I sighed. “I really don’t know.”
He ran his nail under the edge of the beer bottle’s label. “You want me to handle it? I will. I can suss out what she wants, and then you can decide based on what I find out. For all she knows, you’re still in the NP and unable to get the text anyway. Even summer elves know the Pole has notoriously spotty cell service.”
“True.” I thought about that. “Maybe that’s the best thing.” I glanced at my menu with genuine intent this time. But that didn’t last long. “Actually, that won’t work. Her text to me said she knew I was in the States. And that she hoped everything was chill. No clue what that’s supposed to mean. What did yours say?”
He took out his phone and scrolled through his messages. “It says, ‘This is a drive by texting from Lark. Remember me, Coop?’ Then a smiley face emoji.”
“That’s it?”
He put his phone down. “Yep. Sounds like a pretty open invitation to chat to me.”
I squinted at him. “Really? Because to me it sounds light and flirty and like the only invitation she wants is into your pants.”
He laughed out loud. “Do my eyes deceive me or do you look a little green?”
“Please. I’m not the jealous type.” But I so could be. I tried to drink my wine nonchalantly. Which was harder to do than you’d think.
His smirk stayed firmly in place, but the twinkle in his eyes was new. “So you wouldn’t care if I invited other women to my pants party?”
“Oh, it’s a party now?”
He shrugged like he was bearing up under a great burden. “I don’t know if you understand the effect this uniform has on women. It’s a rare day that I don’t come home with at least one phone number.”
I could feel little ice crystals crunching through my veins. But I also knew Cooper was doing this on purpose. He enjoyed teasing me. Always had. “Is that so? And how many of them do you call?”
He stared at me, his gaze hot and deep. “Not a single one. Not since you came to town.”
The ice crystals melted and I was left speechless again.
Fortunately, the server returned to take our order. I was so flustered, I started to ask for a salad. Salad! “Wait, no. Ignore that. I’ll have that bacon mac-and-cheese casserole.”
Cooper grinned but kept his eyes on the menu. “I’ll have a cheeseburger and fries.”
The server took our menus and left.
We sat there in silence for so long I finally had to say something. “You could, you know. If you wanted to.”
“Could what?”
“Call one of those numbers.”
One of his brows lifted. “You really mean that?”
I used the tines of my fork to draw lines on my paper napkin. “You know I’m seeing Greyson. There’s no reason for you not to see whoever else you want. It would only be fair.”
“Does the vampire date other women too, then?”
“I…don’t know.” We hadn’t really discussed it. After all, the thing with Greyson and I was very new. We had none of the history that Cooper and I did.
Cooper leaned in. “Then let me make one thing very clear. Seeing other women might be all right for him, but it’s not for me. You merit my full attention, Jay. A second chance with you is not something I’m going to half-ass. No matter where you’re at with us, that’s where I’m at. And you deserve to know that. You need to know that. Because at some point, it’s going to matter.”
That was sweet and flattering and a little scary. I did my best not to react too much. “That doesn’t feel fair to you, though. Not when I’m not ready to commit.”
“Babe, one of these days you’re going to wake up and know which one of us you want. It’s inevitable, and I’m content to wait. So long as that wait includes time with you. Hell, I could do this for the next fifty years if I had to.” He took a slow pull off his beer, then put it down and smiled. “I’m a very patient man.”
He was also extremely easy to be with. Our food arrived, and he shifted the conversation away from all the relationship talk to tell me stories about his time as a fireman. He kept me laughing and entertained all the way through dinner and the walk home.
At my door, he lifted my chin and stared into my eyes. “Thank you for meeting me tonight. I know you’re busy and bogged down with this imp issue, so don’t worry about Lark. I’ll deal with it and let you know what happens, okay?”
“Okay.” I was a little high on his charm and sweetness at the moment. As much as I needed to go upstairs and go to bed, I wasn’t ready for things to end just yet. “You can kiss me now.”
