My Christmas Gift

by Steele, C. M.

  “Yes, I’m sorry, Miss Smith. Stay warm. And, Carter, call us if you have anything. Don’t play with this. We’re so close to nailing the detective. We can’t risk it.”

  “I will.” We walked away and jumped into my truck. We had to get back to get her things and then we were off to my place. There was no way I was taking her back to her apartment. Who knew what was going on there. They could be waiting for her or her brother there.

  Paige didn’t say a word in the car. As we got out of the car, she asked, “Are you really going to tell him if he calls?”

  “Not everything. I read people really well, but with Callahan, I can’t trust his motives. He’s been aggressive in getting the man all the time. I don’t know what pushes him to succeed and how far he’s willing to go to win.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You know that you can’t stay at your place, right?”

  “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “You’re going to stay with me. And that’s not a suggestion. I was freaking losing my shit when I saw them push you into the car. I got to my truck as fast as I could, but, fuck, they were out of the parking lot quicker than I thought.”

  She gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

  “You didn’t freak me out. They scared me. I was just glad I saw it when I did.”

  “It was pure luck that you did.”

  “It was fate because we were meant for each other.” She arched her brow at me, doubting me. She’d see that I was right. We were perfect for each other.

  Chapter 6—Paige

  I was still shaking when we got to the mall. I had to get my things, but just being at the place sent a shiver up my spine. Charles opened his jacket to give me a glance at his piece. I loved that he could read me so well. It did help to know I had a badass man as my protector.

  He opened the door to the mall and held my hand tightly, squeezing it any time I shivered. “It’s going to be okay, Paige. I know you’re scared, but I’m not leaving your side.”

  “Thank you, Titan.”

  “What happened to calling me Charlie?”

  “I don’t know. I think I like all your names, but when you’re being my badass body guard, Titan fits.”

  “I guess you got me there. It really doesn’t matter what you call me. It all sounds good coming from your lips.” We were almost to the location the mall security told us to go when he stopped us. Pulling me into his arms, he lowered his head and kissed me. It was a soft, sweet kiss that made my knees weak. Fear left me and desire took its place.

  “Miss Smith.” We turned to see the head security guard speaking to us. “We’re truly sorry about what happened today. Your things are in the main office. Once you sign for them you can go.” We followed them to the office and made quick work of getting my things. Once we were back in the truck, Titan grabbed my bag from me.

  “I need to see it for a minute.” He pulled something out of the back seat. It looked like a phone, but it wasn’t. He swept over my bag and the light on the device flashed red. Unzipping the bag, he ran the scanner thing over the area that beeped. He pulled out my name tag that the temp agency gave me with my costume. What the hell? I left that on the dress when I took it off.

  “What is that doing in there? I left that on the costume.”

  “Someone is tracking your movements. This is bigger than the drug dealers that nabbed you. This is a police issued tracker. What does your brother have to do with that crooked cop?”

  “I don’t know. What are you going to do with it?”

  I need to make a call; he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. “Callahan, this is Carter. We’ve got a trace left in her bag at the mall.” I couldn’t hear what Callahan was saying, but Titan added, “Okay. Do you want me to wait or should I just take her home? No, of course not her home. Okay. I will.”

  As soon as he hung up, I asked, “What’s going on?”

  “We need to wait for Callahan. He wants to bag the evidence and take a look at the cameras. Someone planted it in your bag. It was probably there from the moment you got the job and probably why you got the job.”

  “Why me?”

  “It’s all your brother, sweetheart. This ties to him. He must know something that could damage someone.” I leaned over the console and laid my head on his chest. Titan wrapped his arm around my shoulder and rubbed my arm. This was too much for me. I didn’t know how much more I could take. Being in his arms was the only relief I felt.

  “Here he is. Wait inside the truck.” He stepped out and it only took a minute for them to talk and for Callahan’s partner to put the name tag in one of those evidence bags. Titan hopped back into the truck with a smile and all the world was right again. How was it that just seeing his face took away my dread? We drove to his house and I was so relaxed and worn out that I passed out. The last thing I remembered was talking about a Christmas tree.

  Chapter 7—Titan

  She was talking about not having a real Christmas and wanting a pretty Christmas tree and then all the sudden it turned to babble. I knew she was passed out without even having to look. She was going to have to wait to see the tree in the morning. My poor, sweet Paige was exhausted.

  Once we got in the house, I would lay her down on our bed before making some necessary calls. I had to find her brother, one way or another. He could get her killed. I want to shoot him for that already. It was his fault that they tried to take her away.

  I hit the security gate before I got to it and it opened for me and closed as soon as I got passed it. Parking in the garage, I grabbed her bag from the back, then scooped her up in my arms and carried her into the house. She was so sleepy, I wondered if she normally slept like the dead or was it being with me that made her feel safe enough to sleep.

  I carried my sleeping elf up the stairs into the bedroom. Laying her down, I started to take off her shoes and coat. I didn’t want to do any more without her permission. I may have sounded like a dick when it came to saying we were a couple and that was that, but I wasn’t going to take anything she wasn’t going to hand me on a silver platter.

