Not So Merry Murder

by Amabel Daniels

I nodded, hating the position I was stuck in.

  Maybe someday, I’d want to give Knox a chance. To let us take a stab at dating for real.

  Now, though, if I went home with him, it’d taint anything between us as a result of safety. Not mutual intimacy—or friendship. But…I wanted to live another day to be able to try something with him.

  “Fine.”

  Arguments or not, I wasn’t stupid. If someone was framing me for a murder, then yeah, I’d take his help.

  “Fine?”

  “Fine. Take me home. To your place.”

  “Damn,” he whispered. “Never thought I’d hear you say that.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Never? You act as though you’ve been asking me out for weeks.”

  “No. But I’ve thought about it. A lot.” He patted at my thigh and cleared his throat. “But just as friends. You have a point. There is an investigation going on. There’s gray area, but if you’re not comfortable with anything more than friendship until this case is over, then that’s just how it is.”

  I smirked at him. “That means no teasing, all right?”

  “Hmmm.”

  Now I laid my hand on him to lightly shove at his shoulder. His reply was a deep laugh that warmed my soul. I’d started out the day lonely and stuck in a gloomy, blah mood, but at least I was ending it with a “friend” who pulled a smile out of me despite my stubbornness not to.

  Chapter Seven

  Knox really meant what he’d said.

  Just as friends.

  From the moment I walked into his modest but nicely renovated single-family house, I was just any ol’ buddy. We shared a drink. Settled on the couch to watch a movie and then late-night shows. And passed out. I wasn’t sure if I dozed off first, but I sure was the first one to wake up.

  We’d relaxed side-by-side on the couch together, or perhaps we’d fallen alongside together as we slouched and chilled. But when Knox stretched out at some odd hour of the night, he’d ended up shoving me off the sofa. Twisted up in the cashmere throw as we were, where I went, he went. So we were both lying on the floor, and confused.

  “What the…” He grunted as he pushed up on his hands, blinking sleep away as he squinted at me below him.

  “You pushed me!”

  “I didn’t mean to.”

  After another heavy, too-still moment, it seemed we came to the same conclusion simultaneously. I was beneath him in the too-big t-shirt and boxers he’d leant me as PJs. He hovered over me in just as few clothes. His hard muscles covered my softness. In the darkness of his living room, the windows gave just enough moonlight to show the shade of his longish hair curtaining his sober face. No, not sober. Inflamed.

  We stared at each other too long, hesitated for too tense of a moment until I knew there was no way he was missing the fact his dick was pressing against my core. How could he not realize—I was on fire for him.

  “Jade…”

  I shushed him, not wanting to hear the torment of how much he might want me. I didn’t want another debate about whether or not it was a good idea to cross this line. Like all the best risks in life, I went with my instincts and followed my heart.

  I reached up to hook my hands around his neck and pulled him down to me. His lips crashed against mine and I kissed him slowly for a breath, then hungrily. Like a starved woman.

  He growled into my lips, parting them with his tongue before diving in for a taste.

  Heat. Hard, hot fire. It blanketed me. Everywhere he covered me, pinned me down, I burned for him. From him.

  Oh. Yes.

  I couldn’t count how long it’d been since I’d found a guy decent enough to kiss. Let alone make out like I needed his air.

  “Jade…” he got out between pants as he broke the kiss. Instead, he trailed open-mouthed kisses along my jaw, down my neck.

  I shushed him again and grabbed the hem of his shirt. He sat up to remove it and fling it across the room. Without him caging me down, I took the chance to shimmy out of the t-shirt and boxers he’d given me. In my panties, I waited. I dared a glance at him, finding the same desperate yearning in his eyes that I was sure shone from mine. I slipped my last garment down my legs and kicked it into the darkness.

  “Oh…Jade…” His husky murmur was one of approval and dirtiness. “But not on the floor.” He scooped me into his corded arms, and I relished his heat from the chill of his bare hardwood floor. I snuggled into him, but he didn’t hold me for long. Instead, he set me on the couch and got to his knees.

