Montana Secret Santa

by Debra Salonen

  Jonah stood, removed his tie and unbuttoned his top button and cuffs. He rolled up his sleeves and walked to the kitchen. “Too late for cocoa… I can’t make it like Sage, anyway. Herbal tea sound okay?”

  “Um… sure. What are you thinking?”

  “Like any Secret Santa wish, we start with the basics. Who? What? How?”

  She reached for her purse and pulled out her phone. “I’ll take notes. But what if they aren’t ready?”

  “Somebody in their circle is.” He nodded toward the letter. He thought a moment. “Just to be safe we probably should reach out to someone close to the family. The last thing we want is for Secret Santa to add to their pain.”

  He kept his back to her as he got out cups, a sugar bowl and two spoons. Even from across the room, she could tell he was deep in thought. She could picture the facial expression she’d come to love. Serious. Laser focused. Out-of-the-box creative.

  He pivoted on one heel. “Isn’t there a big blue spruce in front of the fire station?”

  “Yes. Thirty-feet tall, at least.”

  “What if we decorated it as a tribute to Harry and we invite his friends and family to the tree lighting ceremony?”

  The idea took shape in her mind. “Did I tell you our new intern’s sister is a pastor? Maybe we could ask her to say something appropriate. Possibly hire a church choir or invite local carolers.”

  The look he gave her made her blush. “Sorry. Too over-the-top? Too much in too short of notice?”

  “Not at all. I love the idea.”

  She petted the little dog snuggled so sweetly by her side to keep from saying something totally inappropriate, like “Because you’re the nicest man I’ve met and I think I’m falling in love with you.”

  Instead, she said, “The only down side I can see is this is Marietta. There’s a lot of holiday stuff going on, including the Daughters of Montana Christmas ball, which is the Saturday before Christmas Eve.” The day her parents were arriving.

  He set a copper kettle on the stove then pulled several boxes of tea from a nearby cupboard. “Okay. We do this sooner rather than later and we keep it simple. What are you doing tomorrow?”

  “Since my family is coming, they’ve put me in charge of buying a Christmas tree, lights, and decorations so we can decorate it together when they get here.” A sort of I Love Lucy meets Modern Family.

  “Perfect! I’ll call the station first thing in the morning to get the okay. Once we have a green light, we’ll make a run to Big Z Hardware. You can buy for your family and I’ll pick up what we need for the fire station tree. Maybe we can enlist Harry’s fellow firefighters to string the lights for us.”

  She liked that idea. “What about ornaments? It might be too late to find oversize ornaments—the kind you can see from the street.”

  He appeared to concentrate on her question as he poured the steaming water into the waiting cups. “My mom is big on Pinterest. Could you take a look and see if anything would work for us?”

  Us. The word made her fingers trip over the keys. It took her three tries to find a page she liked. “This is kind of cool. Old toys. Battered and rusted then hit with a can of gold spray paint.”

  He carried the mugs to the coffee table. The scent of cinnamon made her nose twitch and her mouth water. She didn’t pick it up right away. She wanted something, but it wasn’t tea.

  “Last year, my staff worked with a website that converts images to ornaments. We don’t really have time for that, but what about making laminated photos from pictures on social media.”

  His staff. She’d noticed how often he tried to distance himself from the human aspect of his work, but she wasn’t buying it for a minute. Jonah might think of himself as a reclusive nerd, but the man she knew was anything but a loner.

  She moved to the sofa to sit beside him. To her surprise, Bindi followed, squeezing in between them, with a contented sigh. “That’s a great idea. I’ll do you one better. What if we make the photos into a slide show that we project onto the side of the building?”

  “Or on the roll-up door so you can see it from the street,” he said. “It could run every night.” His enthusiastic expression turned pensive. “That’s going to require a bunch of pictures.”

  She snapped her fingers. “It just hit me. Amanda worked with Harry’s sister, Jenny, to put together a full-page memorial in the newspaper. I’m sure we still have copies on file at work.” She reached for her purse. “I’ll text Amanda and have her call or email Jenny in the morning. I’m sure she’ll give us permission to use them.”

