Miss Frost Ices The Imp: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 2)

by Kristen Painter

  “Then do you like Cooper enough to give him a second chance? Because that’s probably what he thinks this is.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know.” Is that what I’d just done? Told Cooper I was ready to start something again? I couldn’t very well back out now. And frankly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. There was no rule that said I couldn’t date two guys. We were living in liberated times. And I was the Winter Princess! I could date around if I wanted to. “This could be like a test to see how we do together now that he knows who I really am.”

  She nodded, then tipped her head. “Are you going to let him kiss you if he tries?”

  “I’ll only tell you that if you make those cookies.” Really, I had no idea if this was going to be that kind of evening. Probably not. It kind of felt like Cooper and I were starting over, and I wasn’t sure if that’s the direction we should be headed in. Not when I was already having feelings for Greyson.

  Although I had loved Cooper once. Thought I’d be married to him, actually. There was a time when I’d had my whole future planned out, and all of it included Cooper. Funny how things change. The thought made me a little melancholy.

  Juniper poked me.

  “What?”

  She tipped her head. I looked in the direction she’d indicated.

  Bryn walked up to us, bill in hand. She presented it to me. “How does this look?”

  I took the paper. She’d given me an extra twenty percent off. “It looks great, thank you.”

  Bryn smiled. “Will that be cash or credit?”

  “You take credit cards?”

  “We do.” She took out her phone and plugged a card reader into it. “Don’t you love technology?”

  By the time Cooper was due to arrive, I’d found and paid for a few more things. A set of pillows for the couch, a fancy gargoyle robe hook, a picture for the bathroom and a waffle iron. Because who doesn’t love waffles? Especially with ice cream and hot fudge. I also never turn down sprinkles. Which could be my life’s motto.

  Speaking of tasty things, Cooper was walking toward Juniper and me looking way too good for this early on a Saturday morning. I took a breath, realizing I’d forgotten just how perfect the man was. Or maybe I’d blocked it out.

  The whole sun-kissed surfer vibe was sort of a summer elf trait, but Cooper took it to a different level and made it look effortless with that athletic gait of his and that perfectly tousled dirty-blond hair.

  I suddenly wished I’d at least put lip gloss on. Instead, I was standing here in cut-off jean shorts, a Howler’s tank top (free because I’d caught it while standing in the crowd of the Panic Parade in May) and some recently purchased rubber flip-flops. My real effort today had been hauling my carcass out from under the covers early enough to avoid the blizzard Juniper had threatened me with if I didn’t wake up in time. She might not have been the most skilled of winter elves, but I was sure she wasn’t kidding about the avalanche.

  I never should have given her a key to my apartment.

  The clothes Cooper had thrown on were a ragged pair of khaki shorts and a faded T-shirt. Not much of an effort either, but on him it worked. Overtime. The clothes did nothing to hide his tall, muscular frame. His hair was, at best, finger-combed, and the sandy stubble covering his square jaw made my fingers itch to touch it. He pushed his sunglasses on top of his head as he joined us, his brilliant blue eyes crinkling at the corners with his smile. “Morning, ladies.”

  “Hi, Cooper. Nice of you to help,” Juniper said while poking me in the back where Cooper couldn’t see.

  I was pretty sure she was commenting on his hotness. “Yeah, thanks, Cooper.”

  “You’re welcome.” He looked around. “Where’s your stuff?”

  “In the house. I’ll show you.”

  Juniper grabbed my arm before I left. “We’re obviously not hitting any of the other sales, so I’m going to head back. That way I can get my shower and get into the store without rushing. It is Saturday.”

  Saturdays were an event in the shop. Snowy Saturdays, we called them. It was the day we used our collective magic to make it snow in the store. The customers loved it and we were always busy. “No problem. I’ll see you later. Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” She glanced at Cooper. “Have fun.”

