Kissing Santa Claus Page 20

  She had more pressing things on her mind at the moment anyway. Namely one deputy police chief Ted Greene. She expected him to show up any minute, which had nothing to do with why she applied lipstick or brushed her teeth three times. Also completely unrelated to the black lace panties she put on and the reason she changed into her best ass jeans and snug T-shirt from her sweats.

  Pure coincidence. No hidden sexual message there at all.

  When the doorbell chimed a minute later she abandoned the mirror and her hairbrush in favor of the peephole. And what a sight awaited her. The man somehow managed to look good through a tiny slit in the door that distorted most people into fat round globs.

  The fact Ted had changed into faded jeans and a long sleeve white oxford shirt that highlighted his tanned skin didn’t hurt either. In or out of uniform this guy could make a woman’s thoughts stray right from the boardroom to the bedroom.

  “Officer Greene,” she said as she opened the door and motioned for him to step inside.

  “You can call me Ted.” He walked through the small foyer and into the family room. Kept right on walking until he hit the glass doors to the patio.

  “Is that appropriate?” She asked more to fill the silence than anything.

  He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Would you rather call me Mike?”

  “Is that your real name?”

  “No, my name is Ted.” He nodded toward the door. “And you might want to close that since we’re trying to hide your whereabouts.”

  She followed his directions without thinking. “Why would I call you something other than your name?”

  “No idea. You seemed upset at the idea of calling me Ted, so I thought I’d give you an alternative.”

  Uh, yeah. Because that made sense. “You’re the police.”

  He dropped down on the couch. A small notebook and pen appeared in his hands out of nowhere. “And we’re not supposed to have names?”

  She thought about hanging out near the door. Seemed safer than getting close, especially in his current mood, which she could not read at all. But she was not the run-and-hide type, so she moved into the room and took the chair next to the couch. That put a whole glass coffee table between them.

  “Are you trying to be difficult?” she asked even though she knew he would never give her a straight answer to that one.

  “Actually, yeah.”

  At least he was honest about it. “Care to tell me why? Is that some sort of police tactic?”

  “No.”

  “Do you just hate people from Philadelphia?”

  “Never been there but you seem okay.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He hesitated before continuing. “My reasons are much more personal.”

  With those few words he kicked the tension in the room up to unbearable levels and dragged them right into the danger zone. She could feel it as sure as if she walked off a cliff with only air below her for a cushion. “Care to share?”

  Something sparked in those sexy green eyes. “I’m going to be dead honest with you.”

  Her stomach plunged to the floor. “I appreciate that.”

  “I want you.”

  If he told her he planned to jump out the window using the sheet as a parachute she would have been less stunned. “Really?”

  He smiled. “Does that surprise you?”

  “Your honesty does.” Even though it shocked her, she found his openness refreshing. After all the hours spent negotiating signals and deciphering comments at the office and on dates she appreciated a more direct approach. Adults should be able to talk about their attraction without all the “does he or doesn’t he” stuff.

  He leaned back on the couch. “The men back in Philadelphia must be pretty dull if they can’t recognize a beautiful woman and then do something about it.”

  If there were men like him in Philadelphia, she would be there right now with one of them. “I’m sure I should rush to the defense of the hometown men, but I’ll pass.”

  “So, you don’t have a boyfriend?”

  She thought about making him work for it then realized that would be one of those games she claimed to hate. “No.”

  “Good.”

  “Why is that good?” But she knew.

  From this wide smile, he knew. “We have some business to discuss but after…”

  The man jumped from topic to topic and managed to knock her totally off stride. Part of her wondered if that was the goal.

  “After we do what?” She could guess the direction of his thinking but kind of wanted him to say it. Actually, she’d be happy if he did anything other than sit there tapping his pen against his notebook while he grinned in a way that made her resistance melt into a big puddle of goo.

  “First business, then we talk about the wanting you part,” he said in a voice so low and inviting that she almost jumped on top of him.

  Sweaty palms were not a usual problem, but this guy made every part of her body kick into gear. “You’re making some pretty big assumptions.”

  He stretched his arm across the back of the light blue sofa. “You saying the feeling isn’t mutual? Come on. Give me some credit. I felt it that first day, even with all of the other stuff going on.”

  She dug her fingernails into the armrests. “Okay, sure. You’re an attractive guy and—”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine?”

  “We’ll get to that after we do a little work.” He flipped his notebook open.

  Did he really think they had moved on to the interrogation part of the program? “You can do that?”

  He glanced up from his notes. “Talk?”

  Oh, the man could definitely talk. He could argue and circle and throw her a glance that made her blood heat until it simmered right under her skin. And while he set off a rocket of confusing feelings inside her, he just sat there nice and calm.

  Men. She sometimes wondered if they were human.

  “Compartmentalize like that. You talk about work and have that sturdy police stance—”

  He coughed. “The what?”

