Santa' Wayward Elf (13 page)

Thanking the man in the uniform for his help, she made her
way over to the adjoining room and stuck her head in the door. Derek didn’t see
her right away, but one of the other men did. He quickly got to his feet,
interrupting the conversation.

Derek turned his head and looked in her direction. He gave a
start of surprise, then pushed back his chair and came over to her. “Sosie,
what are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d stop by and see where you worked. I brought
you some cookies, too.” She glanced at the other men, then looked at him again.
“I didn’t interrupt anything, did I?”

“No, of course not. Come in and let me introduce you.” He
gestured to the other men in the room. “Matt Ellis, Nick Martin, Aaron Conway and
Tony Romano. Everyone, this is Sosie.”

She smiled at the men. Matt and Nick were about Derek’s age,
while Tony looked a few years younger and Aaron much older.

“It’s very nice to meet all of you,” she said. “I didn’t
realize Derek worked with so many other detectives. It’s a good thing I brought
a lot of cookies.”

They all laughed, each of them eagerly reaching for one when
she put the container on the table.

“Is this the reason you came to work in such a good mood
this morning?” Tony asked, gesturing in Sosie’s direction with his half-eaten
cookie.

When Derek only chuckled in reply, the other men teased him,
saying Sosie must be a good influence on him and wondering if it was only her
cookies that had him smiling so much. She blushed and laughed with them. She’d
gotten along well with the other elves in her department up in Santa’s
workshop, but their relationship was nothing like this. Derek and the other
detectives seemed more like brothers than coworkers.

Their laughter abruptly ceased as Derek and the other men
turned their attention to the windows behind her. Curious, Sosie turned to see
what they were all looking at. A tall man in an expensive-looking suit was
weaving his way through the maze of desks toward the exit door, two other
well-dressed men behind him. As they passed by the room, the first man shot
Derek a look of pure loathing. Sosie felt the hair on the back of her neck
stand on end. She’d never seen such intense hatred in anyone’s eyes before and
she got the feeling he would have done Derek harm right then if he thought he
could get away with it. She shivered, instinctively taking a protective step closer
to Derek.

A gray-haired man followed the trio, but instead of leaving
with them, he came toward the room Sosie was in. Considering he wasn’t as well
dressed as the other men, she figured he probably wasn’t with them. Which meant
he was most likely another detective.

She didn’t wait for Derek to introduce him. “Who was that
man who looked at you?” she asked Derek. “He seemed very nasty.”

The man in the doorway let out a snort. “Nasty is an
understatement for that A-hole, pardon my French.”

She spoke French and “A-hole” didn’t sound like any French
word she knew. Before she could say anything, Derek spoke.

“Sosie, this is my captain, Jim Sherman. Captain, this is my
friend, Sosie. She stopped by to see where I work and bring cookies.”

“Nice to meet you, Sosie.” The older man smiled warmly at
her. “Anyone who brings cookies is a friend of mine.”

“That dirtbag was Sammy Saldino, infamous mob boss and
all-around bastard,” Derek explained, answering her earlier question.

Sosie didn’t know what a mob boss was, but from the disdain
in Derek’s voice, she assumed it wasn’t something nice. “He looked at you as if
he hates you. Did you do something to make him dislike you so much?”

Derek snorted. “You could say that. I’ve been trying to put
his ass in prison for the past five years.”

“Well, that could be coming to an end,” the captain said.
“The band of merry men with Saldino are his lawyers. He stopped by to let the
department know he’s going to officially be filing harassment charges against
the NYPD, the Organized Crime Division specifically.”

“That’s a load of crap,” Tony said. “He’s a scumbag and
everyone knows it.”

The captain’s mouth tightened. “Yeah, well unfortunately,
being a scumbag in the general sense of the word isn’t a crime. It doesn’t help
that he has some damn good arguments on his side. We’ve been publically
investigating him for five years and have bupkis to show for it, whereas he can
supply a whole laundry list of business losses he claims are a direct result of
our ongoing and relentless investigation.”

