial shock of the information, it made perfect sense. The way he’d gone after the purse snatcher, then the crazy driver. Apprehension spiked along her spine in a slow stomp. He could very easily run her name and find out more about her than she’d like him to know. Maybe he already had? She decided then and there it would be what it would be. She wasn’t doing anything illegal. Maybe unethical in some people’s eyes, but you couldn’t go to jail for that.

  “Jethro,” Ricco said, extending his right hand, “it’s going to be ‘Sergeant Maza’ in a month, and since you asked, it’s hanging a little to the left.”

  Kim rolled her eyes. Guys were so crude. “I didn’t know you were a cop,” she said.

  Ricco continued to grin and shrugged his shoulders. “You didn’t ask.”

  Feeling naughty, Kim raised up on her tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Do you have handcuffs?”

  Ricco’s grin nearly split his face. He turned slightly to face her, and his warm breath caressed her cheek. He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”

  Kim shivered. The man had a talent. The talent to make her itch for him. “How good are you with those handcuffs?”

  “Pretty good. Wanna find out?”

  Kim tilted her head back, locked gazes with him, and slowly nodded.

  Jethro coughed, then said, “My mama always taught me to introduce attractive women to single available men.”

  Ricco pulled Kim forward. “Kimberly Michaels, meet Jethro Modine.”

  Jethro extended his hand. “My name is Jeff. Glad to meet you. How long will you be in town?”

  “About a week.” She looked up at Ricco and flashed a smile. “Maybe a little longer, depending…”

  Ricco grinned down at her and squeezed her hand. “On what?”

  She nudged into him. “Things.”

  Jeff cleared his throat. Ricco and Kim looked at him, and Jeff looked down at Kim. “If you get tired of having to fend off every female that walks past this guy, I’m here every day until five. I might not have his looks, but I know how to treat a lady.”

  Kim laughed and said, “I’ll keep that in mind, Jeff.”

  Ricco laughed too, but his tone was not nearly so amused. “You must be getting old, Jethro. Cuz you’d rem
ember I don’t share.”

  The underlying possessive tone in Ricco’s voice caught Kim by surprise. She’d heard it in many men, but never in reference to her. And though she considered herself a modern woman, she kind of liked feeling as if he would fight another man for her.

  “I remember.” Jeff looked down at Kim and winked. “I’m just saying…”

  Ricco took Kim’s hand and drew her through the metal detector. “I’m just saying too.”

  As Ricco pulled her along the short hallway to the police department offices, she made mental notes of each office and what she could glean from them. When they came to the PD offices, Ricco opened the door and held it open for her. She stepped through. A pretty, buxom blonde who was on the phone at the front desk looked up. She squealed and dropped the phone, nearly climbing over the desk to leap into Ricco’s arms. Kim stiffened and rolled her eyes. This was getting ridiculous.

  “Ricco! When did you get into town?” the blonde squeaked like a Kewpie doll.

  Ricco smiled and allowed the little bombshell to kiss him full on the lips, but when her lips lingered, he gently pushed her away. He grinned sheepishly at Kim and had the decency to blush. “Um, Brit, I’m here on official business.”

  The perfectly proportioned and maintained blonde clung to Ricco like a lingering virus. She totally ignored Kim. She ran a red nail down Ricco’s chest to his belly, but when she went farther, he grabbed her hand and pleaded, “Brit.”

  Kim had the overwhelming urge to dig her hands deep into the woman’s thick blond hair and rip it out in great clumps, but she resisted. She had never fought over a man, and she would not start now. Ricco reached out to draw Kim closer, but she stepped back and shook her head. “By all means, don’t let me interrupt.”

  Brit turned around and narrowed her big green cat eyes. She kept her hand possessively on Ricco’s chest and cocked a perfectly arched brow. Kim smiled a saccharine smile in return.

  Ricco extracted himself from Brit’s clutches and made a quick introduction. The women nodded to each other.

  Moving past the awkwardness of the situation, Ricco said, “Is Jimmy in his office?”

  “Yes, he just booked a purse snatcher! Can you believe that?”

  “We were there.”

  “Why is everyone so shocked about a little mugging?” Kim asked.

  Ricco and Brit looked at her, surprised. “Evergreen has no crime,” Brit indignantly answered.

  “None? Not even petty theft?”

  Ricco shook his head. “Nada, zilch, never.”

  Kim whistled and shook her head. “How is that?”

  “Up until today, the only folks who visited were the kind who wanted to celebrate the reason for the season with their families and get away from crime and punishment,” Ricco explained.

  “Well, between the purse snatcher and the jerk who tried to reduce the population by a few, I’d say you’re having a regular crime wave.” Kim almost laughed at the absurdity of it. Amazing the town would get so uptight about two incidents. And given the fact that no one had really been hurt, they’d been minor incidents at that.

  Kim pursed her lips, and the baby pang of guilt was a little stronger this time. If they thought it was bad now, wait until the resort and casino came to town. Life would not even remotely resemble their current Norman Rockwell Stepford town. She looked up at Ricco. “As a cop, how can you be so naive?”

  His face sharpened. “Hardly naive, Kim. I’ve seen things you would never dream of in your worst nightmare, but here? In Evergreen? We live and die on the honor system. The town gets in an uproar if one of the kids pinches a candy from Sadie’s Emporium. It just doesn’t happen.”

  “Okay, I get it, but—”

  “No buts. You have to drive to get to us—we’re between the sierras and the lake. One way in and one way out. We’re remote for a reason.”

  “But how, over all these years, have you had no crime?”

