Her Secret Christmas Agent Read online

  “I’m sorry, Mitch.”

  He opened his eyes and the current of lust that shot to her most intimate parts had her ready to jump him right there in the parking lot again.

  The sound of the back door to the station opening doused her want. Shared laughter spilled out into the parking lot. In the shadows of the boxwoods, Nika and Mitch were invisible to the couple that walked to Chief Todd’s personal vehicle. Silently they watched as he opened the passenger side of his SUV to allow Claudia to climb in. He walked around and slid into the driver’s seat. As his car started and warmed up in the cold night, it became clear that his engine wasn’t all that Colt Todd was heating up as his profile met and blended with Claudia’s.

  “The chief and our social media officer?” Nika whispered, stifling a giggle.

  “Gee, who woulda thunk it? The SVPD parking lot is the new Skyline Scenic View highway pullout.” Mitch referred to the scenic viewing area along the highway that coursed through the hills surrounding Silver Valley. For generations it had been known as the place for couples to find some quiet and privacy away from the prying eyes of Silver Valley’s more inquisitive residents.

  “Please don’t use ‘pull out,’ when talking about the chief and Claudia.” She giggled while she shivered as the cold damp reached under her coat. Without Mitch’s scorching touch, the night’s frigid temperature was catching up to her.

  Mitch’s arm was around her shoulders and she felt the kiss he planted on top of her head as he drew her to his side. “That’s a fair request. And it’s time for both of us to go home. We’re going to have to wait for them to leave first, though.”

  “I know. Let’s hope it’s quick. It’s getting pretty chilly out here.”

  As if he’d heard, Chief Todd’s vehicle’s brake lights lit up as he backed the car out of its spot and drove out of the lot. Instead of relief, Nika felt the raw edge of envy. The chief and Claudia looked like they were very happy together, and she was certain it wouldn’t be a temporary hookup. Neither had the personality for anything but long-term commitment. Would she have to wait decades for the same?

  “Looks safe enough now.” She stepped away from Mitch, needing to be alone to process what had just happened between them. She wasn’t stupid enough to think it was only a kiss. Or a kiss that would blend into her memories of all the kisses that had come before. Kisses that didn’t seem to matter much anymore, if they ever had. “I’ll see you on Monday, Mitch.”

  “If not sooner.” He walked away and she fought against her instinct to ask him what the hell he’d meant by that, but Nika knew when she was at her limit. It was imperative that she get into her car and drive away, quickly, or she was going to run up to Mitch and beg him to go with her.

  To make love to her.

  Neither of them needed that kind of distraction.

  Chapter 8

  Nika went to Rachel’s as planned on Saturday morning. Unlike before, Rachel was more talkative and less gloomy about her home situation. They worked on their chemistry homework and Nika prayed the whole time that her lack of accomplishment wouldn’t give her away. She’d barely made it through two problems.

  “Thanks for having me over again. Are you sure your mother isn’t upset that I’m back?”

  Rachel rolled her eyes from where she sat on her twin bed. “Do you have to ask? She’s tuned out. And today’s meeting day. She’ll be leaving to see her New Thought weirdos anytime now.”

  “Do you ever go?”

  “Sometimes. I went in the beginning, when she was more normal and I thought it was going to just be a group of people trying to start a new church. I had no idea they were as far from a church as you can imagine.”

  “And she doesn’t get mad that you don’t go with her? My parents get upset if I don’t do stuff with them.” Thankfully Nika hadn’t had to explain much about her own family as the students accepted that she was there with her father, living in a temporary apartment, while her mother and siblings had stayed behind in Iowa until their old home sold. Plus, it would be easier for her made-up family to leave their Iowa school at the end of the semester.

  “Nah. She used to care more, when Dad was still here.” Rachel punched molecular weights into the calculator on her phone. She looked up, a small smile on her face. “Done! We’ve made it through all of the weekend homework.”

  “Thanks so much for helping me. I took a lot of chemistry at my old school, but Mr. Everlock really teaches at a higher level.”

  “Yeah, he can be intense.”

