A Little Country Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  And for a couple of seconds, it did. But then she swore she heard a pulsing or a beeping, almost like—an alarm.

  An alarm?

  No way. An alarm!

  Dani bolted upright, clearing the water from her eyes and ears to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. But there were her work pants, vibrating on the floor, her phone lighting up the holster where it hung from her belt, and the emergency alarm blaring.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said aloud as she scrambled out of the tub. Of course she knocked her tea off the ledge, spilling it onto her pants but luckily missing her phone.

  She glanced at the screen and saw that the call came from a security system she didn’t even know had been installed at the old Cooper property.

  Great. First she runs out on Mayor Cooper in the middle of kissing him, and now she was going to have to tell him that someone was robbing his family’s abandoned home?

  “Shit!” she hissed as she hightailed it into her room and threw on the first thing she could find, which was her running gear for tomorrow morning. She dressed as fast as she could, not caring that her hair was a wet, tangled mess. Then she unthreaded her belt from her work pants, strapped it around her waist, making sure her gun and phone were secure, and sprinted out the door.

  She radioed the sheriff and Deputy Crawford to let them know she was on the call.

  “Let us know if you need backup,” Sheriff Thompson radioed back. “Over.”

  “Copy that,” she said. “Over.” Then she hopped onto the police-issue motorcycle parked behind Midtown Tavern and took off toward the ranch.

  She made it from her apartment to the property in nine minutes. She was prepared to park a few yards away so any intruders wouldn’t see her coming, but she could see the light illuminating the front porch and a man on a ladder fiddling with something over the front door. A man who—even from a distance—was unmistakably Mayor Peyton Cooper.

  “Fan-freaking-tastic,” Dani said to herself, then groaned.

  “Looks like a false alarm,” she radioed Sheriff Thompson and Teddy. “No backup needed. Over and out.” Then she rode the rest of the way and up the property’s gravelly, weed-covered main drive.

  She parked the bike, took off her helmet, and quickly finger-combed her still-sopping-wet hair.

  “Evening, Mr. Mayor,” she called out to him as she ambled up the steps to the porch.

  He was off the ladder now, and he glanced at her, then at what looked like a door alarm he’d been installing, and back at her.

  “I—uh—tripped the alarm, didn’t I?” he asked, looking mildly chagrined. And maybe mildly adorable standing barefoot in a pair of flannel pants and a long-sleeved navy thermal shirt.

  Focus on the alarm, Dani, not how handsome he is.

  “Yeah,” she said, arms crossed. “You tripped it. Do you know how to turn it off?”

  He winced. “There’s an app on my phone, but I hadn’t quite gotten to that part yet.”

  Dani held out her palm, and he handed her the phone with the app open.

  Luckily, she knew the system and was able to reset it in a matter of seconds.

  “Oh no,” he said, though he sounded amused. “Were you in the shower or something?”

  She gave him his phone back and wrung out her hair onto the desperately-in-need-of-a-paint-job porch.

  “A bath, actually. Barely had time to get wet before you did whatever it was that you did.” She shivered, finally realizing she wasn’t properly dressed for the below-forty-degree temperature.

  He actually had the audacity to laugh. “I’m sorry,” he said, but he was still laughing. Dani didn’t see the humor in the situation.

  “Oh, come on, Deputy. It’s kind of funny, don’t you think? I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for two days, and you’ve managed to avoid me at every turn. Now I inadvertently ruin your night but finally get to see you? I’m guessing that this on top of spooking you the other night means I’ve pretty much sealed my fate now…unless you’re willing to give me another chance.”

  She shivered again. The temperature must have dropped in the two minutes she’d been standing there, and she was too cold to fully absorb what he was saying.

  “I should…” she began, teeth chattering, “I should go.”

  “You’re freezing,” he said, then wrapped an arm around her, and god, the warmth of him against her felt good. “Come in and warm up. At least let your hair dry. Then I promise I’ll let you go without protest.”

