Lone Star Santa

by Heather MacAllister

  “No acting, there,” Mitch said.

  She broke off to give him a big smile and then stepped forward and raised her arms. She was going to kiss him. He stepped back before he could stop himself.

  She halted, arms in midair. “You’re totally creeped out by being in your parents’ bedroom, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  Kristen dropped her arms. “Completely understandable.” She glanced at the bed. “Completely. Now, where were we?”

  “How wonderful and fabulous you are.”

  “And hot. Don’t forget that.”

  “I never do.”

  She grinned. “I bet Jeremy says something like, ‘Is Kristen still as hot as she was?’”

  “Jeremy’s ego isn’t the only one I wonder about.”

  “I’m not naturally hot. I have to work at it. Hot is a state of mind.”

  Mitch thought it was a state of body.

  “The point is to make me seem like exactly the type of woman Jeremy would want to attract.”

  She was exactly Jeremy’s type of woman.

  “And my Miss Sweetest crown won’t hurt. Remember distraction and ego. By this time, he’ll be thinking about trying to get me away from you so he can finally feel he’s the better man. This is where you feed his ego. You admit that you’ve never dated someone like me and you are unsure of yourself. Ask his advice, since he’s had lots of experience. He’ll have forgotten all about his computer.”

  Kristen had been pacing behind him as she came up with this little scenario. “Oh, oh!” She gestured wildly. “Tell him you hope your situation gets straightened out soon because a woman like me expects certain things and you haven’t been able to afford those things.”

  She’s right. And you’ve bought her exactly one delicious, but cheap, Mexican food dinner. Mitch gazed stonily at himself in the mirror.

  “Wrong face.”

  He met her eyes directly.

  “Mitch.” She put her hands on either side of his face. “A woman like me. Not me.”

  He was kidding himself. What did he have to offer her?

  “Do not insult me by arguing with me about this,” she demanded fiercely.

  “You deserve more.”

  “So do you. And you’re going to get it. Now, from the top. I’m Jeremy and I’ve just let you in the house.”

  “SO HOW HAVE YOU BEEN keeping yourself busy?” Jeremy leaned against the massive wooden desk in the downstairs office that Mitch had seen through the window several days ago.

  He studied Jeremy’s open laptop. “My mom is a total stress bunny with all the parade stuff.” He mentally apologized to his mother. “Dad and I are just her minions.” He logged in using Jeremy’s new password—which Jeremy had given to him after explaining that federal agents had insisted that he change everything. Yeah, right.

  Garbage filled the screen. “Oh, I see. Have we got a server problem?”

  “Uh, no.”

  Which told Mitch that Jeremy hadn’t asked their IT guy to investigate. Good. “But no one else complained of having computer issues.”

  “Mmm.” Actually, what Mitch really wanted to say was, “How could they when they’re all on vacation because you closed the office for the holidays?”

  But he didn’t. Mitch had also forced himself to swallow Jeremy’s claim that he’d had no trouble handling Mitch’s clients and running the office as usual. He’d expressed admiration and Jeremy soaked it up.

  So far, Jeremy had stuck to his side, watching everything Mitch did. Mitch let the laptop screen fill with garbage a few more times to make it look good. “Let me try my password.” Mitch typed rapidly.

  “Uh…” Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck.

  PASSWORD NOT RECOGNIZED ACCESS DENIED

  Mitch waited to hear what he’d say.

  “There’s some scrambling thing…”

  “Encryption program?”

  “Yeah.”

  Mitch kept his eyes on the laptop as he felt his anger grow. Distraction and ego, he heard in Kristen’s voice. Accept any plausible explanation.

  “Well, that’s what’s wrong.” Mitch sat back and gestured to the screen. “The encryption is leaking over to your files. Encryption programs are really complicated and notoriously finicky. A typo has been known to set one off.”

  Somewhere, a computer geek was rolling in his grave.

  “Can you fix it?”

  Mitch rubbed the place between his eyes and checked his watch. “Yeah. It might take awhile.”

  “How long?”

  “It could take minutes or it could take hours. First, I have to poke around and find the leak.”