  “But you like him well enough, right? I mean, you joined the club he reps. You never told me why you’re in the Rainbows, by the way. Not that you have to, it’s truly none of my business, but if you want to tell me, I’m listening.”

  Rachel shook her head. “No worry. I’m not hiding a secret or anything. I used to be friends with someone who wanted to come to the meetings but her parents forbade it. I’d already been going for a few weeks, and liked the kids. I don’t fit in all the time because I’m not LGBT, but I support anyone who is, so the group doesn’t have a problem with me participating. Do you think it’s lame or something?”

  Nika made it a point to keep filling in her workbook with the answers to their chemistry equations. “Not at all. I’m joining it to support it, too. We all have friends who join because of who they are, and I want to be supportive, too. I’ve noticed that the students out east are way more accepting.”

  Rachel’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right? I think it’s pretty conservative here. We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

  Nika shrugged. “Some of the grown-ups are total bigots, sure, but you’re closer to big cities. I don’t get a vibe from the students here that anyone thinks they’re better than anyone else.”

  Rachel snorted. “Stick around a little longer. You’ll see.”

  *

  Nika left Rachel’s just after noon, after which she and Ivy went shopping together at Costco as planned for their quarterly stock up. They split the cost of things to make it economical and practical for each of them, since neither had room to store entire case loads of anything. And of course the extra Christmas and holiday gift packages of cosmetics and jewelry were an added bonus.

  As Nika drove them home the snow started to fall and she spotted a familiar vehicle in her rearview mirror. The same pickup that had been in the SVPD parking lot the previous evening, and the same one she’d noticed parked to the side of the main road right before the turnoff to Rachel’s country drive.

  Mitch Everlock was following her. Damn it. That man needed to leave things be. She wasn’t afraid as she knew that he was doing this to protect her, but the next time they spoke she’d remind him that his Marine days were over and she wasn’t on his squad.

  She played it cool. Instead of stopping her vehicle and forcing him to drive past, she drove as if she didn’t know he was there. There was no reason to mention it to Ivy. It’d probably only freak her friend out. When she turned into the driveway she and Ivy shared, Mitch drove on to the next cul-de-sac, where he turned around and headed out toward the development exit.

  She ignored the tingle in her stomach that his nearness triggered. She also ignored the fantasy of Mitch pulling into her driveway to spend time with her.

  *

  Ivy was like a dog with a bone and the bone was Mitch Everlock.

  “Stop being a cop 24/7, Nika. I know it’s your job, but you deserve to have a personal life, too. So what if you’re working in the high school? We don’t have any high school students living in our development. We’re on the outermost edge of the school district. There’s nothing keeping you from going on a date with this teacher, as long as no one finds out. What did you say his name was?”

  “Mitch.” They were unloading the back of her car after the trip to the grocery warehouse store. Nika had explained to Ivy that she was doing some work at Silver Valley High and had fallen hard in lust for the chemistry teacher. She didn’t mention she was undercover or that Mitch
was a former Special Forces type. Ivy knew about Nika’s mistrust of men in authority. She’d even called Nika on it one time, explaining why she thought Nika had chosen to be a police officer. Ivy’s theory was that one of the driving factors in Nika seeking a law-enforcement career was to control what had been so uncontrollable for her family during Soviet times.

  Nika didn’t disagree with Ivy’s assessment but she’d also picked law enforcement because she’d always believed in justice.

  “I know you, Nika. You say you’re not ready to date anyone steady, and while I have never seen a guy last more than a couple of days with you since Ron, this sounds different. Care to explain?” Ivy handed her a huge plastic-wrapped case of toilet paper and grabbed an equally large package of paper towels they’d divvy up once inside.

  “I don’t know how long I’ll be working near him, so it would be awkward to date a few times and then stop seeing each other, which we would, while I have to still see him during my workday. I like a clean break.”

  Ivy heaved her paper towels across Nika’s entryway. “You are the only person I know who plans the breakup before you even make it to first base with a man.”

  Nika stopped in the kitchen, her arms hugging the toilet paper to her as if for protection. Truly she prayed Ivy couldn’t see too much of her face behind the plastic and paper.

