Twelve Nights of Temptation

by Barbara Dunlop

  She closed her eyes for a long second, steeling herself, telling herself she could handle it. She had control of her emotions.

  He was right, and she needed to make the best of it. She’d go stay behind his locks and his alarm system. She’d be practical. She could keep her distance. And she’d keep it light.

  “Do you have a soaker tub?” she joked, wincing at her sore muscles.

  He gave a ghost of a smile. “Yes, I do. Get your things.”

  She moved to the closet where she had a gym bag, feeling every muscle involved. “I feel like I’ve been in a bar fight.”

  “Have you been in many bar fights?”

  “Have you?” she countered.

  “A couple. And, yeah, this is pretty much what it feels like.”

  Having accepted the inevitable, Tasha tossed some necessities into her gym bag, changed in the bathroom and was ready in a few minutes.

  “You’re frighteningly fast at that,” Matt noted as they stepped onto the porch.

  “I’m leaving my ball gowns behind.”

  “Are you going to lock it?” he asked, looking pointedly at the door.

  “There’s not much inside.”

  “With all that’s going on?” He raised his brow.

  “Fine. You’re right. It’s the smart thing to do.” She dug into the pocket of her pants, found the key and turned it in the lock.

  He lifted her bag from her hand. She would have protested, but it seemed like too much trouble. It was only a five-minute climb to the front door of his house. She couldn’t bring herself to worry about which one of them carried her bag.

  Inside Matt’s house, boxes and bags littered the entryway. There were more of them in the living room, stacked on the coffee table and on the sofa and chairs.

  “You did a little shopping?” she asked, relieved to have something to be amused about.

  “Jules and Melissa. They were going to decorate tonight. But, well...maybe tomorrow.”

  “Maybe,” Tasha echoed.

  It was less than two weeks until Christmas, but she couldn’t imagine Matt was feeling very much like celebrating the season.

  He set her bag down at the end of the hall. “Thirsty?”

  “Yes.” She found a vacant spot on the sofa and sat down.

  If Matt wanted to bring her a drink, she wasn’t about to argue. He went into the kitchen, opening cupboards and sliding drawers.

  Curious, she leaned forward to look inside one of the shopping bags. Wrapped in tissue paper were three porcelain snowmen with smiling faces, checkerboard scarves and top hats. They were adorable.

  She spied a long, narrow white shelf suspended above the fireplace. It was sparsely decorated, so she set the snowmen up at one end.

  “There’s no way to stop this, is there?” Matt gazed in resignation at the snowmen.

  “You don’t like them?” She was disappointed.

  “No. They’re cute. They’re different. Different is good.” He had a glass of amber liquid in each hand. It was obvious from their balloon shape that he’d poured some kind of brandy.

  “This is your first Christmas since the divorce.” It wasn’t a question. It was an observation.

  “It is.” He handed her one of the glasses. “Caleb gave Dianne a job in Phoenix thanks to you.”

  Tasha wasn’t sure how to respond. She couldn’t tell from Matt’s tone if he was still angry. “We aren’t going to fight again, are we?”

  “No. I hope not. Too much else has happened.”

  She returned to the sofa and took a sip of the brandy.

  “This is delicious,” she said.

  He took the only vacant armchair. “A gift from Caleb. He’s more of a connoisseur than I am.”

  “He has good taste.”

  Matt raised his glass. “To Caleb’s good taste.”

  She lifted her own. “Thank you, Caleb.”

  Matt sighed, leaned back in the soft chair and closed his eyes.

  Tasha felt self-conscious, as if she’d intruded on his life.

  She gazed at his handsome face for a few more minutes. Then her attention drifted to the glass walls, to the extraordinary view of the bay and the marina. The Neo restaurant was well under way. The job site was lit at night, a few people still working. She could see the flash of a welder and the outline of a crane against the steel frame of the building.

  The yachts bobbed on the tides, a gaping black hole where the fire had burned. Crystal Zone hadn’t been the finest in the fleet, but it was a favorite of Tasha’s. She was going to miss working on it.

  “You’re going to have to help me,” Matt said.

  “Help you with what?”

  He opened his eyes. “Buy a new boat. Make that two new boats.”

  “You’ll be able to repair Salty Sea?”

  “I think so. We’ll have to strip it down, but it’s not a total write-off. Never Fear is mostly debris at the bottom of the bay.”

  “Ironic that,” she said.

  “In what way?”

  “We should have feared her.”

  Matt smiled. Then he took another sip of his brandy.

  She set down her glass and looked into another of the shopping bags. This one contained cylindrical glass containers, stubby candles, glass beads and a bag of cranberries.

  “I know exactly what to do with these,” she said.

  “Here we go.” He sat up straighter.

  She opened the bag of glass beads, slowly pouring a layer into each of the two containers. “Do you mind if I put this together?”

  “Please do.”

  She set the candles inside, positioning them straight. Then she poured a layer of cranberries around them, finishing off with more glass beads.

