Mistletoe Kisses

by Marnie Blue

  He resisted. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  Her breath wafted across his lips and brushed over his face as she said, “Justin, I love you. I really do. I’ve known you practically forever, and even though you don’t particularly like me anymore, I still consider you one of my dearest friends. Whether you believe me or not.”

  She loves me. He felt a smile curling up the ends of his mouth, then he mentally kicked himself. Stop it!

  “But if you don’t start giving me interviews I can use, I’m going to make you regret it for the rest of your life.”

  Wait. What? “Oh, really? Too late, Maddox. I already regret knowing you,” he lied, trying to sound gruff but failing miserably. At least to his own ears. He could hear the longing in his voice. He felt it in every nerve in his body. He wanted so much to just pull her close and kiss her. Just once…

  He tried to pull away without being bent over like an old man, but she had his collar tight in her grip.

  “This is it. My one chance. My only chance. Please. It’s make it or break it time for me.”

  “You mean the way you broke”—my heart?—“my sister’s heart? My mom’s?” There. Back to the old bitterness. Much better. Staring down into those big holly-green eyes, he reminded himself that he needed to do this. For himself, for his sister and mother…for Lilly.

  Lilly continued. “Please, let’s put the past in the past and focus on the present. I know you…well, you don’t like me much anymore, I don’t think, but please, don’t ruin this for me. Could you at least pretend to be having fun?”

  Her eyes glittered with tears, and her voice sounded scratchy. Oh no. He’d made her cry. Justin’s heart crumpled like used wrapping paper. He was angry. With her, yes, but mostly with himself. He was being a jerk. And he could pretend to have fun with this. It wouldn’t kill him. It would only bruise a little.

  “Okay,” he said and nodded, flinging his empty Santa bag over his shoulder. “I’ll do better. I’m not loving it, but I’m going to pretend I do.” Because—I’m an idiot and I can’t help it. The things you do to me, Lilly Menace. He started walking toward the fire station. “Let’s do this thing.”

  Ugh.

  Justin wished the first stop on the collection route had been anyplace but this. Then again, it was all municipal organizations today, so he had no choice. The East Side fire station, city hall, the West Side fire station, the West Side police station.

  “It’s not that I don’t want to be Santa, Lilly,” he said. “No, wait. That’s a lie. I don’t want to be Santa. But you have to understand. Cops and firefighters…there’s a rivalry.”

  “Why? You both serve the city and the citizens of Holly Hollow.”

  “Yeah, but…it’s like…we’re almost the same species but different offshoots.”

  “Truth,” Cisco said. “My brother’s a firefighter back home. His roommate’s a cop. They make fun of each other about it all the time. I don’t get it.”

  “They march to their own drum. Let me put it that way,” Justin said.

  “Well, let the beat go on. I love firefighters. Do you think they have a firehouse dog? Or a cat? I wonder if they have a Christmas tree? Cisco, we’ll have to get a shot of all of them standing around it. I should’ve made cookies for them, too,” Lilly said, prattling on as usual. She tossed her hair over her shoulder, and her bells rang with a merry jingle. “I wonder if they have a calendar? Or a cookbook?”

  The calendars and cookbooks were part of the beat they marched to that Justin just didn’t get.

  As they approached the fire station, a few of the members of Company Five spotted them; they hopped up from their chairs set up in the garage area in front of some big outdoor space heaters and came out to greet them in the driveway. “Hey! Santa’s here.”

  Except they weren’t looking at him at all. They were focused on Lilly. Not that he blamed them—she was much more interesting to look at than he was. And she smelled good. Stupid candy canes.

  She sparkled at the sight of them. “Oooh. I love firefighters. They’re so brave. And strong. You know what’s cool about them? They run into danger. Without guns.”

  “Yeah. They’re special, all right. Great. Let’s get the damn toys and get out of here.” He spoke before he realized he was going to; the entire group of men turned and looked at him. Shoot. I didn’t mean to say that out loud.

  “Ho ho ho,” one particularly handsome and muscular fireman said, turning to her. “Looking good, little elf. Saw you on television last night. You want a tour of the station?”

