A Little Country Christmas

by Carolyn Brown

  He squeezed her hands in his. All he’d meant to do tonight was install a security system. He hadn’t planned on Dani, on telling her what he’d been keeping secret from everyone in town save Sheriff Thompson. Kissing her, though, he could do. Kissing meant he didn’t have to say any more about his parents. Kissing her meant both of them ending this night on a better note than the last time his lips had touched hers.

  “You realize you just called me sexy twice in the span of one sentence, right? And not one mention of this Mayor Grinch you almost tried to arrest the other day.” Maybe he could steer this conversation into a more comfortable subject area.

  She squeezed her legs tighter around his waist, pulling him closer and making him want to do things that had very little relation to restoring his childhood home. He guessed his strategy was working.

  “Careful, Deputy,” he teased. “Or you may forget I tried to ruin your holiday altogether.”

  Her gaze softened. “Hey,” she said. “I get it, okay? You’d rather forget this time of year exists, and I’d rather throw myself headfirst into all things holiday-related for—reasons. So how about we meet halfway and throw both of ourselves headfirst into getting this place back up on its feet? You can start by letting me install your alarm so Deputy Crawford doesn’t get dragged out of bed tomorrow night.” Her brows furrowed, then a particularly mischievous grin spread across her face. “Or maybe I’ll let you fiddle with it for another night or two.”

  He shook his head and laughed. If he brushed it all off as no big deal—turning her down—she would too, right? This was something he needed to do alone. He wasn’t ready to share everything with her, not when they’d barely made it past their first kiss. She was holding something back too. He could tell and wouldn’t push her. Hopefully she’d do the same for him.

  “Trust me,” he said. “You don’t want to dive into this mess.” He looked around the unfinished room. “Because you’re only seeing one tiny part of it. And it’s…a lot. A lot of work I signed up for that I need to do on my own—except for maybe one emergency call to your uncle.”

  “And to the deputy on call tonight.”

  He winced. “And that,” he said. “But the rest has to be me. Just me. Can you understand that?”

  She shook her head, then let go of his hands and draped her arms around his neck. “No. I don’t understand not wanting help when it’s offered. You took Deputy Crawford and me up on our offer to put the lights up on the town hall.”

  Peyton raised one shoulder. “Ah, but that was something I didn’t want to do and wasn’t going to do.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, that was pretty grinch-y.”

  He laughed, glad he was able to lighten the mood rather than drag her down to where he dwelled much of the time. “Bah, humbug,” he said. “So we’re okay? I mean, you’re good with me doing my thing here while you do your thing in town with the lights and the parade and all the holiday stuff?”

  She nodded. “I don’t get you, Mr. Mayor. But I can respect whatever it is that you need.”

  “Thank you,” he said, relieved.

  Since the day he learned how to ride a bike and wouldn’t let his mom or dad grab on if he was about to fall—regardless of skinned knees and elbows—he’d wanted to figure it all out on his own. Something even then, in his six-year-old brain, told him that his parents wouldn’t always be there to hold the back of the bike. He’d just thought they’d have more time than this. Now it was like some sort of atonement. Being here. Bringing everything back to what it used to be.

  “Hey, Coop,” she said, bringing him back to where he was—in the kitchen with a beautiful woman in his arms. “You still there?”

  He cleared his throat, painted on a grin. “I am. And I’m pretty sure you said something about more kissing a few minutes ago, didn’t you?” He lifted her off the counter, and she yelped with laughter, her knees holding tight against his hips, her torso in his arms. He let her slide down just enough so her mouth could find his, and as promised, she delivered.

  Minutes flew by like seconds as he nipped and tasted her lips, the skin on her neck, the place where her running shirt dipped into a V between her breasts. When he kissed her there, she hummed, a sound so sweet yet at the same time so full of need he knew if they didn’t stop soon, they might not be able to stop at all.

  When Peyton finally lowered her to the ground, both he and Dani were out of breath, but they were also both grinning from ear to ear.

