Santa's Posse (15 page)

The action was so
sudden—she certainly hadn’t anticipated it, but she found herself surrendering
to his warmth.  Suddenly, the adrenaline that had fueled her the last twenty
minutes or so seemed to drain from her body, and she was left feeling shaky. 
With his strong arms around her, she realized with a start what he was trying
to tell her.  She had just rushed headlong into a dangerous situation and could
have been badly hurt or even killed.

She pulled back,
met his eyes, and gave a wan smile.  “I think I get it now.”

He only nodded and
pulled her close again.  “I can’t stand to think about what might have happened,”
he said softly, his breath against her ear.  “What if…?”

He held her for
another long moment or two, and giving her a final squeeze, stepped back and
took her hand, leading her to the couch.  He pulled her down beside him.

“I want your
promise,” he said, snaring her gaze, “that you’ll never chase after anyone
again.”  Suddenly, his eyes widened.  “You promised before!”

“What?” she said,
perplexed.

“The day I met
you, you promised…”

“What?” she said
with a shrug.

“No more heroics!”

“But…”

“But what?  Kellie,
this is becoming a habit.”

“Oh, it is not,”
she said with a huff.  “Would you have preferred I let the bad guy get away?”

“Absolutely.  I
would have preferred exactly that.  Next time, let … the … bad … guy… get
away.”

“But … what if
there are extenuating circumstances?  I mean, how can I promise I’ll never
chase anyone again?  What if the situation warrants…?”

He shook his head,
giving her a warning stare.  “No.”  Suddenly, he pressed his eyelids shut for
several seconds, and then shook himself, before opening his eyes.  “Promise
me.”

She gave a loud,
resigned sigh.  “Okay, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Okay, I promise,”
she said, feeling chastened.  She gave a defeated shrug.  “I’ll leave the
police work to the police, er, deputies.”

“No more heroics,”
he said, pinning her with a look.

“Okay, if you say
so.”

***

“Rumor around the
mall is Miles is sick with dread about you chasing that criminal,” Jill
declared.  “Kellie, how could you do something so reckless?”

She glanced up
from her desk, her features set in a puzzled frown.  “What?”

“Kellie Sanders,
what were you thinking?  You could have been hurt.  Or worse, killed!”

She sighed.  She’d
heard this all before.  From Miles.  From Jill earlier.  Apparently the folks
who manned the mall’s rumor mill had filled Jill in on additional details
during her lunch hour, and she was all fired up again.    

“Look,” Kellie
said, “I wasn’t thinking, okay?  As I told you before, I saw the guy apparently
breaking into my car and the adrenaline kicked in—probably fueled by anger—but
I got him.  As we speak, he’s lodged in the county jail, and from what I
understand, he’s probably headed back to the big house for breaking his
probation.”

Jill sat down in
the chair across the desk from her and pinned her with a look.  She shook her
head.  “When I think about what could have happened…”

“I won’t ever
chase after anyone again,” she said mechanically, and then sighed ruefully. 
“Here’s hoping I never need to.”  She frowned again.  “Hey, you said before
that Miles is—what did you say?  Oh, I remember.  You said he’s ‘sick with
dread.’  How could you know this?”

“Everybody’s
talking about what you did,” Jill declared.  “I did some shopping during my
lunch hour and Kendra over at the candy store told me that Miles has spent the
morning moping over what might have happened to you.”

Kellie raised a
hand.  “Wait a minute!  She couldn’t know that!  Once again, it’s sheer
speculation on the part of someone who works in this mall, and who thinks she
understands the inner workings of the commander’s mind.  She doesn’t know
anything,” she said with a snort.  “Besides, I heard Kendra has a crush on him.”

“Who doesn’t?”  Jill
clucked her tongue.  “Besides, I talked to Meagan too,” she noted in a
sing-song voice.

“Who’s Meagan?”

“Meagan is the
receptionist who works at the precinct.  She told me…”

“What?” Kellie
said wearily.

“She told me he was
testy as a hungry Grizzly Bear all morning.  She said when she had to discuss
something with him, he only growled in response.  So unlike him,” she added.

“Maybe he has a
lot on his mind,” Kellie said.  “I mean, who doesn’t?  With all this Santa’s
Posse business, and Thanksgiving a couple days away, not to mention his
workload and all the petty crime happening in the mall lots…”  She gave a crisp
nod of her head.  “Of course the man is beginning to show signs of fatigue. 
Who isn’t?”

