She’d never had the chance to love Christmas, really. Not when her mother had dragged her from their house on that special eve and she’d cried herself to sleep in the taxi on the way to the airport.
“Vegetable soup, extra bread.” Nala appeared at her table and set the bowl down.
The comforting waft of aromatic scents calmed Rose, and she realized suddenly that she hadn’t eaten a thing all day. Her stomach grumbled as if on cue.
“Are you on break?” she asked, noticing that Nala no longer was wearing her apron.
Nala nodded. “Mind if I join you? We’re full up today, and I really don’t want to go outside.”
“Of course.” Rose waved toward the chair on the other side of the table. “Having someone to talk to might help me get out of my own head.”
Nala dropped down on the seat and massaged her temples. “You and me both. Jace and I broke up...again.”
Rose had met Nala her first day in New York when she’d been hunting for a place to get lunch. She’d liked the other woman immediately. In the month since, Nala had talked mostly about the roller coaster–like highs and lows of her relationship with her no-good boyfriend.
“Permanently?”
Nala shrugged, tucking a stray ebony curl behind her ear. “I don’t know. I keep saying it’s the last time and then...somehow he just worms his way back into my life.”
“So don’t let him. You deserve better than his crap.” Rose swirled her spoon around in the bowl. Chunks of vegetable bobbed in the broth base.
Nala waved her hand as if shooing a fly. “How are things on the father front, anyway?”
Well, she hadn’t exactly spoken to him in the past week. She’d had every intention of calling him and telling him to back off after he’d hired the services of the security firm...only he’d been right about her needing protection.
So she’d been stalling by avoiding his calls and texts, trying to figure out what to do.
“Ugh, it’s complicated.” She raised a spoonful of soup and blew on the steam before putting it into her mouth. The taste was simple and clean, exactly what she needed.
“Does he want to spend a lot of time with you?”
She shrugged. “It’s awkward. I haven’t seen him for twelve years. He didn’t even contact me until after Mom died. Now all of a sudden I’m here and he wants to play happy family. I just...can’t.”
“That’s a lot of water under the bridge.” Nala frowned. “Why didn’t he try to contact you before?”
“He said he tried, but I never heard from him. No calls, no letters. Nothing.” As much as she hated to admit it, the neglect stung even now. A part of her had refused to let go of the link—no matter how thin—between father and daughter.
But her head knew better than her heart.
“Maybe your mother told him not to call?”
Rose rolled the thought around in her head. “It wouldn’t surprise me. She wasn’t exactly his biggest fan.”
“Did you ever try to contact him?”
“Once. I wrote a letter, but Mom walked in as I was writing out the envelope. She was so mad.” Rose would never forget the expression on her mother’s face, the pain so strong it was as if Rose had stabbed her right in the heart. “She apologized afterward and said she’d post the letter for me, but I decided not to send it.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t know. Dad wasn’t exactly a sure bet, and Mom was all I had. We didn’t have any other family, and I didn’t want to lose her, as well.”
“No other family? No grandparents or anything?”
Rose shook her head. “Dad was born when his parents were quite old. They both passed away when I was a baby.”
“What about your mom?”
“Mom immigrated to New York from Ireland after my grandfather died, and my grandmother passed away suddenly when Mom was only eighteen. She had a huge falling out with her sisters over the inheritance.” Rose sighed. “I’ve never met either of my aunts.”
“They never made up?” Nala shook her head.
“Nope.” Rose grabbed a piece of bread and dunked it into the soup. “I believe one of my aunts lives in New Zealand now, and the other one is somewhere in Ohio. But I don’t know where exactly, or even what their married names are. They didn’t come to Mom’s funeral.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Yeah.” Rose’s chest constricted. “It is.”
Her mother had been the only family Rose had known for the past decade. Those years had been lonely and tough, but she’d suffer that and more to have her mother back. To have someone who knew her, who cared about her.
Who did she have now? A formerly—or maybe still—estranged father, a glorified bodyguard and a lone friend. It wasn’t exactly the scenario she’d wished for as a child.
“Sometimes a small family is a good thing,” Nala pointed out. “My family could have their own TV show.”
“Really?” Rose tore off another chunk of bread and popped it into her mouth.
“Yeah, Dad’s side is huge—they’re Italian. And they’re always fighting and gossiping. Mom’s side isn’t much better. I’m just grateful my aunt has gone back home to South Africa. Whenever she’s here she stays with us and drives everyone nuts.” Nala laughed. “What I would give for some peace and quiet.”
“Is it crazy that your family sounds ideal to me?” Rose sipped her coffee. “At least you always have someone to call. You don’t ever have to be stuck on your own.”
“Yeah, that is crazy. I never have anyone to call because they’re all calling me. I swear not a day goes by without one of my cousins phoning me about their problems.” She grinned. “Or judging my choice in men.”
“Sounds like they may have a point there.” She reached past the little china Santa figurine and grabbed the salt.
Nala screwed up her nose. “Why are we drawn to the bad boys?”
