Possessive Christmas Cop: An Older Man Younger Woman Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 87)

by Flora Ferrari

  By this time next year I’ll even be ahead. All I have to do is follow the plan that Jaxon and I put together and I’ll go from being behind to graduating in three years.

  The encouragement that he’s given me for my future and the holidays have me really emotional. I just can’t stop thinking about him, even catching myself as I daydream about all the things we’ve done, and all the things we’re going to do, as some of the seasonal workers set up a little area for Santa Claus to sit in.

  Once they’re done, Santa arrives and gets all set up.

  He makes a motion towards me to come over and sit on his lap so the photographer can “make sure everything’s working right.” I politely decline, knowing that although it’s kind of innocent, this isn’t something I would do if Jaxon was here so I won’t do it when he’s not.

  He’s the exact same way, and the best part is that it just comes to him naturally. I still see other women checking him out when we’re out and about, but he’s truly oblivious to it all. He’s always so focused on me. When he tells me I’m the best thing that ever happened to him I know he means it.

  I watch as my co-worker Melissa goes and does the test shoot with Santa. At first she’s kind of laughing at the idea, but once she sits down her face definitely doesn’t look so happy anymore.

  She hurries through the process and rushes back over towards where I am.

  “That guy smells like a brewery and I swear he had wood when I was sitting on his lap.”

  “You’re joking?”

  “Swear to god.”

  “Did he say anything to you?”

  “He mumbled something, but I couldn’t really understand it. At first I thought he said, ‘Merry Christmas,’ but now that I’m not freaking out being so close to him I think he said, ‘Melissa…Christ.’ I think he was checking out my chest when he said it.”

  “He knows your name?”

  “Maybe he heard someone say it. I’m not sure.”

  I nod. “Sorry about that.”

  “It’s not your fault, but I hope that guy’s not going to be here more than just today. He creeps me out. I’m going to go wash my hands, actually. Yuck,” she says, as her shoulders raise and she shivers.

  I stare off into the hallway thinking about what just happened.

  I’ve had a lot of talks with Jaxon already about criminal type stuff and just life in general. I love talking to him. His voice is like listening to hot coals crackle on a fire on a cool autumn night, and the knowledge he imparts on me is like he’s a walking, breathing Wikipedia page.

  He even taught me about business.

  I love that I can learn so much from his experience and wisdom. Sometimes I ask him so many questions I think I might be taking it too far, but he says he loves passing on what he knows. He told me that he feels like it would have been a shame if all the training and real life experiences he’s learned being a cop and man would have just died with him when he left this world.

  He was fine with that idea, never even thinking about it, until I came along. Then he told me he realized how much of a tragedy that would have been.

  The part that gets me the most is when he smiles and tells me that he can’t wait to share the same knowledge with our children.

  I know it’s not just words either. We even jokingly picked out names last night.

  I think back to what he was telling me in regards to the “See something, say something,” campaign that’s been running for quite a long time now. A lot of times people will see something and it turns out to be nothing. Sometimes the police won’t even investigate if they don’t have time and it doesn’t sound legit, but there have been numerous high profile cases that started with a tip like this…a situation where someone had a queasy feeling in their stomach.

  Just like Melissa did, and just like I do now.

  I’m guessing this is just some old guy who’s depressed for the holidays and maybe had too many last night, but I just don’t like it.

  I pull my phone out of my pocket.

  Hey. How’s your morning?

  Would be better if you were here, comes back immediately.

  I stare at his reply and I feel special, loved, and wanted as he always makes me feel.

  Maybe this Santa fella is okay. Maybe I was just missing him and I filled my mind with a bunch of nonsense.

  Nah, it’s not worth it. Not when there are kids that are going to be coming in today.

  Sorry to bother you, but the mall set up one of those take your pictures with Santa thing. The guy seems…off.

  I’m on my way.

  Jaxon does not play when it comes to my safety, or any concerns I have. He told me I was his and he really backs it up.

  And I know if he finds anything wrong he’s going to come in here like rolling thunder, and I’d pick his thunder and his rain over anyone else’s sunshine any day.

  CHAPTER 11

  Jaxon

  I white knuckle grip the steering wheel as I turn the corner entering the mall parking lot.

  I’m fuming. Who in the hell let this guy into a Santa suit and into the mall no less?

  If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that women’s intuition is real.

  Heck, I’ve even seen it play out in court in Jeff’s trials.