  “Oh.” Jeremy was visibly relieved. “So it’s not like it’s going to take days or anything.”

  “No.” Mitch focused on the screen, hoping that Jeremy would leave him to it.

  “What are you waiting for?” Jeremy hadn’t moved.

  Mitch studied his watch.

  “Got a hot date?” Jeremy stopped just short of sneering.

  “Actually…” Mitch smiled to himself. “I’ve met someone. Someone special.” He looked up at Jeremy and let his face go sappy. It wasn’t hard since he had met someone special.

  “Mitch, you dog.” Jeremy punched him in the shoulder. “So tell me about her.”

  Just as Kristen had predicted. “Well, she’s sweet—”

  “The ones from Sugar Land usually are.” It was an old joke but Jeremy laughed as though no one had ever said it before. “So she’s like an elementary school teacher? Church choir director?”

  Women not flashy enough for Jeremy. “Actually, she’s an actress.”

  Though he stared at the screen, Mitch could feel Jeremy’s attention shift.

  “Oh, a drama teacher.”

  “I don’t think so.” Mitch punched up the source code for Jeremy’s monitor, which Jeremy wouldn’t know, and it filled the screen nicely. “You might remember her from school—Kristen Zaleski?” Mitch looked up.

  Jeremy literally froze. “Kristen Zaleski?”

  “Yeah. Do you remember her?”

  “The Miss Sweetest Kristen Zaleski? Hollywood Kristen Zaleski? Homecoming queen Kristen Zaleski?” Jeremy stared at him in stunned disbelief.

  Was it that unbelievable?

  “That’s the one.” It was sappy look time. “She’s sweet and sexy and smart and fun to be with.”

  “I’ll just bet she is.” Jeremy dropped his head back and wandered around to the other side of the desk. “Dude, I can’t believe you’re hanging out with Kristen Zaleski.” While Jeremy shook his head in amazement, Mitch took the chance to display the contents of his hard drive.

  Jeremy flopped onto the leather side chair across the desk from Mitch. “Is she still just totally hot?”

  “Incredibly hot.” And incredibly smart where people were concerned. Jeremy was acting exactly the way she’d predicted. “Incandescently hot. Almost too hot, you know?”

  “No,” Jeremy answered. “No such thing.”

  “She’s got a belly ring.”

  Jeremy moaned and closed his eyes. “Stop. You’re killin’ me.”

  Mitch not only didn’t stop, he followed the rest of Kristen’s advice, including asking Jeremy tips for impressing a woman like Kristen. At the same time, he copied bits of information he could retrieve later. He would have loved to dump the contents of Jeremy’s hard drive into his own computer, but even Jeremy would catch that.

  “Mitch. Buddy.”

  Mitch had to look up.

  “Are you telling me that you haven’t nailed her yet?”

  His fingers slipped on the keyboard and his face warmed with the effort of restraining himself from reaching across the desk and strangling Jeremy.

  Fortunately, Jeremy interpreted Mitch’s reaction as embarrassment. “Don’t feel bad, buddy. You’re not used to handling that much woman.”

  I’m selective, not incapable, you condescending, pretentious… And what have we here? Encrypted spreadshee
t files. Jeremy was neither the encryption nor the spreadsheet type, especially not on his personal laptop.

  Mitch could stand a few insults if it bought him time. “So what do I do, Jer?” And then he met Jeremy’s eyes and spoke from his heart. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone before.”

  Jeremy settled back, fingers laced behind his head, and swiveled back and forth in the chair. “A woman like Kristen will expect you to take charge. And nice guys aren’t going to turn her on, if you know what I mean.”

  Jerk. Mitch tuned him out and tried to access the files. Not happening. He’d need password retrieval software which he didn’t have and which the FBI did. Kristen’s father might have something, though. Mitch was going to have to get access to Jeremy’s computer again, but if he didn’t fix it now, Jeremy might take it to whoever had helped him in the past and Mitch’s little nuisance programs would be discovered. Then the bad guys would know Mitch suspected them, so he had to remove the programs now.

