Kissing Santa Claus Read online

  “Isn’t that what I suggested in the first place?” His lips touched hers in a short, sweet kiss.

  “Yes,” she whispered on a breath.

  “So, you just wanted me to work for it.” No accusations. Just a statement.

  If this was any indication of how he argued, she planned on fighting with him every minute until she got on that plane for home. “Exactly.”

  “This should be an interesting night.”

  “I certainly hope so.”

  6

  Ted put his feet up on Kane’s desk and stared at his friend. “I have a problem.”

  Kane glanced up and frowned. “You will if you don’t move your shoes.”

  Ted ignored the threat and kept the sneakers right where they were. “I need off the Brandt robbery case.”

  This time Kane dropped the file he was reading and gave Ted his full attention. “The lady who caused the scene at the airport?”

  “The TSA guy didn’t help to diffuse the situation, but yeah, that’s the one.”

  Kane leaned back in his big chair and threaded his hands behind his head. “Isn’t she off Kauai by now?”

  “She tried but had a break-in at the hotel this morning and is now staying on a few extra days until she can get another flight out.”

  A nerve ticked in Kane’s cheek. “Another theft? What the hell is going on?”

  “That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either. In reality he wanted her safe but he also just plain wanted her.

  Kane sat up straight and dropped his hands. “Is something wrong with her?”

  That seemed to be the first question on everyone’s mind. Ted almost felt bad for wondering the same thing about Marissa at one point. “I’m thinking it’s a co-worker with an agenda.”

  Kane picked up his stress ball and started squeezing the life out of it. “Any chance she’s making it all up.”

  “She’s not crazy.”

  Kane’s eyebrows shot up. “Interesting.”

  Aw, shit. “What?”

  “You jumped to her defense kind of fast there.” Kane whipped the ball at Ted who caught it with ease.

  “Which is why I need off the case.” Talk about the most uncomfortable conversation ever. Ted set the ball down before he ripped it to pieces. “I’m planning on sleeping with her tonight.”

  “Huh.”

  “That’s your only comment?”

  “You usually don’t share your private life, so give me a second to catch up here.”

  Kane was right. Ted separated his work from his home life on purpose. Sure, everyone knew about his sister and brother. Most knew Ted returned from Southern California a decade ago to help out after his parents died in a freak house fire.

  Not many knew he left a broken marriage and angry wife behind. Tessa had wanted him to leave Hawaii and get engaged, so he agreed and they got married. She wanted him to put her before his parents and siblings, so he did and regretted it every day since. She wanted him to become some corporate moneymaker and give her money and status at the country club, and he finally balked at her demands. When he insisted on coming back to Kauai to see Nicki through her senior year of high school and help Aaron recover and stay on track once their parents were gone, Tessa told him to stay out. It was the only part of their relationship Tessa ever got right.

  And Kane knew it all. Kane had lost his first wife in a drunk driving accident. He understood Ted’s rage and desire for vengeance at the sudden loss of his family. Kane helped Ted funnel all of that energy into a law enforcement career. When the position for deputy opened up, Kane told Ted it was his.

  “So, Ms. Brandt knows you intend to have sex with her?” Kane asked.

  Ted knew his friend was trying to hide a smile. Good thing someone was enjoying the conversation because Ted sure as hell wasn’t. “Yeah.”

  Kane laughed. “Damn, Ted. I was kidding.”

  “I told her. She’s on board.” Seemed logical and smart in Ted’s mind.

  Kane’s grin grew to shit-eating proportions. “You just out and out informed her? Hell, man, I’m thinking you could use some work in the romance department.”

  Wrong theory. This was not about candlelight and roses. “It’s just sex.”

  “Let me get this straight.” Kane leaned forward on his elbows. “You want me to pull someone off another case so that you can go have sex with an alleged victim without any guilt about a work conflict.”

  It sounded kind of stupid when Kane said it like that, but…“Yeah.”

  Kane shook his head but his smile stayed in place. “No fucking way. And I mean that literally.”

  Shit, maybe this was a conflict he couldn’t overcome. “You’re forbidding me from having sex?”

  Kane screwed up his mouth in disgust. “Hey, I’d never deprive a man of sex. I’m just not letting your love life dictate my work assignments.”

  “I’d do it for you.”

  Kane pointed at Ted. “Which is why you’re not in charge around here yet.”

  They both laughed and the building tension disappeared. It had always been like that between them. It’s part of the reason they functioned so well as a team.

  “She’s worried our being together will conflict with my job.” Ted explained the situation without squirming in his seat, even though he wanted to. Hell, he wasn’t a prude by any stretch but talking sex with his boss, friend or not, was unusual.

  “Sounds as if you guys talked this through like a business proposal,” Kane said, his face blank for the first time since the conversation started.

  “Marissa’s only here for a few days. I couldn’t exactly waste time with foreplay.” Ted shifted in his chair. The thing suddenly felt two sizes smaller than his ass. “Am I in trouble here?”

  “No, but I think I need to get a look at any woman who would go along with this plan.”

