No Mistletoe Required Read online

  “Geoff?”

  “Uh.”

  “Dude, what’s going on?”

  “Muh.” The phone clicked off.

  He stared at the screen, making sure he’d actually dialed Geoff’s number. But even as he confirmed, the screen lit with a new text.

  Can’t talk. Throat closed up. Sick.

  He sighed and texted back while he walked to the kitchen for a bottle of water. Why didn’t you tell anyone before you missed showing up to volunteer?

  I did, jackass. Check your fourteen text messages I sent before this. Not to mention the email I sent this morning. Oh, and the note I left you on your Facebook wall.

  No way. He’d checked his phone the minute Anna had said Geoff was missing. Hadn’t he? Replaying the moment in his head, he realized he hadn’t actually looked then. He’d been too busy finding the nearest escape route. Glancing through quickly, he saw several messages from Geoff. He didn’t bother opening them. Geoff was sometimes a flake, but he wouldn’t have let this go without warning. Dan believed him.

  Sorry, dude. I just didn’t see. You feeling okay?

  Nothing a few days of sleep won’t fix. I would have come by, but that seemed sort of stupid when it’s a hospital and there are sick kids. Sorry.

  Not your fault. We worked around it. Boy, had they. He wondered if he hadn’t stuck around to play Santa, if he would have managed to secure his afternoon with Anna.

  Damn. And I was supposed to play Santa. I always wanted to be Santa.

  Now that, Dan would believe.

  Who took my spot?

  Tricky. If he told the truth, he’d catch shit about it for weeks. If he lied...well, he didn’t lie, as a rule. So the next best thing. Evasion.

  Too long to tell. We’ll talk when you’re back at the office. Feel better.

  Now, that taken care of, he had plans to make. Plans that involved one very short sergeant and his desire to have her hot and sweaty and beneath him again. This time, preferably in a bed.

  * * *

  Anna stretched and shuffled out to her car. Another long day filled with her actual job, then topped off with Santa’s workshop. After almost a full week up and running, it was starting to wear her down, and she knew it. Her body showed serious signs of fatigue. She needed a night to relax. Decompress. Completely surrender to the exhaustion and—

  Her phone rang, and she answered automatically. “Hello?”

  “Hey.” Dan’s warm greeting filled her with anticipation, and then calmed her already frazzled nerves. “Late night?”

  She laughed and pushed at her hair, scraping it back when the wind would push it into her eyes again. “You could say that.” She’d missed hearing his voice. After three days straight of seeing him almost non-stop, the three days without had seemed a little empty.

  And wasn’t that just the worst way to get caught up in something she had no right to be dealing with?

  “Too tired to hang out?”

  “Is ‘hang out’ an euphemism for something better?” She unlocked her car door and settled her bag on the passenger seat, sighing in relief as her butt hit the padding. God, it felt good to not be standing for just five seconds.

  “Maybe.”

  She paused a moment. He was meant to be a weekend fling. Something to slip in and out of her life easily. So easy to avoid attachments if she stuck to the schedule. But instead, she heard her voice say, “Sure.”

  What was the harm in a little mid-week get together? They didn’t call it Hump Day for nothing, after all.

  “I’ll meet you at your place?”

  She smiled. “Ever efficient. It’ll give me ten or so to get there. Take your time. Come on in when you’re there.”

  And that gave her ten minutes to wipe the grin off her face.

  Ten minutes later, she walked into her apartment and groaned. With the relentless schedule she’d been keeping, she hadn’t had any time to clean. Decembers were hit and miss as far as how tidy her place was, and tonight was a definite miss. She scrambled through the bedroom first, tossing out trash and kicking dirty scrubs from the last few days under the bed. Next came the bathroom, though all she had there was a bra draped over the shower bar. Easy fix.

  Kitchen. Sink full of dishes. Crap. She stared at them, then at the already-full dishwasher. Time to get inventive. She found a paper sack and stuffed the rinsed off dishes in the sack, shoving them under the sink. Then, for good measure, she ran the disposal and squirted some of her green apple scented dish soap down the drain. Just in case...