  She looked his way the moment she was done. She saw heat that had nothing to do with the wafting steam from the mug he’d brought to his lips. “In case I haven’t told you lately, Krista, you’re amazing. It’s not often I find someone who can out-think me when I’m in brainstorming mode.” He made a face. “That sounds conceited, but I mean it as a compliment. Now, you know why I don’t date a lot.”

  “Tonight was my first date since the Marietta Rodeo, and, believe me, the bulls had more fun that night than I did.”

  “Why?”

  “The only thing my date and I had in common was our bad luck on blind dates. Nice enough guy, just no chemistry.”

  He set down his mug, and then gently moved Bindi to his opposite side. The dog barely acknowledged the move with a sleepy yawn. He scooted closer until their thighs were touching and pulled her into his arms. “Did you know I got straight “A”s in chemistry?”

  She didn’t have a quick comeback, not that he gave her time to answer. His lips carried a hint of cinnamon from the tea. His tongue acted like an old friend back for a long conversation. He kissed like a master, taking his time and giving her his complete focus. No wonder he was called a genius.

  And a gentleman. He gave her an out.

  “It’s cold outside. You could you stay in the guest room.”

  A thousand valid reasons to leave jumped into her mind—okay, six big ones. Her parents and siblings, but she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him again. “Or I could stay with you.”

  Timing was everything, as her father liked to say. And while the recently hurt, overprotective side of her mind cried “Quick. Exit stage left!” when his hand slid upward from her waist to the underside of her breast, a more vocal inner voice shouted, “Oh, hell, yes. It’s about time.”

  *

  The rational part of Jonah’s brain put up a brief resistance but capitulated when confronted by a massive army of pheromones. What he felt for this woman—the heat, desire, passion and need—went well beyond anything he could recall feeling for any of his former girlfriends.

  While one side of him wanted to understand what was happening, the other part got it. I love her. I don’t know how when we barely know each other but this is real and it’s really happening.

  He kissed her again, tasting the sweetness he’d forever associate with that first kiss in the chocolate shop. Her scent imprinted on some primitive part of his brain. Mine. She’s mine.

  His hand closed possessively over the stretchy lace material of her bra. He couldn’t wait to touch her, see her…

  A loud snuffling sound—like the backfire from a Model-A truck engine—erupted from the right side of the sofa. Krista startled, her heart racing beneath his palm. And not from desire.

  “Bindi.” He groaned. “The only thing more memorable than a beagle’s bark is a beagle’s snoring.” He got to his feet and held out his hand. “The fire’s romantic, but I think we need a bit more privacy.”

  She looked at the sleeping dogs and gave him her hand. “Are we talking your boyhood bedroom?”

  “Thank God, no.” He added another log to the fire, adjusted the damper so it would burn all night, and then took her hand again. “Mom redecorated all the bedrooms after she retired from teaching. She and Dad were talking about turning this place into a vacation rental, but that sort of fell by the wayside after my brother-in-law’s accident.”

  She didn’t sa
y anything until he opened the first door on the left and reached inside to flip on the light. “Wow. It’s nice. Not quite what I expected, but very stylish.”

  The queen headboard, side rails and footboard, along with two nightstands, a highboy and dresser were made of thick, roughly hewn reclaimed barn wood. To make up for the Navajo red walls, Bettina had kept the curtains, rug and bedding more neutral browns, tan and off-white. “Privately, I call it the barn room. Mom swears the bedposts were once beams from a barn somewhere in the American west.”

  “Are the other bedrooms like this one?”

  “Nope. Each one is unique. You can take your pick between the Florida room, the Rocky Mountain High room or my parents’ Desert Southwest motif, which is too turquoise for my taste.”

  She stepped to the middle of the room and turned in a circle. “Yeah. I get it.”

  “Get what?”

  “This is you.”

  He looked about, trying to figure out what she was seeing that he’d missed completely. “What do you mean?”