  “Oh. My. God. Is Nika Pasczenko blushing?” Ivy’s eyes were round, her brows raised and hands on her hips. “Dish. Did you have him here last night?”

  “No, no, nothing like that. It was a quick...kiss.”

  Ivy studied her before she bent to the paper towels and ripped them open, placing roll after roll atop Nika’s empty kitchen island. “It was more than a kiss, judging by your beet-red cheeks.” Three more rolls of toilet paper stacked up. “It’s none of my business, Nika, but I’ve seen you do so much for everyone else. Ron was an ass and never deserved you. There are other men out there in positions of power who aren’t anything like him or the men from your parents’ Eastern European days. And you’ve been on the SVPD long enough to know that there are men in power who are still great guys, right? And Mitch isn’t even a police officer, he’s a dang high school chemistry teacher. I would think you’d jump on him—he’s perfect for you, and you obviously share your own chemistry together.” Ivy giggled at her pun. “Get it?”

  “Yeah, I get it.” She placed the few remaining paper towel rolls that were her share on the island and held up the half-full bag that belonged to Ivy. “Your half.”

  They continued to talk as they meandered back and forth from Ivy’s car to each of their town houses. Nika knew that Ivy was her biggest supporter but being unable to share the exact sensitivity of the op at the school and its possible ties to the True Believers Cult left her with no means to convey just how complicated her whole attraction to Mitch was. How impossible any kind of relationship with him would be, at least during this op. And after...well, Nika was still too raw from the disastrous relationship and breakup she’d suffered with Ron. The last she’d heard he was happily engaged to a woman he’d fallen in love with before their breakup. No, her heart wasn’t ready to be tossed around again, even if Mitch was available, even if the case wrapped up soon.

  *

  After Ivy went to her town house to prepare for a date she had that night, Nika tried to use the rest of her afternoon to relax. She puttered around the town house, not wanting to go back out. Maybe she’d rent a movie and open a bottle of one of her favorite reds tonight. The case was only going to get more intense as they neared the Silver Bells Ball and she needed to enjoy quiet time to herself while she could.

  At six thirty she paused the TV series she was binge watching and decided to order takeout. Did she want Chinese, Thai or sushi?

  As she walked to the kitchen to grab one of the many menus from the drawer under the phone, her doorbell chimed. Ivy wasn’t due back until much later and rarely stopped by after a date. They waited to rehash their dates over coffee on Sunday, or the following week if either opted to spend the night with a man.

  The doorbell sounded again as she crossed the foyer. Her instincts were on high alert and her fingers itched for her weapon, stored in her gun safe.

  She looked through the peephole and immediately threw the door open.

  “Mitch.”

  “Is this a good time?” He wore a knit cap that covered a good amount of his short-cropped hair. The tweedy black wool brought out the green in his eyes.

  “Depends.” She heard the bitchy tone in her voice and relented. “Come on in.”

  “I wasn’t sure if you were a flower kind of woman.” As he stepped into her home he handed her a bouquet that had a riot of color splashed against the holiday-themed tissue paper. White and red roses, ferns, red berries and decorative picks with candy canes and snowmen fought for her attention in the festive arrangement.

  “I am, and these are gorgeous. Thank you.” She motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen, where she set about getting the flowers into a vase. “First, how did you find my address?”

  “I looked you up.”

  “You ‘looked me up.’ That’s interesting, since my number is unlisted and I’m on Facebook with a different name—and I don’t put my address on anything that I don’t have to.” She could let him off the hook, tell him she saw him behind her on Silver Valley Pike after she left Rachel’s, but she waited him out.

  He held out his hands, open palmed. “You saw me, didn’t you? You caught me. I was worried about you at Rachel’s. No one saw me there, don’t worry, but I was on the street by her drive the whole time you were there.”

  “Some people call that stalking, Mitch. I’m a trained police officer, and I’m up for promotion to detective any day now. Still, you thought that you could help me by staking me out? While I was undercover?”

