The Naughty List Bundle with The Night Before Christmas & Yule Be Mine. Fern Michaels
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man!” Scotty rolled his chair forward. “You with me?”
Jonas blinked.
“What?” Scotty’s lips lifted in his usual crooked grin. “You realizing you already spent too much time with this one? Gotta be careful, she’ll think you’re attached.”
His gaze darted to the box.
“Tell you what”—the chair wheels squeaked as Scotty rolled closer—“I’ll do you a favor since it’s the holidays. You don’t want to leave some poor woman on her own during the holidays.” He threw his arms out wide. “Since I’m a generous, bighearted kind of guy, I’ll take her off your hands.”
“The hell you will.” The words came out bullet fast.
Scotty blinked. His smile kicked up even more and he said, “Ah, like that, huh?”
Shit, no. “She and I have a deal.” Not just a weekend. “The holidays are mine.” After that, reality could come back.
In reality, he and Christie weren’t—
Scotty whistled. “Oh, you’ve got it bad.”
Maybe.
“Jonas?”
He whirled at the sound of that husky voice. A voice he’d never in a million freaking years expected to hear in the bullpen.
But, there she was. Christie stood just inside the doorway, right under the gold garland Scotty had stapled up yesterday. Her black hair hung loose around her face, her eyes were on him, wide, blue, and welcoming, and her lips were lifted in a warm smile.
“Oh, man,” Scotty whispered, “I could so make her holiday.”
“Mine,” Jonas snapped. “Don’t even think it.” He strode across the bullpen, aware that the other detectives had noticed her, too.
Christie wasn’t wearing a Christmas sweater today. She was in all black—black turtleneck, black pants, and long, sleek leather coat. The woman looked so sexy he was suddenly hungry for a bite…of her.
She hurried forward. “Oh, good, I was hoping I’d catch you!”
He caught her. Jonas snagged her hand and pulled her close. He leaned in and kissed her, fast and hard. Back off, Scotty. And all the other hungry jerks who were close by should get the message, too.
A wolf whistle split the air.
He expected Christie to break away at the sound, but her hands just lifted and wrapped around his shoulders, and she pulled him closer.
He let the kiss linger, enjoying her taste. After a few moments, when he finally pulled back, her eyes seemed to shine even more.
“I was…um…”—her gaze darted around them—“this is the first time I’ve been in a police station.”
He could believe it. Not like the Tates were hauled in a lot for questioning.
Her eyes narrowed and she nodded. “I like the garland.”
She would. If it was a Christmas decoration, she’d love it. He noticed the necklace then. A thin gold chain circled her neck, a chain attached to a tiny Christmas tree.
He dropped his hands and stepped back. “Um, Christie?”
Her eyes were still on the garland. Scotty had wound it all the way across the room.
Jonas’s breath eased out as he stared at her.
“Hey, man!” Scotty’s hand slapped down on his shoulder. “Introduce me!”
Christie’s gaze flew back. She smiled a sweet, shy smile, directed at Scotty.
Jonas growled, then cleared his throat and managed to say, “Scott McKenzie, this is Christie Tate.”
“I’m his partner.” Scotty offered his hand. A hand Christie foolishly took. The guy brought her palm up for a lip-smacking kiss.
She laughed, a quick but lush sound. “Nice to meet you.”
She probably meant it, but only because she didn’t know Scotty well yet.
Scotty frowned at her. “Tate…where do I know that name?”
“You’ve probably met my brother. Jonas and Daniel are old—”
Scotty snapped his fingers. “Tate Toys!”
She nodded. “Yes, I work—”
“My nephew loves the Ricky Rocketshooter Robot!”
Christie beamed.
“The first time I saw that thing fly across the room”—he shook his head, laughing—“I wanted one, too.”
“I can get you one,” she offered.
“Nah…those things sold out weeks ago.”
“I’ve got connections.” She bit her lip. “Actually, I made Ricky, and right now, I’m working on Rover, his sidekick. It’ll be a dog who can fly. He’ll be remote controlled, too, and he’ll interface with Ricky—”
“You’re bullshitting me,” Scotty said, inching closer to Christie. “How the hell would you even go about making something like that?”
“Well, I studied engineering and robotics so—”
Jonas stepped in front of his partner before the guy could swallow Christie because Scotty was all but salivating over her. “Back off, partner. The lady and I need to talk.”
Scotty’s eyes squinted. “Lucky SOB.” He stretched and peered at Christie over Jonas’s shoulder. “Nice to meet you, ma’am. If you get bored with old Jonas here, you can—”
Jonas put his hand on Scotty’s chest and shoved. “Why don’t you get started on the Harris paperwork?”
With a smirk, Scotty sauntered away. Jonas turned back to Christie. “Sorry about that.”
She blinked. “About what?”
About the dick who was drooling on you.
He caught her hand and pulled her into the nearest empty interrogation room. At least they’d have some privacy there. He shut the door with a soft click. “About last night,” he began. Oh, shit, there was no easy way to do this. Come to think of it, he’d never had to do this with his other lovers. “I’m sorry.”
A little furrow appeared between her brows. “For what?”
“For jumping on you like I was damn well starving.”
Her smile flashed again, and he saw her dimple wink. “But I liked that.”
The thudding of his heartbeat filled his ears. They were alone. The door was closed. He could put her up on the table…
“I liked everything we’ve done”—she lifted her hand and trailed her fingertips down his chest—“and everything we’re going to do.”
This was the shy girl who’d barely looked his way over the years?
Then he noticed the pulse pounding too quickly at the base of her throat. He caught the slight tremble in her fingertips. From lust? Oh, yeah, sure, one very swollen part of his anatomy hoped so…
But her eyes had already fallen away from his, and she was easing away, a little too fast.
Fear? Christie should know she had nothing to fear from him, and she didn’t need to prove a damn thing to him.
But he had a lot to prove to her.
“You were right,” he told her, “the case last night got to me. Made me remember..” Mom! Her body. The blood. The scream that had burst from his throat. He sucked in a deep breath. “I wasn’t in a good place when I came to you.”
“I