  “Hey.”

  “Ah!” Anna dropped the soap in the sink and gripped the edges with her hands. When she glanced over her shoulder, Dan stood, hands in his pockets, one brow raised. “Scare a girl to death, why don’t you?”

  “You told me to come in.” He walked up behind her and reached around her arm to turn the water off. “I knocked anyway, but I’m guessing the water covered the sound.”

  “Guess so.” She dried her hands on the towel by the sink and blinked rapidly. She was fading. If there would be any hump in her hump day, she’d need to act fast. Sliding her hands up his chest, she linked them around his neck. “Couldn’t wait until the weekend for another taste, huh?”

  Dan smiled but took her hands down and then pulled her to the living room. She winced at the trashy, one-step-up-from-tabloid magazines littering the coffee table, but he didn’t say a word. Just pulled her down next to him and draped an arm over her shoulder. “You look like you could use a break more than anything.”

  “No, I’m good.” The lie was ruined when she couldn’t hold back a yawn. Dammit. She’d lose him soon. And for some reason, she didn’t want him to go. “Why don’t you do that thing you did last time and take me to the bedroom like a caveman?”

  “How about we hang out here for a bit?”

  She shrugged, then an idea came. Slowly, the smile spread. “We could watch a movie.”

  “Now you’re thinking.” He shifted and walked to her entertainment console. “What movie?”

  “White Christmas.”

  His hand froze halfway to the stack of DVDs, and a little tendril of smugness spiraled into her gut. Take that. Now he’d take any chance he could get to whisk her away to the bedroom. Back on even ground.

  But then he found the DVD case and popped it in the player. “Can you believe I haven’t seen this one before?”

  “Uh, kinda.” He sat back down and settled her against him so her legs draped over his lap and her head rested against his chest. “I think the surprise would be if this was your favorite Christmas movie.”

  He was silent for awhile as Bing Crosby began singing in his army uniform for his fellow soldiers. “I guess I don’t have a favorite Christmas movie.”

  She wiggled a little as his hand dipped under the bottom edge of her shirt, fingertips caressing her skin. “Favorite something else, then. Favorite gift you’ve ever given.”

  He was quiet for some time, the rise and fall of his chest beneath her cheek almost lulling her into sleep. But as Danny Kaye convinced Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen to scale out a window, he finally answered.

  “A necklace.”

  She wondered who he’d given the piece of jewelry to. Not that it was any of her business. But before she could convince herself to not even think about asking, he added, “It was for my mom.”

  His body, his entire spirit was so quiet, so still, she wondered if he’d fallen asleep himself. But then his hand moved up and down her arm. “She loved Christmas.” His body tightened a little then, the muscles of his chest rippling under her. “Favorite holiday. Dad’s too. They would start pulling out decorations after Thanksgiving and we’d have a family meeting to strategize which decorations went where...” His voice trailed off. “It was a long time ago.”

  She ached for him, because she knew something wasn’t right. Had his mother fallen from his life in some way? Were they estranged? Passed away? He used past tense, so something was up there. She wouldn’t ask, not now
. Not when she was so close to falling asleep in his arms, warm and comfortable and completely satisfied with the way things were.

  Her eyes shot open. No. Not the plan at all. It was supposed to be hot and quick and sexy. Something sure to burn out fast. Not this peaceful contentment seeping through her body.

  But she was too relaxed to move. She’d deal with it later. Yeah. Later. Tomorrow, even, she’d start putting in that self-preserving distance.

  Her mind drifted off as Rosemary and Bing sang about counting their blessings.

  * * *

  “Back again?”

  Dan turned. One of the Kappas—damn, what was her name?—smiled at him with a sort of reserved humor.

  “I’m beginning to think you can’t resist our adorable elf outfits.” She lifted one foot and jingled the bells attached.

  He smiled and shook his head. No point in playing it off any longer. He’d stopped by enough the past two days that all the volunteers knew what he was doing. After he tucked Anna into her bed Wednesday, she’d all but avoided him. He’d haunted the place on his lunch break Thursday and then that night. Okay, and Friday lunch too. Amazing what two days without seeing her could do to him. “She here?”

