Santa's Naughty Helpers

by Elizabeth Knox

  The car behind her continued on in the same direction as well, maintaining a safe distance apart. He knew her head was too far up in the clouds to notice he was following . . .

  Grant sat in his car, still smiling long after Melanie pulled away from the parking lot. It hardly seemed real but at the same time, he could still feel the impression of her lips on his.

  She was amazing. Her lips were heavenly. Her body was warm and comforting and the feel of her pressed tight against his was true perfection. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep until he saw her again.

  He also knew her address by heart and in the last few months wanted to stop so many times when he was out jogging in her neighborhood. He wasn’t really sure that she’d see him for anything other than a stalker so he just kept going. Grant was used to getting dumb looks because who ran in the winter? He did. It kept him healthy and the fresh air cleared his head. Lord knows he needed it. His level of distraction lately had been an understatement. He was surprised he got any work done at all.

  Maybe she would still be up if he just stopped over for one last kiss or two. He could also find out what her holiday plans were since he wouldn’t be making it to his parent’s this year. They were vacationing in the Keys and while he’d previously been jealous they would be enjoying the sunshine for the holiday, his most recent turn of events had him staying right where he was.

  If he did stop, maybe he could convince her they could have Christmas dinner together since neither of them had plans. She’d never said as much but his Vice President Joe Parrish, had already clued him in. He already knew she liked to cook because she brought snacks and desserts in all the time for their co-workers to eat.

  With his head in the clouds again, Grant cursed himself for missing the first drive into Melanie’s apartment complex.

  “How stupid can I get?”

  His car should have been trained to drive there without his help. He’d just been there a couple days ago, except he parked in the clubhouse parking lot and jogged by her building at least twice in his two-mile run. It would be a bit odd pulling into a parking slot right in front of her building this time.

  He stood in the tall evergreens outside her living room window listening to the damn dog barking. How he’d like to strangle that mutt. Knew he’d either have to get her to let it outside somehow or befriend it. He despised dogs, loud dogs, any dogs really, they were all annoying. There had to be a way around it if he just waited patiently in the shadows.

  Chapter Five

  Melanie looked out the front window for the third time since she’d gotten home. Her lab had barked so much that he sounded hoarse. He had his nose stuck through the blinds, bending them in every direction but the right one. Truth be told it was starting to make her a little uncomfortable. He’d never acted like that before.

  “Come on, Wilson, please stop barking, there is nothing out there.”

  She hoped there was nothing to worry about as she pulled at his collar, dragging him away from the window. Instead, he’d claimed the perch on the back of the couch cushion where he could see without much effort.

  “Good lord, dog, do I have to put you on a diet already? I can barely move you.”

  She was only slightly exaggerating. Wilson was nine months old and he already weighed more than half of his adult weight. She’d gotten to see his parents when she picked him from the litter and didn’t remember them being too awfully large.

  Overfeeding couldn’t be the problem; she’d been careful to measure for every meal. The veterinarian advised her to follow the food chart on the back of the dog food bag so that’s what she’d been doing. She fed him twice a day, splitting the total amount of food in half. After she’d first brought him home, the amount of food he was allotted to eat at his age and size seemed like too much. He scarfed it down so fast that he choked and threw half of it back up.

  Melanie learned pretty quickly that there were no rules to raising a puppy. This was her first attempt at owning a dog since she was a little girl but her parents had done all the work then. So far, he’d stayed out of her closet full of shoes and surprisingly, he also hadn’t shredded the presents under her Christmas tree. She should probably still put them away for now. Her parents would hopefully visit after the holidays when they were back from their Caribbean cruise.

  For now, she only wanted to crawl into her pajamas, relax and enjoy her quiet Christmas Eve.

  He watched her pull the dog away from the window and move toward her bedroom after she glanced outside. Luckily, he was hidden by the bushes. Seconds later the bedroom light flashed on. Good thing there were evergreens outside that window too. Eventually she would think the dog just barked to be barking. Another couple minutes by his watch and she’d be opening her bedroom window a couple inches to let in the cool night air. Then once she let the mutt out the front door, he’d be free to make his move.

  Before Melanie changed into the nightie she’d laid out, she walked toward the front door, hollering for Wilson to go potty and chase whatever stiff breeze was blowing him all out of joint.

  “Wilson, come on . . . outside now, please.”

  She shouted as she unlocked and opened the front door before turning to look outside. She almost screamed before she realized it was Grant standing on her doorstep smiling, holding out a single rose and a bottle of wine.

  “Awe, thank you.” She grabbed for the items as Wilson made a beeline out the door between them. Pointing after him she explained.

  “That was Wilson, my nine-month-old rescue puppy and early Christmas present to myself.”

