Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa

by Karin Tabke

  She swatted him and felt like a complete teenager. “I promise.”

  “Then I’ll stay.”

  And so that was how the night ended. Ricco moved his bag and toiletries into her room. In no time it looked as if a tornado had hit it. While he was in the shower, Kim took his clothes from his bag and divided the armoire in half, then the dresser, and then the cabinet in the bathroom. When he stepped out of the tub wrapping a towel around his waist, Kim stood grinning at the doorway to the bathroom. “You looked really hot with that hose between your legs.”

  He grinned like the bad boy he was, whipped the towel from around his hips, and snapped it at her. She squeaked and jumped back. Still wet, he stalked her into the bedroom, then onto the bed. He licked her neck and grinned wider. “You taste like a salt lick and look like a soot-smudged waif.”

  She shoved him off of her and took a quick shower. As she sauntered back into the bedroom, the fireplace roared and the flames illuminated the room in a soft, sexy glow. As she rounded the bed, anticipating Ricco’s hard body sliding into her, she stopped instead at the soft sound of his snores.

  Her tense body loosened. Her gaze scanned the big man who lay sprawled in all his naked glory on her bed, not a modest bone in his body. She closed the glass doors on the fireplace and slipped into the bed, snuggling up against his smooth, hard warmth. In seconds she was asleep.

  • • •

  RICCO WOKE WITH A RAGING HARD-ON AND A WARM, naked body next to him. He stretched, and in so doing, he swept the length of the pliant body curled up against him. She moaned and stiffened, her tits dug into the side of his chest, and he felt like he was going to explode on the spot. He rolled her over onto her back and spread her thighs with his knee. In one slow, slick slide he was buried deep inside of her liquid tightness. She was wet, she was hot. She was Nirvana. “Cinderella,” he whispered against her lips, “were you dreaming of me?”

  She arched into him. “Yesss,” she sighed and gave herself up to him. And he sunk deeper still into her body and lost all sense of time, of place, of who or what he was. All he knew was he could not get enough of her and if he didn’t stop soon he would lose more than his head.

  Her legs slid up and wrapped around his thighs, her hands dug into his hair, her lips clung as desperately to his as his did to hers. Slow and unhurried, yet with an underlying sense of urgency, their bodies undulated, moving together, then parting only to reunite again. The fire in the hearth had died but the fire in each of them sparked to greater heights. They came together, rising up, their bodies truly one, with a hard body shudder, only to fall back into the pillows, straining for breath.

  And in the aftermath of what had been for him not only a moving physical connection but an emotional one as well, Ricco felt the uncontrollable urge to bolt. To grab his clothes and run as far and as fast as he could away from the woman beside him. She was becoming an addiction he could not afford to have. His time in Evergreen would end on New Year’s Day, hers sooner. He didn’t want to mope around when she left. He didn’t want to feel as if a part of him was missing. He cursed, rolled over to the edge of the bed, and sat up. He raked his fingers through his hair and turned to look down at the root of his problem.

  Heavy lids hovered over deep blue eyes, and slightly parted, full, pouty lips begged for more attention. The small, deep sigh of a sated woman escaped her lips, and she closed her eyes. Kim reached up and traced a fingertip around his right nipple. Instantly it hardened, and he felt his blood stir. He grabbed her hand and bent down to it. He bit her fingertip. She smiled a dreamy smile but kept her eyes closed. If she saw the fury on his face she might back down. Maybe that’s what he needed to do. Separate. Completely. Now, before it became impossible.

  He released her and moved from the bed. “Where are you going?” her soft, sexy voice asked.

  “I have to meet with Cal.” He hurried into her bathroom and took a quick cold shower. When he couldn’t find his travel kit, he cursed.

  “I put your things in the vanity. Where they belong!” Kim called to him. He brushed his teeth and decided not to shave but to get dressed and get out of the torture chamber as soon as humanly possible. When he strode back into the bedroom, he deliberately didn’t look at the bed.

