2
Huntsville, Alabama
Friday, December 23; 10:30 a.m.
The Christmas tinsel tickled her breast.
She shivered.
The shiny silver strands slid down her sweat-dampened torso. Over her belly button. Along her inner thigh. The tip of a deliciously wicked tongue followed that same path.
A sigh whispered from her lips. Man, that felt good. But she was so ready to get on with it. This guy was evidently going for a foreplay record.
Adeline Cooper propped up on her elbows and peered down her nude body at the red and white velvet hat. She couldn’t believe she was about to say this. “Look, Santa, patience has never been one of my virtues.”
Her lover lifted his attentive face from the task of tugging down her skimpy panties with his teeth. His brown eyes were glazed with the same anticipation currently throbbing in her veins.
“I’d like my present now.” She crooked her finger. “Come on up here and show me what you’ve got besides that nifty hat.”
His well-shaped mouth split into a grin as he crawled his way up her tingling body, all those gorgeous male muscles bunching and rippling with the effort. “Baby.” He nipped her lips with his teeth. “I got the package you’ve been waiting for all year.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” he growled as he nibbled her chin.
Pounding on the front door dragged her attention from his hungry mouth.Damn.“I should get that.”
“It’s your day off,” he muttered between kisses.
“Yeah, well.” She reached for the cuffs on the table next to the bed. “That’s the thing about being a cop, there’s no such thing as a real day off.” She fastened one cuff around his wrist with a titillating click. “Now, don’t move, because I’ll be right back to interrogate you, Mr. Claus.” While she plundered his mouth with her own, she attached the other bracelet to the iron headboard.
Adeline scooted off the bed and grabbed his shirt. She poked her arms into the long sleeves and hugged the warm flannel around her. At her bedroom door, she paused, surveyed his long, lean frame stretched out on her bed, and made a sound of approval deep in her throat.Merry Christmas to me.
“Hurry on back, now,” he teased, “and you can unwrap your present.”
She would definitely hurry back.
Another round of pounding echoed from the front door.
“Hold your horses,” she shouted as she padded through the house. “I’m coming.” Or she would be if whoever was doing all the banging hadn’t interrupted.
She yanked open the door. “What?”
“Morning, Cooper.” The man in the FedEx uniform, Wesley McElroy, nudged his Ray-Bans down his nose and surveyed her from head to toe. “You look all relaxed this morning.”
“It’s my day off,” she said. She sent a pointed look at the large padded envelope under his arm. “That for me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He held out his electronic clipboard. “You need to sign for it.”
She put her signature where he indicated. McElroy passed the padded envelope to her. “You have a nice day now.”
“You, too.” Distracted by the sender’s address, she bumped the door closed with her hip and leaned against it. Though she didn’t recognize the specific return address, the location surprised her. Besides her mother, there wasn’t a soul in Mississippi who would contact her. Not by mail anyway.
Both Christmas and her birthday were coming up ... maybe her scumbag uncle had finally decided to forgive her for doing her job nine years ago.
“Yeah, right. And hell just froze over.” She stalked into the kitchen and placed the envelope on the counter.
“Santa’s waiting!” her cuffed lover shouted from the bedroom.