Frowning, Dash murmured, “The cocoa.”
The elf nodded.
“Thank you for telling me.” Thinking back over the way she’d cloaked the car yesterday, that ball of energy and light erupting from her core, maybe what had been holding her back would no longer be an issue. But just in case...
“I saw her cloak an entire car yesterday. Whatever happened before, I don’t believe there’ll be any more problems. Since that’s the case, I’m going to keep this information quiet.”
Dash didn’t miss how their shoulders slumped with relief.
“However, if there are any issues, I want your promise you’ll come to me immediately.”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.
“Excellent. You may return to your duties.”
Without even a nod, the three disappeared.
Alone, Dash swung his gaze over to Gabriel’s. He half expected to find Noelle’s father cringing just as the elves had been. He should have known better. Gabriel hadn’t risen to head of security by cowering. He’d been a trusted friend and colleague of Dash’s own father and often an adviser to the Evergreen children as they’d stepped in to take the reins when their parents had retired.
However, the man would find intimidation tactics that had worked on Dash as a teenager no longer carried any weight.
“What do you think you’re doing, Gabriel?” he finally asked.
The older man’s mouth firmed with determination. “Whatever I need to to keep her here. If you’d taken better care of her eight years ago she never would have left.”
The blow was meant to hurt, and it definitely hit the mark. Especially after Dash’s conversation with Noelle last night and realizing she’d been scared and upset and bruised. By him.
Gabriel visually braced for an argument, but Dash had no intentions of giving it to him. “You’re right.”
The other man’s mouth opened, but before words could tumble out he snapped it shut again.
His ex-father-in-law studied him for several moments before jerking his head up in silent agreement. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Let me just make sure I understand what’s going on first. I’m going to assume you’re medically cleared to come back to work?”
Gabriel nodded again, his jaw going rigid beneath the white fuzz of his beard.
“When?”
Gritting his teeth together, he said, “Six weeks ago.”
Something twisted deep inside Dash’s belly. If Gabriel had told Noelle he was fine six weeks ago, none of the past few days would have happened. It made him physically ill to think he might have missed his second chance with her because he was being a blind, stubborn ass.
Blowing a calming stream of air out between his parted lips, he had to let go of the what-ifs and focus on what was in front of him.
Gabriel must have taken his shaky silence as a bad sign, because he blurted out, “Don’t tell her. Don’t cost me my little girl again.”
He could tell Gabriel hated himself a little for the pleading, watery tone in his voice, but Dash didn’t really blame him. If their roles were reversed, he’d most likely be the one begging.
He had two choices. March back up to her office, tell her and possibly watch her walk away again. Or let Gabriel continue to deceive her. Just for a little while. Until he had enough time to convince her this was where she belonged. With him.
It had already been six weeks. What could a few more days hurt?
As much as the weight of it settled over him like a tiny burr beneath a reindeer saddle, there was really no question what his decision would be.
Licking his lips, Dash said, “I don’t want to lose her either, Gabriel. I still love her.”
He brought his own eyes up to meet his ex-father-in-law’s steady, understanding gaze.
“I know you do, son,” Gabriel said.
“We’re having dinner tonight. With a few more days I might be able to convince her to stay no matter what.”
“So we won’t tell her.”
* * *
It had been three days since the afternoon in her office. She and Dash had spent more time together in those three days than the last three weeks of their marriage. Even when she was working he was constantly finding reasons to find her.
And she was doing the same thing. Popping over to the barn pretending to do a security check. Her favorite place to catch him was still the hot shop. There was just something mesmerizing about watching the man work. It was the only time he was completely...himself.
She knew he enjoyed his job with Evergreen Industries and took his responsibilities for the Winter clan seriously, but those things weren’t his passion.
As much as she tried to just let things unfold the way they should, Noelle couldn’t quite shake the tension that was steadily building deep inside her.
She was falling for him all over again. Which wasn’t exactly true. It implied that she’d let him go at some point, which was far from the truth. There was a piece of her that had always—and would always—love Dash.
It was too soon to worry about what would happen tomorrow or next week or three months from now. But the permanent knot lodged in her tummy didn’t quite agree with the carefree attitude she was trying to adopt.
She was worried about her father, but for the first time since she’d gotten the phone call that he was ill, she was happy his recovery was taking longer than expected.
If he told her he was ready to come back to work then she’d be forced to make a decision. And she wasn’t sure which one she’d make.
“Ms. Frost! Ms. Frost!” The low voice filled with panic hit long before the tiny man burst through her open office door.
Agitation turned sourly through her stomach, but Noelle pushed it away. No sense getting freaked out before she even knew what the problem was. And whatever it was, she’d handle it. She’d managed every other shit-storm so far.
The man doubled over, gasping for breath as he pressed his hands to his knees. Sucking in oxygen, he panted, “We...have...a problem.”
“I already figured that out, Roscoe. Take a deep breath and tell me what’s going on.”