  There wasn’t much more he could do here, anyway.

  “Have you even been listening?” Jeremy had stopped relating hints designed to demonstrate his sexual prowess.

  “I think I’ve found what I was looking for.”

  “Mitch, buddy, you were paying more attention to a computer than to me? Dude, that was my best stuff. I don’t give that out to just anybody. No wonder you can’t get a woman.”

  “I have a woman.” Mitch typed in a few keystrokes. “A lot of what you said was just style. You have yours and I have mine. I think Kristen will prefer mine.” He met Jeremy’s eyes in a direct challenge and turned the laptop around to face him. “All fixed.”

  “HE ASKED IF I was still hot, didn’t he?”

  Kristen was deservedly smug.

  “Yes.” They were in the Noir Blanc offices waiting for Mitch’s dad to arrive.

  “So what did you tell him?”

  Mitch leaned sideways and spoke through gritted teeth. “Not in front of the parents.”

  She beamed at him. “That hot, huh?”

  Mitch was not entirely happy with the situation here. In addition to his mother and Kristen’s parents, Carl Zaleski had brought in a policeman friend of his who was currently one of the area’s Santa Claus security. He was dressed as the jolly old elf himself, although he’d temporarily removed his hat and beard.

  Mitch had protested vehemently, but had been outvoted. Since when had this become a voting issue? But the Santa cop was there to provide a record that Mitch had contacted authorities as soon as he had any evidence to back his suspicions, and to make sure that evidence would remain admissible in court.

  The door opened and he smiled at his father, the smile fading when he saw that he’d brought a man with him.

  Why not just announce Mitch’s FBI problem to the entire town?

  “This is Wayne Halloran, Mitch’s attorney.”

  “Dad—”

  “And Christmas present. See? There’s Santa.”

  The laughter broke the tension in the room. Kristen’s father stood and met Mitch’s eyes in a reassuring look that also asked for Mitch’s trust.

  And he was prepared to wait until he got it.

  Mitch gave him the slightest of nods.

  “In the course of gathering information for my client, we discovered a situation…”

  Somehow, Carl Zaleski laid everything on the table without making Mitch appear stupid, for which he had Mitch’s gratitude and admiration—the real things.

  Mitch added the pieces of information he’d gleaned from Jeremy’s hard drive. “I want the opportunity to try and decrypt those files.”

  His lawyer, the cop and Carl all shook their heads. “It would take you several lifetimes with current technology,” Carl told him. “You’d need the password.”

  Mitch smiled. “I think I have it.”

  “How?” Kristen asked as everyone stared at him.

  “I found it in a file named ‘file access.’”

  “You’re kidding,” Santa cop said.

  Mitch shook his head. “It’s typical Jeremy. But I want to go back and try the password and see what happens and I don’t want him there when I do it.”

  “Do it during the kickoff party at the Sloanes’ house,” Kristen said. “We’ll keep Jeremy busy and you can sneak in then.”

  Mitch’s lawyer spoke up. “I’ll remind everyone that my client has a business partnership with Jeremy Sloane and that Mr. Sloane has requested my client’s assistance and was granted access to both domicile and computer, which establishes previous—”

  “He’s covered,” Santa cop interrupted.

  “Is this an official—”

  “I said he’s covered.”

  This was one Santa Mitch wouldn’t want to meet in a dark chimney.

  “I want to hear what Kristen’s got in mind,” Patsy said.

  “Okay. Here’s what I’m thinking.” She tossed him a smile before continuing.

  Mitch sat back. For the first time he didn’t just hope he’d get out of this mess; he believed it.

  THE NEXT TWO DAYS were crazy because Kristen was preparing for the performance of her life.

  As part of the evening’s entertainment at the annual Christmas Light Parade Volunteer Appreciation kickoff party, Kristen Zaleski, former Miss Sweetest, and rising Hollywood actress—never mind the details, it sounded good—had graciously agreed to sing a medley of Christmas songs.

  And allow Jeremy Sloane to try and seduce her, but that wasn’t on the program.