  “—and then you mention feelings and shoot me this sexy little smile.”

  “Sexy, huh?” This time his smile almost blinded her.

  “You’re missing my point.”

  “I think we understand each other just fine.”

  Not if they kept heading down this road. “You’re saying there’s no conflict of interest for you if we get involved?”

  He pretended to think about the question. “That’s a mighty big and complicated business term for something pretty simple.”

  Fine. She would spell it out and then they could deal with the fallout. “You can sleep with people linked to your cases?”

  His left eyebrow inched up. “You’re the only one talking about sex.”

  “Don’t be obtuse.”

  “That’s the second time you’ve accused me of that.”

  “It fits.”

  “What you see is what you get.” Ted held his arms wide to his sides, showing off every inch of his broad chest and trim waist. “I need to talk to you about the break-in. After that, I want to talk to you about that shirt and how nice you look in it.”

  His words started a tingle at the base of her neck. “And you won’t get in trouble at work for that?”

  “Are you going to turn me in?”

  Not if that meant the flirting tango would stop. “No.”

  “Then we’re fine. Let’s get the work out of the way so we can get to the good part.”

  4

  Despite his attempts to stay in control, Ted hadn’t been fine since he walked into the fancy hotel room and saw Marissa standing there in an outfit that skimmed her body and showed off every curvy inch. Just looking at her, seeing the way her hair fell over her shoulders and framed her long neck, robbed what was left of his common sense.

  Sleeping with her wouldn’t exactly be a conflict, at least he didn’t think so, but it wouldn’t be a good idea, either.

>   He cleared his throat, hoping that would push out some of his more vivid and x-rated thoughts about her clothes and her not being in them. “So, you’re in Kauai on a work assignment.”

  The faraway look in her eyes cleared a bit. “Yes.”

  “Who knows you’re here?”

  “My boss, everyone at my office—”

  Before she got wound up and handed over a list of a thousand people, he decided to target the conversation where he wanted to go. “Tell me about this Hank guy.”

  She smiled. “I told you we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend.”

  “I get that you think so, but why is he here?”

  “Word is that your sister’s resort is planning to launch a new marketing and advertising plan. My company is interested in the job. Hank and I lead creative teams,” Marissa explained.

  She lost him ten words back. “Should I know what that means?”

  “We’re tasked with coming up with separate campaigns for the resort to review. We have to present our preliminary ideas to our boss on December twenty-sixth. The final product is due in January.”

  Ted officially had no idea what she did for a living or why an assignment was due the day after Christmas. Sure, he understood marketing. It was all this fighting within the same agency thing that didn’t make much sense. “Why don’t you guys work together to come up with the best campaign possible?”

  “It doesn’t work that way. My boss thinks competition is good for morale, so he sets us up on separate teams and we work against each other. The company wins because we all work our butts off to get campaigns.”

  Ted shook his head. Clearly her boss had never heard of the concept of teamwork. “That’s the dumbest damn thing I’ve ever heard.”

  “The advertising world can be cutthroat and filled with pressure.” The flirty lightness had left her voice. She was all business now.

  “So why do you do it?”

  She shrugged. “I’d prefer to work in my own office with a team all focused on the same goal and without the office politics, but the real world doesn’t work that way.”

  His did. He didn’t understand why others didn’t. “Sounds to me like you need a new career.”

  That back of hers snapped even straighter. “I happen to be good at this one. Besides, I’m in line for a big promotion.”

  So she could be the dickhead boss? Yeah, didn’t make sense to Ted. “Is that a good thing?”

  “Of course.”

  Sounded to him like she was getting her priorities confused. If she hated the game, why play it?

  “If Hank wins, he gets a promotion at work. If my idea wins, I get it,” she said as if she were talking to a child.

  She might think he was slow, but he was catching on just fine. “So Hank would benefit if you had a problem getting home or getting to that December twenty-sixth meeting.”

  “He volunteered to stay here with me when I had the original flight problems. He didn’t know I missed my morning flight. I just left him a message to let him know.”

  Ted had to admit that part of the story messed up his theory. Still, he would bet Hank was working a scheme at Marissa’s expense. She wasn’t stupid, but she refused to see the potential problem. That’s what happened when a person assumed everyone played by the same rules in the same game.

  “When is Hank scheduled to leave?” Ted asked.

  “Tomorrow, but you’re making all of this into something it isn’t.” She shook her head as sadness filled her eyes. “We’re friends. We’ve been co-workers for years.”

  “So there’s never been a time when the two of you…”

  Her mouth twisted in something close to revulsion. “Absolutely not.”

  “No flirting. No dating. Nothing?”

  “Nothing…” She glanced around the room. Everywhere but at Ted. “Well, no, nothing.”

  Uh-huh. Just as Ted suspected. Something. A very big something. “Tell me.”

  She waved a hand in front of her face. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

  Sure. That’s why she kept refusing to talk about it. “I’ll decide.”