  My cell buzzed, so I left her there with the door open. Pulling it out of my pocket, I saw it was Callahan. I walked into my home office and closed the door.

  “What’s going on, Will?”

  “We got him. Alex Hamilton has been arrested. The videotape showed him go into the security office to ask them questions about her, just after she disappeared. My office pulled the serial numbers for all the traces out. The tracker was taken signed out to him three days ago.”

  “I want his head on a chopping block.”

  “He will be. This was just the icing on the cake. We still don’t know Tony Smith’s whereabouts, but hopefully he’ll come forward and would be willing to testify.”

  “If I hear from him, I’ll let you know, but I’m not sure if I see him that I won’t strangle the fucker.”

  “I get it, so hopefully he only calls her,” he joked. He told me more about the case before we hung up an hour later. I was about to check on Paige when my phone rang again.

  I answered it as I walked into the living room. “What’s up, Jake?”

  “What happened at the mall? Tell me you didn’t kidnap her. They said a female elf employee was kidnapped tonight.”

  I had to laugh at that. “No, I didn’t, but it’s been one hell of a night so far. She’s lying in bed right now. Massive shit hit the fan, right as I picked her up.” I went on to tell him about our eventful night, but right now fatigue was hitting me, too. I hung up and went to check the security. Once everything was locked and secured, I joined her in the bed.

  Chapter 8—Paige

  I woke up in bed overly heated and really uncomfortable. From what I could feel, Titan was trapping me with half his body resting on mine. That should upset me since I didn't remember coming into his home, let alone in his bed. What was worse was my bra digging into my sternum. I needed to take it off. I opened my eyes and tri
ed to move his arm without waking him up. I slowly attempted to lift his buff arm, but it was too heavy for me to budge.

  "Morning," he said sleepily, smiling at me with his eyes still closed. I blushed right away because the man made me giddy with a smile greeting.

  "Morning. I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to wake you."

  "I know you weren't. I could feel you sneaking away." He rolled to the side, letting go of his hold on me.

  "I was just uncomfortable." I wasn’t trying to get away from him at all. In fact, I liked having his arm around me.

  "I'm sorry,” he said. “Was I too heavy for you?”

  "No. It's okay. It’s my clothes. Sleeping in them isn’t really comfortable. What time is it?"

  He looked at his alarm clock on his side of the bed.

  "A quarter to six. I didn’t want to strip you without your permission."

  "Thanks for that. What time do you have to go to work?"

  "Not until Monday,” he said with a grin.

  "Oh yeah. I forgot. Okay, then I’ll just get a little more comfortable." I hadn’t wanted to take my bra off if we were leaving. I pulled my arms out of my sleeves and worked my bra off, tossing it onto the chair in the corner, then climbed back into bed. He was looking at me funny. “What?”

  “Nothing, I’ve never seen a woman take her bra off like that before.”

  “I didn’t always have the privacy I needed. Besides, I wasn’t taking it off for your pleasure,” I threw out, trying not to be jealous about all the women he saw naked.

  He growled, “Do you take it off for other guys’ viewing pleasure?”

  Hmm. It seemed he was jealous, too. “Says the man who just told me his other women didn’t take their bras off like that.”

  He opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t. Smart man. I wasn’t that sure of us as it was. He was a great guy in terms of physically protecting me, but there was a difference between that and protecting me emotionally from himself. He seemed sincere, but I was still scared to truly give my heart to him.

  “Fair enough. Come back and lay down with me.” Titan opened his arms and I climbed back into bed. I wanted to be by him. He was everything a girl could want in a man; strong, loving, protective, and unbelievably sexy. I cuddled into his hold, pressing my face into his chest and we stayed quiet, just absorbing the feelings coursing through us.

  The silence was broken with the sound of his phone vibrating on his bedside table. Unwilling to let go of the hold he had on me, he rolled us over and grabbed the phone. “Carter,” he answered. I was so close that I could hear the other guy on the line and Titan didn’t hide the call from me.

  “It’s Callahan. Bring your girl to the station. She’s going to have to say goodbye to her brother. He just confessed and is going to be arraigned later onto today for taking part of three murders on behalf of Detective Hamilton.” I swallowed hard and pushed out of his grasp. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I ignored Titan calling my name. I drowned out all other noise, rocking myself and shaking my head. How could he? My tears fell hard and hot down my face. Nothing could fix what was happening. I wasn’t going to be able to see him, and right now I wasn’t sure I wanted to. He killed people. Not the same way Titan had, that was different; it was war. This was greed, drugs, and corruption.

  I felt his arms slip around me. I was automatically warmed from his touch. “I’m sorry, Paige.”

  I pressed my head against his bare chest, listening to his heart for comfort. “I don’t know what to say or do about this. I want to see him, but at the same time I don’t want to see him again.”

  “As much as you don’t want to, I think you should. There’s only one today. If you don’t go, you may regret it later.”

  “You’re right.” He held me for another minute before he got up and stuck out his hand for me.

  I freshened up in his bathroom. It was neat as could be. Washing up, I had to put the same clothes on. I hoped we could stop at my house to change, or maybe since the threat was gone, I could probably just go home. I didn’t like the sound of that.