  “Beautiful dog but apparently in a hurry, huh?”

  “Yes, I’m so sorry about that. He’s really been barking up a storm the last few weeks. I have no idea what’s driving him so crazy out there but I hope he catches whatever it is.”

  Standing at the front door, Grant, and Melanie both looked down the hallway when they could hear Wilson going nuts from the direction of the back of her apartment.

  “I have the window open in my bedroom just a crack so I can hear him. He never leaves the area, he’s really good about that. He just barks a lot. He didn’t use to so I’m not sure what’s gotten into him.”

  Grant rubbed his hands together, blowing into them to alleviate some of the chill.

  “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry, please come in.”

  She held the door open wide for him and he kissed her as he walked past.

  “I hope you don’t mind I stopped over. I know it’s late but I just had to see you again.”

  He was overjoyed at the pleasure in her smile.

  “Not at all, I’m glad you did.”

  Melanie shut the front door, turned, and folded right into Grant’s waiting arms for another of his soul melting kisses.

  Chapter Six

  “Grant, I haven’t been able to think of anything else but you since I left work. I don’t even remember driving home.”

  He continued to kiss her neck and other places with reckless abandon until they both reluctantly parted, looking at each other questioning the frantic barking from outside the apartment.

  “Are you sure he’s okay back there?” Grant moved closer to the window but could only see darkness.

  “Well, he has been up to now but he’s never barked that much. It is starting to worry me a little. If he’s not careful, I could get in trouble from the office for him barking, especially at night.”

  “I’m sure he’s just chased a squirrel up a tree or something. I can go out and look just to be on the safe side. Is that okay?”

  “That would be great actually, but I’ll just throw on my boots and go with you, just in case he decides to be ornery and run from you. He does it to me sometimes. He probably thinks it’s funny but I hate going out there in the cold to chase him.”

  Grant and Melanie headed out the front door and walked through the accumulated snow to the back of the apartment where Wilson was barking continuously. Melanie approached him, grabbed him by the collar and tr
ied to shush him.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”

  “Seems kind of weird that he’s looking at your bedroom window. Did you open it that much?”

  “Actually no, I only slid it open an inch or two.”

  As she walked closer to the window, she stepped on something. When she looked down she was alarmed to see her window screen.

  “Melanie, don’t touch anything.”

  Grant dug his cell from his front pocket and dialed 911. When the operator answered, he gave the address and explained where they were currently and what had happened with the screen on the ground. He was concerned that someone had gotten into her apartment from her bedroom window.

  When he hung up the phone, Grant quietly moved Melanie and her dog Wilson closer to the evergreen trees for protection and they stayed in that tree line until they reached his car. He put her in and locked the car from the inside, then went back to the tree line again so he could watch the window until the police arrived.

  They didn’t have but a few minutes to wait and Grant had stayed on the line with the police dispatch until he saw one of the officers approaching him.

  “Mr. Summerlin, are you okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine. My friend Melanie, the one that lives in this apartment, is sitting in my car with her dog. I didn’t see anybody come back out since I’ve been here.”

  “Okay, we’ll take over from here. If you could go back to your car and wait. I’ve got officers at the front door and I’ll be right here at the window. Either I or one of the other officers will find you when it’s all clear.”

  Melanie was getting more nervous by the second until she saw Grant coming near his car. She unlocked the door by hand and he climbed in the driver’s side.

  “What’s going on out there? Is someone in my apartment?”

  He put an arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

  “I’m not exactly sure what’s going on but they think someone could have gotten in. They have the place staked out and officers are going in the front. He’ll come find us when they know more.”

  “I can’t believe this is happening. I’ve been opening my window for months so that I can hear Wilson playing outside. He’s never run off. He’s never chased animals. He just walks around and sniffs. I try to keep an eye on him.”

  “Didn’t you say he’s only been barking the last couple weeks?”

  “Yeah, just a couple weeks. I noticed he was barking one day when I came home and he’d never done that before. I’ve been yelling at him a lot to be quiet so my neighbors don’t report me.”

  “Have you seen anything out of the ordinary inside your apartment lately?”

  “Not at all, other than my bathroom trash dumped all over the floor but I’m pretty sure that’s Wilson playing.”

  “Well, all we can do is sit and wait for now. They will get things figured out.”

  Grant and Melanie sat in his car with Wilson for an additional thirty minutes, talking about each other and making plans for the holiday together when they saw a police officer approach the car. Grant rolled the window down.

  The officer explained there had been a break-in, where she had the window cracked open and that they have apprehended the man. He was found stuffed in the linen closet outside of the bathroom. They can only assume he’d been waiting for her to come back toward her bedroom.

