“Hot damn.” Scotty held up his Ricky Rocket Shooter Robot, and a wide grin lit his face. “You get that you’ve just become the most popular guy at the station, don’t you?”
Jonas let his brows climb. “I didn’t do anything.”
“No, but your girlfriend sent every cop in the precinct a Ricky Rocket Shooter Robot.” He whistled. “If you make a cop’s kid happy, you make a cop very happy.”
“She and Daniel appreciate the PD’s help.” Help in nabbing Vicki before she’d walked out of the company with a prototype apparently worth more than a few years of Jonas’s salary. “They wanted to do something to say thanks.”
The captain came up and slapped Jonas on the back. “My son’s been begging for this all year. You know how hard it’s been to find one of these little bastards?”
Not so hard for Christie and the folks in distribution at Tate. “If your son likes that,” he said, “tell him Rover’s coming next year.”
“Thanks to you, he is.” A soft, sweet voice. His favorite voice in the entire world.
Christie.
He spun around. She was there, just a few feet away. Wearing her long, loose cashmere coat and staring at him with a soft smile on her face.
He hurried toward her. The other cops milled around and shouted out “Thanks” and “Merry Christmas!” The gifts had sure put them all in good moods.
“What are you doing here?” Jonas took her hand and enjoyed the silken feel of her skin.
“I wanted to come by and make sure the robots were delivered safely.” Her gaze swept the station. “If anyone was left out, let me know. Tate Toys can make sure everyone is covered.” Her gaze returned to him. Warmed. “Everyone.”
God, he could stare into her eyes forever.
“Jonas…” She nibbled on her lower lip. “Can we talk a moment?”
His heart rate kicked up. “Sure.” He tugged her toward the back of the station. He couldn’t use the interrogation room again. A suspect was inside. All the interrogation rooms were full. It was one of those days.
He tucked her into the far corner and braced his hand near her head, leaning in and effectively closing her off from the others. “Is something wrong?” Warmth was in her eyes, but she was biting her lower lip and her gaze kept darting away from him.
“You’ve helped me a lot in the last few days. You stood by me when the break-in happened at Tate. You gave me a place to stay—”
“Sweetheart, having you in my bed was no hardship.”
She blushed, but carried on as she continued, “Then you handled Vicki and the fallout. I know you didn’t need to be on the case and—”
He bent and pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “How many times do I have to tell you? You were involved, so that meant I was, too.”
Her eyes searched his. What was she looking for? What did she want to see? If he didn’t know, how could he give it to her?
“I broke the rules,” she whispered.
He frowned down at her.
Her hand came up and pressed against his chest. “It wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Was that anger in her voice? Or fear? Either way, the woman had him worried. “What rules are you talking about?” Jonas wanted to know.
She swallowed. “Just sex. Not forever.”
Ah. Yes. Those rules.
“I asked you not to lie to me, but I came here because I need to tell you…I’m the one who’s been lying.” She released a long breath.
What?
“From the beginning, I-I’ve been lying, Jonas.”
The din around him seemed too loud. Too many phones were ringing. Too many voices buzzing. Scotty had started a round of “Jingle Bells,” and too many tone-deaf cops had joined in for the song. “Run that by me again.”
Her body trembled against his. “I’ve been lying to you from the beginning.”
She looked so beautiful that it hurt him to stare at her, and the twist in his gut told him he shouldn’t ask but, “What did you lie about?” Wanting me? No, hell, no. The lust between them had been real. The pleasure too good to be faked.
“I want more.”
He shook his head. Dammit, he couldn’t hear her. He took her hand and looked for an option to—ah, ha. There. He shoved open the precinct’s back door, and they rushed outside. The lightest flakes of snow had started to fall. “Tell me again,” he said. The fury and fear in his blood were too hot for him to feel the cold. “Tell me what you want.” Was she cutting him loose now? Right before Christmas?
It was the last thing he’d expected. He thought of the present he’d bought for her earlier. Tucked nice and safe in his desk drawer. Hell, no, this couldn’t be happening. “My time’s not up yet.” Shit. He sounded desperate. Because he was.
“I know.” She tugged her hands from him.
“What do you want, Christie?” I will give you everything. Just give me the chance.
“I want you.” The snowflakes caught in her hair. She drove her hands into the pockets of her coat and rocked back. “I didn’t just want a good time that first night. Didn’t just want any man at the Christmas party. I wanted you. It’s always been you.”
He stared at her.