  Despite her better judgment, she nodded and let him lead her inside.

  Chapter Six

  Okay. So plumbing Peyton could do. Messing around with a wireless security system? Not so much. Yet the fortunate consequence was face time with Dani Garcia, the woman who’d been avoiding him for two days.

  He padded down the steps with a towel under one arm and the quilt off his bed in the other.

  Dani sat on one of the two barstools he’d picked up at a resale shop, her elbows propped on the kitchen island in front of her—the counter now stripped of its tile and sanded down. Her hands rubbed her upper arms for warmth.

  “Here,” he said, offering her the towel first. Then he chuckled when he noticed that her belt, which included her holstered gun, had been removed and laid on the island to her left.

  “Glad to know you don’t feel the need to remain armed in my presence.”

  She didn’t laugh. Instead, she wrapped her hair in the towel like she’d just gotten out of the shower—or bath, like she actually had. Then he draped the quilt over her shoulders, and she sighed.

  “I did good?” he asked.

  He liked this woman. A lot. Hell, he wasn’t lying about the high school crush thing either. He thought telling her was a good thing. He thought she’d like to know that his attraction to her now wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment thing, that he’d always sort of seen her as the one who got away even though they’d barely known each other back then—even though he’d been the one who actually left.

  The hint of a smile appeared on her face as she tugged the quilt tight around her. “You did good,” she told him. “Now, if you had some decaf chai, you’d almost have made up for the mug I spilled all over my uniform getting out of the tub. But I’m guessing by the looks of this place, you probably don’t have much of anything yet.”

  Peyton winced. “I really messed up your night, huh?”

  She blew out a breath. “No. I mean, you did, but I’m on call, so getting my night interrupted is part of the job. It just doesn’t really ever happen—unless you count when we thought Delaney Harper had been kidnapped by her ex-husband.”

  “I remember that,” he said. “And it’s a good thing you were there to help. You’re good at your job, Deputy.”

  “I know I am,” she said, sounding a little defensive. “I mean, thank you.”

  Peyton rounded the island and started rummaging through a cabinet below the kitchen sink.

  “No chai,” he said. “But I do have some English breakfast tea. I, um, did an internship in London my junior year of college. Kind of got hooked on the stuff. It’s really good with milk and sugar.”

  Dani shook her head and smiled ruefully.

  “What?” he asked. “And while we’re asking questions, do I finally get to ask what sent you bolting from my office the other night?”

  She groaned and nodded toward the box of tea in his hand.

  “That,” she said.

  His brows drew together, and he laughed. “Because of a box of tea?”

  She shook her head. “It’s not the tea. It’s what the tea represents. You’re—worldly. You’re bigger than anything Meadow Valley has to offer you, and you flat out told me that you’re only doing the mayor thing here while you figure out your next move. I may be a small-town girl, but I’m not an idiot, Peyton.”

  His eyes grew wide. “I never said you were.” How had he already spooked her again? With tea? Coming back to Meadow Valley was the hardest thin
g he’d ever done, so yeah, maybe he wasn’t sure if he was here for the long haul. But it wasn’t as if he saw her as a placeholder. Not by a long shot. There was something undeniable brewing between the two of them. If she felt the same—even if only a little bit so early on—then who knows what the future might hold? But she didn’t seem to want to give him a chance.

  He noticed she wasn’t looking at the tea anymore, that her gaze now fell past his shoulder. He followed it toward the mugs on the counter next to the sink and couldn’t help but chuckle when he saw Jude Law grinning at them through fifteen-year-old porcelain. “Yes. I keep old mugs. Especially ones that hold a bit of nostalgia. It also makes up for the fact that I don’t exactly have a fancy set of dishes with matching plates and mugs and all that.”

  “Typical bachelor,” she mumbled.

  His brows drew together. “Is your grudge against Jude Law, the movie, or the high school winter formal?”

