Christmastime Courtship

by Marie Ferrarella

  Miranda smiled as she nodded. “Still with me. And I have to say that I’m really getting used to having her around.”

  “Then why not keep her?”

  “It wouldn’t be fair,” she told him. “Lola needs kids to play with.”

  He didn’t understand why she thought that. “What that dog needs more is love, and you seem to have that covered.”

  His comment surprised her. It wasn’t like him. “I think that Santa suit transformed you.”

  Colin waved away her assessment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just say it like it is. Speaking of which...” He let his voice trail off as he framed his next sentence. He didn’t want her getting the wrong idea, but didn’t want to be so low-key that she turned him down.

  When he paused, Miranda cocked her head, waiting for him to finish. “Yes?”

  “Would you mind if I came home with you? Just for a while,” he qualified a little too quickly. “I feel like I need to wind down a bit after this whole Santa thing.”

  She laughed. “Too much adulation to handle?” she guessed, amused. This had to be all new to him.

  He shrugged carelessly. “Something like that. Is it all right?” he asked, still waiting for her to tell him whether or not he could come over.

  “Sure,” Miranda replied, wondering why Colin would think that it wouldn’t be. “Lola would love to see you.”

  He laughed drily. Miranda made it sound as if he had some sort of a relationship with the German shepherd. “I’m not so sure about that.”

  “I am,” she said, hooking her arm through his. Thinking he might like to leave with a minimum of fuss, she suggested, “We can take the side door if you want to avoid walking through the main room and running into the kids.”

  “No, that’s all right,” he told her. “We can go out the front.”

  He really had changed, she marveled. And she definitely liked this new, improved Colin. “Maybe you should have put on that Santa suit earlier.”

  He shrugged. It wasn’t the suit; it was what had prompted him to put it on: Miranda.

  “Maybe I should have,” he allowed casually. “By the way, how was it?”

  He’d lost her. “How was what?”

  “Back in the director’s office, you said you wanted to see what it felt like, kissing Santa Claus,” he reminded her. He knew he was leaving himself wide-open, but he was curious about what Miranda would say. “So how was it?”

  She smiled up at him and said, “Magical.”

  He had no idea if she was kidding or not, but they had just entered the common room. Most of the kids were still there and he didn’t want to say anything that could draw attention to them, so made no comment on her response.

  As they crossed the floor to the front door, he saw the director looking their way. Colin nodded at the woman and she mouthed, “Thank you.” He smiled in response but kept walking.

  “I’ve got a question for you,” Miranda said once they were out the door and in the parking area.

  Colin braced himself. “Go ahead.”

  It was already cold and the wind had picked up. Miranda pulled her jacket more tightly around herself. “How did it feel to save the day? Or is that something you’ve pretty much gotten used to, being a police officer and all?”

  Colin laughed to himself, shaking his head. She was serious, he realized. “Miranda, I’m a motorcycle cop, remember? I usually ruin people’s day, not save it.”

  “You know, it doesn’t have to be that way.”

  “Oh? And what is it that you suggest?” he asked, humoring her.

  “Well, did you ever think about switching departments?” Miranda asked.

  Colin grew solemn. “I was in a different department when I worked in LA.”

  “What happened?”

  His expression grew grim as he remembered. “My partner got killed. On the job,” he added. Confronted with that information, she would surely drop the subject. But he’d obviously forgotten who he was dealing with.

  “All right,” she said slowly, processing what he’d just told her and extrapolating. “Bedford’s got a canine unit. You could ask to be transferred there,” she told him. She thought of the way he interacted with Lola. “You’d be really good at it.”

  “We’ll see,” Colin answered, just to get her to stop taking about it.

  But Miranda was on to the way he operated. “Just something to think about,” she told him. For now, she tabled the subject. Pointing to her vehicle, which was farther down the lot, she said, “I’m parked over there. Do you want to follow me home?”

  “I do know where you live, Miranda,” Colin reminded her.

  Miranda’s smile widened as she inclined her head. “Then I’ll see you there. I’ll make dinner,” she added.

  He didn’t want her to feel obligated. “You don’t have to—”

  “I’ve got to eat,” she told him. “And I’ve seen you eat, so I know that you do, too.” She gave him a knowing look. “You don’t have to turn everything into a debate, Colin.”

  He supposed he was guilty of that—at least part of the time. “You do have a way with words.”

  She grinned. “As long as you know that, everything’ll be fine.”

  He wasn’t sure about that, Colin thought, as he walked over to his car. Ever since he’d met Miranda, he’d been doing things completely out of character.

  Getting into his vehicle, he started it up and pulled out of the parking lot.

  His simple routine of eat, sleep, work, repeat, had gone completely out the window. Ever since he’d moved back to Bedford, he hadn’t socialized, even remotely. But since he’d crossed paths with Miranda, he found himself entertaining strange thoughts. He wanted to socialize. How else could he explain what he had done today?