  “We’ve had a spot here and there, but nothing like this. That thug who swiped that purse was not from here. And he wasn’t visiting, either. He came with a purpose. I suspect the dude driving the Suburban was with him. It stinks to me.”

  “Do you think the word is out about Evergreen being an easy mark?”

  He shrugged, then frowned. He turned to Brit, who had gone back to her desk and hung up the phone. “Any more from Land’s Edge?” Ricco asked her.

  She shook her blond head and smiled at him. “No, but Pey was sure pissed when they made the offer. He’s still grumbling about some big-ass outfit just thinks they can walk in here, slap down a few bucks, and buy off the town.”

  Ricco nodded. “Can’t say that I blame him.” He looked down the hall and said, “I have some info for Jimmy.” He squeezed Kim’s arm and said, “I’ll be right back.”

  She opened her mouth to say she wanted to come along, but she thought better of it. She supposed he’d say no so that he could do his cop thing in private.

  Before Ricco had completely disappeared down the hall, Brit said, “He never stays.”

  Kim turned, not prepared for Brit’s solemn tone. Catty, sure, but solemn? “I’m sorry—?”

  Her full pink lips turned down in a melancholy frown. Her big green eyes looked evenly at Kim. “He’s like his father. Can’t stay in one place more than a month or with the same woman for more than two nights.”

  Kim didn’t know what to say. “I’m…um…sorry it didn’t work out for you two.” Sort of. Okay, not really. ’Cause if it had, she’d be minus several orgasms at the moment and not eagerly anticipating more later.

  “Don’t be sorry. We all grew up with Ricco and know how he is. Of course all of us girls hoped we’d be the one to make him want to hang up his hat. But he only comes around this time of year. Then poof, he disappears until the holidays roll around again.”

  Kim wondered about something. “Okay, I get he’s got a severe case of wanderlust, but if you don’t mind me asking, if he’s jilted every girl in town at least once, why do you all go crazy over him when you see him?”

  Brit smiled a dreamy smile and hugged herself. “Have you been to bed with him?”

  Kim’s cheeks flushed. Brit smiled knowingly. “How can you not welcome him back with open arms? We all want more.” She sat back and closed her eyes, as if imagining Ricco’s hands and mouth on her body. Kim warmed thinking the same thing. “And besides, he’s always such a gentleman in the end. We all know going into it what it’s about. Our bad if we get all clingy. Ricco hates that.”

  Kim began to feel like a number. Not that she hadn’t known it to begin with, and not that she didn’t plan to walk away first, but…“Just who has he slept with in this town?”

  Brit smiled and shrugged. “The easier question is who hasn’t he slept with?”

  “Not as many as you think, ladies,” Ricco said, coming down the hall. He gave Brit a look that said, “Naughty girl.” She blushed and practically puddled on the floor.

  He grinned that million-dollar-Hollywood smile of his, tipped an imaginary hat Brit’s way, took Kim’s hand, and dragged her out of the office.

  She didn’t know whether to laugh, cry, punch him, or shove him into the nearest closet and have her way with him. “Don’t believe everything you hear, Cinderella.”

  “Oh, trust me, Prince Charming, I take everything I hear with a grain of salt.”

  He squeezed her hand and smiled down at her as they passed Jeff, who watched them with a smirk on his face. A funny jumpy feeling rolled around Kim’s belly. Kind of like she was nervous or afraid or her adrenaline was spiking. It was an oddly exciting sensation and one she only felt when she was swooping in for the final strike in a takeover. She’d never experienced it with a man before. And she wasn’t sure she liked it.

  As they exited the building to the bustling center of town, Kim looked up at him and said, “Even if it were all true, we know we’re both turning into pumpkins in a week, so what’s the big deal?”

  Ricco stopped and le
t a smiling, happy family pass by. His eyes focused on Kim and he smiled, but not one of those dazzling killer smiles. This one was…pensive.

  “I think, Cinderella, you’re all bluff.”

  A shot of adrenaline juiced through her. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough I never bluff when it comes to the bedroom.”

  “I guess we’re on the same page there. Neither do I.”

  And his words hurt.

  Twelve

  “ARE YOU STILL INTERESTED IN THAT SNOWMOBILE ride?” Ricco asked as they made their way around the wooden promenade.

  Kim thought about it for a minute. Yes, she was, but she decided she didn’t want to go alone. A guided tour would be better suited to her motives. And who better than the resident town stud? But she couldn’t muster the courage to tell him she’d changed her mind. What if he rejected her? Too much time together did that.

  “I am, but right now I think I’ll just look around town. Maybe tomorrow.”

  Ricco stood looking down at her for a long moment. “It’s kind of hard to get lost around here.” He pointed toward the center of town. “The promenade makes a big circle around the ice rink and central park and the gazebo, with the side streets off every block or two. Ezzy is at the southern end, Sierra side, right now we’re at the northern end, Sierra side, but if you get turned around, ask any shopkeeper for directions back to Ezzy’s and they’ll point you in the right direction.”

  Kim nodded. Okay, so he was ready to part ways. So was she. Their interest in each other was relegated to a mattress, condoms, and no clothes. Anything more and things could get messy. And she was all about staying squeaky clean. She was glad she hadn’t asked him to go out on the snowmobile. She’d hire a guide.

  “Great, well, thanks.” She stepped backward, away from him. Ricco stood staring at her, his face unreadable. “I’ll see you later? Maybe?” she managed to ask. He nodded, his face blank. Okay, she was really digging herself into a hole here. “Look, I totally get it if you want to just say sayonara right here.”

  He cocked a brow, leaned against a wooden post, and crossed his arms over that wide chest of his. “Do you?”