“As you wish, Princess.” He smiled a little lopsided smile, then put his mouth on mine and did just that. The kiss was long and slow and hot but filled with the kind of restraint that drove me crazy. How he had such control when I felt like I was coming apart at the seams, I had no idea. But then he’d always been the master of the tease, able to make me crazy with a single touch or a heated glance or a kiss that verged on reckless but didn’t quite fall completely off the edge. It was school days all over again. We could have been standing outside my dorm.
But we weren’t kids anymore. And if I didn’t break this kiss off soon, we were going to end up doing some very adult things.
I stepped back, trying to catch my breath. “I should go to bed.”
His smile was back, this time wickedly bent. “I’m going to assume that’s not another invitation and say good night.”
I nodded, still stupefied by the brand his mouth had left on mine. “Uh huh. Bed. I mean, night.”
He tipped his head toward the door. “I’ll wait until you’re in.”
I wandered over to the door, pulled my key out and unlocked it. “Thanks again for dinner.”
“My pleasure.”
I sucked in a breath and went inside, smiling and warm. Whatever stress I’d been feeling before dinner was completely gone. I floated up to my apartment and completely forgot about entering quietly until I shut the door behind me.
“Snowballs.” If the imp had been here, I’d probably scared him off. I checked the sugar. It was all there and still looked untouched. Maybe it wasn’t going to work. That was a depressing thought.
I refused to let that bring me down. It would work. I’d wake up in the morning and the little invisible wretch would be passed out in the box. Cooper had left me far too happy to think otherwise.
With the taste of his kiss still fresh on my lips, I got ready for bed, gathered Spider up and went to sleep.
But morning brought no miraculous good news. There wasn’t a crystal of sugar out of place in that soda cap. I frowned and pushed hair out of my face. “This isn’t working.”
Then I wrinkled my nose. Something in the apartment was super stinky. Like cat food gone bad. But there wasn’t a morsel in Spider’s wet-food bowl.
I sniffed the trash. Nothing there either. Finally, I shoved the window all the way up to let some fresh air in. And nearly gagged.
I had a pretty good idea what new trouble the imp had caused. I shut the window again. Great. I was definitely going to hear about this one. Having the whole town smell like week-old tuna was not going to be good for business.
Spider rubbed up against my leg. “Hungry. Mama feed Spider.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Do you ever think about anything besides food?”
“Chicken Party.”
“That is food, silly.” I got his breakfast, then leaned on the counter drinking a Dr Pepper and trying to think about anything but the town reeking like a bait shop.
About halfway through the bottle, an idea came to me. Call Corette. So I did. Actually, I sent her a text. Sugar hasn’t been touched. Any new info? Besides the way the town smells.
I left my phone on the counter and went to shower. By the time I was out, she’d responded.
The smell is awful, isn’t it? But the covens will have it solved shortly. Try another type of sweet maybe. Still working on the visibility spell. Hope to finish i
t today.
Thank you! I texted back. For both things!
Having the coven take care of the smell made me feel instantly better, and with Cooper handling whatever was going on with Lark, and Corette helping me with the imp, my mind focused on the still unanswered question of who was Francine’s client and why had they wanted that imp?
That felt like super important info to me. This imp was trouble. I couldn’t imagine anyone using it for something good. But I could definitely imagine someone using it for all kinds of bad reasons. And revenge felt like it was at the top of that list.
If that was the case, wouldn’t the imp-buyer still be looking to get that revenge? Someone in Nocturne Falls could be facing danger from something other than a chaos imp.
Feeling a new sense of urgency while I got ready for the day, I mulled how to get my hands on Francine’s client list. If I could talk to whoever was on the list in Nocturne Falls, I might get a sense for who’d been out for revenge, although it was possible her imp-obsessed client didn’t live here.
Problem was, Francine would never willingly give me that list. And trying to get it by some legal means might result in her destroying it. Or creating a fake one.
And she was moving. Based on how packed-up her house was, she might already be gone.
There was only one way I could think of to get my hands on that list.