  He held the towel firmly around his waist. When he couldn’t locate his bag, he had no option but to look at his bedmate. He froze. She lay on her side, her blond hair wildly flowing around her shoulders and that I’ve-just-been-fucked-proper look on her face and her rosy body. “Your clothes are in the armoire and your tees and underwear are in the nightstand there.”

  He grabbed a pair of shorts from the nightstand, then quickly dressed. He moved to the door. With his hand on the knob, he stopped his flight, looked back at her, and opened his mouth to say something, but words failed him. “I’ll see you later,” was all he could manage. Then he closed the door a bit too hard and ran down the hall and out the front door. The cold air hit him like a sheet of glass, and he was glad for it. He inhaled deeply and let the icy air chill his lungs. Feelings he couldn’t seem to control started in on him again, and he felt like if he didn’t go for a two-hour run or beat the shit out of a heavy bag, he was going to explode.

  He glanced across the street, glad to see Cal’s city Jeep parked out front of the burned-out house. As Ricco walked up, he saw Cal walking out of the charred remains of the log home with a burned-up gasoline can in his gloved hand.

  “No shit!” Ricco said, and he jogged the rest of the way to the fire chief.

  “In the downstairs bedroom. Looks like a bunch of towels were soaked in gasoline, then lit.”

  “No shit,” Ricco softly said again, and as the implication of it all dawned on him, he became angry. The Rodgers could have been in residence. Worse, had Kim not seen the flames from her window, they would have slept through it, and he could very well have been churning through the rubble of his mother’s house looking for remains instead of knowing she was safely at his sister’s. “I’d check into the Rodgers’ finances ASAP and see what their insurance company has to say. Mom said in passing that they had been struggling with filling up the rental schedule. I sure hope they didn’t use a fire as a means to snatch up some cash.”

  Cal shook his head. “They don’t seem like the type.”

  Ricco nodded. “I know. But in my line of work, I’ve learned the hard way not to trust anyone but to go with your gut and follow the trail to see where it leads you.”

  Ricco stepped over to his mother’s house. He and Cal inspected it together. Thankfully, the greatest damage had been caused by the water pressure from the fire hose. The window near the woodpile was busted, and his mother’s office was water damaged. When they finished, Ricco waited for Cal’s official opinion. “Looks sound to me. With the exception of the water damage, it looks like just the trim along the roofline got it.”

  Ricco looked at the barely scorched cedar siding.

  “Your mama was smart to spend the extra money for the flame seal. Worked like a charm.”

  “I’ll let Mom know.”

  Cal nodded. “I called the Rodgers this morning. They’re coming up tomorrow. I want to get this mess cleared as soon as we can. It looks bad for business.” As he finished the sentence, Ricco noticed several SUVs loaded with people head south out of town. He frowned and looked to Cal.

  “That’s the second group of cash cows to leave this morning.”

  Ricco couldn’t blame them. Overnight, Christmas had turned into Halloween. “I’ll let Mom know she can come home.”

  Ricco took off at a slow jog across the street to the B&B. As he turned up the sidewalk, the front door opened and two guests emerged with suitcases in hand. Ricco smiled and said, “Y’all heading out for the day?”

  The male half of the older couple scowled. “Not the day, the month.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “You saw the fire, and you saw the shooting. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.”

/>   “I understand, but let me assure you this isn’t—”

  The man held up his hand. “Not going to work. We got our money back and we’re headed to Incline.”

  And that was the end of that. Ricco stepped into the house to see several more guests standing with their suitcases in hand at the rolltop desk in the salon Esmeralda used to check guests in and out.

  She looked up at him, and he saw the glitter of tears in her eyes. Her stricken face tugged at his heart, yet he knew there were no guarantees he or anyone else could offer these people. They were panicked. The fire and shooting had been too close to home. They wanted peace and tranquility; as it stood, that was the last thing they were getting in Evergreen.

  All Ricco could do was help them out and assure them they were safe in the B&B, but even as the words left his mouth he knew them to be false. He couldn’t guarantee his own family’s safety—how could he guarantee theirs?