  And then he gave me a little bit of holiday heaven.

  ****

  When I woke next, there wasn’t a part of my body that felt untouched or unloved. I purred, reaching my arms and legs out. A grin broke across my face as I realized each inch of my body was still pressed against, over, and under some part of Knox’s nakedness.

  We’d dragged out foreplay on the couch and then fell to the floor making love. After we showered together, we finally got into his king-size bed. I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to leave.

  I was either stupefied in post-sex idiocy, wanting to cling to Knox, or I was spoiled for the rest of my life for sleeping on a bed.

  No, this bed.

  It was pure bliss, a utopia of relaxation to sleep on this mattress. With Knox spooning me…

  I sucked in a deep sigh, wanting to inhale the absolute perfection I’d found myself in.

  Then it happened again. That annoying, pesky sound that likely roused me from sleep to begin with. Knox was too perfect to be a snorer. Something else, in the distance. I clamped my eyes closed, determined to fall back into a deep sleep—

  Buzz. Buzz. Buzzzzzzzz.

  “That goddamn phone,” I mumbled to myself.

  It was my cell. Ringing like an intruder at… I glanced around Knox’s bedroom until I saw the digital clock resting on the side table at the other end of the bed.

  “Dammit.” Eight fifteen. It was too late in the morning to dismiss entirely.

  I eased out from Knox’s hug and tiptoed to the pile of clothes I’d left on a chair. My phone flashed warnings of two missed calls. Both from Marlena’s number.

  I woke instantly, freaking that she was summoning me from hell.

  Don’t be an idiot. I rubbed at my eyes, realizing this had to be Garth calling from her—their?—cell.

  As I held it, getting chillier by the moment as I stood there naked, it rang again.

  I answered it, glancing back at Knox probably asleep in bed. “Hello?”

  “Jade?” Garth almost yelled. “Why are you whispering?”

  Knox groaned and stretched from the tangle of sheets. As he sat up, I smiled meekly and waved. “I’m not whispering.” Or, I thought I was but even that was too loud…

  “You coming in, or what?” Garth asked.

  “Huh?”

  “To work. Jesus. You fuck your brains out something stupid last night, or what?”

  I glared at his crass suggestion. Never mind that it was accurate—that I’d gotten some, not that I was dumbed down because of sex. “To the photo hut?”

  “Where else?” he yelled. Noises and swearing followed, like he might have been trying to hold something else while walking and talking. His panted breaths came steadily with his words. “Last night, I talked to some other bigwig at the mall’s management and they said we could open back up when the police tape was gone. Well, I just stopped in here and it’s gone. One of the cops called, too. Said the scene is just now officially clear.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah. So, it’s just me and all these old farts power-walking all over before the mall’s open. Get your ass in here.”

  “No please?”

  “Jesus. I get one nagging woman out of my life and I’m miserable with another. Look, girl, I’m your boss, so if you want to work, get your ass over here.”

  I did want to work. But…

  Arms snaked around my waist and tugged me back to a hard chest. Knox kissed at the side of my neck as I tried to foc
us on a reply to Garth. I did want to work and earn a paycheck. But with him? Only with him? I wasn’t sure I could lower myself to tolerating him without someone as backup.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

  “Hurry up and—”

  I pressed the button to end the call. As I lowered my arm, I let my head hang down and sighed.

  “Garth?” He rubbed his calloused hand up and down my spine.

  I nodded.

  “You’re back open for business?”

  Another nod.

  He stepped around me, keeping me within the circle of his arms, and faced me. “I’m surprised Elise didn’t try to stop it from reopening.”

  That made two of us. “Sounds like he went over her head.”

  “Seth is still in the holding cell waiting on bail. It’ll just be you and Garth?”

  One more nod.

  He hugged me closer and exhaled long and hard. “There’s no way I’m going to talk you out of going there, huh?”