  Justin moved to stand in front of her, blocking her from view. “We’d love a tour.”

  Lilly pushed past Justin, shooting him a look that ordered him to back off and make jolly. “I’d love a tour,” she told the handsome firefighter.

  Handsome smirked at him. “Sorry, Santa.”

  Justin’s cheeks heated as his ears burned. There was no way he could compete with Handsome, who looked a lot like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, when he himself was dressed like a centuries-old fat guy. In a lice-laden fake beard.

  And everybody knew it. They went off in a cluster, crowding around Lilly; Cisco started after them with his camera on his shoulder, leaving Justin to stand alone. Lilly Menace strikes again.

  It took nearly twenty minutes to load up the car with all the toys the generous firefighters had collected. They’d gone around the neighborhood the week before, soliciting from businesses and houses; they’d probably have even more toys to pick up at the end of the week.

  Apparently, Lilly wasn’t the only one who thought firefighters were hot.

  Worse, they did have a calendar, and Handsome was featured on its cover. They’d given one away for each toy they’d received. “I’m impressed,” Lilly said.

  “I’m nauseous,” Justin said.

  She’d ignored him and continue to gush over the “East Siders,” getting a ton of footage that Justin was sure would make tonight’s news. He knew that as much as he’d tried not to show it—or feel it—his jealousy was obvious.

  O’Rourke was going to roast him.

  And working with Lilly was going to kill him.

  Chapter Six

  They only just managed to leave a tiny space in the back seat for Cisco, but they weren’t done collecting toys. After they dropped off this first haul at the police station garage, the next collection point was city hall, and Justin worked harder to be jolly for this place than he had at the fire station. He was trying to be jolly for her; Lilly had to give him that.

  She didn’t want Justin’s sudden embrace of his inner Santa to end, especially because they’d gotten such great footage of him speaking to some small children—completely unplanned and un-staged—as they walked by the tax assessor’s office and heard a rustling crash.

  Justin had hurried to the doorway to look inside; Lilly peered around him to see a small Christmas tree lying on its side. Its ornaments were still rolling across the tiled floor, and the tree’s handmade gold paper star was mashed underneath it.

  A pair of giggling, towheaded children—a girl and a boy—wrestled together beside the tree, heedless of their destruction. A red-faced woman with messy hair and a crookedly buttoned coat stood at the counter, her checkbook in her hand. “Stop it, kids. Please. Stop!”

  But they didn’t stop, and it was obvious the clerk behind the counter was annoyed; she stood and glared at the children and the fallen tree, her face puckered with disgust and anger.

  Justin cleared his throat and stepped into the assessor’s office, then put his hands on his hips and said, “What happened here?” in a quiet, authoritative voice. He sounded like a cop, but gentler. Lilly shivered as goose bumps patterned her skin.

  Oh my gosh. Alpha Santa.

  The children suddenly snapped to attention, and silence. Cisco moved into the office and kept filming, quickly becoming part of the scenery.

  “Um…the tree fell over, Santa,” the boy answered.

  “Did it fa
ll?” Justin raised one of his undyed eyebrows. “Or did you knock it over?”

  The children looked at their feet, shifting uneasily.

  “I’ll clean it up.” Their harried mother put her checkbook down and began moving to the mess on the floor.

  But Justin shook his head at her and held up his hand. “You didn’t knock the tree over,” he said. Then he squatted down to the children’s eye level. “Kids, I saw you from my sleigh. I’m doing some pre-Christmas reconnaissance, and when I heard the tree fall, I knew I had to come in and talk to you. You know your mommy is trying to talk to that nice lady behind the counter, right?”

  As Justin spoke, the elderly clerk’s cheeks colored, probably because no one ever called her “a nice lady.” Her face split with a grin, and she patted her silvery hair.

  Lilly almost fell over when Justin proceeded to wink at the woman, causing her to flush even more brightly.

  Justin kept talking to the children in that same level but authoritative voice, apparently unaware of how the formerly angry woman had begun to preen and smile instead of scowl. “So, I’m wondering. You’re not listening to your mom, are you?”