  Ted wasn’t about to let Kane near Marissa. That was a situation Ted couldn’t control, so he ruled it out. “Stare at your own woman.”

  “Which is the only reason I’m not jumping all over your ass about this. Annie was a visitor on Kauai and in trouble when I met her. She’d find this whole weird idea of yours romantic.”

  Ted remembered the days when Annie and Kane circled each other. Everyone who saw them knew they would end up together. Everyone but Kane. Ted had watched as his usual unshakeable boss lost his fucking mind over Annie. She walked into Kane’s life and never left. They’d been married for about a year and every officer in the station thanked Annie for Kane’s improved mood.

  Ted decided to go there even though he knew it would likely get his ass kicked. “I’m assuming you didn’t wait until after Annie’s case was solved to—”

  Kane’s smile disappeared. “No.”

  “Then we’re good.” Ted started to get up.

  Kane wasn’t having it. “Sit.”

  “But I thought—”

  “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”

  Ted was getting a little tired of making excuses for Marissa’s behavior. “I told you she’s not nuts.”

  “That’s not what I mean.” Kane played with the handle to his coffee mug, shifting in his chair and generally looked as uncomfortable as Ted had ever seen him. “I know what it’s like to fall for someone who lives outside of Hawaii, but you need to be smart about this.”

  Whoa. “You’ve got this all wrong.”

  “What, you think you’re going to be able to sleep with this woman and then put her on a plane and wave good-bye?” Kane shook his head. “I don’t see it happening.”

  “I’ve slept with other women and said good-bye.”

  “Yeah, but you’ve never asked my permission before.”

  The comment stopped whatever else Ted was going to say. He wanted to believe Marissa was like the others, but maybe she wasn’t. “I’m not doing that now. I was just obeying the chain of command. Wanted to get your take on the situation.”

 
; Kane nodded. “Which you plan to ignore.”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Because you want her no matter what I say.”

  Ted saw where this was going and put on the brakes. “When did you become a girl?”

  Kane ignored the insult. “When is she supposed to leave?”

  “The twenty-third. Christmas Eve at the latest.”

  Kane toasted Ted with his coffee mug. “Then we’ll talk about this again on Christmas Day.”

  “It will be over by then. Which reminds me, I need tomorrow off.”

  “So now your sex life is going to mess up my schedule.” Kane yelled the observation.

  “That pretty much sums it up.”

  Kane grabbed for the assignment sheet on the corner of his desk. “You’ll owe me.”

  “And I’m sure you’ll collect.”

  “Damn straight.”

  7

  After an hour with Nicki, Marissa decided she liked the other woman. They sat at the table in her suite’s makeshift dining room and looked over Marissa’s preliminary notes for the hotel’s advertising campaign. Marissa knew she was breaking office protocol, but Nicki had asked for her thoughts and Marissa didn’t see a reason to ignore the request.

  Besides, Marissa was desperate to find some common ground with Nicki other than Ted. Nicki kept bringing up her brother’s name. Really, it was more like twice, but since Marissa had a severe case of Ted-itis, every mention of him only made the situation worse.

  “So, you’re saying we should underplay the ads.” Nicki shuffled the papers.

  “Exactly. The concept is to telegraph the idea that the hotel is so exclusive it doesn’t even need to advertise. And, honestly, photos would say more about this place than any slogan we could come up with. You show a shot of the view and then have a pithy phrase and the hotel’s name. That’s it.”

  “What phrase?”

  “I’m still working on that part.”

  A faraway look moved in to Nicki’s eyes. “The spot is amazing, isn’t it? I knew the first time I came here.”

  Marissa jotted down some possible catchphrases that popped into her head and then crossed them off as she found fault with each. “When was that?”

  “When I graduated from high school. Ted brought us here to celebrate.”

  Make that three Ted references this hour. “Us?”

  “Me and my brother. Ted wanted it to be a special day.”

  Nicki’s wistful tone caught Marissa’s attention. So did a little problem with math. “He doesn’t strike me as being that much older than you.”

  “He’s thirty-four. I’m twenty-eight.”

  “And your parents…?” Marissa let the question hang out there. She was digging, but she did intend to sleep with the man in about an hour, so knowing a little bit about his background wasn’t completely unreasonable.

  “They died.”

  Not at all the answer Marissa expected. She could almost feel the waves of sadness coming off Nicki. “I’m sorry.”

  “It was ten years ago.”

  Nicki didn’t volunteer any more information and Marissa didn’t ask. The memory struck her as too intimate. Too personal. Marissa didn’t want attachments like that in Hawaii. She wanted to enjoy a few hours with Ted, spend tomorrow checking out some of those tourist sites he thought she should see, and then get on a plane the next day.

  “What do you think of Ted?” Nicki asked.

  Reference number four and how the hell did she answer this one? Saying he seemed nice sounded silly “He’s been helpful.”

  And that sounded even worse.

  Nicki coughed out a laugh. “That’s the word you came up with?”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s just that—”

  Nicki nodded. “It’s not my business.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  Nicki put up her hands. “Trust me, Ted will kill me if he finds out I’m talking about his love life at all.”