  I snuggled into him, smashing my nose to his taut skin and sniffing his unique, woodsy smell. Forest and sex. I was delirious for more of him. His concern was the tipping point for me, though. That and his respect for my independence. He had to be scheming ways to get me to stay away from the North Pole Hut and anything to do with danger. Yet, he’d already recognized it was my choice to go. “No, not really.”

  Again, he took a deep breath. Then he stepped back enough to meet my gaze. “Do we have time for a quickie?”

  I smirked, lightening up at his taunting tone. I wanted to absorb how happy and cared for he made me feel. I could bottle it up and nip at it later for what was sure to be a crappy day. “I don’t think so.”

  “I figured.” He ran his hand through his hair as he stood back. “I’ll get dressed and drive you in then.”

  Thirty-five minutes later, Knox waited with me in his Jeep. He’d rushed to get ready with me and then brought me to my apartment so I could gear up in all my elven, green-velvet glory. Now we sat idling in the fire lane outside one of the main entrances to Franklin Mall. The snow had finally stopped, so there were no obstacles to my sight. Just yards out the window was the clear path to where Santa waited for me to take pictures. I let myself get lost in the fading whiteness of a string of icicle lights strung from the eaves.

  I really, really didn’t want to go in there.

  Now that I knew how coldhearted Garth was, and that someone seemed to have chosen me as an indirect scapegoat, I wanted nothing to do with any of it. With the Ridges, the Fenners, the shed where Marlena was shot.

  Suddenly, I wished Knox could read my mind and drive me back home—his or mine, it didn’t matter. Dread. That was what this was. I couldn’t explain the foreboding badness that simmered in my belly, but it was there all the same.

  Maybe it was nothing more than nerves after finding my boss’s corpse.

  “You okay?” Knox’s soft voice eased me from this mini panic attack.

  “Yeah.” I swallowed hard.

  “You sure you want to go back to work there?”

  I nodded. I had to. I needed the money. There was no way I’d be earning any other income five days before one of the biggest holidays of the year.

  He took my hand and squeezed it. It was the impetus to rip my stare from the passenger window. “Please be careful.”

  I tried to smile. “I will.”

  “We’ve added extra cameras to the area.”

  I frowned. “When?”

  “I think they did it last night after the mall closed.” He shrugged. “Just to keep a closer eye on it in case something else pops up.”

  Pops up dead, you mean?

  “And I know there’s been non-uniformed guys from beat in there. They’d been requested since Black Friday, but they’ve been focused in the branch with the jewelry stores. Now, though, they’ll patrol past the shed.”

  “That does make me feel better.”

  He brought my hand up to press a kiss to my knuckles. Seeing his lips closing the distance to my skin anywhere unleashed a thrill like no other. I took a steady breath.

  “Want me to stop by and check on you? I’ll be on the clock later. Picked up half of a shift for a buddy.”

  Jesus. I didn’t need his babysitting. The other plainclothes cops would be good enough and on the down-low. “Nah, I’ll be busy. And Garth might be weirded out, seeing a cop stop by for me.”

  “I can stop by just to stop by. He wouldn’t know it’s for you. No one needs to know we’re sleeping together.” Another kiss to my knuckles before he released my hand.

  “I don’t have as good of a poker face as you.”

  He grinned. “Yeah? And what’s the reason for that blush right now?”

  I pressed my cold hands to my warm cheeks. “See? No poker face.” It’s because you said sleeping with not slept with. He’d implied wanting more of me—us—and that was a tempting concept. One I really didn’t have any reason to reject.

  “I’ll text you throughout the day, okay?” He shifted back, putting his addicting body fully into his space instead of leaning toward me. “It’s not like anyone’s turning their back from that picture area. It’s on our radar.”

  And that would be enough for me. A murder had just been committed there. Even if they’d declared the crime scene clear for entry and business again didn’t mean Marlena’s death was swept under the rug. Plus, I’d slept with Knox. I’d given in to my resistance and allowed him into my life.

  Well, into me.

  The North Pole Hut was under the cops’ radar and I was definitely under Knox’s. Instead of cringing at that connection to me, I felt protected. Treasured.