Rose’s mind immediately went to Max. In truth, he was all good. He was loyal, smart and God knew she could get used to being pleasured by those amazing hands of his. Warmth rose through her cheeks.
But she didn’t do long term, never had. Why not enjoy the fun part of the relationship and then get out before things got ugly?
But for once the concept felt uncomfortable to her. Though he’d denied being married or leaving a woman behind, Max struck her as a long-term kind of guy and—surprisingly—that didn’t scare her off.
But why was she suddenly questioning her way of doing things because he might want something different?
The future stretched out in front of her like a long, empty road. Deep down she knew she’d be successful in her career; she was driven, ambitious. Talented. But it would be a hollow victory if she didn’t have anyone to share it with, someone she cared about, as she used to with her mother.
Could she really continue shutting people out? Her father was trying to make amends. Maybe she should give him credit for that. It wasn’t as if he’d thrown Rose and her mother out all those years ago—they’d left. And Max...well, it was all too easy to imagine coming home to him. Kissing him good-night...among other things.
Speaking of “other things”...her head and her heart might be at war, but she knew exactly what her body craved.
Max.
* * *
MAX DRUMMED HIS fingers against the desk he’d claimed for the day and tried not to think about Rose.
He needed a clear head, which was exactly why he’d organized another consultant to watch over her—at a distance, of course—so he could get some work done. But his head was filled with her yellow-green eyes and magnificent body.
“Hey, man. How’s the new assignment going?”
Max glanced up to find his friend—and the reason he had this job—standing over him. “It’s going okay,
but I don’t have a lot of information yet.”
“You’re on detail for the curvy little brunette who was in here the other day, right?” Owen’s blue eyes lit up as he dropped down onto the desk Max had claimed for the day. “Talk about a prize job.”
Owen Fletcher was a former senior constable of the Victorian Police, though he’d been born in the US. The kind of guy who thrived on solving a puzzle, he was known to come into the office at all hours when the “solution” struck him. He was also deeply committed to his reputation as a ladies’ man.
“I’m just saying, perhaps it’s time you looked at a member of the opposite sex. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” Owen chuckled and twirled a pen in his hand.
“I can manage my own sex life, thanks.”
“Don’t let him draw you over to the dark side.” Another colleague, Quinn, appeared at his desk. She held a bottle of water in one hand. The studs on her leather wrist cuff glinted in the light. “Women prefer a guy who doesn’t come on to her with cheesy lines like Owen here does.”
“And how would you know, Quinn? When was the last time you picked up someone outside World of Warcraft?” Owen folded his arms across his chest.
“Online dating has its advantages, like the little red X in the corner that makes annoying people go away.” She flicked her dark hair—streaked with hot pink—over one shoulder. “I wish you had one of those.”
“Hey, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, can I please get some alone time?” Max sighed. “Some of us have work to do.”
Owen clapped Max on the back and shot Quinn a dirty look before taking off to another section of the office. He had the loose-hipped stroll of a spaghetti Western cowboy, and the heads of several women turned in his direction as he walked away. Max had envied Owen’s easy-going nature more than once over the course of their long friendship, but no matter how much he tried, he never seemed to be able to lose his sense of duty.
“I haven’t got much going on today. I can give you a hand with the research, if you like.” Quinn drew a seat up to the desk without waiting for Max to accept her offer.
“You’re bored, aren’t you?” He grinned.
“So bored. I finished upgrading our firewall this morning, and if I get one more email about fixing the printer, I am literally—and I mean literally—going to stab someone.” She dropped down into the chair and crossed one leg over the other. Her studded motorcycle boots knocked against the filing cabinet with a clunk. “So what’s going on?”
“The client is an antiques dealer whose daughter was the victim of two robberies, but the supposed thieves stole nothing in either break-in. The shop where she works and her home were both ransacked. Last night there was a voice message referring to the Noelle Diamond, whatever that is. No suspects at this stage, and the client’s daughter hasn’t been forthcoming with much information.”
“Ooh, I love it when you speak cop.” Quinn rubbed her hands together. “Any luck researching the diamond?”
Max shrugged. “None. Rose doesn’t know anything about it, and my internet searches have turned up jack shit.”
“Leave that with me. I’ll do some digging.”
“I don’t want you getting in trouble with the boss again,” Max warned.
“Screw him. I’m a perfectly capable person, yet I’m banished to the dungeon and forced to deal with petty crap like Samira being unable to print her daughter’s birthday invitations in color.” She rolled her eyes. “She handles the company’s finances, Max. It’s a wonder we’re not bankrupt.”
“First of all, the server room is not a dungeon, and second...what’s your job title?”
“IT support officer,” she grumbled. “But I could help with these cases. I’ve got the skills. You watch. I’m going to find everything there is to know about this stupid diamond, and it’s going to help you catch the perp.”
“You’ve been watching too much CSI.” Max squeezed Quinn’s shoulder. “Thanks, though. Just keep it on the DL. If you get fired who’d let me have first pick of the new gadgets?”