  She bopped away before I could say anything more. I knew she needed to get ready for work, but I also knew she was leaving me alone with Cooper on purpose. My guess was that, as much as she thought Greyson was a bad idea, she probably thought Cooper wasn’t, despite her opinion that he hadn’t fought hard enough for me in college. Hey, she’d known him for nearly four years and considered him a friend. I couldn’t blame her for siding with Team Cooper.

  Greyson was relatively new in town and, as I mentioned, a vampire. That was the part she didn’t like, the vampire bit. She just worried about all the unknowns that came with being one of the more dangerous supernaturals. But Greyson hadn’t done anything to deserve the worry or speculation. He was a great guy and one I liked very much.

  There was no way I was remotely ready to pick one guy over the other.

  “Lead the way, Princess.” Cooper winked at me.

  I controlled my urge to roll my eyes. “Come on.”

  Cooper and I went into the house to retrieve my things. I found Bryn and told her we were taking my purchases. Better that than someone think we were just walking off with stuff. She gave us the go-ahead and my receipt, which I had walked off without getting earlier. Too discombobulated with thoughts of Cooper, apparently. I stuffed it in my pocket without a second glance.

  I took Cooper into the dining room and showed him the rug. “Nice, huh?”

  “Very.” He bent down at one corner, looking at me expectantly.

  I crouched down at the other one, and we rolled it up. The thing was heavy. This was more work than I’d expected. “Did I mention there would be dessert? Because this much work definitely merits dessert.”

  “I won’t say no to that.” His end was going faster, so he stopped to let me catch up and straighten things out. “You know what I like.”

  There was a loaded statement. And I had no comeback. Instead, I made a mental note to pick up something fruity at Delaney’s Delectables along with the tiramisu. Summer elves loved fruit.

  He shook his head as if amused with himself and started rolling again. “I’ll bring wine. Red okay?”

  “Red’s great.” I was huffing a little, to my embarrassment. Hey, the rug was a beast. Heavy and large. And Juniper had hustled me out of the house so fast this morning that I’d had time for only one Dr Pepper. I would have grabbed a doughnut, too, but I was out of them.

  The thought of sugar made my stomach rumble. I was starving, actually.

  Cooper lifted the roll over his shoulder like it was nothing. Clearly, he’d had breakfast. My end flopped to the ground behind him like a giant sausage. Not that food was the only thing on my mind. He glanced back at me. “You’d better get that unless you want me to drag it all the way to my truck.”

  “Right. On it.” I hoisted the trailing part onto my shoulder and followed him to his vehicle. Since I was connected to him by the rug, I was sort of on autopilot. Mostly because I was staring at his very tight backside. It was impossible not to, what with it being right in front of me and all.

  But that little trip was enough to show me that no matter what I was telling myself, I was not beyond the reach of Cooper Sullivan’s charms.

  I definitely still liked him. Way more than I wanted to admit.

  Cooper offered to help me set up the rug, so I let him. I might have mentioned that thing was heavy. And getting it into place required furniture to be moved. But wow, did it make a difference in the way my apartment looked. Really gave it a homier vibe. I hadn’t realized just how bland it had been until now.

  Once the rug was taken care of, I thanked him profusely, then shooed him off as quickly and politely as I could. Getting the new stuff situated would have been easier with his help, but
being around him was clogging my head with thoughts I wasn’t ready to deal with.

  Such as how much I liked him. And how much I liked Greyson.

  A girl could like two guys, right? I certainly thought it ought to be allowed. Especially after all my years of liking no one in the North Pole.

  Cooper didn’t seem to be upset at me for showing him the door. He knew I had work to do and we were seeing each other for dinner. Hopefully, between now and then, I could get my head on straight. One thing that might help was dealing with the rest of the stuff I’d brought home. At the very least, it was a distraction.

  I put the pillows on the couch as artfully as I could, positioned the decorative box on the coffee table (promising myself I’d test my lock-picking skills after everything else was tackled, including the paperwork awaiting me in the office downstairs) and went to work hanging the robe hook. That wasn’t too hard. Juniper had lent me her toolbox a couple days ago and it had an assortment of screws and nails in a little plastic container. I found two screws the right size, got it level and secured it in place.

