Chasing Christmas Eve Read online

  Spence came awake in slow, excruciating degrees. He was facedown, sprawled out in a bed that wasn’t his. Naked. And his aching head might or might not be attached to his shoulders. He couldn’t tell for sure.

  With a groan, he managed to lift his head—oh good, it was attached, then—and open one bleary eye. He was in Colbie’s bed.

  Alone.

  Well he deserved that, he supposed. And he had to say, he wasn’t fond of being the one left behind . . .

  No, wait a minute. He wasn’t completely alone after all. There was a weight on his calves. A moving weight. Something on four feet walked up his legs and back and put its wet nose to his ear.

  “Meow.”

  “Not the woman I was hoping for.” Rolling to his back and dislodging the unhappy cat—who glared at him—he stared up at the ceiling as the night came back to him in flashes. “This isn’t good.”

  Apparently coming to the same conclusion, Cinder jumped down off the bed and stalked off, tail straight up in the air, quivering with disapproval.

  Spence shook his head and tried to put the flashes of memories in order. Colbie, in his bed, blowing his mind, amongst other things . . .

  Then her mentioning that she wasn’t who he thought, and him completely overreacting. Playing poker. Having those evil shots. Winning everyone’s money including Elle’s and then ending up on Colbie’s doorstep, pockets heavy, heart heavy . . .

  Things got a little fuzzy after that.

  He was definitely alone in her apartment, as the place was completely empty of the vibrant, warm, sexy, fun energy that she always brought into a room with her.

  Somehow he managed to crawl out of bed and into her shower, though he groaned and bitched like an old man the whole time. Using her soap and shampoo was an exercise in torture because they smelled like her, which gave him a painful erection that told him whatever they’d done once he’d gotten into her bed last night . . . it hadn’t happened again this morning.

  After, he pulled on his jeans and prowled through the apartment. Still no Colbie.

  His phone rang and he looked hopefully at the screen, letting out a breath of disappointment at Joe’s name. “Talk,” he said.

  “Mornin’ to you too, sunshine.”

  When Spence didn’t say anything, Joe went on. “Okay, so you’re not caffeinated yet,” he said, and that’s when Spence started to clue in to the fact that Joe’s voice was missing its usual smartassery and good humor.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “This needs to be in person,” Joe said. “I’m at your office. Where are you?”

  “Two minutes,” Spence said and then made it upstairs in one.

  Joe took one look at him and shook his head. “You lost your shirt again?”

  Spence ignored this and strode directly toward the coffeepot that Trudy kept here due to his inability to work without caffeine.

  “Man, you’re spoiled rotten,” Joe said, working on his own cup. “This coffee is better than Archer’s, and Archer demands good coffee.”

  “What’s going on?” Spence asked him.

  “I don’t know. I think Trudy must fly to Colombia for this shit.”

  “I meant what don’t you want to tell me?” Spence asked with barely there patience.

  Joe flashed a grim smile. “I know. I’m stalling.”

  Spence stared at him. “Spit it out.”

  Joe sighed. Joe never sighed, so this wasn’t a good sign. “Okay,” he finally said. “But I need you to promise me that everything I’m about to tell you stays between us.”

  “Or?” Spence asked.

  “Or I’ll have to kill you.”

  Spence didn’t laugh, because he was pretty sure Joe wasn’t kidding. “Many have tried, no one’s succeeded,” he said. “But yeah, we’re in the cone of silence.”

  Joe paced around the office, looking more than a little edgy. Normally he was fun, at times hilariously inappropriate, and usually pretty easygoing when he wasn’t on the job. Today the easygoing was nowhere to be seen.

  “Joe, I’ve got a bitch of a hangover. Speed this up before I croak, cuz I’ll be worthless to you then.”

  “Okay, okay,” Joe said and turned to face him. “You know Elle asked me to dig into Colbie. And you said I should go ahead.”

  “I did,” Spence agreed. “After stalling as long as you could.”

  “Which I did. I was actually too busy to get to it. Until this morning.”

  Spence nodded. “Thanks.”

  Joe studied him for a few seconds. “That’s it? Thanks? You don’t want to know what I found?”

  Spence shook his head and then seriously regretted the move.

  “You already know,” Joe said. “You know what I found.”

  “I do.”

  “Pretty cool, right?” Joe asked with a good amount of genuine marvel. “And impressive.”

  It really was. Spence still couldn’t believe it, but he wasn’t surprised. Colbie was special. And also, it seemed, especially talented.

  “You knowing makes this a whole lot easier,” Joe said. “But you do realize that if I tell Elle what I’ve found, the whole beehive will know. And frankly, I think it should be Colbie’s decision what we tell anyone.”

  “I agree.” But Spence understood Joe’s problem. He was in an untenable situation, as he worked for Archer, who was sleeping with Elle, among other things. “Colbie will be okay with Elle knowing. Elle can keep a secret when she wants to. And knowing the truth will make her understand Colbie’s secretive nature. Hell, it might even make her nicer, if not outright protective of Colbie.” He smiled grimly. “We all know she’s like a mama bear when it comes to anyone hurting those she cares about.”

  Joe nodded. “But I can probably buy you another few days.” His phone went off. He looked at the screen. “Gotta go.”

  And then Spence was alone. He stepped to the window, looking to the courtyard below, and felt something go tense inside him.

  A guy in a suit had Colbie by the arm and was steering her toward the street gate. She didn’t look happy about it, but it was fairly obvious that whoever he was, he and Colbie were more than a little familiar with each other.

  As if she could feel him the way he could always feel her, she glanced up and their gazes met. He lifted a hand but she didn’t acknowledge him, though he was positive she’d seen him because she stilled for a beat.

  Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses but he knew her now and read her body language clear enough. Uncertain. Unhappy. Her clothes hid her luscious curves but it didn’t matter. He knew every inch of her by heart. Knew how she felt. Tasted. Knew what it was like to have her pressed against him with nothing between them, to be buried so deep inside her they were one, her limbs wrapped around him like she was afraid to let him go.

  So he also knew she didn’t want to be walking with this guy. Not that that stopped her, as after another heartbeat, she turned away and picked up their pace.

  Colbie was furious with Jackson for hunting her down. Not only had he tracked her phone, he’d also used her chief research source from the NYPD to do it.

  When he’d shown up at her door, she refused to make a scene. Instead, acutely aware that Spence was asleep in her bed, she’d gone with Jackson downstairs to find a place to talk in private. She’d figured the coffee shop would do it but Elle, Kylie, and Haley had been in there, so she’d quickly turned away. Jackson said he only wanted to talk, but she had a feeling he’d really rather fight, so she allowed him to guide her out of the courtyard because she didn’t want witnesses for this.

  The Pacific Pier Building was everything she loved. Interesting, quirky, cozy . . . a community within a community. But all those things also made it something she hadn’t realized until that very moment—basically, a very small town, complete with the small-town clichés.

  There were no secrets here.

  She and Jackson had nearly made it across the courtyard when she’d caught sight of Spence at what she was pretty sure