“I know I’m
exhausted,” Jill admitted, and then her eye’s widened as if she’d just
remembered something of importance.  She dashed out of the office briefly,
returning with a large envelope in her hand.

Kellie groaned. 
“Is that what I think it is?”

She nodded. 
“Dolores dropped it off after you’d gone to your meeting earlier.  She says
it’s ‘critical’ you read this.”

“I don’t have time
to read it!”

“Don’t have time
to read what?” a deep, male voice inquired from the doorway.

“Oh, hi, Miles,”
the women said in unison.

He gave his
typical friendly hello to both women, but turned to Jill.  “Did you hear what
this one did?” he said, aiming a finger at Kellie.

“Oh, I heard,” she
said.  “Don’t worry.  I gave her a piece of my mind.”

“Can you believe
she did that?” he inquired.  “Did you see what she did to her knees?”

“She refuses to
show me her injuries.  She knows it’ll upset me, probably.  What was she
thinking?” she demanded, incredulous.

“Hey, over here!”
Kellie said.  “I’m in the room and you’re talking about me as if I wasn’t
here.”

“I’m just glad you
are
here,” Miles said, and no one misunderstood his meaning.

“You’re making it
sound much worse than it was,” she said in her defense.  “I was only doing my
civic duty…”

“Your civic duty!”
he exclaimed.  “So you’re a cop now!”  He took a deep breath and took his voice
down a notch.  “It’s okay,” he said, seemingly to himself as much as her. 
“We’ve discussed this.”  He turned to Jill.  “She has promised never to run
headlong into a dangerous situation again.  She promised me she’ll call for law
enforcement if she ever comes upon a situation like the one in the parking lot
again.”

“Do you believe
her?  I don’t know if I’d believe here, if I were you.”

“Jill!” Kellie
cried.  “Whose side are you on?”

“His,” she said
without hesitation, pointing at Miles.  “I’m not going to sleep tonight,
thinking about you chasing after that bad guy.”

“Try not to think
about it then,” she said dismally, and glanced at Miles.  “Did you need
something?”

“I have to leave
the mall and head to the station downtown.”

“Okaaay?”

“I’ll be back
later this afternoon.  What time are you getting off work today?”

She shrugged. 
“Not sure.  As always these days, it depends on the workload.”

“Don’t leave until
I get back, okay?”

She gave him a
puzzled glance.  “Why?”

“Because I’m going
to walk you to your car,” he told her.

“You are not!” 
She laughed.  “As if you don’t have enough to do around here!”

He took a deep, steadying
breath, as if counting to ten.  He turned to Jill.  “I think it would be a good
idea for you and Kellie to arrange to park close by one another each morning. 
That way, you can walk in together, and then out together each evening—escorted
by me, or another officer in this mall.”

Kellie harrumphed
with impatience.  “I don’t need an escort.”

Miles appeared to
take another deep, steadying breath.  He turned to Jill again.  “We’re—law
enforcement, that is—  We’re encouraging all female employees of the mall to
buddy up while in the lots.  We’re putting out a memo today alerting women that
Kellie had an encounter last evening and…”

“Oh, everybody
already knows,” Jill interrupted.  “She’s the talk of the mall.”

He nodded resignedly. 
“Anyway, we’re encouraging all female employees to notify either the precinct
or mall security when they’re ready to leave for the day—or evening, as the
case may be.  Either a deputy or a mall security officer will escort them to
their cars.”

Kellie emitted a
sigh.  “That’s fine, if someone wants an escort, but I really don’t…”

“Really don’t what?”
Miles interjected, watching her with a challenging glint in his eyes.

She shrugged. 
“Forget it.”

“Well, it seems
like a great idea to me,” Jill said.  “I know I’ll feel safer having someone
walk me out to my car.  Thank you, Miles.”  She gave Kellie a pointed look. 

“Thank you,
Miles,” she parroted grudgingly.

He watched her for
several seconds, his blue eyes piercing and intent.  Finally, he spoke.  “So
what time are you getting off?”

“Oh, good grief,”
she said.  “I don’t need an escort.  As if you’re not busy enough.”

