Chapter Twelve

He had fallen in love with her. That realization shook Jonah to his very essence.

A week had passed since they had almost made love at his house. A week filled with tortured thoughts and sleepless nights. A week of struggling to focus on his job with miserable results.

He could not stop thinking about her, no matter how hard he tried.

When he sat in his kitchen, he could see her bent over the table, her fanny in the air, her blue jeans ripped. When he went to the drugstore to pick up prescriptions for Aunt Polly, he saw her sprawled out on the floor covered in condoms. When he sat on the couch and pressed the sofa pillows to his nose, he could smell her sweet, lovely scent.

And at work, his eyes followed her around the room like a lost puppy dog.

Somewhere, somehow, despite his best intentions to the contrary, he’d fallen for her.

Did he dare trust his feelings? He thought he’d been in love before, but Dawanda had only loved him when he did what she wanted.

Being in love again was the last thing he needed.

Especially with Edie. They were an impossible match. The bad boy and the crusader. The cynic and Miss Merry Sunshine.

Except he wasn’t all that bad anymore and hadn’t been for a long time. Not counting wrecking the mayor’s car.

But too many women had tried to change him in the past, seeking to mold him into the image they wanted. First Aunt Polly, then Beth Ann Pulaski, and finally Dawanda Beaman. In the end, he’d resented their interference.

He never wanted to resent Edie.

Every time he looked at her, his heart melted a little.

Give it a try.

But he was afraid. The little boy who’d had to fend for himself on the street was still buried inside him. The child who’d never experienced unconditional love and wasn’t even sure such a thing existed.

He wasn’t ready for this. Not while he was still playing Santa. Not while he was under strict orders not to reveal his identity to anyone.

Chief West had no idea how grueling a punishment this assignment had become.

There had been no more thefts, and he’d managed to rule Carl and Kyle out as suspects. After talking with them, he’d discovered they both had airtight alibis for each time something had turned up missing from the store.

Harry, however, was another story. As was Jules. Neither of them could adequately account for their whereabouts during several crucial incidents, and Harry’s lie detector test had been inconclusive.

And there’d been that night when Jonah had seen Harry in the mall parking lot. The same night Jules and Edie had broken into the store.

In the back of his mind, however, Jonah was beginning to suspect someone else entirely. Someone previously beyond reproach. His suspicion had started that night in the department store. The night he’d heard someone in Trotter’s office.

While he weighed the evidence and plotted his next course of action, Jonah still worked side by side with Edie, playing Santa to her elf.

She kept her distance from him, and she’d lost that familiar sparkle in her eyes. It hurt him to know he was the cause of her sadness.

But there was no way he could redeem himself. Not now. Not yet. Not until he knew for sure who was involved with the robberies. Once the case was solved, once she knew his true identity, maybe then they could start over.

#

TEARS WELLED IN EDIE’S eyes as she repositioned the camera. It took her a minute to collect herself before she could look up and tell the next mother in line to put her child on Santa’s lap.

She was tired of the silence between her and Jonah. Ever since that night at his house, things had been strained. He barely spoke more than he had to throughout the course of the day, and he spent a lot of time away from the sleigh. She no longer believed he was slipping off in search of booze or pills, but she couldn’t help wondering where he went.

Edie glanced at Jonah, but he avoided her gaze as he had all day long.

Now she wished she had not pleaded with Dr. Braddick to let her do a case study on him. She was involved. She was hooked, addicted, enslaved by his kisses, desperate for more.

So what if he was working out his community service obligation as a store Santa? So what if he carried a concealed weapon in his boot? Obviously, the stolen car incident had been a fluke, a one-time thing. And as far as her suspicions about his being involved with the store thefts—ludicrous! But it was almost Christmas, and if she didn’t do something soon, she’d probably never see him again.

Jonah wasn’t a thief. She’d bet her life on it.

That left her with one course of action. She’d tell him how foolish she’d been. How she’d been spying on him for her dissertation. She’d come clean. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be too angry with her. Hopefully, this wouldn’t get in the way of their budding relationship.

Tonight. She’d tell him tonight.

And let the chips fall where they may.

#

“MAYBE WE COULD GRAB a cup of coffee, Jonah. I really need to talk to you,” Edie said when the operator announced over the PA system that the store was closing in ten minutes.

“Uh, I have business with Mr. Trotter,” he said. “I’ll catch you later.”

Her face fell, and he knew he’d hurt her yet again. Damn. This wasn’t what he wanted. Not at all.

Edie gave a brave little shrug to show she didn’t care, but the wounded expression in her eyes branded him with guilt.

“Sure. Later.” Then quickly, before he could say something to smooth things over, she scurried away.

A notebook fell from her pocket.

“Wait,” he called to her, but apparently she didn’t hear him for she just kept walking. Jonah bent to retrieve the notebook.

He never meant to read it, but it lay open on the floor, and when he looked down, his name leapt out at him.

Case Study—Jonah Stevenson Observation—December 23

He is not a bad boy at all. It’s just a persona he hides behind to protect himself. He is good and kind and caring. He is tender and just and concerned about the feelings of others. This observer is certain he is not involved in the recent thefts at Carmichael’s Department Store. Problem— Due to inappropriate behavior on the part of this observer, the case study has been compromised. Dissertation subject will have to be changed. Approval pending Dr. Braddick.

