Hot Winter Nights Read online

  “Stay alert,” he said.

  She saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

  “I like that,” he said, pointing at her. And then he left, vanishing into the surrounding shrubbery.

  He hung out in the shadows, counting off the minutes in his head. At the three-minute mark, Louise unexpectedly showed up at the bottom of the stairs to the office.

  She was early.

  He headed up the walk to stall her. “Hey,” he said. “Just who I was looking for. You’re in charge of the crafting elves, right?”

  Louise looked flustered at the sight of him and put a hand to her chest. “Yes. How did you know—”

  “They’re having a little tussle at the stockings booth. Someone insulted one of the ladies’ goods and you can imagine how that went over.”

  “I bet it was Eleanor. She’s such a bitch.”

  Lucas nodded. “Anyway, it escalated and I think they need a referee.”

  “Dammit, I told them the next time they started throwing things at each other that I’d fire their geriatric asses and buy out the dollar store and slap homemade tags on everything.” She whirled and stormed back down the path.

  Lucas checked his watch.

  The five-minute mark.

  Just as Lucas got back to the shadows, Santa rounded the corner and jogged up the steps. He entered the trailer yanking off his hat.

  Shit. What the hell was with everyone being early tonight?

  Lucas took the stairs quickly and silently, plastering himself against the wall to listen. Santa hadn’t shut the door all the way so he could both hear the guy clomping to his desk and also see him through a break in the shades.

  “What the fuck?” Santa said to Molly.

  She’d turned away from his computer and was leaning back casually against his desk as if she’d been waiting for him. She sent an easy smile, but Lucas could practically hear her heart pounding from here.

  “I said what. The. Fuck,” Santa repeated. “No elves allowed in here.”

  “Oh.” Molly winced, looking apologetic. “Sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “Unless maybe . . .” Santa cocked his head, the anger leaving his voice. “You came to see me for some reason. Maybe you want to sit on my lap and tell Santa what you want.”

  Lucas shook his head. Christ, women were right. Men were pigs. He started to move inside, but Molly’s gaze slid to the window and she gave a subtle shake of her head.

  She wanted to handle this on her own.

  Santa closed the distance between him and her, trapping her between his desk and a table that held a coffeepot along with cream and sugar and cups, as well as an opened tin of popcorn.

  Santa smiled. “I really like it when pretty elves sit on my lap and whisper their fantasies to Santa.”

  “Oh,” Molly said, leaning back as far as she could. “Well, I’m not really much on fantasies.”

  “Are you sure?” He leaned into her. “Because I’m pretty good at it. Tell me what you want.”

  Molly’s smile congealed. “A little more personal space might be great . . .”

  Santa chuckled. “Come on, you can do better than that. Would it help to know that I actually specialize in . . . sexual fantasies?”

  Okay, that was it. Again Lucas started to go in, but Molly spoke first, saying, “And I specialize in handling such things on my own.”

  Shit. She was talking directly to him. She wanted him to stand down. Still at the ready, he paused, willing to give her another minute, tops.

  Santa laughed. “Feisty,” he said. “My very favorite. You’re legal, right? Cuz I don’t do illegal chicks anymore. Turns out you go to jail for that.”

  Molly put out a hand to ward him off. “Legal, yes,” she said. “But willing? Not so much. Aren’t you married? To like your tenth wife?”

  “Fifth,” he said. “She’s brand-new, but no worries, she’s the understanding sort.”

  “Well good for you,” Molly said. “But I don’t put out on a first date.”

  Undeterred, Santa slid a hand down her waist and hip and then back up again, beneath the short hem of her dress this time and all bets were off. Fuck her cover because Lucas was about to string the guy up to teach him a lesson in how to treat a woman. He slipped inside the trailer just as an angry roar came from Santa.

  His amazing, smart, quick-footed elf had grabbed the coffeepot behind her and poured hot coffee on his crotch.

  “Oh!” she gasped, covering her mouth. “I’m so sorry!!!! I don’t know how that happened—” She set the coffeepot back onto the counter. “I thought I’d pour us a cup, but you must’ve jerked my arm! Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not fucking okay!” Santa spit out between gritted teeth. “You burned my dick!”

  “No, look, the pot’s just on keep warm,” she said quickly. “See? But I can still 9–1–1 if you’d like?”

  “No!” he growled, doubled over, cupping himself.

  “Okay, then, well . . . I should go. Break’s over and all . . .”

  Santa opened his pants and peeked inside, and that’s when Molly made her exit. She came out the door at a dead run. Lucas grabbed her hand and they flew down the stairs. She stumbled a little on the last step and he slipped an arm around her, guiding her to his hiding spot in the bushes.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Yep, except for the near heart attack.”

  “When he touched you?”

  “No, he didn’t get to cop a good feel. The almost heart attack came when I thought you were going to come in and kill him.” She closed her eyes. “But I dropped your flash drive when he came in. I’d just pulled it from the computer and he startled me. I managed to kick it way under Louise’s desk, though.”

  “Quick thinking,” he said.

  “It was stupid. I’m going to go back and get it after my shift, at the end of the night after everyone’s gone.”

  “You’re not going back to bingo,” Lucas said.

  “Of course I’m going back. I’m learning all kinds of new stuff.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the renovation going on at the bingo hall hasn’t made any progress in days, if all week. It’s a big enough job to have a full crew on site, but the elves say no one ever sees more than one or two guys working there for maybe an hour or so every few days. And guess what else?”

  “Santa owns the construction company,” he said.

  She gaped at him. “Yes, how did you know?”

  “The craft elves love me.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  “I’m going to go out on a limb here,” he said. “And guess that Santa’s overbidding all of the so-called work and then understaffing it to keep more of the money for himself.”

  “I heard his fifth wife likes cruises.”

  “That would’ve been my second guess,” he said. “You realize you just smoked your second job, right?”

  “Me coming back won’t be any more dangerous than it’s been,” she said. “He’s not onto me.”

  Lucas sent her a steadying look and she gave him a return gaze that told him she realized he was about to say something she wasn’t going to like.

  “You just messed with a dangerous guy,” he said.

  She let out a low laugh. “Yeah. Well in case you haven’t noticed, all the men in my life are dangerous.”

  “Look, you don’t know this because you’d have no reason to, but if you took twenty to thirty years off of Nick’s face, he resembles what Tommy Thumbs looked like back in the day. I happen to know that he’s not Tommy because he’s still got both thumbs and Tommy lost one of his to someone he crossed way back when. It’s why he used to go after people’s thumbs first. Petty revenge.”

  “So you believe the driver was Santa’s brother then? Tommy?”

  He shrugged. “I couldn’t see his face and he was wearing gloves. And then there’s the fact that everyone, including the authorities, believe him dead.”

  “But you don’t,” she said, watchin