  She let out a nervous laugh and ran her fingers through her drying hair. “So, um, I’m still on call. Which means I should probably focus on—you know—being on call.”

  He smoothed out his shirt and crossed his arms. “And I should get back to pretty much anything other than alarm installation. Unless…you want that cup of English breakfast tea.”

  She smiled nervously. “If I stay for tea, I’m afraid I might not go home at all, and if Casey comes back at three a.m. to find the tub filled and my uniform in a pile on the bathroom floor with chai spilled all over it, she might actually get worried. Good night, Mr. Mayor.”

  She grabbed her belt from the counter and put it back on. Then she kissed him one more time, her lips lingering on his before she slipped out of his arms and seconds later out his front door.

  He watched as she threw on her helmet and started her bike. She was pretty in high school, and she had that something that had always made him wish he’d gotten to know her before he left. Now, though? She was so much more than he ever could have imagined. Strong. Sexy. Funny. Smart as a whip. If he wasn’t careful, he might get in over his head as much with her as he was with this house, with running a town that used to be home but now seemed to fit like someone else’s clothes.

  Dani Garcia though. She made it feel like it was possible to come back. To be who he used to be despite what he’d lost.

  His phone buzzed in the pocket of his flannel pants, and he pulled it out to see a 773 area code. Chicago.

  He normally ignored unknown numbers, assuming they were spam, but something told him to answer this one.

  “Hello?” he said, hoping he didn’t sound confused.

  “Peyton Cooper?” the woman on the other end said.

  “This is Mayor Peyton Cooper,” he replied, adding the Mayor for a reason he couldn’t explain.

  “Mayor Cooper,” she said. “Of course. My apologies for calling after office hours, but I’m making my way through a list of candidates. Let me be frank. I’m calling from the Chicago mayor’s office. She’s looking for a research analyst to help her plan a long-term budget for her new education task force, and she had you on her short list of people to interview based on the budget work you did in your previous position. I realize as far as title this may be a step backward for you, but in terms of salary and a future in the Chicago office of the mayor…”

  She trailed off.

  If this wasn’t a joke—and it sure as hell didn’t sound like one—they were aware of his previous work and that he’d been let go. And they still wanted him to interview?

  “Mayor Cooper?” she asked. “Are you still there? I’m guessing you’re wondering if the mayor knows about the financial blunder that lost you your previous job, and she does. She is also aware of the personal circumstances surrounding said blunder and is sympathetic, where it looks as if your former board was not. We’d be looking to set up a phone interview after the holidays. Should I add you to the mayor’s official list of candidates?”

  It’s just an interview, he rationalized. For a position in basically one of the top offices in local government. He’d be an idiot to pass it up without at least considering the possibilities.

  “Yes,” he finally said. “Add me to the list.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Someone will be in touch in the next few days with the date and time of your phone interview. If all goes well, she’ll expect you for a face-to-face interview soon after. Good night, Mayor Cooper.”

  He could still see the taillight of Dani
’s motorcycle in the distance as the call ended.

  It was just a phone call. It didn’t mean anything. Not yet, at least.

  Chapter Seven

  Deputy Crawford had been right. Meadow Valley had been cleaned out of any and all holiday lights as well as lawn and roof displays. That just wouldn’t do. Maybe a simple string of lights framing the entrance to the town hall was good enough for Mayor Cooper, but the same old icicle lights as last year for the Sheriff’s Department? Dani wasn’t having it.

  On her way back through town last night, First Street had been abuzz with shop owners outside working tirelessly on what she knew would be fantastic decorations. Trudy Davis was turning the entire front window of her bookshop into a giant lighted book. The Meadow Valley fire station had lights strung from top to bottom, and there was talk of Santa in a lighted engine going up on the roof.

  Everyone was making do with Mayor Cooper’s time restrictions as far as working on their decorations, but Dani was still at a loss for how to make the Sheriff’s Department stand out.

  And then she found it.