  “Your sister lives in Florida, your brother in Denver, and you’re in California. You can’t get much more west than that, but deep down you’re still Montana-born.”

  He started to correct her, but she walked to him and laid her hand flat against his chest. “You’re here. Home. When the rest of your family is not. And this is the room you picked when you could have had any of the others.”

  A funny sensation ran down his spine. He recognized it for what it was—discovery. She saw aspects of him nobody else noticed.

  He wrapped his arms around her and lowered his head to kiss her. He wondered what else she’d uncover about him tonight. He couldn’t wait to find out.

  Chapter Ten

  A whining sound ripped Jonah from the best dream he’d ever had. He and Krista snuggled together in the middle of the pillow top mattress his mother had ordered the day he agreed to dog-sit.

  He breathed deeply and realized his dream was real. Warm, womanly flesh pressed against his equally naked body.

  Krista.

  They’d made love twice and fallen asleep, exhausted, satiated. Well, he had, and the fact she was still here probably meant something good.

  The sound came again from the hallway.

  Normally, he left his door open for the dogs to wander in and check on him during the night. But not last night. He’d forgotten all about them.

  Shit.

  Bindi was part camel. She could hold it forever, but River Jack was just the opposite. The giant dog had a bladder the size of a pea.

  He carefully extracted his arm from beneath Krista’s head. She blinked sleepily and rolled over but didn’t wake up. Tiptoeing, he grabbed the sweats he’d tossed over his desk chair, found the socks he’d worn last night on the floor and slipped out the door.

  Thump. Thump. Thump. Jack’s tail whacked the wall in obvious gratitude.

  “Sorry, boy.” Jonah stumbled toward the kitchen, dressing as he went, talking in a low whisper. “What time is it? We’re usually out on our walk by now, aren’t we? Well, today, my friend, you’re going to have to do your business in the back yard.”

  His long johns were in the laundry room. No way was he risking frostbite on his nether parts when he had a gorgeous, sexy woman waiting in his bed.

  He pulled on his dad’s jacket as soon as he stepped into the mudroom and opened the exterior door. River Jack shot outside with Bear right behind him. Was it his imagination or was Jack starting to move a little quicker now that he’d lost a few pounds?

  Wrestling a squirmy Bindi into a sheepskin coat before setting her free on the snowy stoop nearly took the wind out of him.

  The inch or two of new snow proved how impervious he’d been to the world around him last night. He’d been focused on Krista with the same sort of single-minded purpose he gave to his inventions. The thought carried an odd uneasiness.

  Don’t think. Better to keep his mind still until his brain was firing on all cylinders. To that end, he made coffee, then filled three doggie dishes with dry kibble and carried the bowls to the counter for the addition of the special ingredients Mom had prepared and frozen. Luckily, he’d remember to set out six packets yesterday so he had that covered.

  A few yips and a growl or two told him his charges had returned. He grabbed the old towel his dad left hanging by the door before opening the kitchen door to let them inside. Each dog ran to his or her appointed station and began to chow down.

  Jonah kept an eye on River Jack since he’d been eyeing Bear’s bowl a bit too attentively lately. Bindi, despite her love of food, tended to nibble, walk away, then return to nibble more, which was why her bowl was on a bench too high up for Jack to reach.

  Jonah glanced at the clock as he filled his mug. It wasn’t Sage’s cocoa, but his body craved hot caffeine almost as much as it wanted Krista. Last night’s impulsive decision to give into the mutual attraction they’d been fighting needed to be parsed out and considered rationally.

  Over dinner, Krista had mentioned a less-than-pleasant holiday memory involving some idiot who thought wooing Krista would give his acting career a badly needed break. I know what part of him I’d like to break if I ever met the bastard. She’d tried to make light of something that must have been painful and disappointing. The last thing Jonah wanted was to add to her holiday-associated regrets.

  Plus, they still had important things to do, like Harry Monroe’s tribute and getting the last of the Secret Santa wishes wrapped up and distributed.