“That’s bullshit, Captain,” Aaron said. “He lost money
because we keep putting all his soldiers in jail.”

“I know that and you know that, but I doubt a judge is going
to see it that way, especially if Saldino buys him off.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest. “What did you tell
him, Captain?”

“What do you think? I told him to eat shit and die.” He
glanced at Sosie. “Pardon my French again, ma’am.”

Sosie nodded, but was almost certain those words hadn’t been
French, either. Actually, she hadn’t understood most of the men’s conversation.
All she knew was that none of them were happy about whatever was going on with
Sammy Saldino.

The captain let out a sigh. “Look, I love spitting in
Saldino’s face as much as the next cop, but if you guys don’t get something
solid on him in the next week, this investigation is over and the task force is
going to be reorganized.”

Derek swore under his breath. “And Saldino walks.”

The captain didn’t say anything, but Sosie sensed his
silence was answer enough for Derek and the other men. Giving Sosie a nod, the
gray-haired man told her again it was nice to meet her, then left the room.
Derek and the other men didn’t go back to their good-natured teasing once their
captain was gone. Instead, they all stood grim-faced and silent. Sosie wanted
to say something to make Derek and his friends feel better, but it was clear
this thing with Sammy Saldino had sort of shaken all the tinsel off the
Christmas tree.

As if just remembering Sosie was still there, Derek gave her
a wan smile, then took her hand and led her out of the room.

“Thanks again for stopping by,” he said as they stepped out
into the hallway. “And for bringing the cookies. It was very thoughtful of
you.”

“Of course.” Sosie chewed on her lower lip. “What about
Sammy Saldino? Your captain seemed to think he’s going to get you all in
trouble.”

Derek’s mouth edged up. “Nah. We’ll find some dirt on him,
don’t worry.”

Sosie had no idea how finding dirt on the man would help,
but didn’t ask. Derek sounded as if he knew what he was doing.

He looked up and down the hallway, then bent to kiss her.
Sosie had to resist the urge to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him
close. That probably wouldn’t be at all appropriate in his place of work.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll walk you out.”

Outside on the steps, Derek turned to face her. “Can you
find your way back to the apartment okay, or do you want me to get you a cab?”

“I can find it. Ben drew me a map.”

“I’ll see you tonight, then. Be careful going home.”

“I will.”

Going up on tiptoe, she kissed him, then turned and hurried
down the stairs. She was glad she’d stopped by to see Derek. Not only had it
given her the opportunity to meet the nice detectives he worked with, but she’d
gotten to see what he did for a living. She could have done without seeing that
terrible man Sammy Saldino, though. He made the other grouchy grinches she’d
seen seem like bundles of cheer in comparison.

* * * *

Derek pulled into the apartment’s parking garage a little
after five that evening. Usually, he worked until seven or eight every night,
but that was before he had a beautiful woman like Sosie waiting for him. She’d
been all he could think about the rest of the afternoon. Not even the mess with
that asshole Saldino could dampen his mood.

Sosie was curled up on the couch watching television when he
walked into his apartment. The minute she saw him, she jumped up and ran over
to greet him with a kiss that had him seriously reconsidering his plan to take
her out to dinner. It didn’t help that she was wearing his T-shirt again.
Despite the fact that it hung to her knees, she still looked sexy as hell.

But man could not live on love—or in this case, sex—alone.

He bent to kiss the tip of her pert nose. “Why don’t you go
get dressed while I take a quick shower, then we’ll go out to dinner?”

She grinned. “You go out to eat a lot.”

“This is New York. Everyone does.” He gave her a gentle
push. “Go get dressed.”

He emphasized the last part with a smack on her ass that
made her squeal and run toward the bedroom.

The place he’d picked for dinner was down the street from
his apartment building, so it didn’t take long for them to walk there. He’d
discovered the family-owned restaurant when he’d moved into the neighborhood
five years ago and had been going there ever since. The décor wasn’t fancy, but
the food was good and the prices were right.