  She looked up from her laptop where she’d been frantically googling things like “Griswold Christmas decorations” and “holiday roof displays.”

  “Look at this,” she said to Deputy Crawford.

  She spun her computer to face him, a photo of a life-sized Christmas ornament made from white lights filling the screen.

  “You can stand inside it,” she said. “This guy builds these amazing displays and then auctions them off. The last bid on this one is two hundred dollars, and the auction doesn’t close until the twenty-third.”

  Teddy’s brows rose. “How would you even get it here if you won the auction? And where would you put it? That thing is huge.”

  She bounced in her chair and grinned. “It collapses. And there are plenty of pickups in town for me to borrow. If it doesn’t weigh too much, the roof might be able to take it, and if it’s too heavy, then I’ll set it in the lawn next to the sign you forgot to string with lights. Don’t worry. I did that last night on my way back…”

  She trailed off as something moved in her peripheral vision.

  Through her window she saw Mayor Cooper striding down the town hall steps and toward the sheriff’s office.

  Her first instinct was to bolt, like it had been earlier in the week. But then she remembered last night, kissing the man she’d wanted to kiss for fifteen years. Okay, so she still wanted to bolt, but now it was for a whole new reason. How were they supposed to act around each other after—after she had to convince herself to leave so Casey wouldn’t come home to what had looked like the scene of a bathtub kidnapping. And maybe she’d wanted some time to think, too, about what the hell she was getting herself into.

  “Ahem,” Deputy Crawford said from across their shared space, the most exaggerated throat clearing she’d ever heard.

  “What?” she said, snapping her head away from the window and fixing her narrowed gaze on her partner.

  “Saw the emergency call came from the Cooper ranch,” Teddy replied with a knowing grin.

  Dani shrugged it off. “It was a false alarm. Literally. He was installing a new system, tripped it, and I fixed it.”

  Teddy glanced out the window, then over his shoulder toward the back exit to their small building.

  “How come you’re not hightailing it out of here to see a man about a dog or something?” he asked.

  Peyton was getting closer, and she noticed he was not in his usual suit and tie but in a thermal shirt and jeans, a down vest zipped over his torso and cowboy boots poking out the frayed ends of the denim.

  Yep. She was staring again. And not answering Teddy’s logical questions since she had made herself scarce the other two times the mayor had approached their building.

  Dani stood, trying to smooth out the wrinkles in her shirt and pants—her clean shirt and pants, since yesterday’s uniform was toast until she did laundry this weekend. She winced, realizing her closet consisted of mostly her work clothes and running clothes. That was her life—running and working.

  “Deputy Garcia?” Teddy said, pulling her from her thoughts.

  “Huh?” she said. “What?” But before he could toss any further questions her way, the front door opened, and Mayor Peyton Cooper walked in.

  Coop.

  Whom she had kissed Tuesday night. And last night. A lot last night. And oh, look, there were the lips she kissed, right there on his smiling face.

  “Deputies,” he said with a nod. “Good—” He looked at his watch and then back at Dani and Teddy. “Good morning, for one more minute, at least. I’m just going to…” He pointed toward Sheriff Thompson’s office door, and then, without further hesitation, left the two of them standing there as he gave the sheriff’s door a quick knock before heading in and pulling it shut again behind him.

  Teddy chuckled from behind her, and she turned to face him, rolling her eyes, waiting for whatever came next.

  “So you think he lost the suit because you called him stuffy and uptight?” he asked, leaning back in his chair. “Also, nice touch with the whole standing for his entrance like he’s royalty or something.”

  Dani gritted her teeth and growled softly. “I thought you saved your ribbing for the end of the day,” she said. “And I didn’t call him stuffy and uptight. Just his office.”

  “You insinuated,” he said. “Looks like the guy took it to heart.” Then Deputy Crawford nodded toward the clock above the sheriff’s door. “And it’s high noon, Garcia. Friday before Christmas. Which means a half day, and you and me officially off the clock. Sheriff’s on call, so you’re free to do—whatever it is you had planned for the rest of the day.”