Jonah’s hands felt at once fiery hot and icy cold. He flipped the pages, started at the beginning, and read how Edie had followed him, studied him.

Betrayed him.

He was her dissertation project.

Hard, bitter anger rose inside him. Edie was no different from Aunt Polly or Beth Ann Pulaski or Dawanda Beaman. He was nothing to her but a case study.

And to think he’d thought he was falling in love with her!

Anger, hurt, and resignation ran through him. He tucked her notebook in his pocket. Well, that would teach him to care about someone.

Jonah plunked down in the sleigh, too stunned to move. Then, from the corner of his eye, something caught his attention.

Freddie the Fish.

Again.

In the luggage aisle. The same place he’d been the first time Jonah had kissed Edie.

Freddie was pushing past shoppers, his gaze scanning the room. Then from a side door, Mr. Trotter appeared and motioned Freddie over. They talked together for a moment, heads bent, then Freddie followed Trotter back through the closed door that led to the warehouse.

Jonah narrowed his eyes and ducked down behind the sleigh. His instincts told him something was up.

What was Freddie the Fish doing with Trotter? The suspicions he’d been entertaining grew.

He climbed down from the dais and stalked through the crowd.

Children called to him. Shoppers waved as they lined up at the checkout stands. Jonah forced a smile and walked faster. A few beard hairs flew into his mouth. His artificial belly shifted, throwing him off balance.

Jonah waddled to the door Trotter and Freddie had disappeared through. He lay his ear against the door and listened.

Nothing.

Taking a deep breath, he pried the door open and stepped through.

Except for the usual boxes of merchandise, this section of the storeroom was empty.

He cocked his head and listened intently.

No voices.

He squeezed past the boxes and turned a corner. His boots echoed in the hollow stillness.

They had disappeared awfully fast.

He kept walking.

Trotter and Freddie could have gone down any corridor, disappeared behind any door.

Damn.

Frustrated, he stopped, sank his hands on his hips, and turned around.

He was in the main part of the warehouse now. The loading dock was a hundred yards to his left. It was after closing time, and the place was deserted.

Jonah scratched his head and leaned against a packing crate labeled Waste Materials.

What was happening to him? He was losing his edge. So what if Trotter was talking to Freddie? They could be related. Just because Trotter was consorting with a known thief, that didn’t mean the man was crooked.

He was letting Edie get to him. She was blowing his mind, messing with his head. She and her case study.

Jonah kicked the crate.

The wood cracked, tearing the plastic wrapping beneath.

And revealing a box of brand-new electronic equipment that didn’t look anything like waste materials.

#

WHERE WAS JONAH GOING?

Edie had come back to the sleigh to look for her notebook and caught sight of Jonah in his Santa suit as he disappeared through the door into the storeroom.

Because of the thefts, Trotter had warned all unauthorized personnel to stay out of the warehouse. Jonah was violating store policy.

Why?

She no longer thought he was involved in the robberies, but she wanted to get him alone, and this was a good opportunity.

Yes. She had to speak to Jonah. She couldn’t stand not knowing how he felt about their relationship, about her.

Especially since she’d decided she had to abandon her dissertation. Despite her best intentions, she’d fallen in love with him. She could not objectively do a case study on him. Dr. Braddick had been right.

Trotter or no Trotter, she was going after Jonah.

Taking a deep breath to fortify herself for whatever might happen, she slipped through the empty store as “Blue Christmas” played on the stereo system.

“Jonah,” she called timidly, stepping around a stack of boxes.

Nothing. No one.

Hmm. She had seen him come in here. Couldn’t mistake that Santa suit.

Nor the gorgeous man wearing it.

She trudged through the warehouse, alternately calling out his name, then stopping to scan the area for him.

A few minutes later, she heard a noise and turned the corner into the main warehouse.

And saw Jonah digging in a large crate marked Waste Materials.

Except it wasn’t waste materials in the crate but electronic equipment. Smartwatches, video game consoles, and computers lay in boxes on the ground around him.

Edie looked at the merchandise and gulped.

Oh, Lord, don’t let it be true after all!

“Jonah,” she said sharply, “what are you doing?”

#

“EDIE!” HE FELT HIS face flush a deep crimson beneath his white beard. “I—I—this isn’t what you think.”

“Are you trying to tell me you weren’t stealing this equipment?” She waved a hand at the crate. The disappointment in her eyes was more than Jonah could bear.

“You don’t understand.”

“Oh,” she said. “I understand too well.”

He ached to tell her that he wasn’t a thief. But he couldn’t blow his cover. Not now. Not when he was so close to finding out who had placed the items in the crate. And not when her own life could be at risk if she knew the truth.

He had only one choice. He had to lie to her.

Jonah hung his head. “All right. You caught me. I’m the one who’s been stealing from Carmichael’s.”

Her cry of dismay clawed him straight down to the bone. “Oh, Jonah! How could you?”

He thought of her notebook in his pocket, pulled it out, and handed it to her. “Seems you’re not above a little deception yourself, Edie.”