  As he made his way back into the house, he came face-to-face with his father. Ricco curbed a smirk. The old man’s nose looked like he had gone a few rounds in the ring with a heavyweight. Ricco’s gut clenched, and so did his jaw and hands. He would have loved to take another shot, but for the sake of his mother he refrained.

  “Thank you for last night, son,” the old man said, his voice low and shaky.

  “I would have done it for anyone,” Ricco said and walked past him. He entered the kitchen to find his other two sisters, his mother, nieces, and nephews crowding around the big butcher block table. His eyes scanned the room for Kim.

  “She went outside to make a phone call,” Jasmine said.

  Ricco shrugged. “Who?”

  Elle grinned and wagged her finger under his nose. “You can’t pretend around us, Riccito. We know that look in your eyes. But—” She tapped her finger to her cheek. “I have to say, I’ve never seen you so moody over a woman. Is this the one?”

  “One of many more to come.” And he tried to say it with conviction, but he fell short, because, quite frankly, he wasn’t sure. Kimberly Michaels did something to him no other woman did, and she was going to be gone in less than a week. He would not ask her to stay. She’d made her position clear, as had he.

  “I hope you wait until the end of the week to continue your run, Ricco,” Kim said from the doorway.

  He had the decency to blush. He opened his mouth to defend his callous remark but decided he’d look like a bigger ass if he tried. Instead, he said, “Sorry, that was pretty crude.”

  She strutted in and looked at the kids, his mom, and sisters before looking him straight in the eye. “Yeah, it was,” she said, then stalked past him.

  “Ricco!” Leticia said as Kim exited the room. “You were raised better than that!”

  His temper flared and he curbed it. He would not take his frustration out on his mother. “I said I was sorry.”

  He turned back to the salon and nearly flattened Esmeralda. Tears streamed down her face. “I have two guests left. Kim and a single guy who isn’t sure if he wants to stay. I have Town & Country scheduled to come by for photos later today. How can they take pictures with no guests? How can I pay my bills without guests?” she demanded, on the verge of hysteria.

  Ricco hugged her to him and said, “It’ll work out, Ez, it always does.” He drew her into the kitchen. When they were all together, he asked his sister, “What time exactly is Town & Country scheduled to be here?”

  She sniffed and stood comforted by his arms around her. “By two.”

  Ricco nodded and hugged her closer, then he turned to look at his family. He scowled when he noticed that Enrique hadn’t left. He’d see to that later. “Okay, family, between the shooting and the fire, Ez has lost all but two of her guests. We all need to play happy guest later today when Town & Country comes by for photos. I suggest we look our photo op best.” He turned to his mother, then glanced at Jasmine. “Cal agrees with me that we need a town hall meeting ASAP.” He looked at his watch. “It’s almost nine. Do you think we could have a quorum by eleven? Then come back here and give Town & Country the shoot of all shoots?”

  Leticia set her jaw and nodded. “I’ll make it happen.” Then she moved to her daughter and took her from Ricco’s embrace into hers. “Mija,” she soothed, brushing Esmeralda’s hair from her cheeks, “it will all work out. I promise.”

  Once it was settled and Ricco was about to head into town, he remembered why he was there. “Cal says you can go back into the house. Some of the trim and the woodpile burned. He apologizes for the water damage to your office. He offered to come by later and help you clean up.”

  “That’s sweet of him, but Kim is going to help me.”

  Ricco frowned. “Why?”

  Leti cocked her head at her son. “Not that I have to clear such things with you, but she offered, and I accepted. I thought it was nice of her.”

  Ricco stood for a long minute trying to find a justifiable reason for Kim not to help his mother. He realized he didn’t want her ingratiating herself into his family. And he wasn’t exactly sure why. Part of it, he knew, was selfishness. He wanted her all to himself for the rest of the week. If that occurred, however, one of two things would happen—he’d be glad to see her go, having gone to the well too many times and become bored, or he’d fall into the well and be unable to climb out of it. As much as he wanted to keep the separation between her and his family, he couldn’t stop it now. Not without good reason. It would make him look like the ass he was becoming. Maybe the best thing to do was just play it all out and see what happened, then deal with the fallout. Inwardly he cringed at the idea. He wasn’t up for more turmoil. Not this kind. The kind that you carried with you, under your skin, in your heart, and soul.