  He had the humility to look chastised. “I’m not doubting your capability at all, Nika. It’s the cult, the kind of people behind it, that have me worried.”

  “Mitch, since we’re being honest here, when are you going to tell me what you really do?”

  His face froze and she knew she’d hit a mark. But what mark, she couldn’t be certain.

  “I’m a high school teacher, Nika. I’ve done some investigative work when I was in the Marine Corps. That’s all.”

  She didn’t buy it but wasn’t going to push it. Not tonight.

  “For the record, I knew you were there today. I saw you follow me afterward, and you turned around in the cul-de-sac at the end of my street.”

  He put his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry, Nika. I owe you more than staking you out like you’re a rookie.”

  “Yes, you do. I was about to order takeout. Why don’t you pay, to make up for your transgression? Interested?”

  He looked at the array of menus on the kitchen counter and grinned. “Most certainly.”

  *

  “Is this what an SVPD officer usually does on a Saturday night? When you’re not on duty?” Mitch ate his dim sum expertly with wooden chopsticks. She watched the play of the television’s lighting against his face and wondered how such a sexy, attractive guy was free on a Saturday night.

  “My best friend happens to be my neighbor, and we watch a lot of movies on the weekend. We spent the afternoon shopping after I got back from work. Rachel’s. You know, where you—”

  “Where I was following you. Again, I am sorry.”

  They’d forgone plates to enjoy the meal straight from the cartons on the floor in front of her television. She looked up from her General Tsao’s shrimp to find Mitch thoroughly enjoying his meal.

  “This is fun.”

  He tilted his head. “Explain.”

  “You, me, eating Chinese.”

  “As you said yesterday, Nika, ‘you’re single, I’m single.’ Remind me again why we can’t do more of this?”

  “Mitch...” Did she have to tell him again that she wasn’t the woman for him to get too comfortable with? Maybe she should t
ell him that a man who’d had the kind of power he’d had in the Marine Corps overwhelmed her. No, he’d never believe it.

  “Tell me.” Her small Christmas tree winked with multicolored lights, making the atmosphere cozy and...familiar. Warm. With Mitch’s gaze on her, his body relaxed against the bottom of her sofa as they sat on the rug her parents had brought back from the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul last summer, she wanted to melt into him. Trust him.

  “It’s silly.”

  “Try me.”

  “I’m not up for anything more serious than what we’re doing right now, Mitch.”

  “Eating Chinese takeout on your floor, under your Christmas tree? Damn, you’re easy to please.”

  She set her chopsticks down. “I’ve never dated anyone longer than six months, except Ron, who lasted a year. Since him, it’s been more like six days. My job is everything to me, Mitch. Keeping people safe from the bad stuff out there. From the more simple stuff like shoplifting and speeding and underage drinking, right up to the harder stuff, like trying to crack the heroin epidemic. Do you know that last month, before I started this case, I saved two different addicts right here in Silver Valley? One shot of Narcan to their thigh and they lived through an OD. I have no idea if they went to rehab, or are still alive, but in that moment, I made a difference.”

  “What about making a difference for you, Nika? Being a beat cop, any kind of cop, will get harder as you get older. Don’t you want a family of your own to worry about someday?”

  How could his words—plain everyday words—make her heart squeeze so tightly?

  “As much as my mother would love to see me settle down and have a baby or two, no, I can’t say the temptation has hit me. Besides, being a cop and a mother aren’t mutually exclusive. If I ever had a family, kids, I don’t plan to stop being a cop. You know that—you had to have served with women in the Marine Corps.”

  “Yes, I did, and many of them handled motherhood and their dedication to the Corps without a hiccup. As for deciding to have a family, in my experience the right person could change your mind about that.” At her silence he laughed. “Chill out, Nika. I’m not auditioning to be that person for you. I’ve dated several women since I came to Silver Valley over five years ago. One got serious, but, well, she was like your Ron. It didn’t work out. Like you, I’m still single, but it has started to cross my mind. The settling-down part. Give it a few years. I think I’m...what? Five years older than you?” They compared birth dates and found he was only two years older.