Sosie was especially fascinated with the old-fashioned
Christmas ornaments on the tree. Until she saw the menu. She wanted to try one
of everything on it, but he managed to talk her out of that. Finally, they
settled on cheeseburgers with fries, as well as a chocolate milkshake for
Sosie. She couldn’t stop exclaiming over how delicious everything tasted.

“What do you usually eat back home?” he asked, picking up a
French fry and dunking it in ketchup.

She stirred her milkshake with the straw, then took a sip.
“Fish, mostly.”

“That must get old.”

“I didn’t used to think so until I came here. After this, I
don’t know how I’ll ever go back.”

Derek didn’t say anything. When he’d first met Sosie, he
hadn’t thought of her staying with him for more than a night or two until she’d
gotten in touch with her friends. But after three amazing days and nights with
her, he had to admit he was getting used to having her around. It was going to
be hard seeing her go.

It occurred to him then that she hadn’t mentioned contacting
her friends. He wondered if he should ask, but then decided against it.
Probably because part of him wanted her to forget about meeting up with them.
Instead, he asked her what she did that day.

“I went with Ben on his maintenance rounds,” she said as she
popped the last of the burger in her mouth.

“Were you able to take a look at the air conditioner for
him?”

“I was, but Ben needs to pick up some parts before we can
fix it. I figured out what the problem was, though.”

Derek listened with half an ear as she went into detail
about the coolant unit, his attention drawn to a pair of men standing outside
the big glass window that ran the length of the front of the restaurant. He
didn’t know why they’d caught his eye. Maybe because they had that
up-to-no-good look about them as they scanned the tables. Or maybe it was
because he was a cop and it was in his nature to be suspicious of everyone.

But then their gazes came to rest on him and Sosie and
stayed there for a hell of a lot longer than they should have before both
turned and headed down the street. Okay, that was damn odd.

Derek gave Sosie’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll be right back.”

He didn’t wait for a reply, but instead headed for the door.
By the time he got outside, the two men had disappeared into the bustling crowd
of people moving up and down the sidewalk.

Derek swore under his breath. Those two assholes worked for
Saldino, he’d bet money on it. But what was the purpose of having his thugs
follow Derek home, then out to a restaurant? Was it a warning, or a threat?
Whatever it was, Derek didn’t like it. He liked the fact that they’d seen him
with Sosie even less.

His first instinct was to take her home where it was safe,
but when he walked back over to their table, he didn’t have the heart to drag
her away from the ice cream sundae the waitress had set in front of her.

“Is everything okay?” she asked as he slipped into the
booth.

“Yeah. I thought I saw someone I knew.”

Derek expected Sosie to ask who, but she simply handed him
one of the spoons while eagerly digging the other into the mountain of whipped
cream topping the sundae. Even though he shared it with her, he couldn’t shake
the bad feeling he had about the two men. There could be only one reason why
Saldino would have men watching him. The bastard was planning on using Sosie as
a way to get to him. If the mob got within a foot of her, Derek didn’t care how
many laws he’d have to break. He’d kill the son of a bitch.

Chapter Six

The alarm clock went off with a much sweeter sound the next
morning. With a few adjustments, Sosie had gotten rid of that awful noise and
replaced it with gentle, tinkling bells like those of a wind chime. Derek
wasn’t conditioned to wake up to such a relaxing tone, though, so for about the
first minute or two, he lay there beside her, snoring softly. It was absolutely
adorable.

The chimes must finally have intruded, because after a few
moments, he opened one sleep-filled eye and looked at her. “What the heck is
that?”

“That’s your new alarm,” she said. “I reprogrammed it. Isn’t
it more soothing than it was before?”

Derek frowned and rolled over to stare at the alarm clock.
After a moment, he reached out to turn it off.

“Alarms aren’t supposed to be soothing,” he said, rolling
back over to look at her again. “They’re supposed to wake you up, not put you
to sleep.”

She smiled sweetly at him. “You’re awake, aren’t you?”

But obviously Derek needed his horrible alarm clock in the
morning to wake up as much as he needed coffee because it took him a while to
drag himself out of bed. On the other hand, it could be the fact that they had
stayed up half the night making love again.