  Give him cops and robbers any day.

  “Sorry. I’ll let her know to come on over.”

  As Ricco turned to leave the kitchen, he caught his father’s contemplative gaze. Ricco set his jaw and moved past the old man. No one—least of all the man who called himself his father—had room to chastise Ricco for how he conducted his love life. Never had he led any woman to believe there was anything more than that night. Most, but not all, of the women he encountered received the same precoital disclosure: “I don’t do mornings. So if you’re good to go with that, let’s play.” He was always amazed at the women who tried to get him to stay with the promise of more sexcapades followed by breakfast in bed. What was it with women wanting to make more out of a one-night stand? Were they all out to find a husband? A hard shiver shook him from head to toe. The thought of settling down made him queasy. There was too much to give up. The loss of his freedom and philandering did not outweigh the minimal gain of the same woman for eternity.

  He found himself standing at Kim’s door, battling his urge to flee. He was not a coward. He’d never run from a challenge in his life. But the woman on the other side of the door made him afraid. Afraid he would not be able to make a clean break and walk away, as he had done hundreds of times before with as many women.

  He knocked.

  “Come in,” Kim called.

  He wasn’t surprised to see his duffel bag packed and sitting next to the door. He pointed to it. “Is that your way of telling me I’m no longer welcome in your room?”

  She stood at the window, her arms crossed over her chest, her jaw set, her eyes flashing. He’d really pissed her off. Part of him wanted to beg her forgiveness and carry on the way they had, the other part wanted to drive the wedge wider.

  “Ya think?” She unwound her limbs and came around the end of the bed. “It was nice while it lasted, but I won’t be spoken of that way in public. Take your bag and hit the road.”

  She moved past him, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him. “What if I don’t want to?”

  Kim stiffened in his grasp. “Take your bag or hit the road?”

  “Maybe both.” His declaration shocked them both. Kim’s eyes went from narrowed slits to saucer wide. She yanked her arm from his grasp but didn’t m
ove away from him.

  “Look, Ricco, sex with you is great. The best. Hell, the best ever. But your moods are so damn hot and cold. I’m not a damn doormat!” She began to pace the carpet. “I mean, if it were just about the sex, that would be one thing. But it’s—” She stopped and slapped her hand over her mouth.

  Holy crap, she couldn’t believe what she’d just been about to say. She watched Ricco’s eyes go from guarded to curious. “What’s it about, Kim?” he softly asked.

  Shit shit shit! “It…ah…it’s about your family!” Whew, great save.

  He cocked one of his dark eyebrows, and a slow smile crept across his full I-can-put-Brad-Pitt-to-shame lips. He wasn’t buying it. “Oh? What does my family have to do with us and sex?”

  “Well, I’ve gotten to know your family, and it isn’t all about us, or the sex.”

  He pushed off the door and moved toward her. “Again, I don’t see how that applies to us.”

  “I like your family. I like you too, so if we break up—I mean if we stop sleeping together—it could get weird when you bring your new girlfriend, or fuck buddy, or whatever I am or she will be around while I’m hanging out with your mom or sisters.” Her rambling made no sense to her, and she doubted it made sense to Ricco. She felt like she was grasping for straws, because the real issue was her desire to be with Ricco for more than the sex. And that realization terrified her. If she felt this strongly now, how would she feel later when he moved on? Her body seemed to have suddenly lost the energy necessary to support it. She fought off the unnerving sensation. Taking a big, deep breath, Kim told herself she was a big enough girl with enough defenses to thwart a hostile takeover of her heart.

  “But you’re leaving at the end of the week. I doubt I’d dump you and find a new fuck buddy in that time.”

  His words had a double impact. He was committing—if you could call it that—for the rest of the week, and that elated her, but he was also letting her know what she didn’t want to hear: He was walking as soon as their time was up. She punched his arm. “I was going to tell Ez I’d like to extend my stay for a few days. I haven’t been able to do what I need to do for my client. So can you now see my dilemma?”