  As the officer explained the procedures that were happening, two other officers walked a cuffed man out of her front door. They could see his face plain as day and were shocked at who they saw.

  “Grant, did you see that man? It’s Mr. Schwartz.”

  “Officer, can I have a word with that man?”

  “Do you know him?” The officer took on a different tone when he realized they knew the burglar.

  “I do, he’s one of my accountants.”

  “Personal accountant?”

  “No, business. I own Summerlin Advertising and he’s one of two I have employed.”

  The officer wrote in his notebook then told Grant he would need him to come down to the station tomorrow.

  “It’s late tonight. All is clear in your apartment now. We’ve done a wide sweep so you’re welcome to head back in now. Someone will call you tomorrow with the details and have you stop by and sign some papers but otherwise you folks can enjoy your holiday.”

  Grant confirmed that they would both be there tomorrow. The police officer left then and Melanie and Grant headed back inside.

  Grant had Melanie sit on the couch with Wilson while he went back to the bedroom and shut and locked the window. The rooms were chilly from being open so he checked the thermostat before returning to her.

  “I don’t understand. Why would Ed Schwartz break into my home?”

  “Melanie, I don’t have an answer for you but I can guarantee we’ll be finding out more tomorrow. He won’t be returning to work either. I’ll make a call to Ms. Applebaum in HR and give her a heads up. I’m sure the police station will need more paperwork on him so she might need to help out with that.”

  “I’m just in shock. He’s such a creepy guy. Now that I think about it, he’s been coming around my office a lot more lately.”

  “I can only guess he’s been coming around your apartment lately too. I’ll bet money that’s what Wilson has been barking about.”

  “I know it’s a lot to ask but do you think you can stay here with me tonight? I really don’t want to be alone.”

  “I would be glad to keep you company. Although, I’m fairly sure that Wilson would give any criminal a run for their money.”

  “I think you’re right but thank you. How about we find something to eat?”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  Epilogue

  . . . three weeks later

  Melanie sat on her couch all curled up in her Grammy’s homemade afghan, her puppy sound asleep at her feet. That is until Grant plopped down beside her, crunching on the popcorn he’d just popped.

  The puppy tried to climb into his lap several times, even though he was far from the size of a lap dog.

  “Do not give him any more of that buttery popcorn. It’s not good for him.”

  “You worry too much.”

  He kissed her cheek and pushed a fluffy popped kernel in her mouth. She swatted his hand before the next kernel made it into her lab’s drooling mouth.

  “Can you please tell me what Chief Matthews said today so we can get this movie started?”

  “Sweetheart, all you need to know is that I won’t ever leave your side again okay?”

  In the past three weeks, Melanie and Grant made several trips to the police station to sign paperwork and get updates on the company’s former accountant. Apparently, he’d been stalking Melanie for some time and had been staking out her place so that he could sneak in and surprise her. He’d camped out in the trees every night to memorize her nightly routine and the schedule with her dog.

  Melanie had made the decision pretty quickly to press charges and eventually they would have to appear in court but those things took time.

  She was pretty proud of Wilson for detecting that something was wrong and, in the future, they would both definitely take his changes in behavior much more seriously.

  Melanie and Grant had also officially become a couple and he spent as much time at her place as possible but they’d both agreed when her lease is up, she would be moving into his apartment. Then when they were ready, he promised they could find a house in a sub-division somewhere so Wilson could have room to run.

  Melanie had heard it many times but never experienced it herself til now but finding love was a pretty special thing.

  The End

  Coming Soon

  Christmas in July

  A Christmas Crush #2

  The Chicago streets were packed with people so what better place for Amber Holiday to open her new business, which she’d named Christmas in July. It was her favorite time of the year and she couldn’t think of an easier way
to celebrate than sell seasonal items all year long.

  Branch Porter has always hated Christmas. The holiday, the time of year, and everything that went with it so when a new store opened next to his brew pub, he would stop at nothing to see it closed down.

  Can Branch and Amber find common ground or will they both wish they’d never met?

  About the Author

  Krista Ames is a USA Today and International #1 bestselling

  author of romance, including several sub genres.

  Contemporary and Western Romance are her favorites and

  she also loves a man in uniform but Paranormal is quickly becoming

  her new go-to.

  Born and raised in Indiana, she is now a Northern Lower

  Michigan transplant and married to the love of her life.

  They have 4 children and a few fur babies. She is a full time

  stay-at-home mom and pursues her writing career

  when she’s not running her kids every which way.

  She finds her inspiration in the love of her family and

  binge watches romantic and scary movies.

  She’s always thrilled to hear from readers so please

  find her at any of the following locations:

  Krista Ames Website

  Bookbub

  A Passion for Romance Blog

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