I frowned at myself in the mirror. Looked like my breaking-and-entering days weren’t over yet.
I called Birdie. She answered right away.
“Good morning, Princess! How are you this fine day?”
“I’m, uh, I’m fine. Birdie, Jayne, please. And I have a question for you.”
“Oh yes, yes. Jayne. Of course. Ask away, I’m happy to help.”
“Do you have any idea how much longer Francine is going to be in town?”
“No, but I think I know how to find out. I’ll need to get into the office first and check on a few things. I’ll call you back as soon as I have an answer.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” No clue how she was going to find out, but Birdie seemed to have access to intel that others didn’t. Of course, she did work in the sheriff’s department. “I’ll talk to you soon.”
“Yes, you will. Have a good day, Princ—uh, Jayne.”
“You too, Birdie.” I hung up and got myself some breakfast, then I brushed my teeth, checked the sugar in the box one more time (no change) and headed down to the office.
I was seven minutes early, which was pretty good. It made me feel like I was really on top of things, but then I spent the next twenty minutes staring into space while I tried to figure out the best plan of action for getting into Francine’s place without being caught. The woman was known for never leaving.
So I either had to do it at night, and hope she was sleeping, or I had to create a diversion that would get her out of the house.
If only the imp took direction.
I was still mulling that over when someone knocked on my office door. “Come in.”
Juniper stuck her head in. “Hey, you busy?”
“Nope. And you don’t need to knock. Just come in.”
“Well, it’s not just me. You have a visitor.”
“Oh.” I straightened a little. “Who is it?”
“Delaney Ellingham.” Juniper grinned. “And she brought us a goodie box.”
The box of goodies went into the employee break room (after Juniper and Kip helped themselves to a few select items), and Delaney and I settled into my office. Since I’d taken the space over and reorganized, I’d made room for a small love seat across from my desk, but this was the first time anyone who wasn’t an employee had used it.
She took a seat there and I returned to my desk chair. “Can I get you something? Water? Coffee? Something else?” I almost cringed. Why had I said that? What if she asked for blood? She had to know I couldn’t deliver on that request. Right?
“No, thank you, I’m fine.”
I breathed a small sigh of relief. “Thank you again for the treats. That was really nice of you.”
She smiled. “I know you’re under a lot of pressure with this imp business. And you’re already a good customer. I thought it would be a nice gesture. Plus, I wanted an excuse to drop by.”
“You don’t need an excuse. You’re welcome any time. Your craftiness with sugar and chocolate gives you celebrity status in my eyes, so feel free.”
She laughed. “Well, I’m glad you feel that way. I just wanted to check in and see how things were going. I heard through Stanhill that you’d been to see Corette and that she was working on a spell to make the imp visible. And that she’d given you a way to capture it.”
I nodded. “Potentially. So far it hasn’t worked. But it’s only been one night.”
“You’re using sugar?”
“Yep. But tonight I’m going to try something different. Maybe pancake syrup. I’m not sure yet.”
“Let me know if you want some samples of other sweeteners. I’ve got all kinds of stuff at the shop. Agave nectar, piloncillo, which is Mexican brown sugar. Let’s see, what else…” She ticked the types off on her fingers. “Molasses, maple syrup, coconut sugar, corn syrup, although that one is sort of low on my list because it somehow feels so commercial to use that and I pride myself on things having a handcrafted touch.”
“Speaking of homemade…” I took the container of my aunt’s fudge out of my desk drawer and pried off the lid. “You should try this. It’s eggnog fudge. I don’t want to brag or anything, but getting a chance to taste this particular confection outside of the North Pole is a pretty rare treat.”
Her eyes lit up. “Oh, I’d love to.”
I held the box out. “I figure if anyone can appreciate its uniqueness, it’s you.”
She delicately lifted a piece with two fingers, then took a bite that cut the chunk cleanly in two. The next sound that came out of her was a soft moan. “Oh. Wow.” Her eyes closed, and more happy noises spilled out of her. She swallowed and opened her eyes to look at the fudge. “This is insane. Is your aunt some kind of sugar goddess? This has to be magic.”