“I’ve wanted you for years.” Her lips lifted in a smile, but her dimple didn’t flash. “Guess that night at the party, I finally got brave enough to go after what I wanted.” Her shoulders slumped. “But deep down, I’m not brave. I’m scared, I’m nervous, and right n-now, staring at you…” Her laugh was weak. “I feel like I’m making the worst mistake of my life. I probably should keep my mouth shut and enjoy the time we have left, but—I made the wrong wish.”
His heart was about to burst right out of his chest. “What wish did you want to make?”
She looked up at the sky. At the falling snowflakes. They kissed her lashes and whispered over her cheeks. “I don’t want you just for the holidays.”
His hands curled into fists.
“I’ve watched you over the years, Jonas. I’ve seen the women come and go, and I know you’re not looking for some commitment.”
Why the hell did everyone keep saying that? Because that’s the way I used to be. Not anymore. Not with her.
“But that’s the kind of woman I am. I might have pretended I wasn’t—I might have said I just wanted the pleasure, too, but with you, I want more.” Her gaze came back to him. Met his stare directly. “I’m not going to lie anymore. Not to you. Not to myself. I want more.”
“More?”
“Not just sex. Don’t get me wrong.” Her words tumbled out. “The sex between us is incredible.”
A uniform stumbled past, eyes wide. Jonas growled at him.
The young cop scurried away.
Christie lowered her voice as she revealed, “I like staying in bed with you. I like being there for you when you come back from a hard case. I like knowing that you’ll be there for me when I need you.”
I will always be there, sweetheart.
“I like it when you’re with me and my family.” Her breath blew out on a white cloud. “Jonas, I just like it when you’re with me.”
The cold still hadn’t touched him. Couldn’t, not the way his blood pumped so fast and hot. “Christie…”
She straightened her shoulders. “I had to tell you how I felt. I’m going to start doing that, you know. Telling people what I really feel and think. Life’s too short to waste, isn’t it? If you don’t take chances, then you can’t—”
He pressed his lips against hers and tasted the snow and the strawberries that he’d always crave. “When you’re nervous,” he whispered, “you talk fast. Did you know that?”
Her eyes widened.
“You don’t need to be nervous around me. Haven’t you realized that yet?” He eased back.
“No, you’re wrong. You’re the one who makes me the most nervous.” Her gaze never wavered as she told him, softly, “Because you matter to me.”
His heart jerked hard in his chest. “Not just sex, huh?”
Her head shook. “It never was. Not for me. I shouldn’t have let you think—”
“It wasn’t for me, either, baby.”
And just like that, Jonas found out how to make Christie Tate speechless. She stared at him a few seconds with her mouth hanging open. “Wh-what?”
Her faint stutter squeezed his heart.
“The first time I saw you, you were wearing a pair of glasses with black rims. You had on jeans that were two big, sexy black boots, and a blue shirt that made your eyes even darker.”
“Th-that was years ago. I don’t even…how do you remember that?”
“Because, baby, I remember everything about you.” Always had. “I knew the minute I saw you that you were too good for me.” His smile flashed. A real smile. One he didn’t have to fake. With her, he never faked. He just…was. “You were too young for me. Too young and too good, and I tried to stay the hell away from you.”
The snow fell harder.
“I knew I was going into undercover work. I knew what it would do to me.” He still didn’t want her to know the places he’d been. The things he’d seen and done. Christie—she was the light he’d held close all those years, and she didn’t even realize it. “But I had to take those jobs.” Would she understand the driving need that had haunted him for so long?
Blood. Death.
“I know you did,” she said, her voice a bit sad. “But Jonas, you didn’t have to do all of that alone.”
His hands rose to curl around her delicate shoulders. The woman would break him one day, if he wasn’t careful. But with her, he’d always tried so hard to be careful. “Do you know why I left Narcotics?”
She shook her head, and the snowflakes drifted through her dark hair.
“I wanted something more.” If he was going to tell her, he’d do it right. Go all the way. “No, screw that. I wanted someone. I wanted you.”
“Jonas—”
“You never dated anyone seriously. I thought—fuck, I don’t know what I thought.” That you felt the connection, too. That we would be together one day. That there was plenty of time. Then he’d seen her with another man one day when he’d gone to Tate Toys to meet Daniel for lunch, and Jonas had realized time had run out. If he didn’t act, he’d lose her. “Do you know why I was playing that Santa gig? When I’d barely celebrated Christmas before?”
“I thought you were a replacement—”
“Because you were going to be there. You weren’t the only one who wanted something special for Christmas this year. I did, too. I wanted you. I wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines any longer. Wasn’t going to let life pass me by while I—” Tried to slay demons who were long dead. “While I just watched you go.”