  “Which of the three is the cause of your nostalgia?” she shot back.

  He shrugged. “D. None of the above.”

  “Fine. That’s my answer too. D. None of the above,” she said coolly, but the heat rising to her cheeks said otherwise.

  “Dani…” He took a step toward her. “I like you. And for a millisecond I was pretty sure you liked me too. Can we start over? Again?”

  She stood and dropped the quilt and towel over the top of the stool.

  “Look,” she said, backing out of the kitchen, “I know the holidays can be lonely. I’m reminded of it every year when my mom flies to Miami to spend Christmas with my sister, brother-in-law, and my nieces and nephew. ‘Come with, Daniela,’ they insist. ‘It’s the only time we get to see her,’ they say.” Their yearly mantra since Julia left for a job on the other side of the country. She waved the thought away, getting herself back on track. “I’m reminded of how much it stinks to spend the holidays alone when the only home I have to decorate is the Meadow Valley Sheriff’s Department for the lights parade. And as much as I’d love to have something more to look forward to than that, I’d rather be on my own than be someone’s method of killing time until they up and move on again.”

  “And there it is,” he said.

  “What?”

  “The whole leaving thing,” he added.

  She groaned through gritted teeth. “So just like that, you think you have me all figured out, right?”

  He shrugged. “You’ve already made your mind up about me, haven’t you? Don’t I get to weigh in?” He was pushing her buttons. He knew he was. But she was pushing right back. Eventually, something had to give.

  “I should go,” she said. “Thanks for the towel and the blanket.”

  Okay. But wait. We were getting somewhere, weren’t we? Peyton thought as he watched her turn and walk away.

  But she stopped short when she faced the kitchen desk, piled with mail and one other item that he guessed would be hard to ignore.

  “Peyton,” she said softly. “Why is there an urn on the desk?”

  So they were getting somewhere. They were getting here. Peyton guessed it was time to tell her everything.

  He braced his hands on the edge of the island and waited for the tightness in his throat to ease.

  “It’s my parents,” he finally said. “A car accident back in Chicago,” he added, his voice low and controlled. Because he wasn’t going to lose control in front of Dani. In front of anyone. He had a job to do. A home to restore. And a town that was counting on him, regardless of whatever came next for his career, if he even still had one.

  She pivoted to face him again. “And you’re living here instead of the town-owned mayor’s residence—”

  “Because it’s what they would have wanted. If I hadn’t left, they would have stayed here forever. I guess I feel like I’m somehow honoring their memory by restoring their home. Our home.” He cleared his throat. “Lost my job out east right about the time I heard their place had fallen into the hands of the bank. Bought it back with what I had in savings.”

  She swiped at a tear under her eye.

  “When did it happen?” she asked, then added, “If you’re okay sharing.”

  “Almost a year ago.”

  She nodded. “Right before the holidays. It’s all starting to make sense. I didn’t know,” she said. “No one did. Why haven’t you told anyone?”

  He shrugged, but his shoulders felt heavy. His muscles tight.

  “Because I didn’t want everyone to look at me like that. I’m the mayor. I have an image to uphold. And now you’re looking at me like I’m one of Mrs. Davis’s strays.”

  She moved toward him, and now he knew how she must have felt the other night. His instinct was to bolt before things got too real. The only problem was that they were in his house. He had nowhere to go.

  So he stood there, hands still gripping the counter’s edge, wondering if Dani Garcia would be his salvation or if she was right, that he would cut and run as soon as something better came along. Losing both his parents was hard enough, but losing his job and possibly jeopardizing everything he’d worked for? He felt like he had nothing left but this house and the memory of a life he thought he hadn’t wanted.

  She urged him to release his left hand, and he did, allowing her to step between him and the island. She pressed her palms to his chest, and he knew she must have felt his heart hammering against his ribs.

  “You’re not one of Mrs. Davis’s—ugh, Trudy’s—strays,” she said.

