Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa

by Karin Tabke

  “We let Dr. Newman go last week,” Elle said quietly. She looked at her mother. “I don’t know where Dr. Juarez is going to come up with that balloon payment. He can barely make payroll. He hasn’t drawn a check in months.”

  “Dr. Juarez isn’t the only one,” Leti sighed. She seemed to have lost her appetite. She pushed her food around on her plate.

  “What about investors?” Kim asked between bites of tender boiled pork.

  Once again all adult eyes turned to her. Leti scowled. “We have an offer from a land developer in L.A. to buy Evergreen lock, stock, and barrel.”

  “Oh,” Kim said, acting innocent. “Is it a good offer?”

  “Any offer, good or bad, is not subject to consideration.”

  “Oh,” Kim said, then couldn’t help adding, “why not?”

  “Evergreen is unique. The people here trust one another. We can and do count on our neighbors, and we know all we have to do is look like we need a hand and it’s given without question. This town rescued me and my family over thirty years ago when no place else would. I’ve seen it happen over and over—families uprooted elsewhere and taken into the fold of this town. Our roots are deep and loyal. There is no other place any of us would rather be than right here. We’d rather commute into Reno or down to Sacramento then give up our homes here. Selling out is not an option.”

  “But if the money—”

  “Not an option.” Leti’s tone left no room for further discussion.

  Ricco laughed. “Leticia Maza is the mama bear of the town. Cross any resident, and you cross her.”

  Kim understood that on a business level: Fight for the deal. But she could not relate on a personal level; she had never fought for anyone, nor had her mother ever fought for her. She smiled up at Ricco, then to his sisters. “You’re fortunate to have a mama bear.”

  “What about your folks, Kimberly?” Ezzy asked.

  Kim shrugged. “They travel a lot.”

  “Are they meeting you here for Christmas?”

  Kim nearly choked on the rice she’d just swallowed. She grabbed her glass of tea and took a deep swig. She shook her head. “No.”

  “What are they doing for Christmas?” Ricco asked.

  Kim shrugged. “I have no idea, probably spending it in Europe, like they usually do.”

  “Are you mad at your mom?” little Mari, Jasmine’s oldest child, asked.

  Kim smiled, not sure how to answer the question. “Mari, that is none of your business,” her mother lightly chastised her.

  Kim took the out. As the conversation moved from topic to topic, several things became crystal clear to Kim. One: Evergreen was in trouble. Two: Leticia Maza was the key to unlocking the financials of the town, the way for Kim to get a detailed road map to a buyout. And three: The Maza family was tight, and if you messed with one, you messed with them all.

  “Tio?” Little Mari softly said, tugging on Ricco’s sleeve. Ricco set his fork down and smiled at the child. Her big brown eyes looked up to him with the innocent wonder only a child could have. “I’m Jesus’ mama this year. I want you to watch me.”

  Ricco smiled slowly, his entire face lighting up. Kim watched, transfixed. Pure love and joy marked every cell in him. Her insides did that weird jumpy thing again.

  He smoothed her hair back from her little angelic face and rubbed noses with her. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  She pursed her little lips and pointed a finger at him. “Promise.”

  Ricco crossed his heart and made as if to poke his eye. “Cross my heart and hope to die. You know if I say I’m there, I am.”

  “My daddy says that, but he’s gone.”

  “Mari,” Jasmine shushed.

  “It’s okay, Jazz,” Ricco said, smiling down at his niece. “Daddy works a lot, Mari. But he’s going to try very hard to be home to see you.”

  The little girl smiled and reached up for a hug, and her uncle obliged. “I love you,” she whispered against his ear, squeezing her eyes shut. And Kim felt her heart constrict.

  As the dinner was winding down, there was a knock on the door. ’Tonio jumped up to answer it. No one seemed to mind or think there could be a complete stranger on the other side—or, worse, a criminal. “Grandma! There’s a man here.”

  Leti set her napkin on the table next to her plate and stood. As she walked toward the door, everyone at the table craned their necks to see who it was. You could have heard a pin drop when Leti’s stunned voice whispered as if she had seen a ghost, “Enrique.”