She blinked, once, twice, and then her dimple flashed. “Jonas, did you know?”
“Know what?”
“When you’re nervous, you talk fast.” She rose onto her toes and looped her arms around his neck. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He pulled her closer. As close as he could get her. “Neither am I.”
Her lips trembled, but not because of sadness. They trembled and stretched into the slow, sexy smile that had stolen his heart years ago. “New rules?” Christie asked.
“Damn straight.”
“Sex.”
“Lots of it.”
“The best sex.”
“With you, that’s what I always have.” Not just sex, so much more. He’d known that from the first touch.
“Strings?” she asked softly.
“Enough to tie you up.” Forever.
She laughed, and he kissed her the way he needed to kiss her. Long and deep and hard. He’d finally gotten just what he wanted for Christmas. Christie—in his arms.
Just what he wanted—and everything he needed.
***
Christmas Eve. This year, Jonas wasn’t spending it undercover with a bunch of asshole criminals he hated. He wasn’t at the station, manning the phones.
He was in bed with Christie. His body relaxed. Sated from the sex. The best. Hell, yeah, sex with Christie—making love with Christie—was the best, and he’d be ready for another round soon. They had too many years to make up for, and he was too hungry to hold back.
His hand slowly trailed up the smooth curve of Christie’s back. She stretched into his touch, then turned her head toward him.
Jonas leaned forward to kiss her. “One more rule,” he told her, whispering the words against her mouth.
Her brows came together. “What do you mean?”
“Come with me. I’ll show you.” He slid from the bed and quickly pulled on a loose pair of sweatpants. Christie followed. She paused only long enough to snag the silk robe he’d bought for her. It was a blue to match her eyes.
When they went into his den, the little tree was glowing. Christie’s touch. They’d decorated it together last night. Decorated. Drank wine. Laughed. Made love while the snow fell.
Presents were under the tree. Some for her family. Some that Christie had brought over for him. Even one for Scotty.
And a special one for her.
He pulled her down in front of the tree. Jonas reached for the small red box with the bright green bow.
Christie laughed. “Ah, I see. You want to start a tradition, huh?”
He turned back and caught the sexy gleam in her eyes.
“I’m all for that,” she murmured with a wink. “And by last count, you do owe me another pair.”
She took the box from him, and, as was her way, she lifted it up to her ear. Her grin kicked up as she shook the box.
Then her smile faded. “Wait. That doesn’t sound like—”
“Open it,” he urged her. His voice was rougher than he’d intended, but Jonas knew that this moment might just be the most important one of his life.
She stared at the box, then ripped the bow off and tore into the package.
When she opened the ring box, he held his breath. His heart didn’t even seem to beat.
“Jonas?” She looked up at him. Her eyes were so wide and gorgeous.
“I don’t want to have any more Christmases without you.” He lifted the ring from the box and offered it to her. His fingers were shaking. “I told you there was one more rule. This time, I want forever.” Please, baby. Give me forever.
She looked at the ring. Then at him.
“Please, Christie.” His voice was so rough. “Will you marry me?”
She lifted her hand. Wiggled her fingers. “If forever is what you want, then that’s exactly what you’re getting.”
“Is…is that a yes?”
“It’s a hell yes.”
Hell, yes! He slid the ring onto her finger. It was a perfect fit.
“You’ve been very good this year.” She leaned toward him and brushed her lips over his.
Not good enough for her. But he’d try to be. For the rest of his life, he’d try to make everything good enough for her.
She pulled back and stared into his eyes. “I love you, Jonas Kirk.”
“And I love you, Christie Tate.”
“Merry Christmas.”
He kissed her. He loved her mouth. Loved her. His arms curled around her. Christie. The woman he’d watched for so long. The woman he’d needed. The woman who’d given him a really good time that he’d never forget during the holiday season.
The woman who’d just promised him forever.
Now, Jonas had everything he wanted, right there, in his arms.
His only Christmas wish? It had been…her. To have a chance with her.
But they didn’t just have a chance. They had a whole happily ever after.
“I think we both made the good list,” he told her.
Christie nipped his lower lip. “I believe we could score some points on the naughty list, too.” She pushed him down beside the tree. Lights gleamed around them.
“Baby, I am all for being naughty.”
She straddled his hips. Smiled down at him.
He caught her hand. Brought it to his lips. Pressed a kiss to her knuckles as the ring sparkled in the light. “Merry Christmas, baby.”
Merry Christmas.
Then End