  Mitch, showing a real knack, had set up the situation perfectly. The rest was up to Kristen. All she had to do was become the woman every man wanted that night and that called for the heavy artillery.

  She needed a dress and not just any dress. A classy, sexy, red dress that would make men drool and their women grudgingly not blame them. Nothing trashy or tacky or over-the-top sparkly, and nothing showing too much skin.

  Which is what she’d just finished explaining to her former pageant dress seamstress, Teresa Nguyen.

  “I got it,” Teresa said. And Kristen knew she did.

  Checking inventory on her computer, Teresa climbed on the ladder behind her and brought down a shoebox without Kristen asking.

  “You wear these.” After setting them on the counter, Teresa disappeared behind a curtained doorway.

  Kristen tried on the white satin strappy sandals because no one argued with Teresa. Or at least winners didn’t.

  Teresa returned carrying a bolt of red satin charmeuse with a muted sheen that gave it a rich look. “We dye the shoes to match.”

  Kristen stood and instantly became four inches taller. She was not going to be walking far in these shoes.

  Teresa took an electronic gun and zapped the fabric, typed in a command and waited. “Okay.” She gestured to Kristen. “Here is your dress in that exact color.”

  Kristen looked at the monitor. “There’s my dress.” The style Teresa had chosen was a fitted, strapless column that fell to the floor. It revealed everything while revealing nothing and it was exactly what Kristen had wanted without knowing it. “Teresa, you’re a genius.”

  “Yes. Now, I take your measurements.”

  “You have my measurements on file.”

  “Old measurements.” Was Teresa staring at her stomach?

  Kristen meekly followed her into the back dressing area and submitted to another measuring.

  “You need hair,” Teresa pronounced.

  “I have hair.” She kept it just below shoulder length for versatility.

  “More hair. Get it. With this dress, you don’t wear jewelry. No earrings, no necklace. Hair.”

  And so, between getting hair extensions and rehearsing with the band, Kristen didn’t get to see Mitch until a few hours before the party.

  “Is this really necessary?” Mitch glared at his reflection as Kristen’s stylist added blond foils to his hair.

  “Yes. Why are you arguing with me?” She hadn’t argued with Teresa. “Don
’t you recognize genius?”

  “I recognize genius, but I’m not going to recognize myself.”

  “That’s the point!” Kristen looked heavenward. “We don’t want anyone to recognize you. Your mother will tell everyone you’re running an errand for her. And if Jeremy thinks you’re off busy with the parade, then he’ll feel free to go after me.”

  “He’d go after you anyway.”

  “True.”

  Mitch chuckled softly.

  “You know he would! He’d do it to get to you. But even Jeremy would find it a challenge to convince me to ditch you for him while you’re standing right there. So he’ll be watching you and waiting. And if he has any kind of success with me, he’ll want to see if you notice. You don’t want Jeremy watching you. Therefore, the Mitch he knows will not be there.”

  Mitch scratched his face, where he was growing some nice stubble. “You think this will work?”

  Kristen smiled. “If it doesn’t, it will be because you will fall under my spell and forget what you’re supposed to be doing. Ignore me. Don’t listen, and for heaven sakes don’t look.”

  “MOOOOOM! HELP!” Kristen collapsed onto her bed in exhausted defeat.

  Barbara hurried in. “You’re not dressed yet! It’s time to leave.”

  “I want to make a grand entrance,” Kristen mumbled.

  “That’s not going to give you the effect you want,” her mother said.

  “I can’t get this thing on.” She tugged and kicked her feet in frustration. “And this Rapunzel hair keeps getting all tangled in stuff.”

  Barbara chuckled. “What is that?”

  “It’s a body shaper.”

  “Your knees don’t need that much shaping.”

  “That’s as far as I can pull it up.” She looked pleadingly at her mother. “Help?”

  Clearly amused, Barbara brushed aside the lengthy strands of hair. “Stand up.” She walked behind Kristen and tugged and with Kristen pulling from the front she finally squeezed herself into the shaper. She was out of breath and beginning to sweat.

  Fanning herself with her hand, she asked, “How could you ever stand to wear a girdle? How could you even get into one?”