  Divorce proceedings where the judge eventually just asks, “And Mrs. So-and-so, why did you even start watching your husband? Why did you think he was cheating?”

  “I just had a feeling,” they often say.

  At first I kind of rolled my eyes at the idea, but that was when I was a rookie cop.

  It didn’t take me long to find out it was real.

  Women “just had a feeling” in cases that involved everything from high-level corporate fraud to spousal cheating to drug trafficking neighbors. It’s incredible actually.

  And if my woman notices something I’m damn sure going to check up on it immediately, especially when this weirdo is that close to her.

  I don’t want to be one to rush judgment, but this guy’s already got two strikes against him in my book.

  It’s just like Al Pacino said in The Godfather. “Don’t ever take sides, with anyone, against the family again. Ever.”

  And she’s my family.

  I park the car and move quickly into the mall, easily spotting the Santa Claus set up.

  “Hey,” I hear over my shoulder, but I don’t turn. “I’m sorry to bother you on your day off.”

  I keep my eyes locked on him as my hand extends to her, finding her shoulder.

  “Slowly go to the break room. Take the other women in the store with you. Now,” I say.

  She doesn’t hesitate. Doesn’t ask question. She just leaves as I’ve told her.

  This may be my day off but this is police work now and no way I’m leaving her out here with what I know is about to go down.

  Because through the beard and through the Santa suit I see the real truth.

  Red is the appropriate color for this guy all right, but not in the form of the Santa suit.

  This…is the devil.

  CHAPTER 12

  Jade

  I move through the racks and toward the break room, taking Melissa by the arm and guiding her too.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” she says.

  “Just trust me,” I say.

  She gives me a strange look, but I’m not taking no for an answer.

  The store has just opened so luckily it’s just the two of us in our section.

  Suddenly I hear a loud pop and my ears ring. I can’t hear anything but a tinging in my head.

  Melissa brings her hands to her ears and says something to me that I can’t hear or make out.

  She makes the motion of a gun in her hand and I grab her and pull her to the ground with me, just as Jaxon showed me not two days before.

  My manager comes running next to us and gets on the floor. So much for heroes these days.

  My body fills with goose bumps as another pop sounds and my body shakes, won
dering what’s happening.

  Where’s Jaxon?

  Is he okay?

  What happened?

  Who got shot?

  I want to go help him, but I know he’s a professional and he told me to go to the break room.

  I can’t.

  I start sliding on my stomach out into the store and Jaxon runs right past me…towards the break room.

  He spots me and quickly turns around, grabbing me and pulling me up off the floor and hugging me tight.

  “What hap—?”

  His hand comes over my face, shielding my eyes but it’s too late.

  Blood trickles from Santa’s mouth and there’s another man lying dead in the exit of the store.

  Fear shoots through me and I bury myself into Jaxon’s chest. It’s the only place in the world where I absolutely know I’m safe.

  I hear sirens wailing in the distance as he runs his hands through my hair and holds me tight.

  I didn’t need a reminder to know this, but life is short.

  I’m glad we found each other when we did, even if I am young we’re not around forever.

  And I want to spend every moment of my life with him, forever and always.

  Where I’m safe, happy, respected, and loved.

  CHAPTER 13

  Jaxon

  The next day

  “And last but not least, the Citizen’s Award of Valor goes to this brave young lady who alerted our officer. Without her these two sexual predators, working together for over ten years now, would still be sitting atop the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. And because of that I award her the Citizen’s Award of Valor.” He pauses. “The award will be presented by the responding officer,” he says.

  Damn right, chief. This is a life moment for us and we’re going to share it as a team. Not only that I don’t want any man getting that close to my woman. Nobody gets to pull her flowing hair to the side and lay a medal on her perfect chest. That’s my job and only my job.

  I feel my chest literally swell with pride as I place the medal around her neck. Damn, I want to give her a kiss, right here, right now in front of everyone, but her father is in attendance.

  I feel my muscles tensing as my hands don’t want to let go of the ribbon.

  The crowd starts clapping and all I can think about is her, how she saved the day, how she saved me from a life of solitude, and how beautiful and perfect she looks.

  It’s too much.

  All my years of training…all the ways I know how to stay calm, cool, and collected just fly out the window.

  I lean around the side of her and plant one right on her cheek.

  As I pull back I hear some gasps from the crowd.