  Round-eyed and solemn, they shook their heads.

  “Do you think I should keep you on the nice list? Or do you think you should go on the naughty list? You know what children on the naughty list get for Christmas, don’t you?”

  “Rocks,” the girl said. “In your stocking.”

  Her brother’s face crumpled. “I don’t want rocks!”

  Lilly’s heart broke into a million pieces. She wanted to cry herself. They were just little, little children.

  “What does your mom think?” He looked at their mother.

  “If I can get this done, I know they belong on the nice list, Santa,” she said hopefully.

  Lilly had to stop herself from cheering. Everyone deserved to be on the nice list, no matter how bad they were.

  Justin nodded, stood up, and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Okay, then. Don’t worry, bro. I won’t give you rocks. But let’s find the ornaments that fell and redecorate the tree while Mommy talks to the nice lady. We can fix this problem and help out, instead of making trouble. That’s what good children do, and your mom said you’re both good children. Right?”

  The children nodded enthusiastically, and in no time at all, he had them working. While they busily hung ornaments on the lowest branches, he drew information from them and had everyone smiling.

  “The Christmas spirit is strong with this one,” Cisco told her as he changed camera batteries, and Lilly had to admit—it was. Right now, anyway. This take-charge but patient man was the Justin she remembered, the one who had enjoyed Christmas and laughed often.

  She couldn’t keep her eyes off him. Even if watching him made her knees grow weak and her body shivery.

  Lilly told herself it was because he had incredible interviewing skills, probably the best she’d ever seen. He’d learned it from interrogating felons, not preschoolers, but he would have been a great reporter as he, she, the office worker, and the potential viewers of Channel 10 learned that Aidan and Grace lived with their mom. They had a dog named Max who sometimes pooped in the house, a cat named Fifi who pooped in a box, and they both wanted Legos (but no pink ones) for Christmas.

  They also wanted a dinosaur.

  Hearing this, Justin had settled onto a nearby bench, then leaned back and furrowed his brow. In moments, Aidan had climbed up to sit on one of his knees, while Grace did the same by sitting on his other knee. Lilly’s breath caught and heart clenched; she’d never seen him with small children. It was hormone-inducing.

  Stop that, she told her body. There will be no maternal hormone flooding. But she couldn’t stop the sluice of feelings coursing through her; nothing stirred a woman’s heart like a handsome man—even one in an ancient velveteen costume—and little kids.

  “What will you do with a dinosaur?” Justin asked, and Cisco moved in closer with his camera.

  “Max is no good at fighting bad guys because he’s a Pomeranian, and neither is Fifi, because she’s just a cat,” Aidan said. “But if the bad guys come to hurt us and Mommy, a dinosaur will eat them.”

  “Yeah. The bad guys killed our daddy. He was in a war. He’s dead now, but he’s still a hero,” Grace said.

  Lilly’s throat tightened, and she realized that she wasn’t the only person suddenly fighting unexpected tears.

  Even Justin cleared his throat. He hugged the children. “Your daddy would be glad you’re thinking about taking care of your mommy like this.”

  They nodded. Then Grace frowned and slapped her forehead. “We’ll need to figure out where the dinosaur will poop!” she exclaimed.

  “The poop might be as big as our house!” Aidan held up his hands in wonder, and then, as only small children could do, they jumped down to discuss the issue in excited voices.

  “Maybe he can poop on the bad guys,” Justin said.

  They collapsed into giggles, holding their little bellies and slapping their legs. In seconds the sadness was gone.

  Even Cisco laughed.

  Justin winked at Lilly, then stood up and approached the children’s mother. He shook her hand, thanked her for her husband’s sacrifice, and wished her a Merry Christmas. Then they left to collect the toys from the donation point.

  But before they left city hall, Justin stopped back in the tax assessor’s office, where he flashed his badge and got the little family’s address. Lilly’s heart warmed. Justin couldn’t take the children a dinosaur, but he was going to make sure the family of a fallen hero had a lot of toys to play with at Christmas.