Shaking his head, he didn’t wait for that. Grasping her hand, he began tugging. Noelle tried to resist, but the elf was damn strong. And she was wearing four-inch heels and a tight pencil skirt. She really didn’t want to end up sprawled across the green carpet with her ass in the air.
So she followed, patting her side just to make sure her gun was still tucked next to her ribs.
The moment she tumbled out the main doors of Evergreen Industries it became patently obvious a gun wasn’t going to help.
She wasn’t the only person standing outside gaping up at the bright blue afternoon sky. And the obscenely yellow car streaking above the town like a banana.
“What the hell?” she screeched out.
Beside her, Belle muttered beneath her breath, “Fruitcake. Just...fruitcake.”
Behind her, Cole burst through the doors, Ethan and Dash hot on his heels. Dash’s gaze rounded with shock before narrowing into a roiling temper. His skin flushed a dangerous shade of red, the kind of color that reminded her of the glow of his furnace. She really hoped he wasn’t angry with her, although he had every right to be.
Ethan stared up into the sky and then burst out laughing. Cole shot him a cutting glare. Ethan tried to smother his reaction, but didn’t quite succeed.
Cole’s eyes blazed, the only sign his temper was close to exploding. Slowly, his gaze scraped across the street in front of them, which was crowded with the citizens of Gingerbread.
With a growl, he swept a cutting glare across his brothers, sister and her. Noelle felt the cold prickle of it slide down her spine like ice. “In my office. Now.”
Acceptin
g the fact that they’d follow his order, he turned to the phalanx of elves scattered around them. “Get a communication link up to them and tell them to get their asses back down here before I shoot them out of the sky.”
No one believed he’d actually do it. That would create a bigger mess than they already had. But he was definitely pissed, and if Kris and Merry were smart, they wouldn’t push him.
Everyone piled into Cole’s office.
Today, instead of crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the far wall, Dash sank down beside her on the love seat. He didn’t look at her, but the hand he dropped onto her knee steadied her in a way she hadn’t expected. Or known she’d needed.
Squeezing, he gave her a jolt of comfort and support before pulling his hand away. Noelle drew in a deep breath, using it and the heat radiating off him to soothe her jangled nerves.
“This is a clusterfuck,” Cole muttered, leaning his head back and scraping his hands through his hair. Ever the worrier.
“It isn’t that bad,” Ethan, the eternal optimist, countered.
“You’re kidding, right?” Belle asked, her own voice going up into the squeaky range. “This is bad. Very bad.”
“I didn’t say it wasn’t bad, just not a mortal wound.”
“Weeks before Christmas,” Belle groaned. “Seriously, someone needs to knock some sense into those two. Whatever the ho, ho, holy crap is going on with them needs to stop. Now. Before they ruin Christmas completely.”
Cole rubbed his hand over his face, jumbling up his words, although not enough that she couldn’t understand. “Agreed. But first problems first. What are we going to do about the entire town seeing a damn flying car?”
Ethan shrugged. “That’s easy. I’ll arrange a free Evergreen Industries event for the town. Hot cocoa and cookies for everyone. Holiday outreach to the citizens who support us. We can hold a toy drive. It’ll be great PR.”
Only Ethan could spin a huge cover-up into something positive. And as much as the idea made Noelle want to vomit, it was a good plan. A great plan, actually. If only she wasn’t the one required to supply all the cocoa. She’d struggled to make a batch strong enough to wipe Taryn’s memories...how was she going to manage to produce enough to wipe the entire damn town?
Before she could open her mouth to come up with a protest, Cole’s hand dropped from his face, and he stared at Ethan, hope flickering deep in his eyes. It caught and grew.
“You are brilliant, Ethan,” Belle said.
“I know,” Ethan said, spreading around his charming, egotistical smile.
Oh, shit. She was in serious trouble.
Her hands trembled. To hide the weakness, she clasped them together and dropped them into her lap. Dash silently reached over and covered them with one of his own. He might have meant to help with his gesture, but it didn’t. In fact, the tremors increased, moving up her arms and engulfing her entire body.
She had to stop this. She had to speak up and tell them she couldn’t do it.
Her mouth opened, but before the words could fall from her lips, the door to Cole’s office burst open.
Kris walked in, his normally jolly expression thunderous and cheeks red for a completely different reason than Christmas cheer. Merry, quiet as always, slipped in behind him, her eyes cast down to the dark green carpet.
“What were you thinking, Kris? How could you take the car out like that? What did you think would happen when the entire town saw you?”
Kris bellowed. Behind him, Merry cringed, placing her hand on his arm in an attempt to cool the temper that was clearly about to erupt.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Noelle registered the utter violation of Santa lore as she watched him completely lose his shit. Although, without his beard, paunch and snow-white hair, it was a little less weird.
“What did I think? What did I think?” he asked, stalking toward Cole and slamming his hands down onto the desk. “I was thinking that I should take the car for a test drive before I attempted to fly it around the world on the most important night of the year. I was thinking a quick trip up and down wouldn’t hurt. I was thinking that the cloaking spell would hold.”