  While she worked, Matt rose and removed the bags from the coffee table, the sofa and elsewhere, and gathered them off to the side of the room. He positioned her finished creations in the center of the table and retrieved a long butane lighter from above the fireplace.

  “You’re not going to save them for Christmas?”

  “I’m sure we can get more candles.” He touched the lighter’s flame to each wick. Lastly, he dimmed the lights. “This is nice.”

  When he moved past her, his shoulder touching hers, her nerve endings came to attention. He paused, and the warmth of his body seemed to permeate her skin.

  She drew a deep breath, inhaling his scent. A part of her acknowledged that this was exactly what she’d feared and reminded herself she needed to fight it. Another part of her wanted the moment to go on forever.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” he said in a soft tone.

  It took a second to find her voice. She forced herself to keep it light. “Because you need help decorating?”

  He didn’t answer right away. When he did, he sounded disappointed. “Right. That’s the reason.”

  She gave herself an extra couple of seconds, and then she eased away.

  He seemed to take the hint and moved back to his chair.

  She shook her emotions back to some semblance of normal. “So that’s it?” She looked pointedly at the rest of the bags. “We’re giving up on the decorating?”

  “We’re resting.” He sounded normal again. “It’s been a long day.”

  “Well, I’m curious now.” It felt like there were unopened presents just waiting for her to dig in.

  He gave a helpless shrug and a smile. “Go for it.”

  Tasha dug into a few more bags. She put silver stylized trees on the end tables, a basket of pinecones and red balls next to the candles. She hung two silver and snowflake-printed stockings above the fire, and wrestled a bent willow reindeer out of its box to set it up on the floor beside the fireplace.

  When she discovere
d the components of an artificial tree, Matt gave up watching and rose to help.

  “I knew you’d cave,” she told him with a teasing smile.

  “It says on the box that it’s ten feet high. You’ll never get it up by yourself.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith.”

  “Oh, ye of little height.”

  She laughed, amazed that she could do that at the end of such a trying day.

  Together, they read the directions and fit the various pieces together, eventually ending up with a ten-foot balsam fir standing majestically in the center of the front window.

  They both stood back to admire their work.

  “Is that enough for tonight?” he asked.

  “It’s enough for tonight.”

  She felt an overwhelming urge to hug him. She wanted to thank him for helping with the tree. She wanted to thank him for saving her from the explosion.

  More than that, she wanted to kiss him and make love to him and spend the night in his arms. Her feelings were dangerous. She had to control them.

  Steeling herself, she stepped away. “Okay to finish my brandy in the tub?”

  His gaze sizzled on her for a moment.

  “Alone,” she said.

  “I know.”

  She forced her feet to move.

  * * *

  Matt shouldn’t have been surprised to find Tasha gone when he went into the kitchen for breakfast. She’d probably left early, hoping nobody would notice she hadn’t slept in the staff quarters.

  He wanted to text her to make sure she was all right. But he settled for staring out the window as he sipped his coffee, waiting until he spotted her on the pier with Alex. Only then did he pop a bagel in the toaster and check the news.

  As expected, the fire was front and center in the local and state news. But he was surprised to see the article displayed prominently on a national site. He supposed the combination of fire, high-end yachts and an explosion, especially when there were pictures, was pretty hard to resist. They showed a shot of him and Tasha coming off Salty Sea after the explosion, side by side with a still photo of the crews fighting the flames.

  He had planned to work at home this morning, as he normally did. But he was going down to the office instead. He wanted to be close to Tasha in case anything more happened.

  Before he could leave, Jules and Melissa came by, calling out from the entryway.

  “In the kitchen,” he called back.

  Jules spoke up. “We came to see how you were doing.” She paused before coming down the four steps into the main living area. “And to see how you liked the decorations.” She continued into the living room and gestured around. “Hey, you really got into the spirit.”

  “I did.”

  “Nice work.” Melissa gazed around approvingly.

  He knew he should credit Tasha. And he knew it wouldn’t stay secret that she was sleeping here. But he wasn’t in a rush to share the information. There was enough going on today.

  “The insurance adjustors will be here at noon,” he said instead.

  “That’s fast.”

  “I need to get things under way.” If he was going to replace the boats before the spring season, he had no time to lose.

  “Good thing it’s the off-season,” Melissa said, obviously following his train of thought.

  “If there’s anything to be grateful for, that’s it. And that nobody got hurt.” He was grateful for both things, but he wasn’t going to relax until the perpetrator was caught and put in jail.

  TJ was next through the door.

  “How’re you doing?” he asked Matt, giving Jules and Melissa each a nod.

  “Fine.” Matt thought about his conversation with Tasha last night, and he couldn’t help but smile. “A bit like I’ve been in a bar fight.”

  TJ grinned back. “My guess is that two of the yachts are write-offs?”

  “I’ll confirm that today. But, I can’t see how we save either of them.”