  Spider’s incredible velvet Elvis was next. That took almost no effort. One nail, a few taps of the hammer and his meal area was totally swagged out. Okay, maybe not totally. I still needed to buy him a snazzy placemat to go under his dishes to complete the ensemble. “Spider, come see how pretty your dining room looks.”

  He was sitting on the new rug, swatting at one of his many catnip-scented toys that I’d tossed there.

  “Spider. Seriously. Come over here.”

  He ignored me, took the toy in his mouth and trotted off toward the bedroom. He liked to hide his toys under the bed. I’d found twelve of them under there last month while looking for a shoe.

  I gave up on him temporarily. It was time to hang the big picture over the sofa. That took more work than I anticipated. And I have to confess, this hammer-and-nails business is not my forte. The first time I attempted to put the painting up, my measurements were a little off and the bottom of the frame touched the top of the couch.

  I measured again, tapped the nails in, hung the painting and hoped for the best. The best being the picture hiding the extra holes in the wall.

  Fingers crossed, I jumped off the couch and stepped back. Yep. The mistake was hidden. I nodded at my handiwork. The place was really coming together. And now that I had the rug and the tropical landscape, I had a color scheme. Green and blue with tan.

  The magical snow globe I used to communicate with my dad looked completely out of place on the table next to the sofa, but that couldn’t be helped. It stayed. Magic was about the only way I could reach him since electronics were unreliable in the North Pole.

  But the hula salt and pepper shakers definitely worked. And I could order some more things, like a comfy throw for the back of the couch and maybe a runner for the kitchen table and even a valance for the big window that led to the fire escape.

  Look at me getting all domestic. And it wasn’t even nine A.M. yet. That had to be some kind of personal record.

  As impressed with myself as I was, I had yet to eat or shower, and at some point, I needed to get down to my office and take over the magic running the Snow Saturday. My office. If I can be honest, that still sounded odd to my ears. Odd in a good way. I grinned. I liked the ring of it, and after all the work that had gone into cleaning it up and organizing it so that it made sense to me, I was proud of the space.

  Toly, the previous manager (and one of my uncle Kris’s former tinkers), had used the office as a workshop space for his toy designs (in addition to usual office activities), and as a result it had overflowed with papers and drawings and half-completed models.

  But I’d put in the sweat equity and earned the right to call it mine. I’d cleaned it out, painted it and transformed it into something efficient and welcoming. A place I didn’t mind spending time. Which was why I was ready to go down there and get some work done.

  I gave Spider his second breakfast, grabbed a Dr Pepper and jumped in the shower. Yes, I drink pop in the shower. I’m a multitasker. I still hadn’t eaten, so I didn’t stand under the water as long as I would have liked. I dried my hair and dressed in what I liked to call business casual, which meant a sundress and sandals. I was getting the hang of summer in Georgia—no small feat for a winter elf.

  I was just finishing my makeup when I heard a loud crash. It was followed by a loud meow and then the thundering of little cat feet through my living room. I rolled my eyes. It was still too early for this amount of crazy. “I wish I had a never-ending supply of Dr Pepper. That would make this nuttiness easier to take.”

  But I didn’t and I was going to have to deal with whatever mess Spider had made in my current only partially caffeinated state.

  “Spider, what have you done now?” I called out. Shaking my head, I walked into the living room to survey the damage. The decorative box I’d just bought was on the floor. The top lay a few feet away, the hinges…unhinged. “So much for picking the lock.”

  Spider sat on the windowsill, licking his foot and pretending he knew nothing.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “You silly creature. What gets into you, huh? Was it the catnip? Do you need a twelve-step program? I wish you could talk. Then at least you could explain yourself.”

  He stopped mid-lick like he’d blown a fuse, eyes wide and staring at nothing, then after a second he went right back to cleaning.