  Ricco was up so fast that his chair flew backward and crashed onto the floor. All three sisters gasped and came to their feet. Krista whimpered, Mari shushed her, and little Donny blinked his big brown eyes like an owl. His little chin quivered, and he looked as if he was ready to belt out a scream. Kim braced herself. But more formidable than the little boy’s imminent eruption was the Maza siblings. As a unit, the four of them marched toward the door.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Ricco angrily demanded. Kim stood and shushed the children, who stared at the door wide-eyed and frightened.

  “Mijo—” an old man’s voice beseeched.

  “Don’t ‘mijo’ me! Get the hell out of here!”

  “Ricco!” Leti said, her voice high and strained. “Do not speak to your father like that.”

  Incredulous, Ricco looked at his mother. He pointed to the well-dressed man who leaned heavily on a wooden cane. “This man is no father of mine.”

  Leti put her hand on her son’s arm, her eyes beseeching him to comply. Ricco’s eyes hardened to stone. His jaw tightened, and whatever words he wanted to say he held inside. His gaze shot past his mother to Kim. “Get your jacket, we’re leaving.”

  Kim hurried to do just that. Quickly, she thanked Leti and the girls for dinner. She gave Ricco’s dad a quick glance and almost blanched. There was no way to deny that he’d fathered the tall, angry man waiting at the door for her. Enrique, a handsome man with an incredible aura of pride swirling around him, was Ricco in thirty years, but he wore the pall of a death mask. His aristocratic face was a series of sunken planes and angles. He was pale and drawn. He looked ill. No, Kim decided, he was past ill. This man was dying. Despite that, he was well dressed and held his head high with pride, even if his dark brown eyes held years of regret in them. He nodded to Kim and smiled. Ricco kissed his mother and sisters, then grabbed Kim by the hand and drew her past the man he refused to acknowledge, and out the door.

  The door closed behind Ricco, and she heard shrill female voices erupt inside the house. Ricco did not hesitate in his step.

  Eight

  RICCO’S LONG, ANGRY STRIDES MADE IT DIFFICULT FOR Kim to keep up. She noticed, though, that instead of heading back to the B&B, they were going in the opposite direction, straight to the heart of town. The air was colder and the wind had picked up, but the atmosphere was clear. The snow had stopped before dinner. She looked up and gasped. The deep purple sky was filled to bursting with stars. They twinkled brightly, and the combination of the stars, the wispy scent of evergreen, and fresh air was exhilarating, despite the angry man who drew her behind him like a sack of dirty laundry.

  “Ricco,” she breathlessly said. “Slow down.”

  Abruptly, he did, and she knocked into his side. Absently he righted her before she fell. He didn’t let go of her hand, and in a sudden, shocking awareness, she realized she didn’t want him to. His warmth and strength, even if he wasn’t aware of his gesture, made her feel wanted. She shook that off, and with it, she pulled her hand away. He scowled down at her as if just realizing he’d been holding her hand but was glad she’d made the break.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, then began to walk, looking down at her to see if she could keep stride with him.

  “Was that your father?” she softly asked. Kim felt Ricco’s body stiffen beside her even though they had no physical contact. His stride increased in pace. She sped up to keep up.

  And for reasons unknown to her at that
moment, Kim said, “I know how it feels.” He slowed and scowled down at her, still not saying a word. Old hurts swelled in her chest, pressing into her heart, a heart she had kept closed to intrusion. Yet she had a need to connect with this man, to let him know he wasn’t the only kid who’d been deserted by a parent. And, she told herself, she was going to be in Evergreen for the next week, and Ricco’s mother was the gateway to her report for a buyout. Who better to get close to than the woman’s only son she doted on?

  Kim hurried to explain. “I gather your father wasn’t around much?”

  Ricco grunted a response.

  “My mother and father were absentee parents too. My grandmother raised me until she died. Then it was a revolving door of nannies.”

  “Do you have siblings?”

  She shook her head. “I call myself the Trust Fund baby. Without the baby, my mother didn’t get the trust fund.”