“No chance of me getting fired.” She pushed up from her chair. “I’m too smart for that.”
Without Owen and Quinn’s bickering to distract him, Rose came back into his thoughts.
The second that voice had sounded on her answering machine last night, his heart beat had gone into overdrive. She insisted she knew nothing about the diamond, that it was a case of mistaken identity.
But cases such as this were rarely based on coincidence. And whether she had the diamond or not was irrelevant. These people—whoever they were—believed she did. And they would continue to come after her until they had what they wanted.
His muscles tensed and bunched, aching under the weight of his worry. If only Rose would open up a little more to him. He was certain that something about her past was linked to this whole mystery. The voice on the phone had mentioned her not being able to flee to London again, but Rose had told him they’d left because her parents split up.
It didn’t make sense.
Max scanned her file for the hundredth time. It held little information, and it wasn’t long before the words swam in front of his eyes. He couldn’t concentrate...not without Rose by his side, under his protection.
He should have convinced her not to go to work today. What if something happened?
A chill raced up his spine. He’d only known Rose for a couple of days and already he felt a driving need to protect her.
It’s why you’re good at your job. You care about people.
Except he didn’t...normally. All the other assignments he’d taken had been completed with his utmost professional attention. He cared about doing his job well, and by association that meant caring about people’s safety, but he didn’t care about the clients personally.
Rose had gotten under his skin with her cheeky attitude and stubborn independence. Seeing the fear on her face last night had all but cut a hole in his chest. As much as he’d needed a cold shower after their interrupted game, he’d wanted to cradle her in his arms until she fell asleep. But that couldn’t happen.
If he had any hope of solving this case and proving to himself that he deserved his old job back, he had to concentrate. Max’s leg bounced as he pondered what to do next, but the vibration of his phone interrupted his thoughts.
“Max Ridegway,” he said, holding the phone up to his ear.
“Max, it’s Nigel Lawson.” The man cleared his throat. “Rose’s father.”
“What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping for an update. Have you found anything out about the break-ins? Is Rose with you currently?”
“We’re still exploring leads, although I’ll be honest and say we don’t have a lot to go on at this stage.” Max considered asking Nigel about the diamond, but he decided to wait to see what Quinn’s search turned up. “It doesn’t look like anything has been stolen. I assure you Rose is in good hands. One of our consultants is with her at the moment. I’ll be catching up with her shortly to run through how we can make sure her apartment is as secure as it can be.”
“Right.” Silence stretched out on the other end. “Can I ask you a favor, Max?”
“What is it?”
“My daughter and I...we...” He sighed. “Our situation is a little strained. Rose may have mentioned this to you. I’d like to visit, but she doesn’t always take my calls. Is she home at the moment?”
“I don’t want to get involved in your personal situation, Mr. Lawson.” He kept his tone even, not wanting to reveal that he knew anything about the Lawson family.
“I understand. It’s just... I have a Christmas present for her, and I’d like to drop it off.”
Max sighed. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine Rose being stubborn with her father, and for a moment he felt sorry for the older man. His own family w
as so loving he couldn’t imagine his father ever having to call a stranger to find out where he was. Not that his beloved dad was around anymore... Besides, Rose was safe with the other guard.
“She’s not home right now,” Max said, softening his tone. “But you should call her when you want to drop by. It’s not part of my job to mediate family troubles. Okay?”
“Of course. Thank you, Max. I appreciate it.”
Max hung up the phone and checked his watch. Rose would be finishing her shift soon and he’d planned to take her to dinner so they could talk. If they were out in public he’d be able to focus on his questions rather than on picking up where they’d left off last night.
Or on his continuing battle with his conscience.
He tipped back his chair and stared at the florescent lights on the ceiling. He had to get Rose out of his system. He had no intention of getting himself involved in a relationship, yet somehow—against his will—she was becoming important to him.
He had to put a stop to it. Keeping her safe and figuring out the mystery behind the Noelle Diamond were his top priorities.
And if he could figure this out, then perhaps he could go home with his head held high. Perhaps he could believe he had it in him to be the protector he wanted to be. A man who deserved to wear a badge.
Not the guy who’d been too busy making the high profile bust to save his best friend.
7
ROSE’S PHONE BUZZED AGAIN, the silent vibrations tickling her thigh through the pocket of her black silk pants. While the customers in the shops browsed, she checked the caller. It was her father...again.
Guilt sliced through her. She was punishing him for how he’d behaved in the past. But he wasn’t perfect, and neither was she. Maybe he deserved a second chance. At the very least she could hear him out and then make up her mind.
She was about to answer the phone when a customer walked into the shop. Her thumb tapped the cancel button and she stuffed the phone into her pocket, promising herself that she would call him soon.
“Do you know the designer who made these pieces here?” A lady in a beige trench coat and red heels pointed to Rose’s display.
A Dangerously Sexy Christmas Page 8