Noelle gasped. Her eyes squeezed shut and her head dropped back against the curved edge of the love seat.
“What are you talking about?” Cole asked, his voice steady as he ignored Kris’s burst of emotion and focused instead on his words.
“Everything was fine until I got above Gingerbread. The car shuddered and then it was...there. Nothing I could do about it at that point. I headed back as quickly as I could, but...”
“There’s no hiding a flying car the color of a school bus,” Ethan muttered.
Kris nodded sharply.
For the first time since they’d sat down, Cole’s gaze swept over to her and Dash. “What the heck is he talking about?”
For the second time, Noelle prepared to spill her guts and tell the Evergreen clan just how unqualified she was to hold the position they’d given her. This problem was too big for her to continue pretending. But before she could, Dash’s hard voice blasted into the room.
“The cloaking spell wasn’t ready.” His eyes glowed with banked heat. “If you’d bothered to tell us what you were planning, Kris, we could have told you that. The spells cast over the sleigh and reindeer have been in place for hundreds of years. They require only small infusions of power each year as a kind of booster for the magick that lingers inside each item.”
Everyone else in the room might have been buying the line of bullshit he was selling, but Noelle knew better.
This was all her fault.
Chapter 6
The moment they were alone in her office, Noelle spun on him. “What were you thinking?” she cried, slapping her hands onto his chest and pushing him backward with the force of her words and her displeasure.
“I can’t do it, Dash. I could barely pull off the cocoa for Taryn. There’s no way I can make a batch big enough for the whole damn town. By tonight.”
Horror and dismay edged her expression. In that moment, Dash’s only concern was to calm her down. They weren’t going to get anywhere with her spun up into a panic.
Grasping her arms, he pulled her tight against his body and covered her mouth with his. She fought him, struggling to yank her lips away. Capturing her chin, he held her in place. Slowly, her body overruled her brain, and she began to melt. The gradual transition was entirely erotic and threatened to pull him down into the moment right along with her. The soft sigh that brushed across his lips was almost his undoing, but somehow he found the strength not to succumb. Elle needed him right now. The passion building between them would have to wait.
When he was certain she wasn’t going to revert the moment he let her go, Dash pulled back.
She blinked up at him, her eyes glazed with passion and her lips slick and temptingly swollen.
Sliding his hand around to the nape of her neck, he locked her in place. Slowly, reason returned. He hated to watch it seep back into her expression. Her breathing evened out, but the frenetic terror didn’t return.
“You weren’t surprised when I told you I struggled with the cocoa for Taryn.” It wasn’t a question. He hadn’t realized the error of what he’d said until that moment. He tried not to flinch, but couldn’t keep the reaction from flowing through him.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because one of your elves told me.”
He waited for the eruption, but it never came.
“How long have you known?”
“A few days.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t think it was a problem anymore.”
A harsh sound scraped through her throat. “Yeah, right.”
Shaking his h
ead, Dash pulled her across the office to the chair positioned behind her desk. Dropping into it, he pulled her down into his lap. He had fond memories of this chair. Was this where those moments would end?
He hoped not.
“Elle, you’ve got to stop suppressing your Summer half. As long as you won’t access all of your power, you’re going to struggle.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not suppressing anything.”
Running his hand up and down her back, he enjoyed the feel of her against his palm. “You are. Do you remember that burst of energy and light when you cloaked the car? The one you thought I was responsible for?”
She tentatively nodded. “I’m still not sure you weren’t.”
“I promise I had nothing to do with it. Well, nothing aside from relaxing you enough that you couldn’t hold it back anymore. I distracted you.”
Her beautiful mouth twisted into a grimace. “You mean you blinded me with lust.”
His own lips quirked up into a half smile. He couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward to brush his mouth down the exposed column of her throat. “Yeah. That. It worked, though, didn’t it?”
Her body went liquid in his arms. Her head dropped backward, arching her neck so he could access more of her. A sound of agreement vibrated against his lips.
“You can do whatever you want, Noelle. You just have to trust yourself. And your power.” He pressed the words against her skin. “You might be part-Summer, but that’s what makes you unique. I love your blue eyes and the way you smell like fresh-cut flowers. The inherent glow to your skin, a light that radiates from deep inside you.”
He watched her struggle to accept the words he was saying. The fear and hope and remembered hurt.
“I don’t...”
She looked at him helplessly. Noelle was a powerhouse. A whirlwind of competence and bravado. But he saw the insecurity beneath it all. And loved her more for it.
“You can do this, Noelle. I’ll be there to help you. We all will.”
She swallowed and reluctantly nodded her head. He expected her to jump up and get right to work. They had a lot to accomplish in a few short hours. Instead, she curled against him, tucking her head beneath his chin. Her fingers tangled into his messy hair and held on.
Jingle Spells Page 19