  Ricco glanced down at her then looked ahead. They were approaching the ice rink. Several couples and small children frolicked on the smooth, shiny ice. Low holiday music piped across the space. A large bonfire burned on the other side, and she could see several people huddled around it.

  Impulsively Kim grabbed Ricco’s hand and said, “C’mon. I’ve never ice-skated! Teach me!”

  He resisted. She pulled him toward the rink. “C’mon, Ricco, teach me.”

  He stood dug into the sidewalk, his dark, stormy face unyielding. Kim smiled and tilted her head. She pouted and pressed herself against the long length of him. At the contact she felt his body stir. “You know you want to.”

  He stood stalwart. She persisted, and much to her surprise, she found herself enjoying this lighter, flirtier self. And if it got her the information she needed, she was game. Besides, it wasn’t like she wasn’t attracted to the guy. If she wasn’t careful, she could find herself twisting up the sheets with him again. Her body lit up at the notion.

  When Ricco refused to budge, Kim resorted to a little reverse psychology. She released his hand and skipped past him toward the rink. She knew he’d follow her, if for no other reason than the fact that he’d feel some sense of responsibility for making sure she was returned safe and sound to the inn. Not that this town was threatening in any way. It was Christmas paradise, and she felt as light and carefree as she had when Gran would take her out on the town.

  The fact that Kimberly didn’t have a cent on her didn’t matter. The smiling lady in the rental hut just told her to drop off the two-dollar rental fee the next time she came by. Kim sat down on a warmed bench and pulled off her five-hundred-dollar boots, fretting about where she could put them so no one would steal them. The nice lady from the rental hut just a few feet away smiled and said, “No one will bother your things.”

  Kim smiled and put on the skates, tightly lacing them. As she stood, she nearly lost her balance. She grabbed the edge of the rink and was thankful for the thick rubber matting that led to the ice. She glanced over her shoulder to where she’d left Ricco. He stood, silently watching her. He hadn’t moved an inch. Her belly somersaulted. She felt his pain. Really, she did, but she’d learned to compartmentalize it. It made life so much more manageable. And frankly, being emotionally unfettered cleared the way for complete focus on her job. And she loved her job. The thrill of the hunt was better than sex any day. Well, except the other night, but that was an anomaly. Seriously, it had been one of those all-of-the-stars-in-alignment nights.

  Gingerly Kim put her right foot onto the ice. She gripped the edge of the rink wall and put her left foot out. The right foot pushed forward, she flexed backward to compensate, and her left foot went flying out from underneath her. She hit the hard ice with a loud whoosh. She lay stunned and breathless for a long moment. She opened her eyes to see several concerned faces peering down at her.

  “Are you okay, lady?” a teenaged boy asked.

  “I think so,” she answered. As far as she could tell the only thing stinging at the moment was her pride, and, well, her behind. The boy extended a hand and she reached for it. As he pulled her up, her skates went willy-nilly and she fell back onto the ice, this time bringing the kid with her.

  She lay flat on her back, sprawled out like she was going to make a snow angel, with the kid sitting on her stomach. He hurried to move away, apologizing profusely. A dark shadow moved over her, and big, capable hands lifted her from the ice, setting her aright on her feet. Kim looked up to see Ricco’s hard face above hers. Heat infused her cheeks. His eyes, not as hard as his face, twinkled just a smidge. “You’re going to kill yourself and everyone else on the ice,” he told her.

  Carefully, Kim grasped the edge of the low wall and scowled up at him. “No, I’m not!” She turned to grab the wall with her other hand, misplaced her weight, and found herself once again on her back, this time staring up into two very amused dark brown eyes.

  He stared at her for a long moment before those sensual lips of his broke into a smile. “Yes, you are.” He extended his hand and hauled her up against him. He wrapped his left arm around her waist, and, in a slow glide, he pushed off, holding her to him. Like he was an NHL star, he moved with the grace of a pro along the ice. The slow, long glide guided by his long, hard body made her think of other long, slow slides.