She stared at the notebook. “You read it?”

He nodded.

“I can explain.”

He raised a hand. “Don’t bother. Seems you were right about me from the first. I am a bad boy. Rotten to the core.”

“No,” she whispered. “Even after all this, I can’t believe that about you.”

“Believe it,” he said, even though it killed him to utter those words. “Just as I have to deal with the fact that I was nothing more to you than a research project.”

“Jonah, that’s not true. Be fair.”

“You be fair, Edie. You followed me, used me, spied on me. What am I supposed to think?”

Her bottom lip trembled.

Ah, damn.

“You’ve got to turn yourself in to Mr. Trotter, Jonah. It’s the only way to make this right.”

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. I’ll go with you. I’ll stand beside you. We’ll get through this.”

“We?”

“Yes. Together. That is if you want me to help you.”

He shook his head. “Can’t resist meddling, can you, sweetheart?”

“I’m not meddling.”

“You’re so damned sexy when you’re righteous.” He took a step toward her. Her hands trembled slightly, but she held her ground.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she demanded.

“This.” He had to test the depth of her feelings for him. Did she love him as a man? Or was he simply a project for her? Someone to reform. He needed an answer.

He took her in his arms and kissed her. He had to have one more taste of those irresistible lips before she disappeared from his life forever. Had to inhale her scent one last time. Had to feel the soft crush of her breasts against his chest.

And she didn’t resist. She went limp in his arms for a moment, and then she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

#

I’M HOPELESSLY HOOKED. For the first time in her life, she understood the meaning of being hooked on something. Edie felt crazed with emotion and wildly out of control.

She was addicted to his touch, his smile, his easy drawl. She needed him as desperately as flowers needed sun and rain and carbon dioxide.

Surely this relationship couldn’t be healthy. She was falling for a criminal. Yet how could loving him be so wrong when it felt so perfect?

His kiss took her down, down, down in the torment of exquisite pleasure. He had no right to make her feel so good.

The sound of approaching voices killed the kiss. Jonah pulled back.

“Someone’s coming,” she said. “You’re going to have to give—”

Before she could say the words, Jonah clamped a hand over her mouth. “Shh, don’t utter a sound.”

Oh my gosh. Her breath rattled in her lungs like a loose shutter in the wind.

He grasped her around the waist and dragged her behind a ceiling-high shelf. He crouched low, taking her with him and shielding her head with his body.

Jonah, don’t do this, she mentally begged him and tried to squirm from his grip.

He held her firm and pressed his lips next to her ear. “Please, Edie,” he whispered. “Don’t fight me. Please, please just trust me.”

Trust.

How could she trust a thief?

But oh, how she wanted to believe in him.

She’d counseled so many women who had done foolish things for the love of a man. Edie had sat in her psychologist’s chair, passing judgment on people, offering her opinion on something when she’d had no real idea what she was talking about.

Now she knew the power of love. At this moment, she could have forgiven Jonah anything. Like a mother for her child, she loved him unconditionally. He didn’t have to be a model citizen to earn her trust.

The voices grew louder. Two men were in the warehouse with them. Edie, who’d had her eyes tightly clenched, opened them and peered through a small hole in the boxes around them. She saw trousered legs and shoes.

She recognized one of the voices. Trotter.

Jonah moved, letting her go and duck-walking to the end of the shelf. In his hand he held the gun she’d seen the night they picked up the mannequin and he sang her his song.

The sight of the gun horrified her. What should she do?

“Someone’s been in the crate!” the second man exclaimed.

Trotter cursed. “Get it loaded. Quickly. The truck is here.”

Edie frowned. What did this mean?

Jonah motioned for her to stay down.

“I told you the cops had someone undercover in the store.”

“Shut up,” Trotter said. “This is the last shipment. We won’t be caught. I’ve planted some of the merchandise in the lockers of those men Carmichael made me hire from the halfway house.”

Mr. Trotter was behind the thefts?

Dumbfounded, Edie’s mouth dropped open. Well, if Trotter and his accomplice were the ones who’d been stealing from Carmichael’s, then who was Jonah?

The loading dock doors rolled up. Edie peeked around Jonah’s shoulder to see a large Carmichael’s delivery truck backed against the platform.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

“Shh. Stay still.”

But the more Edie thought about it, the madder she became. Trotter had stolen from the store, and now he was trying to blame it on Kyle, Harry, and Carl.

Red-hot anger shot through her, and before she had time to consider her actions, habit took over. She was not the type to let an injustice go unpunished.

Edie rose to her feet and marched forward. Jonah grabbed for her ankle but missed. She rushed Trotter who was standing on the loading dock.

He looked very startled to see her.

“Miss Preston,” he exclaimed.

“You—you—creep! How dare you blame innocent people? How dare you steal from the store? This is inexcusable.” Edie shook a finger at him.

Trotter’s mouth dropped open, but only for a second. His eyes narrowed. He lunged for her and grabbed Edie by the hand.

“You’re going to regret that speech, my dear,” he said and pressed the cold, rude nose of a pistol flush against her temple. “Now get into the back of the truck.”