  His hand shook as he pulled his phone off the charger. He needed his brother’s advice. Daniel was a player, for want of a better term. He loved women and wasn’t shy about asking a girl out. Some hookups led to affairs lasting two… three months tops. More often than not, the relationship ended on a friendly note. Leave it Daniel to make breaking up sound like the best idea yet.

  “Are you out of your mind?” a groggy voice shouted. “Tell me you’re in a different time zone and you forgot it was o-dark-thirty in Denver.”

  “I’m in Marietta and I didn’t forget. Something happened last night and I’m not sure what to do.”

  Daniel sighed. “If you want dog advice, call the veterinarian hotline.”

  “The dogs are fine. They’re eating breakfast.”

  “Well, you can’t be calling about that stupid Santa shit because I don’t do that. So, what the—” The line went quiet.

  Jonah scrunched up his face to keep Daniel’s super keen or super lucky intuition from guessing the reason behind his call.

  “You got laid.”

  “Wrong,” Jonah snapped. “We made love.”

  “Tomato. Tomahto. The point is you got lucky.”

  Jonah couldn’t argue with that.

  “Is she still there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to know how to get rid of her?”

  Just the opposite. “No.”

  “Right. I forgot. That’s not usually a problem for you. If you’re bored or tired of someone, you just wander into your lab and disappear. But, I guess, you can’t do that when you’re at Mom’s. So, what do you want to know?”

  Jonah swallowed the lump in his throat. “I like her, Daniel. I don’t want to screw this up. Last night was our first date. We’re working together on the Secret Santa stuff. Her entire family is coming for Christmas. It’s the freakin’ holidays.”

  Daniel groaned. “Well, crap, man. I hate to tell you this, but you’re screwed. December is like a black hole for new relationships. You want my advice? Enjoy the sex for as long as it’s happening, but be prepared to cut your losses and move on when she tells you she needs more space. Or she needs to spend time with her family. Whatever excuse comes up. You’ll know it when you hear it.”

  Will I?

  “Sorry, Jonah. It sucks to be you right now. The only person who sucks worse is Gracie. Did Mom tell you the coast guard recovered the black box and it looks like Matthew ditched on purpose?”

  “Su
icide? Matthew? Why would he do that?”

  “Nobody seems to know. There’s a good chance Mom and Dad won’t be coming back home any time soon. Just FYI.”

  “Thanks. I’m sure they’ll tell me all the news when I call Mom to give her a Bindi update.” They said their goodbyes then Jonah opened his laptop to read his email.

  Mom had sent him photos taken the day before. Sugar white sand. Crystal blue water. Kids romping on some sort of giant waterslide. Mostly happy faces. Except for Gracie. Her fake smile didn’t quite make it to her eyes.

  He texted her.

  “You okay? Heard about black box. Sorry, sis.”

  What the hell is wrong with me? He picked up Bear when the chubby little puffball wandered into the room. My sister’s life is turned upside down and I’m here half in love with a woman I barely know and probably won’t see after our job at Secret Santa ends.

  Whoever called me smart obviously never met me.

  “Good morning. I sure hope that’s coffee I smell.”

  Jonah spun around, nearly dropping the dog in his arms. He bent over to place Bear on the floor so the little guy could sprint to Krista’s side with a happy bark. She sank gracefully to a cross-legged position to welcome the ecstatic animal into her lap. “Hello, Teddy Bear. Are you always this happy in the morning?”

  “Not since Mom left. I think he likes women more than men.” He held up the coffee carafe. “How do you take it? I think Mom keeps some kind of powdered creamer around.”

  “Black and strong. Thanks.”

  Her patterned tights looked incredibly sexy under the long-sleeve red flannel shirt he’d given her last night when she needed to find her phone and plug it in so she’d have service in the morning. She looked cuter and more desirable than any model he’d ever seen. And, God, he wanted nothing more than to carry her back to his bed.

  But his brother was right. He’d blow it soon enough. Just a matter of when it ended, not if it would end.

  “How ’bout some of my not-quite-world-famous French toast, then we hit the ground running? Are we going to give the real Santa a run for his reputation or what?”