  “Does he have one?” It was one of those questions that slipped out before Marissa could come up with a better way to phrase it. Or skip asking it at all.

  “Now who’s fishing?”

  Apparently that honesty streak ran through the entire Greene clan. Marissa decided to respond in kind. “I like him. He’s attractive. He’s honest and trustworthy.”

  “He’s not a puppy.”

  Marissa sighed knowing she’d been bested. “The reality is that we’ve known each other for a short time and live six thousand miles apart.”

  “So?”

  “Those are pretty big problems, don’t you think?”

  “If you let them be. Sure.”

  Nicki made it sound so simple.

  “Life doesn’t work that way. You don’t go to a beautiful exotic location, find a great guy, and change your whole life.” Then why did it suddenly sound not so out there, Marissa wondered.

  “You sure about that?”

  Marissa didn’t want to be right about this, but it was. She knew from experience what happened when a woman poured her entire life into a man only to have him move on and leave her behind. “Absolutely.”

  “Just do me a favor.” Nicki reached across the table and took Marissa’s hand. “Give him a chance.”

  Marissa didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I have.”

  Neither did Nicki. “That’s not what I mean.”

  “Then what?”

  “You’ll figure it out.” The doorbell chimed in the middle of Nicki’s comment. She glanced at her watch. “That will be Ted now.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He’s deadly punctual. One of his many talents.” Nicki got up and looked through the peephole. “And he’s also the only other person who knows you’re here.”

  She opened the door. Marissa couldn’t see Nicki’s face, but she could see Ted’s. His smile fell when he glanced at his sister.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked in the roughest voice Marissa had heard from him.

  Nicki didn’t back down. “Visiting with our guest.”

  Ted shot a glance in Marissa’s direction then looked back at his sister. He hadn’t tried to come inside. Didn’t move his hand from behind his back, either.

  “Are you done?” he asked.

  Nicki turned and winked at Marissa. “Should I invite him in or let his head explode in the hallway?”

  “Inside will be easier to explain to the other guests.” Besides, Marissa had no intention of having sex with him in the hall, and that was exactly what she intended to do with him the second after Nicki left.

  “Good choice.” He kissed Nicki on the cheek and then brushed past her.

  From the harsh lines etched on his face, Marissa wondered if he had other plans for the evening. Something that involved screaming and yelling. “Are you okay?”

  “I will be.” He glared at his sister. “Shouldn’t you go home to your husband?”

  “Your delivery lacks a certain subtlety.” Nicki waved to Marissa. “Thanks for the information.”

  “It’s the right plan,” Marissa said with the utmost confidence.

  “I think you may be correct.” Nicki closed the door behind her with a click.

  “What the hell was that about?” He stopped less than a foot in front of Marissa and his voice hadn’t softened one bit.

  “The hotel’s ad campaign.”

  “That’s it?” He stood stock still as if waiting for a wrong answer.

  “Afraid we were talking about you?”

  He dropped his keys and a small paper bag on the dining room table. “I know my sister.”

  “She’s a big fan of yours.”

  “That’s interesting since she calls me a jackass at least once a week.”

  Marissa could almost hear Nicki saying it. “I’m guessing that’s normal for siblings.”

  He put one hand on the top of the chair and leaned. “Do you have any?”

  “Just me and my mom.”

  “Dad?”

  �
��Left long ago.”

  “Ah, I see.” He brought his arm around and stuck a bouquet of purple orchids under her nose. “These are for you.”

  They were stunning. The sweet smell and vibrant deep color charmed her more than she thought possible. And the gesture, well, that squeezed the area around her heart until she thought it would burst from happiness.

  Here she was planning a seduction and he was out there setting up a date. The man just kept right on impressing her.

  “You are going to get so lucky tonight.”

  He didn’t crack a smile. “They aren’t foreplay. I wanted you to enjoy a piece of Kauai before you left.”

  Oh, yeah, he was definitely going to get lucky. “Is this part of your routine?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You find a woman from the States—”

  He tapped the tip of her nose. “I know it’s only been fifty years, but Hawaii is a state now.”

  “Right.” She felt the heated blush from the inside out. “I meant from the continental U.S.”

  “Sure you did.”

  She decided to ignore that. “Then you lure her in with that face of yours—”

  “What’s wrong with my face?”

  “Not a damn thing. That’s my point.”

  “Go on. This is fascinating.” He picked up her hand and placed a small kiss in the center of her palm.

  “You’re obtuse and you boss her around. Then you swoop in and charm her with your sweetness.”

  He peeked up at her in mid-kiss. “I’m not sweet.”

  “But you are sexy.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Very, very sexy.”

  “Right back at ’ya, sweetheart.”

  The endearment sent her heart tumbling. “So what are the plans for the evening?”

  “Do you really need to ask?”

  The bulge pressing against her leg told her everything she needed to know. “No.”

  “And for the record, I don’t make it a habit of dating non-locals.”

  The way he phrased that confused her. “Are you anti-Philadelphia?”

  “Just don’t see any purpose in starting something with a woman who’s going to leave.”

  Did he not understand she was leaving? “Now I’m confused.”