Shep drops a kiss to my nose. “Missing your family?”
I nod. “But I’ve got my sister.” I give his tie a playful tug. “And I’ve got you.”
“You bet you’ve got me.” He gently lifts my chin with his finger. “You feel like family to me, Bowie. I hope I feel the same to you.”
I nod as I lick my lips. “And I’m not talking about in a brotherly way. Are you coming to the mayor’s Christmas party at the manor tomorrow night?”
“With you there, I wouldn’t miss it.” He points up, and I look to see a frosted sprig of mistletoe hanging from the branch of an evergreen.
“Now there’s some forward-thinking, Detective. And I most wholeheartedly approve.”
“Good, because it’s practically illegal not to share a kiss when you’re standing underneath that magical bough.”
“And if I didn’t kiss you?”
“I’d be forced to arrest you.”
I bite down on a smile. “I just might be gunning for both.”
“Lucky girl, I was about to arrest you anyway for breaking and entering.”
“At the library?”
Shep tips his head back, his blue eyes shining down over me like a heat lamp.
“My heart.” He winks, no smile.
Shep and I share a kiss that makes that magical bough up above wish it could blush.
Shep says I’ve broken in and entered his heart, and the thought warms me from head to toe.
The best part? He’s broken into my heart, too.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t break my heart right after he turns me in to the feds.
Maybe if I help him nab Holly Wright’s killer, he’ll want to keep me around a little while longer.
Here’s hoping.
Chapter 13
I knew Nana Rose’s cookies would be a hit, but I had no idea they’d darn near incite a riot. Stephanie and I baked our fingers to the bone all week and sold twice as many boxes as we ever thought possible. I’ve never been so thankful in all my life that Christmas is almost upon us.
It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and Mayor Wright’s ugly sweater holiday party is in full swing. The ballroom is brimming with the requisite accouterment, and I can’t take my eyes off the strange alterations people have made to these poor knit sweaters. Some of the knitted atrocities blink and wink, some wiggle and jiggle, some even giggle, and there are even a few that claim to be interactive, but there’s no way I’m pressing that touch me button set in a precarious location.
Cheerful Christmas carols blare from the speakers as people loosen up and start to dance to the music. The eggnog is flowing, there’s a line beneath the mistletoe, the giant tree in the corner is adorned with colorful lights and shiny red ornaments that hang like apples, and Mayor Wright has dressed up as Santa Claus once again. There is more merriment and holiday cheer in this room to fuel Santa’s sleigh to the moon. But the shining star on this night is the refreshment table laden with hot cocoa, fresh coffee, and enough of Nana Rose’s cookies to feed the entire Eastern Seaboard.
“Not a bad party.” Stephanie bumps her hip to mine, and I can’t help but scowl at the horror she’s chosen to wear.
“Would you go home and put something decent on? This is a family-friendly event in case you didn’t get the memo.”
“What? You don’t like it?” She shimmies her shoulders, and I all but growl at her.
Stephanie’s sweater has a picture of a boob hanging out with a star slapped over it like a pasty. The rest of the sweater is red with silver stars, which would have been a cute concept all on its own.
“Where does one pick up a nightmare like that, anyway?” I glare at her for daring to look like a boob in the truest sense.
“I got it at a gag shop out in Scooter Springs when I went to visit Enzo and Dom. Enzo found a snazzy little roadside bar he’s thinking of purchasing, and he wanted my opinion on it.”
“Tell me things aren’t heating up between the two of you.”
“Things are heating up between the three of us.” She gives a cheeky wink my way. “Now that we’re in an official love triangle, I’ve invited them both here as my date. I can’t wait until they see me in this. I bet it’s going to incite a war.”
“Great,” I say. “On the bright side, they’ll probably end up offing each other because of you. So in a way, you’re doing the world a favor taking down one mobster at a time—or in this case two.”
She nods. “They’ve already said if they see me with another guy, he’s a dead man walking.”
Mud comes over with a T-shirt with a tuxedo printed over it and a necklace comprised of silver garland around his neck like a lei.
“Well, holy hot stuff, Lola.” He sweeps his eyes up and down her body. Mud has short, spiky, dirty blond hair and a dirty mind to match. “Let’s not waste any more time. We’re hitting the dance floor.”
Stephanie giggles like a schoolgirl as he takes her hand and begins to lead her away.
She turns my way. “Dead man walking!”
“Perfect,” I say, turning back to look at the dessert table. As if it wasn’t bad enough, Starry Falls still has one outstanding homicide. Although, in all fairness, Mud’s murder will be much easier to solve.
Opal traipses up with a long red velvet gown, complete with a bustle and a petticoat. She’s wearing a forest green pillbox hat and has on enough rubies and emeralds around her neck to warrant a security guard. But I suppose that’s why she has an armful of cats with her. King, the spotted and striped Bengal, Jinx, a black and white tuxedo cat who is as fat as he is old, and an orange tabby named Whiskers.
“Bowie, really?” She frowns over at my sweater, and I hold it out by the hem for her to get a better look at.
“What?” I say, taking a moment to