  Never in his wildest dreams would he have thought that he’d put on a Santa suit, much less wear it for more than two hours the way he’d done, while handing out toys to a whole bunch of kids. Even letting those kids crawl onto his lap, and not just putting up with having some of them hug him, but actually, deep down in his soul, liking it.

  It felt as if he’d lost sight of all the rules he’d always adhered to. Not just lost sight of them but willfully abandoned them.

  If he wasn’t careful, he would never be the same again.

  What “if”? he silently jeered. There was no “if” about it. He wasn’t the same now—and did he even want to be?

  All these years, he’d been sleepwalking, moving like a shadow figure through his own life—and that wasn’t living at all, he silently insisted.

  For weeks now he’d kept thinking that if he hadn’t crossed paths with Miranda, his life wouldn’t have been turned upside down. As if that was a bad thing.

  But maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it—and she—had actually been his salvation.

  And maybe, he told himself as he approached Miranda’s house, he’d be better off if he just stopped thinking altogether.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Colin never got a chance to ring Miranda’s doorbell. The front door flew open the minute he walked up to it.

  Seeing the surprised look on his face, Miranda explained, “Lola heard your car pulling up and she barked to let me know you were here. I looked out the window and saw she was right.”

  Walking in, Colin paused to pet the German shepherd’s head. He didn’t really have much of a choice since she was blocking his path into the house.

  “She let you know it was me,” he repeated incredulously.

  Moving around them, Miranda smiled as she closed the door. “She has a different bark when a stranger comes.”

  “I’m flattered, Lola.” In response, the dog jumped up, placing her paws against his chest. He had a feeling he knew what she was after. “I’m sorr
y, girl, I don’t have anything for you this time. I came straight here from the shelter.”

  “Don’t worry,” Miranda said. “I’m always prepared.” To his surprise, she reached around the dog and slipped something into the front pocket of his jeans. “I’m not getting fresh,” she told him. “I’m just giving you a couple of treats to give her. What?” she asked, when she saw the amused expression on his face.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that phrase—getting fresh—outside of an old movie from the sixties, maybe earlier. No offense,” he added quickly. “I think it’s kind of cute.”

  “None taken—now that you’ve redeemed yourself,” she added cheerfully. “C’mon, dinner’s on the table.”

  Colin stared at the back of her head, stunned, as he followed her to the dining room. “How did you manage to get anything ready so fast? You couldn’t have gotten here more than five minutes ago.”

  “Ten,” she corrected. “I know a shortcut. And I really didn’t have to cook. Those are leftovers from yesterday.” She gestured at the covered tureen in the center of the table. “Nothing fancy. Just some chicken Alfredo over angel-hair spaghetti.”

  “Leftovers,” Colin repeated, nodding. “That makes more sense. I didn’t think even you were that fast.”

  She dished out the spaghetti, then the chicken Alfredo, first on one plate, then the other.

  “Am I being challenged?” she asked him, the corners of her mouth curving.

  “I didn’t mean it that way,” he said, then qualified, “Unless you wanted me to.”

  All she wanted right now was to sit down to a peaceful dinner with him.

  “Eat,” she prompted. “Dinner’s getting cold. And, you,” she said, looking down at Lola, who had presented herself at the table. “Let the man eat in peace, girl. He already gave you a bribe.”

  He was amused by the dog’s antics. “I think she’s expecting more.”

  Miranda sighed. “You were right. I have been spoiling her. But her new owner is going to do a better job of making her toe the line,” she said.

  Surprised, Colin lowered his fork. “New owner? Lola’s been adopted?”

  Miranda nodded, looking oddly calm to him. He would have expected her to be more upset. “Her papers were all put through and her fee was paid.”

  “Fee?” he questioned. He had no idea how pet adoption was conducted.

  “Every dog and cat that the shelter takes in gets all their shots and they’re neutered or spayed, depending on the animal’s gender. When they’re adopted, the new owner is charged a nominal fee for those services. It’s to ensure that the next homeless animal can be taken care of.”

  Something didn’t make sense to him. “If Lola’s been adopted, why is she still here?” he asked.

  The surge of disappointment he was experiencing over the news of the adoption really caught him off guard. He realized with a pang that he was going to miss Lola once her owner picked her up.

  “That’s rather a funny story,” Miranda answered. “I’ll tell it to you once we finish eating.”

  Colin filled in the blanks: they were going to be taking Lola to her new owner right after dinner. That was why Miranda was holding off telling him the story until later.

  He honestly didn’t know if he wanted to go with her. Watching the German shepherd being handed over to someone else wasn’t something he wanted to witness.

  But then it occurred to him that maybe Miranda was asking him to come along because she was going to need some moral support for this. He knew that she had gotten close to the animal. She’d said as much herself. What surprised him was that he had, too.

  Picking up his fork again, Colin continued to eat, but he was no longer tasting anything and twice had to rouse himself because he’d missed what Miranda was saying.

  “You’re awfully quiet,” she noted, finishing her dinner.