  “Hank got drunk and made a pass. It was silly, really. We both laughed about it the next day.” She threw in a nervous chuckle as if to prove her point.

  “Which day was that?”

  “The day I was supposed to leave the first time. We celebrated the night before we were to get on the plane and head home.” She shot Ted a level stare. “And the timing doesn’t mean anything.”

  Yeah, it did. It was starting to sound as if the infamous Kauai Robber was really a chubby lovelorn ad executive from Philadelphia with a crush on a co-worker. “What’s his room number?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I thought I’d invite him to dinner.” Ted exhaled to let her see his frustration. “Why the hell do you think? I want to talk to him.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. “The pass was embarrassing to Hank. I don’t want you going in there, throwing elbows, and scaring him.”

  Oh, Ted planned to do more than that. “Hank is a grown man, right?”

  “It was nothing.”

  Ted held up his hand to stop her annoying apologies for her stalking co-worker. “Since you’ve said that about fifty times, I’m thinking it was something.”

  “I want to be there.”

  She said the words so fast that he almost couldn’t understand them. But he did and the answer was no. “When?”

  “When you talk to him.”

  “No.”

  This time she crossed her arms over her stomach. “Then good luck finding him.”

  Ted exhaled in an attempt to hold on to his anger and keep it from exploding. “My sister runs the place. I can have Hank’s room number in ten seconds.”

  Marissa’s breath rushed out. She reached out and laid a hand on his knee. “Ted, please. I don’t want you accusing him.”

  The gentle touch of her fingertips on his pants set off a brushfire in his nerve endings. “You have very little faith in my police abilities.”

  “Am I wrong? You think it’s him and plan to scare him, right?”

  Sure but he planned to be subtle about it. He was a trained professional after all. Ted thought about pointing that out but let it drop. “It’s against the rules to bring civilians along on interviews.”

  She moved her hand back. “Now you’re making things up.”

  He was. “Don’t you think being there will make Hank more uncomfortable?”

  “Doesn’t matter because I’m going to be there.”

  He ended their staring contest with a vow. “I can forbid it.”

  “Then I guess our discussion is over.” She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. “All discussions on any topic, work or not…if you know I mean.”

  Every woman knew how to play this game. Ted wondered if they got a manual in their teens or something. “That’s sexual blackmail.”

  “You can call it whatever you want.”

  He called it typical. “If I don’t give you your way then—”

  She nodded. “Yep.”

  “We both lose in that deal, you know.”

  She had the nerve to look bored. Even stared at her fingernails for a second. “I was planning to leave the island anyway.”

  As if he could let her walk out now without tasting her. “You don’t play fair.”

  “The gauntlet has been thrown. It’s your move, officer.”

  It wasn’t as if he had a choice. He wanted her. He needed to talk with Hank. There was no real reason that Marissa couldn’t be there except that he wanted her away from Hank. Yeah, Ted knew he was going to lose this fight. “You would have to sit there in the same room and be quiet.”

  A huge smiled spread across her lips. “I can do that.”

  “I haven’t seen any evidence that’s true.”

  “Maybe you would prefer to spend an evening alone.” She did that hair flip thing that drove him crazy. “Does your house have a cold shower?”
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br />   “Fine,” he said through his locked jaw.

  “Meaning?”

  “Business is over.” He threw the notebook down on the coffee table. “Let’s get to the non-business part of our meeting.”

  “Already?”

  “I have my officers combing through your old room, checking for fingerprints and looking at the security tapes. I’ve talked with you. We’ll track down Hank in a few minutes.”

  “Minutes? Man, you work fast.”

  Did she think he was going to throw her on the bed for a quickie? Because he sure was thinking about it. “I can go whatever speed you want.”

  “All men say that.” That flirty tone moved back into her voice. Played in the way she held her body. So inviting…

  He shifted to the front of the couch cushion. The move had their knees touching. “Believe it or not, all men are not the same.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Instead of debating that point, we could try a test.”

  Her body stilled. “With homework and stuff?”

  He winked at her. “More of a hands-on experiment.”

  “You do know that I’m leaving in a few days.”

  “What does that matter?”

  Her face went blank. The smile, the gleam in her eye—all gone. “Right.”

  The flat tone threw him. “Did I say something wrong?”

  She shook her head. Kept shaking it. “No.”

  He had no idea what the hell was going on with her. But he thought he knew how to bring all that heat rushing back. “Maybe I should skip talking.”

  “Good idea.”

  He grabbed her hand and stood up, taking her right along with him. For a second they stood facing each other, her breasts touching his chest and her warm breath puffing against his cheek.

  “Are all the women in Philadelphia as pretty as you?” He brushed the back of his hand down her cheek and watched her brown eyes flush darker.

  “Thinking of moving there?”

  He’d already relocated once for a woman. Learned that lesson the hard and expensive way and had no plans on repeating it. “No.”