  Her eyes widened. She’d been so caught up in holiday decor shopping—in deciding whether or not to bid on the life-sized ornament while the dollar amount was still manageable or to wait a few days and hope she could swoop in and win with the final bid—that she’d completely forgotten she was off for the next forty-four hours, thanks to the half day and weekend rotation.

  Sheriff Thompson popped his head out of his office door.

  “It’s quitting time for you two,” he said, then smiled. “Crawford, you’re on desk tomorrow. Garcia, you’ve got Sunday. And then we’re closing up shop until the twenty-sixth. Keep your phones charged and ringers on though.”

  They both nodded.

  “If I could borrow Deputy Garcia for a few minutes—” the sheriff started to say, but Deputy Crawford cut him off.

  “I’m outta here, folks,” he said. Then he was out of his chair and halfway through the door before Dani even stood up.

  She laughed and waved as the door banged shut behind him. She wondered what he had planned. Knowing Teddy, it was something far more exciting than Dani’s deciding whether or not to take a new trail for her afternoon run.

  “This won’t take too long, Garcia,” Sheriff Thompson said. “Come on in, please. The mayor has some questions for you.”

  Dani’s eyes widened.

  Had she done something wrong?

  Was she in some sort of trouble?

  She tried to flip through a mental handbook containing the rules of her job. She knew very well that being on call did not mean she had to cease living her life however she might choose to live it, so long as it didn’t interfere with responding to an emergency.

  Nothing that had happened last night impeded her ability to respond to the situation. In fact, she hadn’t even kissed Peyton until after she’d assessed the situation and determined there was no emergency.

  Unless a deputy sheriff kissing the town’s elected official was somehow unacceptable office behavior.

  She laughed out loud. “Sir, this feels a lot like getting called into the principal’s office. Am I getting called into the principal’s office?”

  Sheriff Thompson also laughed, a loud and rueful sound she hadn’t heard in a while, and it put her at ease. Mostly.

  “Just come on in, Garcia,” he sa
id. “This should only take a few minutes.” He held the door open for her.

  When she walked in, Peyton stood and held out his hand.

  “Deputy Garcia,” he said with a warm smile. Not entirely formal but not at all as—um—friendly as they were last night. As if he’d greet her the same way he’d said good-bye to her when she left his place.

  She bit back the urge to laugh again and shook his hand, her brows furrowed.

  “Mayor Cooper,” she said.

  The sheriff followed her in, and they all sat down.

  The mayor pulled out his phone and set it on the sheriff’s desk.

  “Do you mind if I record this?” he asked. “I want to make sure I don’t forget any repair details. Once we have a list and can get an estimate on cost—”

  “Okay,” Dani said, holding up her hands, her gaze volleying between the two men. “Record my suggestions? I can make you a spreadsheet and email it over whenever you want. Hell, I can even do the cost estimates. I’ve just been waiting for Sheriff Thompson to give me the thumbs-up, but he seems to think you have other priorities to attend to first. So what is actually going on here? I’m getting called into a surprise meeting that may or may not have me slapping my gun and badge down on the sheriff’s desk for something I may or may not have done to incur some sort of violation of the rules and regulations of my job. And now you want to record said conversation? I feel like I should call a lawyer or something.”

  “Dani,” Peyton said, resting a hand on her shoulder—the use of her first name and gesture immediately reassuring. But when the sheriff’s eyes shifted to the two of them, he pulled his hand away and crossed his arms over his chest. “From what it sounds like after talking to Sheriff Thompson, you spend the most time in the building out of all three of you.”

  Her cheeks grew hot. Was that the nice way of telling her she had no life?

  “So I want your input,” he continued, “on what needs work or repairing first. A priority list so that I can take it back to the office, figure out funding, and get some estimates. I know crime in Meadow Valley and the surrounding county is minimal if anything at all, and we’re damn lucky to live in a place where it’s safe to walk the streets at night and folks can leave their doors unlocked.”