  He was so big and so strong, and so adept on the ice, that she couldn’t have fallen had she tried. He held her easily and maneuvered them effortlessly around the small rink. Her feet made weird directional changes even as she tried to guide them, but Ricco kept her close to him. His spicy personal scent, mingled with that of their surroundings, was heady stuff. Kimberly looked up to him, but his eyes were focused ahead, his jaw set. While he had gone where she’d wanted, he was in his own little world.

  “Earth to Ricco,” she said. He glanced down at her and slowed. He stopped then, pressing her back against the rail.

  “I’m not very good company tonight.”

  She smiled and liked the way he kept his body close to hers. When she pressed into him, he cocked an eyebrow. “What happened to the spitfire who wanted me to stay the hell away from her?”

  Kim shrugged, then smiled big. “I thought Elle was your girlfriend and Tonio your son. The way you acted when you saw Ezzy, I assumed the same thing with her and thought you were a twisted bastard.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. She smiled, liking the way it sounded. Thick, hearty, and full of amusement. He shook his head. Taking her right hand in his, he sobered somewhat and said, “Rest assured, I don’t have children squirreled away—or their mothers. I’m fairly certain there are no little Rickys running around out there.” He slowly drew her away from the railing. She hesitated. “I won’t let you fall,” he softly said. And she believed him.

  He slid his arm around her waist and brought her up against his side. Looking up at him, she smiled. Ricco grinned back, and something deep inside of her shifted. He pushed off. In a slow, easy circle, they moved across the ice. The chilly air against her skin and the freeing effect of the movement made her feel footloose and fancy-free. She looked down at Ricco’s black skates; she moved her feet in time to match his, and just like that, with a little help, she was skating.

  “Oh, my God! I’m doing it!” She was skating! “Let go!”

  Slowly Ricco unreeled her from his side. She tightened her grip and looked up at him. As the word no escaped, she felt her feet go out from underneath her. Ricco did a slick half circle move and grabbed her up to him before she hit the hard ice.

  “Not so fast, Cinderella. You have to crawl before you can compete in the Olympics.”

  She hung onto his shoulders, and she felt his body stiffen. His eyes darkened. Her body warmed. She wanted him to kiss her, she wanted to experience the thrill of him again. When he moved away from her, even though he didn’t let go of her, a sudden rush of embarrassment assaulted her. Her spine straightened and she twisted her hand out of his, and fueled by the power of a woman solidly scorned, Kim managed to make it around the rink not once, but twice, with
no help from Ricco.

  When she came to a victorious final lap, stopping at the rail near where she had originally started and fallen just thirty minutes earlier, several bystanders clapped. Ricco’s big body swished up beside her in a rooster tail of shaved ice, just like the hockey players did when they turned on a dime. She glowered up at him. “Show-off.” He grinned and helped her off the ice.

  As they sat beside each other on the warmed bench, Ricco said, “You didn’t do too bad for a virgin.”

  Kimberly sat up from wrestling with the tight laces on her skate. “I beg your pardon?”

  He shook his head and said, “No te espume, chocolate.”

  She scrunched up her nose. “What does that mean?”

  He grinned and bent down to pull off his skates. He had big feet. He had big hands. She swallowed hard; he had a big something else too.

  “It means, ‘Don’t foam up, chocolate.’”

  She peered at him. He cocked a brow and bent down to loosen up her laces. “In real easy terms, Cinderella, it means, ‘Chill out.’”

  “Don’t call me Cinderella.”

  “Why not? You earned it.”

  He pulled off her skates. She let him. His fingers were long and strong, and they felt good on her. “Because I left before you could?”

  He smiled and moved his head closer to hers. He reached a hand to her face and pushed back her unruly hair from her cheek. He lightly touched her bump. It didn’t hurt anymore. “I admit, I would have left, but not before saying good-bye.”

  Kim swallowed hard. “I’m sure you have one-nightstand etiquette down to a science. But since you were my first, I was a bit unclear on the procedure.”

  Ricco moved back and handed her a boot. “These are really nice.”

  She yanked it from his hand. “Thanks.” Once she put her boots on, Kim picked up her skates. Ricco reached out and took them from her. “I covered your bill.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I can—”

  He put his hand out to shush her. “Buy me a cup of coffee tomorrow.”