  Who could understand cats? I sighed as I turned and squatted to examine the box. Empty, just as I’d suspected. Although there was an odd green iridescence to the inside of it. Almost like the powder off a butterfly’s wings. I studied the hinges. I supposed they could be repaired. Spider was still a stinker. I shook my head. “Thanks for getting the top off, you rascal.”

  “You’re welcome,” a male voice said.

  I froze. I was alone in the apartment. Or at least I thought I was. I spun around, staying in a crouched position. Still alone, as far as I could tell. I got up, put the box and lid on the kitchen table and ran to the window, throwing it open to check the fire escape.

  No one there, although I thought I heard the faintest tinny laugh fading away.

  “Okay, that was weird.”

  Spider rubbed against my arm. “What’s weird?”

  I whipped around to look at him. It was possible that rising early had caused me to split with reality. Or maybe it was my lack of sugar. Had he just said that? Couldn’t be. He was a cat. I laughed it off. Or tried to. “You can’t talk, right?”

  He lifted his little head and looked right at me. “Nope.”

  “Good, because—yikes!” I jumped back. “Son of a nutcracker, why are you talking? Have you always been able to talk? Am I losing my mind? I need sugar, don’t I?”

  He canted his head at me, like he didn’t understand.

  I took a breath and repeated the question I was most interested in having answered. “Have you always been able to talk?”

  “No.”

  “Then why now?”

  “That’s what Mama wished for.” He started licking the other foot.

  “Mama? Who’s Mama? Wait, am I Mama?”

  He paused and looked at me. “Mama.”

  “Are you saying you granted my wish? Are you a genie?”

  That got his attention. “No genie, cat.” He lay down. “Spider tired.”

  Just like that, he was out.

  “Hang on, buster. No going to sleep in the middle of this. Did you grant the wish?”

  One eye came open. “That salmon cat food is yucky.”

  “Focus. Who granted the wish?”

  He closed his eye, did a big sigh and went back to sleep.

  I took that to mean he didn’t know. I stood there for a long time, staring at him, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

  I couldn’t. The best I could do was…my cat could talk because someone had granted my wish that he could.

  Who that someone was, I had no clue. Well, it wasn’t a genie. Accordi
ng to my talking cat. I needed food. And sugar. Fast.

  I grabbed my purse and headed for the elevator. I went straight downstairs to the warehouse, past my office and into the store, where big fat flakes of magical snow were drifting to the floor and disappearing without leaving a single drop of water.

  Juniper was working with Kip, one of the two new employees. He was working the floor, so that gave me a chance to talk to her since she was behind the register.

  She smiled at me. “Get everything situated? And, more importantly, do any kissing?”

  I shook my head and was about to speak when she said, “You don’t look so hot.” She leaned toward me. “And why do you only have mascara on one eye?”

  The mascara thing was perplexing, but not as much as what had just happened. I sidled up next to her behind the counter and hissed, “Spider can talk.”

  She squinted at me. “What did you say?”

  “My cat can talk.”

  She pressed a hand to my head. “You feel okay? Are you putting too much effort into the snow, because I can handle this if you need to—”

  “I’m serious. And I haven’t even begun to help with the snow. Listen, I don’t know what happened, but he can talk. He said it’s because my wish was granted.”

  Juniper turned and smiled as a woman came into the store.

  She stopped at the counter. “Do you have that new game, Bobbles?”

  Juniper pointed toward the game section. “Yes, ma’am. You’ll find that in with puzzles and games, to the right of the dolls.”

  “Thank you.”

  The woman left, and Juniper’s smile disappeared as she whipped around to face me. “You need to start from the beginning.”

  I told her the whole thing, about the crash and the box and what I’d said and what Spider had said. “I’m freaking out.”

  “I would be too.” She tapped her fingers on the counter. “Do you think there was a genie in that box?”

  I made a face. “Are you making fun of me?”

  “No! There could have been.”

  “Seriously?”

  “You just told me your cat can talk because your wish was granted. Are you not seeing the connection?”