  “Just missed her. She’s making a sub run for those who can’t get away for dinner.” The Kappa—Tam! That was her name—pointed to the craft area. “One of the nurses got called away. If you don’t mind helping out while you wait? We could use a few extra hands over there.” She leaned in and stage-whispered, “There’s glitter open,” with mock horror.

  He gave an equally horrified look of his own back to her...only his wasn’t a joke. Glitter? He stared down at his suit, having come straight from a deposition. But he found himself shrugging out of his jacket, removing his tie to stuff in the pocket and then heading over to where a few kids sat, gluing and pasting at something. He took a seat next to a cutie with a fuzz head, a little girl who looked about seven or eight.

  “What’s going on here?” He examined the craft over her shoulder loosening the top button of his shirt.

  “Ornament for my mom,” she answered with a big smile, displaying a missing incisor.

  “Need any help?”

  She asked for his opinion on a few things; red or green glitter, pink or purple ribbon, which side should she put the stickers. But otherwise, she was pretty self-sufficient.

  And for just that moment, he got it. He understood exactly why Anna busted her ass so hard, rode everyone so hard to make sure that the event was a success. The ravages of her disease were evident in the sweet little girl’s body. The missing patches of hair, the pale complexion, the IV hook up taped to the back of one hand.

  But at this very moment in time, her biggest worry was whether her mother would rather hang this ornament from their family Christmas tree with a ribbon or with a hook. Just like any normal child in elementary school whose biggest health concern was whether she’d be stuck with chicken pox and miss a birthday party.

  ‘Humbled’ didn’t begin to describe what trudged through his chest, made him feel like an ass for hesitating even a moment before agreeing to help. For resisting the holiday spirit and not wanting to deal with the young patients in the beginning. He fought hard to keep his voice steady as he suggested the purple ribbon and then helped her tie a secure knot.

  “Now this is an unexpected but sweet picture.”

  At the sound of Anna’s voice, his heart gave a slow roll in his chest. “Hey.”

  She stood a little ways off, watching him with an assessing gaze, a bag of subs in one hand. “Need relief?”

  “No, I’m good. Do what you need to, I’m not here to distract.”

  Her eyebrows rose, but she didn’t ask twice. “Your ornament is beautiful, Aubrey. Your mother will love it.”

  The little girl beamed at her. “Thank you, Ms. Anna. Can I come back tomorrow to make one for Dad?”

  Anna shot a look around to see if there was a nurse paying attention. Coming up short, she said, “You’ll have to ask one of the nurses. But if they’re okay with it, that’s fine.”

  The little girl’s face fell. “They said they only had time to bring us by once, ’cause there are so many kids.”

  Dan sat next to the sweetheart, feeling helpless and ineffective. This one little spot of brightness had changed her entire demeanor, and now she was back to being reminded she lived in a hospital. And he had no way to change that.

  Anna crouched down next to her, passing the bag of subs to him wordlessly behind Aubrey’s back. “Tell you what, sweetie. I’ll come get you and bring you down myself, okay? As long as one of the nurses tells me it’s okay to sign you out for a quick trip here, we’ll do that. This weekend will be too busy but on Monday, my lunch hour, I’ll stop by.”

  Aubrey sniffled. “Promise?”

  Anna held out one hand, pinky finger extended. Knowing the drill, the little girl wrapped her much smaller finger around Anna’s and they shook once. Aubrey’s face was bright once more as a nurse came to walk her to a wheelchair before scooting out the room.

  “That was sweet,” she said quietly, watching as Aubrey and her nurse left, door closing behind them.

  “Aubrey? Yeah, she was a darling. Cracked me up with how intense she was on picking the right color combination for her project.” He started brushing excess glitter from the table into the palm of his hand, ready to stand and toss it in the trash. But Anna surprised him by leaning over and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

  “No, I meant you.”

  “Oh,” he said, which was the most intelligent thing he could think of, sadly. Standing, he swept the glitter off his hand and into the nearest trash can. “I’ve been trying to catch you the last few days.”