  Fuck. That was very unprofessional, but I don’t care.

  Cameras flash and we both step back into place.

  The chief says a few more words and although I’m at something of an at ease position, I’m still standing alert and in a way that you would expect a police officer to stand…tall, strong, and focused.

  And my eyes focus in on Jeff in the crowd.

  He’s got one eyebrow up, looking at me with a curiosity that borders on anger.

  Does he know?

  Did he figure out Jade wasn’t spending the night at a friend’s houses all those times she was over at my place?

  Does he know she’d wake up early and cook me pancakes, bacon, and eggs nude and then serve me in bed…if I didn’t “serve” her first?

  He’s a busy guy that works a tremendous amount of hours, but he’s also a smart guy. His job is basically solving mysteries…finding puzzle pieces that make the unthinkable, the unfathomable make sense.

  And I think he sees the puzzle that’s just been laid out before him, and my kiss was the piece that ties it all together…or more accurately the first domino to fall.

  The ceremony ends and we all move to a separate room for a meet and greet, cake and cookies, and that sort of thing.

  “Congratulations, Jaxon,” Jeff says. “That was some damn fine police work.”

  “Thank you,” I say extending my hand to meet his. He shakes it just a hair more aggressively than normal. It’s a tell, a very small and subtle one, but a tell nonetheless.

  He’s onto us.

  “Does that count as working undercover since you weren’t in uniform?”

  “It should,” I say. “I think that pays more these days.”

  “I saw the pictures from the scene and read the statements. Technically you weren’t even on duty. Is that right?”

  “Yeah, it was my day off.” I pause. “You wanna grab one of these Christmas cookies they’ve got over on the table? They look good,” I say motioning away from where we’re standing. If I can get his body moving from where we are and his mind moving off this topic I might be able to buy myself some time, but I’m dealing with a professional here, and he’s not falling for it.

  “I already ate. Thanks.”

  “I’m going to grab one. I’m starving.”

  I turn to go and I feel a hand on my shoulder.

  “Do you have time to come by my house in about…say, an hour? I have some stuff to finish up real quick at my office, but it would be good to celebrate everything that’s going on. Don’t you think?”

  Fuck.

  “Um, yeah, sure,” I say, realizing I’m caught. “I’ll see you then.”

  “See you then…best friend,” he says.

  He turns to go.

  “Excuse me, Officer Jaxon?” a reporter says just next to me. “We’re doing a feature piece on you after what happened and I’ve learned that the prosecutor is your best friend. Wow,” he says. “This sounds like a script tailor-made for Hollywood. Can we ask you a few questions about your relationship with the prosecutor?”

  My relationship with the prosecutor, huh? Yeah…I’ve got a few questions of my own I need to answer about that relationship.

  And I’m going to get those answers in sixty minutes from now.

  CHAPTER 14

  Jaxon

  I take a deep breath and exhale it out before knocking on the door hard three times.

  “Out back!” a voice yells.

  I walk around the side of the house, opening the gate and walking along the length of the house.

  How does a man who sees so many cases of violence every day in the courtroom not have a lock on his gate?

  When I clear the edge of his house Jeff is sitting on a simple plastic chair on the slab of concrete just outside his sliding back door. There’s a plastic table next to him and another chair just next to the table. I’m surprised he doesn’t have the other chair facing him, and the house, because as someone who’s done a lot of interrogations I suddenly feel what it’s like to be on the other side of the table.

  This is clearly going to be an interrogation.

  “Whiskey on the rocks, right?”

  “Yeah,” I say.

  “Have a seat,” he says.

  I’m not afraid of anyone in this world, but what I am most concerned about is Jade. The last thing I need is to cause a riff between her and her dad. I’ve got to figure out a way to get his blessing so she can have the best of both worlds…me and a father who’s fully supportive of her relationship.

  Right now that’s looking more impossible by the minute. And if things get too out of control here I’ll just say screw it and leave, because at the end of the day the only thing that matters is her, but first I’m going to try and make this right.

  I walk around in front of Jeff, deciding going behind him is not the way to approach this. I want him to feel like he’s got some control, some power, in this situation. I don’t want to do anything that makes him feel pinned in or without options, especially in his own home.

  As soon as I sit down he’s pouring a fine Scottish whiskey over three ice cubes for me.

  I take the glass and hold it up, but see that he still hasn’t made eye contact with me yet.

  Any kind of toast will have to wait.