  “Do you want to stop at your place after we see your brother?”

  “Please. I would like to go home.”

  And like that, I found myself pinned to the bedroom door, his strong body covering me gently. I wasn’t intimidated and that wasn’t what he was going for either. Titan placed a kiss on my neck and whispered, “This is your home now. I know you think I’m moving fast, but we’re perfect for each other. Okay?”

  I moaned a “Yes”; I was barely able to think when his mouth was on me. His knees parted my legs and he lifted me up and around his waist. We kissed hard while he ground his hips into my mine, letting me how pleased he was with my answer.

  “Let’s get going before I take off your clothes and show you how good I’ll make you feel.” He set me down on my feet while I reluctantly complied and let go of my hold on him.

  “I promise we’ll have time for it later, my little elf.” It was Christmas Eve, and I hoped that he’d show me tonight. That would be a great Christmas gift for me.

  I walked out of the bedroom and was surprised to see the living room completely decorated for the holiday. There was a seven-foot tree in the corner that was spectacularly decorated in silver and gold. It looked like a winter wonderland in there. I turned to him. “Wow, I’m sorry I missed this last night. It’s perfect. You did this yourself?”

  “No, I let Kaci come here and deck the hall with all that damn jolly she wanted. She may have gone overboard,” he said.

  “I think it’s fabulous. She has great taste. I can’t wait to meet her now.”

  “She’s looking forward to it. I’m sure she had to be calmed down. When I told her about you, she was jumping up and down and she’s pregnant again.”

  “Why’s she so excited?” I wondered what he had told her about me that got her all giddy.

  “Because she wants me to be happy and you’ve done that with ease.”

  We left the house and I was surprised by how warm it was out today. The sun was shining brightly in the morning sky. The snow on the ground was starting to melt, which was fine by me since I didn’t like snow anyway. I smiled at him before he opened the truck door for me. It prompted him to pull me to him and kiss me hard. “You’re fucking beautiful. I can’t stop from kissing you. I can’t wait to see that smile as I make you come.”

  He helped me in the truck before going around to his side. The man was part caveman, part gentleman all rolled up into one.

  Chapter 9—Titan

  We got to the station, and after signing in, Paige went in to see her brother. He was locked to a chair in the interrogation room and she sat on the opposite side of the table. I watched from the other room because it was supposed to be as private as possible.

  “How could you, Tony?”

  He was scratching himself like crazy and I knew exactly how he could do it. He was an addict, doing anything he needed to get his next fix. Even let his sister take the wrap for him and let her die for him.

  “What do you want me to say, Paige?” He slammed his fist on the table. “I’m fucked in the head. Too much drugs or maybe it was our fucked up parents that I took all the bad habits from. All I know is that I’m going out of my mind without more.” He continued the scratching. The sores on him were starting to bleed. I didn’t like him near her.

  “Nothing, Tony. Don’t bother. One day when you’re clean, please call me. Despite everything, I still love you.” She got up and walked out of the room without glancing back or saying another word.

  I met her in the hallway and hugged her to my chest. “I’m sorry, Paige.”

  “It’s okay. I think this will be good for us. His life is ruined, but maybe he can find some peace and learn from what he’s done.” I doubt that shit but let her think that. I would be there to hold her when she cries for him.

  “Let’s get out of here. I still have go to drop off presents for Jake, Kaci, and Jacob.”

  “W
hen are you going over there?”

  “We’ve been invited to go any time we feel like it today. They just moved to the suburbs, so it’ll take about an hour to get there from here.”

  “Okay, I’d like that. I just want to get away from my past.”

  “That’s good. Let’s go get some breakfast. Then we can head out to their house.”

  “Did you wrap the presents?”

  “Actually, I had their gifts wrapped at the mall before I went to meet you, so they are in the back of the truck.”

  “That’s cool.” Her voice sounded off. She seemed a bit nervous about it. I got it. They were my very well off friends and she had just come from saying goodbye to her brother who was going to prison for murder.

  “Are you worried?” I asked, pulling her hand into mine.

  “Yes, you are too damn perceptive,” she grumbled, tugging her hand away and crossing her arms after she buckled her seatbelt.

  “Sorry, sweetie. I thought we discussed this already.”

  “Can you tell I’m getting cranky because I’m hungry?”

  “Yep, I’m driving now.” We stopped at a local diner and had a meal before driving to the suburbs.

  Her mouth dropped open when she saw their house. It was gorgeous and very big with an immaculate yard. “She is one hell of a decorator.”

  “Yes she is, but since she doesn’t work outside the house, she has plenty of time. Although with two kids, I don’t think she’s going to be that energetic.”

  “She sounds amazing.”

  “She’s pretty cool and she loves my friend, so that makes her awesome in my eyes.”

  “I hope they’ll like me,” she admitted.

  “They’ll love you.”

  We got to the door with the presents in hand. The door popped open before we could ring the bell. Kaci ran out of the house and hugged me before turning to Paige. “Yay. I’m so glad you’re here,” she squealed.

  “Hi,” I said to her. “Kaci, this is Paige. Paige, this is Kaci. I didn’t know you could have coffee when pregnant, but it seemed someone is wired.”