  That got him to laugh.

  “But you’re also not just the mayor,” she added. “You’re someone who’s obviously hurting, and I’m someone who cares about that.”

  He nodded slowly. “I didn’t say I was leaving,” he said. “The other night in my office.”

  “But you also never said you were staying.”

  “I guess I just don’t know what comes next,” he said. “I’m a little lost.”

  She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, which also made him smile. He loved that he was already picking up on her idiosyncrasies. Her tells.

  “What?” she asked, her brows furrowing. Also adorable.

  “This,” he said, brushing a finger over her bottom lip. “You bite your lip when you’re thinking.”

  “Coop?” she said, and this made him smile bigger, made him almost stand at attention.

  “Dani?”

  “You being back in town…Is that temporary?” She shook her head. “I mean, are we temporary?” Her golden-brown eyes looked at him expectantly.

  He didn’t want them to be. Coming back to Meadow Valley to spread his parents’ ashes, to save the home they gave up to be near him—it was the hardest thing he’d ever done next to losing them. But Deputy Dani Garcia was a bright light in the darkest time of his life. And when she called him Coop—when she made him feel like the man he was before it all went to hell—it seemed like getting through this might actually be possible.

  “No,” he said, hoping it was the truth.

  And then she kissed him.

  Her lips on his tasted sweeter than any confection. Her teeth nipping at his bottom lip was sexier than anything he could have imagined. And her body—no longer shivering but radiating heat against his—was the closest thing he’d felt to home in a long time.

  He brushed some sawdust off the counter and lifted her onto it.

  “Sorry,” he said, suddenly realizing what the place must look like with countertops removed and the wood floors sanded but not refinished. “It’s a work in progress. Has been for a few months now.”

  “Why are you here when you could be living in Grady’s mayoral estate over on the residential side of town? I get wanting to fix the place up, but you could live in a house that probably already has a working alarm system.” She laughed softly. “I imagine the inside of Grady’s place looks a lot like your office.”

  She skimmed her fingers through his hair, and he closed his eyes, letting himself get lost in one tiny moment of normal before letting out a sig
h.

  “If I don’t live here and work on the place every free moment I get, I’ll never get it done. Plus, I don’t know, I kind of like being here. Feels like they’re with me.”

  She hooked her legs around his waist and nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  He shook his head. He wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “Do you know what you’re going to do with it when you’re done? Fill the stable and be the mayor who moonlights as a cowboy?”

  He shrugged. “Future’s wide open. Just taking it one day—or night, I guess—at a time.”

  “One more question, then,” she said, placing a hand on each of his shoulders. “And I should warn you that after you answer, I am going to kiss you some more.”

  He laughed. And god, it felt good to laugh with her. “Ask away, Deputy. And by all means, keep the kisses coming.”

  She glanced around the room and then back at him, her eyes bright and determined.

  “Let me help,” she said. It was more of a demand than a question, which didn’t surprise him. “My father’s best friend when I was growing up was Jorge Lopez, the best electrician in the county. He did a lot of work on our house over the years. Still helps my mom out from time to time. Bottom line is, I know a thing or two about fixing up a house.”

  Peyton forced a smile. He was so bent on figuring everything out himself, on doing for his parents what they couldn’t do anymore. But he was in over his head.

  “I know,” he admitted. “I finally broke down and called your uncle a couple of weeks ago to deal with a wiring issue after I shocked myself one too many times.”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “Uncle Jorge has told me nothing of this,” she said. “And he’s usually my go-to for town gossip.”

  “So I’m town gossip?” he asked.

  She nodded. “Sure. The prodigal son returning and taking over as the town mayor? You’re big news around here. People—and by people I mean other people and not necessarily me—like to know the inside scoop,” she said, sliding her hands down his arms and linking her fingers with his. “Like the sexy new mayor forgoing the mayoral residence in favor of rugged living while he restores his parents’ ranch with his own two sexy hands.”