He ignored the
remark.  “I was going to ask if you’re free for dinner tonight?”

“She’s free,” Jill
said readily.

Kellie glanced at
her friend and gave her a bemused glance.  She shook her head and turned back to
Miles.  “I’m free.” 

He nodded.  “I’m
going to do my best to get out of here by six.”

“Okay.  So …
you’ll pick me up at my condo—about what time…?”

“I’ll meet you
here
at six, so I can walk you to your car,” he said firmly, and turned to Jill. 
“What time are you going home tonight?”

“I have to leave
at five.  I have an engagement.”

He digested the
information.  “Okay, I won’t be back in time, but I’ll have one of my deputies
meet you here.  Please don’t leave until he gets here.”

“Oh, you don’t
have to tell me twice,” she said agreeably, giving Kellie another pointed look. 
“Well, I’d better get back to my desk.  I do believe I hear my phone ringing.”

Kellie piqued her
ears, heard no phone, and shook her head ruefully.  She knew Jill’s departure
was her assistant’s way of giving her and Miles alone time.  She actually
wished Jill would stay.  The tension in the room was palpable.

The door closed
behind her and Kellie gave Miles an expectant, but forced smile.  “Was there
something else?”

He dropped into
the chair Jill had just vacated.  He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his
knees.  “Kellie, I…”

She watched him
closely.  He appeared wholly uncomfortable.  “Yes?” she prompted. 

He sighed and rose
up taller in the chair.  “Look, I…”

“Yes?” she urged,
stifling a nervous chuckle.  Was she about to receive another tongue lashing
for her impetuous behavior the day before?

Suddenly, he stood
up and began pacing.  She watched him, a curious expression fixed on her face. 
“Miles!” she said finally.  “What’s wrong?”

He stopped pacing,
raked a hand through his hair, and met her gaze.  “Look, uh, I know this isn’t
the time or the place.  I mean, I’d meant to talk to you about this at dinner
tonight, but it turns out, I don’t think I can wait…”

“What is it?” she
asked worriedly.  “Is everything all right in the mall?”

He frowned and
gave a dismissive wave.  “I’m not … talking about the mall.  I don’t want to
talk about the mall right now.”

“Then what do you
want to talk about?” she inquired.

“Us!” he said
finally.  “I want to talk about … us.”

“You want to talk
about us?  What about us, Miles?” Kellie said, her face set in a puzzled frown.

He took a deep
breath.  “Okay, yesterday, when dispatch alerted me to the fact that you were
in foot pursuit of a…”  He shook his head.  “Still having trouble wrapping my
mind around that…”  He shook his head again.  “Well, I felt my stomach drop,
literally.  I was, frankly, terrified.  I couldn’t get to you fast enough.”

“I … appreciate
that,” she said.

“Thankfully, you
were okay, but Kellie, it could have been so much worse.”

She nodded,
accepting the truth to his statement.  “You’re right.”

“Anyway, I know we
haven’t known each other for very long, but I realized something yesterday
evening.”

“Yes?”

“I realized that
I, uh, have feelings for you.  I mean, I’d already realized that I wanted to
get to know you better, but hearing that you might be in jeopardy, I…”

She sat forward in
the chair, digesting his words.  She had gathered that he had feelings for her,
and she couldn’t deny she was attracted to him, but having him declaring those
feelings to her, while she was at work, seemed surreal.  She wondered, was Jill
outside the door, with her ear pressed to it?  And what exactly was he trying
to tell her? 

She met his gaze. 
“I am sorry that my actions yesterday upset you.”

He nodded,
accepting her apology.  “Thank you.  And as I was saying, I want to get to know
you better.”  He raked a hand through his hair, and sighed with frustration.  “It
seems like every time you and I try to make plans, one of us is called away for
work reasons or Santa’s Posse business.  I want you to know that I hope that
after the holidays, we can manage to spend more time together getting to know
one another.”  He sighed.  “I’m going to work on establishing some boundaries
when it comes to my work…”

His words trailed
off as a light tapping came from the door.  He grimaced, turned, and popped it
open a few inches.  “Can it wait a few minutes, Jill?” he asked softly.

Dolores burst into
the room.  “I’m not Jill and no, it can’t wait.”  She turned to Kellie.  “Did
you happen to read through the envelope I dropped off for you earlier?”