  “If you need interim financing, just let me know.”

  It was on the tip of Matt’s tongue to refuse. He hated to take advantage of his friends. And he was already one favor down because of Caleb hiring Dianne.

  But he had to be practical. TJ had access to almost unlimited funds. Matt would cover any interest payments. And having TJ write a check, instead of explaining the situation to a banker, would definitely speed things up.

  “I might,” he said to TJ. “I’m going to track down replacements just as soon as I can make some appointments.”

  “New yachts,” Melissa said with a grin. “Now, that’s what I call a Christmas gift.”

  “You can help me test them out,” Matt offered.

  “I’m your girl,” she said.

  Matt retrieved his cup and took the final swallow of his coffee. “Thanks for checking on me, guys. But I have to get to work.”

  “We’ll get out of your way,” Jules said.

  “Nice job with the decorating,” Melissa said as they turned to leave.

  “I thought we were going to have to do it all,” Jules said to her sister as they headed through the foyer.

  As the door closed behind Jules and Melissa, TJ looked pointedly around the room. “What is with all this?”

  “Tasha helped,” Matt said.

  “Last night?” TJ asked, his interest obviously perking up.

  “I wanted her safely surrounded by an alarm system.”

  “So, it wasn’t...”

  “She slept in the guest room.”

  “Too bad.”

  “Seriously? She was nearly blown up yesterday. So were we.”

  “And you couldn’t find it in your heart to comfort her?”

  Matt knew it was a joke. TJ was absolutely not the kind of guy who would take advantage of a woman’s emotional state.

  “Is she staying again tonight?” TJ asked.

  “Until we catch the jerk that did this. Yes, she’s staying right here. I wish I hadn’t committed to the mayor’s party this evening.”

  “I could hang out with her.”

  Since TJ had once asked Tasha on a date, Matt wasn’t crazy about that idea.

  TJ put on an affronted expression. “You honestly think I’d make a move on her?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Take her with you,” TJ suggested.

  “She hates those kinds of parties.” It was too bad. Matt would happily keep her by his side.

  “Everybody hates those kinds of parties.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then there’s something wrong with you.”

  Matt didn’t think there was anything wrong with him. There were a lot of positives to his hard work, and socializing was one of them. He employed nearly fifty people. He brought economic activity to Whiskey Bay, a town he loved.

  And he liked the people of Whiskey Bay. He liked discussing issues with them. He liked strategizing with the other business owners, and he sure didn’t mind doing it in a gracious setting.

  “The food’s good. The drinks are good. I like the music, and the company is usually pleasant. Plus tonight. Tonight everyone will want to talk about the fire. And I can use that as a way to pump them all for information. You never know what people might have seen or heard around town.”

  “Tell that to Tasha,” TJ said.

  Matt paused to think about that. He had to admit it was a good idea. “She was willing to come along last time when it was part of the investigation.”

  “Keeps her with you.”

  “She’s a pretty skilled interrogator. You know, for somebody who hates those kinds of parties, she handles them beautifully. Did you know she grew up in Boston? Beacon Hill. She can hobnob with the best of them. And she’s t
otally disarming. She’s pretty, smart and funny. Easy to talk to. Trustworthy. People will tell her anything. It’s perfect.”

  Matt stopped talking to find TJ staring quizzically at him.

  “You do get what’s going on here, right?” TJ asked.

  “No.” Did TJ know something about the saboteur? “Did you hear something? Did you see something? Why didn’t you say something?”

  “You’re falling in love with Tasha.”

  Matt shook his head to get the astonishment out. “I thought you were talking about the fire.”

  “Mark my words.”

  “You’re about a thousand steps ahead of yourself.”

  Being attracted to a woman didn’t equate to happily-ever-after. Sure, he was incredibly attracted to Tasha. And he’d admit to himself that it wasn’t simply physical. Although mostly what they did was argue. And they’d slept together exactly one time. TJ didn’t even know about that.

  Matt was miles away from thinking about love.

  “I can read the signs,” TJ said.

  “Well, you’re getting a false reading. And I’m going to work now.” Matt started for his front door.

  TJ trailed behind. “Better brace yourself, buddy. Because I can read the signs.”

  * * *

  Officially, Tasha agreed to attend the mayor’s party because she could talk to people, see if anybody knew anything. If the price for that was dancing with Matt, so be it.

  Anticipation brought a smile to her face as she got ready for the evening.

  Tasha quickly found a dress she liked in Matt’s basement. Sleeveless, with a short, full skirt, it was made of shimmering champagne tulle. The outer dress was trimmed and decorated with hand-stitched lace, and the underdress was soft satin. Altogether, it was made for dancing.

  A pair of shoes and the small clutch purse in a box below had obviously been bought to match the dress. The shoes were definitely not made for dancing, but Tasha was going to wear them anyway. Her more practical side protested the frivolous decision. But she wanted to look beautiful tonight.