  …

  It was the final scheduled stop of the day. Lilly stood watching Justin endure the harassment he received from his fellow cops from the other side of the city. They, too, had collected a bunch of toys, and even though he’d already taken two sacks full to the car, he had more to carry out. She tried not to notice how the ill-fitting suit stretched to the seams as he bent and hoisted the bags over his broad shoulders, and failed. Even the sleeves threatened to pop over his biceps. He was just too much man for Santa’s suit. “Can I help?”

  Justin turned to face her. “This is my beat, my job,” Justin told her. “Stay inside where it’s warm. It’s cold out there.” He sniffed. “They’re predicting some kind of weather, and I think they got it right. It smells like snow. I just want to get this done as fast as possible in case it does.” He pushed the door open and went out to the sleigh. Car. Whatever.

  “Suit yourself,” Lilly muttered. What a poop head. He was so stubborn. “I hope it does snow.”

  Cisco came over from where he’d been filming. “Look,” he said and pointed. The sign on the wall said Interrogation Rooms, but a ball of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling over that had another sign dangling underneath: Kiss a Cop, it read. Cisco nudged her, then gestured to Justin with his chin as he came back in to get the other bags. And then he pointed at the mistletoe ball. “You should.”

  Lilly’s stomach flip-flopped, and her knees went wobbly. “I should not.”

  “Suit yourself, but it would make for better ratings. People love that stuff. You know, mistletoe and Christmas.” Cisco shrugged and lifted the camera back into place in front of his face to continue shooting the cops ribbing Justin.

  She had to admit, watching cops kid cops wasn’t very Christmassy, or very interesting, to be honest. Cisco was right. People loved the silly, sweet innocence of a mistletoe kiss.

  Except Lilly was pretty sure kissing Justin wouldn’t be so silly, or sweet, and was confident it could never be innocent. Not the way she felt about him. Just the thought made her heart skip a beat and her breath catch. The truth was, she’d always wanted to kiss Justin.

  Which is exactly why it’s a bad idea.

  But her ratings… And this job. It meant a home, finally. A place to belong, and a family who loved her as their own. What harm was one little mistletoe kiss? It wouldn’t mean anything, and it would
add some fun to the story.

  Besides, it was just a peck, no big deal. Lilly squared her shoulders, tossed the tails of her scarf over her shoulder, and moved to stand with Justin. “Um…Cisco wants to get a shot of us under the mistletoe.” She took a breath to steady her nerves and smiled up at him as if kissing him on the lips were something she did all the time, that the idea of it didn’t make her skin tingle as if warmed by a fire on a snowy day.

  Justin’s ears went red. He glared at her. “No way. I’m not kissing you.”

  Lilly’s pride pricked. “What? Why not?”

  “Because—because I just won’t, is all.”

  “What’s the matter, Santa? Not man enough to kiss your elf?”

  Lilly knew he’d rather rot in Christmas hell before he’d let another cop win at taunting him.

  For the ratings, she told herself, and then she said to the cop, “Apparently not. Santa is afraid he’ll get cooties.”

  “I am not afraid I’ll get cooties.” Justin pulled the beard from his face and glared at his fellow officers. “You know what? You guys suck.”

  They laughed.

  His ears grew redder. And his eyes sparked, dark fire.

  Lilly’s knees wobbled.

  “Fine.” He bent and pecked her cheek. Lilly felt a shiver of disappointment—and relief.

  A chorus of boos rose around them. She looked over to see Cisco grinning behind the camera. He gave her a thumbs-down. “Sorry,” he said. “I missed it. Do it again!”

  Unbelievable.

  She reached out, grabbed Justin by his fake-fur collar, and pulled his face toward hers. “This is for my ratings. Please?”

  “I don’t give a hoot about your ratings,” he muttered.

  “But your mom does. She’s already trying to convince me to move out of the hotel and into Hannah’s old bedroom,” she said. Because it was true.

  Justin narrowed his eyes. “Not fair, Maddox.” Then he moved in with a kiss.