  “Busy time,” she said absently, picking the bag back up and walking away to the half-hidden refreshment table for the volunteers. He caught up and then followed her to the table, watching as she started spreading out the sandwiches.

  “Too busy to hang out this weekend?”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” she answered, but didn’t go further into detail.

  “Maybe a movie,” he tried again. “One where we actually go to a theater.”

  “Hmm.” She counted the sandwiches. “I thought I should have fourteen. Oh, here it is.”

  “Dinner somewhere?” Starting to feel like a needy, desperate chick, he stuck his hands in his pockets.

  Crumpling the bag, she tossed it in the trash can under the table then finally turned to face him. “How about you pick me up at my place tomorrow night? It’ll be late, but—”

  “Done.” He wasn’t about to give her any excuses to bail on him now.

  She put a hand on his forearm. “I really have to get some more stuff finished up here. I’m sorry, but...tomorrow?”

  “Yeah, definitely. I’ll be here for Saturday morning set up.” Which hadn’t been his original plan, but any excuse to see Anna, he’d take. “And then tomorrow night...”

  She nodded, distracted by something going on over his shoulder, then hurried away to fix another project.

  She was in Sarge mode, and he wouldn’t be able to penetrate that, even if he wanted to. No, he’d wait. Wait until she had a chance to get this finished, get it off her mind and then he’d go to her. He wanted to have a nice, long talk with her, see where things stood.

  He’d been giving up a good portion of his life to grief. And for once, he wasn’t feeling like a traitor for enjoying life on the holidays.

  Chapter Seven

  He pulled up to Anna’s apartment complex, humming with anticipation of spending some time with her outside the hospital. The entire Saturday had been spent devoted to the Workshop, where he realized Anna had more than a passing knowledge of many of the staff members that carted the kids to the rec room. He was exhausted, not used to spending this much time on his off days working with kids. Even the ones with chronic illnesses seemed to be balls of energy. But he’d walked out the rec room door that evening with a smile he couldn’
t shake. No wonder Anna did this year after year. The stress and worry all was worth it.

  But tonight was all about them. He had nice, easy plans, if he did say so himself. A late movie—her choice, since he didn’t care—with a big bucket of popcorn and a few sodas. Simple, easy, effective. Naturally, a little old-fashioned making out in the darkened theater wouldn’t be out of line. He could even bring out his high school stand-by of stretching before letting his arm rest over her shoulders and pulling her into him for a cuddle.

  Old school. The thought made him grin like a kid. He hadn’t had this much fun getting to know a woman in...he couldn’t remember how long. Anna was good for him.

  He rang the doorbell, expecting to wait a few minutes in the cooling evening air. But she opened the door immediately, grabbed the front of his button-down shirt and yanked him in. Before he could get out a “Hey, how are ya” she was on him. His back hit the wall next to the door, his front plastered with warm woman. The thought that this was very similar to their first encounter in the storage closet raced through his mind.

  Okay, so scratch the movie.

  When she stretched as far as she could, her hands grabbed his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. Which was good, but not enough. He bent over and grabbed hold of the backs of her thighs, lifting easily to help her wrap around his waist. She was light, easy to carry down the hall. Then he nearly ran her into a wall before remembering it was her place, not his. He turned the other direction and nudged the bedroom door open.

  He let her bounce on the bed, not wasting any time stripping out of his clothes. He managed exactly two buttons before the task frustrated the ever-lovin’ hell out of him and he just pulled the whole thing over his head. By the time he was down to his boxers, Anna was completely naked, curled up on top of her comforter like a kitten waiting for another warm body to come cuddle with her.

  “How the hell did you do that so fast?” he asked in amazement.

  She smiled. “No underwear.”

  “Jesus,” he moaned before shucking the boxers and joining her. It was the first time he’d seen her without a shirt of some kind on, and he wasn’t about to rush the looking. Her nipples pebbled in the cool air. The heat of her skin did confusing things to his mind. He took it slow this time—slower than the first time, anyway. He’d be a bald-faced liar to say he wasn’t anxious as hell to get inside her, feel her around him, coming apart under him.