  And the faster I get my elf ass in there and make it through the day, maybe I can get under Knox again.

  “Thanks.” Before I could think twice, I lunged over, framed his face, and planted a kiss with inappropriate tongue. “I’ll see you later.”

  He blinked and licked his lips as I pulled away. “Unh.”

  I left his Jeep, giggling at how easy it’d been to melt him with just a kiss. I didn’t know how Knox and I would make anything work. We were so…different. From different places. But I’d bask in the giddiness of our new “whatever” for as long as I could. That happiness lasted only five minutes, though—the amount of time it took for me to speed-walk into Franklin Mall and toward Garth at his throne.

  “I fucking called you hours ago,” he griped under his breath as he stood underneath the awning of the shed. Standing there, with his large gut hanging out, he smiled and waved to the people already waiting in line. Behind that candy-cane-striped rope were at least two dozen people. All impatient, by the look of their frowns.

  “Not really.” I curled my coat and purse into a ball and stuffed them inside the shed without entering the tiny house. I slammed the door shut. I wasn’t going in there. My coat and purse could sit on the floor just inside. “And it wasn’t like I had any kind of warning to plan for coming in.”

  He snorted and lumbered over to his padded golden seat. “Didn’t realize you had such a busy life outside here.”

  Yeah. Because a goddamn local mall Santa setup was my whole life. Was Garth this self-entitled his entire life? Jeez. Besides, I really was a nobody homebody. Until Knox. I cleared my throat. It wasn’t any of his business.

  “Well, get that cute little ass to the camera.”

  I leaned over him, dipping into the part of me that hadn’t had coffee yet. Between clenched teeth, I seethed, “That’s that first and last time you refer to me by my ass. Got it?”

  Marlena had been a bad boss, and I wasn’t about to give Garth the idea he could lord over me too.

  He glowered at me but remained silent.

  Without another look at him, I turned and strode toward the line. “Welcome!”

  I let the first ones in, a family of seven. There were enough that it took a good minute for them to figure out how they wanted to stand around Santa. Plenty of time for me to turn
on the camera, identify what buttons to press, and start up the tablet that was hooked up to the printer and card reader.

  Easy-peasy.

  It was easy—at first. For the first hour, I multi-tasked fine. Calling out, “Next,” for people to come toward Garth seated in front of the shed, then taking the picture, and finally collecting the money after I handed over the printed sheet of images.

  But then the printer decided to have a PMS moment and leaked ink from the bottom tray. And a couple of toddlers flipped out at Garth saying, “Merry Christmas.” My eyes were still ringing from their high-pitched screams. Oh, and a pair of parents in the throes of divorce decided to launch what had to be World War Six of their marital battles, arguing over who got which poses of pictures their kids had dutifully smiled through.

  I kind of missed the “simple” woes of managing people not cutting in line and taking personal pictures with their cell phones over this madness.

  Near lunchtime, the line calmed down and all the customers and equipment were cooperating smoothly. I hadn’t realized the time had flown so quickly, I was so harried and busy. My stomach growled and I glanced at my phone in my skirt pocket. The screen was fogged from being pressed against my sweaty body. I took my hat off to fan at my fizzed curls and checked my phone.

  Ten minutes until Garth and I would take a short break like we’d agreed. Two missed calls from Knox and five texts. The first two were inappropriate sexts that had me blushing and fanning myself even faster.

  Naughty boy. I grinned and scrolled to the next.

  Have you seen Seth at the mall?

  My heart hammered faster due to adrenaline instead of lust. Seth? I glanced up and around. Nothing but Christmas surrounded me. No Seth. I returned to my phone and read on.

  His “boss” paid his bail and he was released this morning. I’m going to come by as soon as I can. The guys at the mall have been updated.

  At least it was under control, it seemed. Knox had never answered me, though. Was Seth that much of a suspect in Marlena’s murder? If he had been, I doubted they would have let him go for the kiddie porn stuff so easily, bail or not. I hated wondering if he was dangerous. If he showed up here, would he been even more of a prick when he saw I’d replaced him?