I lifted one shoulder. “I wouldn’t say she’s a sugar goddess, but she is Santa Claus’s wife, so—”
“Jumping jam cakes.” Delaney’s eyes widened. “Are you telling me I just ate fudge made by Mrs. Claus? Like, the Mrs. Claus?”
“Yep, that’s my aunt.”
“Wow. Just wow.” She gestured at me with the hand holding the last half of the fudge. “This is absolutely the best fudge of any flavor I’ve ever had. No contest.”
“That’s high praise coming from you.”
She popped the rest of the candy into her mouth and spent a few happy moments savoring it. When she was ready to speak again, she held up two fingers. “Two things. One, you should put a tiny piece of this into the box. If that doesn’t draw the imp, we might be in worse trouble than we realize.”
“Hey, that’s a great idea. And one I totally should have thought of.” But I’d been focused on straight-up sugar.
She waved that away. “You would have.” Then her fingers came up again. “And two, I need this recipe. I have to have this in my shop for Christmas. Please ask your aunt. I’ll happily bill it as Mrs. Claus’s fudge and pay her whatever she wants for the recipe, or do some kind of split on the sales or whatever. But I need it.”
“I don’t know. My aunt won’t even give my mother the recipe. It’s a pretty closely guarded secret.”
Delaney put her hand on her rounded belly and made puppy-dog eyes at me. “Think of how happy it would make the baby.”
I snorted. “Is that even fair?”
She laughed. “The best part about being pregnant is you end up with a baby. The second best part of being pregnant is the perks that come with it.” She hoisted herself off the love seat. “The last time I wanted something this badly, I ended up marrying him. Please talk your aunt into sharing this recipe with me.”
I held my hands up as I stood. �
��I’ll talk to her about it, but don’t hold your breath. She’s a tough cookie. No pun intended.”
Delaney smiled. “Make sure you tell her I’m pregnant.”
I shook my head and grinned. “You really do play dirty.”
Her mouth pursed in a coy expression. “I just think she should have all the facts.”
I chuckled as I opened the office door. “I’ll make sure she knows.”
“And I’ll make sure to send over a sampling of all the sweet additives I can think of.” She gave me a little wave as she left. “Something will draw that imp in sooner or later.”
“Hopefully sooner. Thanks for stopping by.” I shut the door and went back to my desk.
My phone rang as I sat down. “Santa’s Workshop, Jayne speaking. How can I help you?”
“Princess Jayne, it’s Birdie.”
She’d managed to get my name in there, so I let the princess bit go. “Hi, Birdie. Did you find anything out?”
“Yes, but I’m not sure it’s good news. Or maybe it is. I have no idea what answer you want.”
“Maybe you could just tell me what you found out?”
“Oh, of course! According to the permits on file—see, for an eighteen-wheeler to enter that particular neighborhood, a permit has to be issued and the dates of arrival and departure have to be approved and registered with the sheriff’s department. People in that neighborhood are very particular about these kinds of things. Actually, people in that neighborhood tend to be particular about a lot of things. Not all of them, mind you, but Francine definitely. It’s understandable, I suppose. Well, for example, just the rumbling of the engine of a truck like that can rattle the glass in those old Victorian homes. I’m sure you can imagine—”
“Birdie?” I took a breath and reminded myself that this woman was helping me and very sweet and had no idea she was torturing me.
“Hmm?”
“Did you find out how much longer Francine is going to be in town? Or when she’s moving?”
“Oh, yes! I’m so sorry, I do tend to ramble sometimes.” I heard the clack of a keyboard. “According to the permits I pulled, there’s a semi rolling into town two days from now. It’s from Elite Movers and they’re headed to her house. No doubt to load all her belongings and haul them off to wherever she’s headed.”
Miss Frost Ices The Imp: A Nocturne Falls Mystery (Jayne Frost Book 2) Page 13