  “I’m just thinking,” Colin told her without elaborating.

  “Okay,” she announced, rising from the table. “Let’s do this.”

  He looked at the empty plates on the table. She was leaving them where they were. “You’re not going to do the dishes first?”

  “They can wait,” she told him loftily. “I’ll do them later.”

  That wasn’t like her. Giving up Lola and taking her to her new owner was undoubtedly hard on Miranda, he thought. He wanted to shield her from this, but had no idea how.

  “Okay, let’s get it over with,” he told her.

  Responding, Miranda took his hand and led him into the living room.

  “Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked, nodding at Lola. Miranda hadn’t stopped to put a leash on the dog. In fact, she’d left her in the dining room, gnawing on a bone that she had given her.

  “I don’t think so,” Miranda answered innocently.

  Instead of walking to the front door, she stopped in front of the Christmas tree. Bending down, she picked up a flat, rectangular box sporting shiny blue wrapping paper and held it out to him.

  “Merry Christmas,” Miranda declared. “A little early.”

  “What is it?” he asked, perplexed.

  When he didn’t take it from her, she gently shoved the box into his hands. “You could open it and see.”

  She was being very mysterious about this, Colin thought. Still not opening it, he told her uncomfortably, “I didn’t get you anything.”

  “You’ve given me more than you think—and you were Santa Claus for all those kids,” she added. “Now, are you going to open that? Or are you going to just keep looking at it?”

  He would have preferred going with the latter, but knew that wouldn’t be fair to her, especially after she had gone through all the trouble of not just getting him something but wrapping it, as well.

  Colin made his decision. “I’ll open it.”

  “Good choice,” she told him with approval. Watching him do so, she could only marvel. “You tear off wrapping paper slower than anyone I’ve ever seen.” Finally, he finished removing the wrapping paper to reveal a decorative gift box beneath. “Now take the top off the box and see what’s in it,” she coaxed.

  When he did, Colin found paperwork. Specifically, paperwork that belonged to Lola, saying that she’d received her rabies vaccination as well as a number of other vaccinations. There was also confirmation of a license registration with the city of Bedford that was good for one year. The certificate stated that her name was Lola Kirby and that she belonged to—

  Colin’s head jerked up. “Me?” he asked, stunned. “I’m Lola’s owner?”

  Nodding, Miranda told him, “I didn’t know what to get you for Christmas and then it came to me. You needed to have a friendly face to come home to, and Lola needed a home. It seemed like the perfect solution.”

  “But I can’t take care of her,” he protested. “I’m never home.”

  “Sure, you can take care of her. And when you need to take a break, you can leave her with me. I’ll dog-sit Lola for you,” she volunteered cheerfully.

  He was as close to being speechless as he had ever been in his life. Shaking his head, Colin muttered, “I don’t know what to say—you’re crazy, you know that?”

  “I would have accepted ‘Thank you, Miranda. It’s just what I wanted,’” she responded. Then, growing serious, she told him, “I saw it in your eyes, you know. The way you felt about Lola.”

  Moved, he came closer to her. So close there was hardly any space for even a breath between them. His gaze met hers. “What else did you see in my eyes?”

  Lola was still in the dining room, working away at her soup bone. Except for the sound of teeth meeting bone, there was nothing but silence in the house.

  Silence and heat.

  “What else was I supposed to see in your eyes?” Miranda asked, her voice dropping
to barely a whisper. Her mouth suddenly felt extremely dry, even as she felt her pulse accelerating, going double time.

  “You, Miranda,” he replied softly. “You were supposed to see you.”

  She could hardly breathe. “I thought that was just wishful thinking on my part,” she confessed.

  “You’re trembling,” he said.

  She couldn’t seem to stop. Grasping at straws, she said the first thing that came to mind. “It’s cold in here.”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to warm you up,” Colin told her, his voice low and seductive as he took her into his arms.

  The next thing she knew, Colin had lowered his mouth to hers.

  And then the whole world slipped into an inky, endless abyss. There was nothing left except the two of them.

  This time, there was no hesitation, no second thoughts.

  For the first time since he’d met her, he felt no need to put on the brakes, or to tell himself that being with her like this was a mistake.

  He wanted her.

  Wanted her more than he wanted to breathe.

  Because he had come to understand that this woman was what made his existence worthwhile. Just by being herself, she had brought happiness into his life. She’d taken his dark existence and illuminated it, bringing color into his world.

  Color and warmth and desire in such proportions they completely overwhelmed him.

  And humbled him.

  He kissed Miranda over and over again, each kiss more soul-stirring than the one that had come before it. And then, just as she was about to utterly succumb to the passion that was making her head spin, he drew back for a moment.

  Miranda felt confusion taking hold.

  Oh Lord, he wasn’t stopping again, was he? She didn’t think she could bear it if he stopped.

  Colin drew in a shaky breath. He needed to make his intention clear to her. He didn’t want Miranda to look back on this later and feel that he had somehow used the madness of the moment to take advantage of her.