Save Me, Santa: A Chirstmas Anthology of Romance & Suspense (8 page)

I growled in the back of my throat as Joel walked closer, shucking his thick coat. With his ruffled midnight-black hair, stubble-covered square jaw, and emerald green eyes, he looked like sin in the skin, all cock of the walk.

But when he stopped in front of me, I noticed the crows’ feet bracketing his eyes, showing a tension that his big, easy grin couldn’t hide.

Don’t say it’s a fine morning or I’ll shoot ya
, I heard John Wayne say in my head. “I said the bar’s closed.”

“I heard you, Shooter.” His use of my childhood nickname prickled my pucker. He patted Buffalo on the back. “Hey, Buff, you given any thought to my investment offer for the ol’ Goldwash Grand?”

Buffalo had recently “retired” after making a shitload of money in software development over in Silicon Valley and was blowing it all on fixing up the local historic hotel, which needed a lot of love and a wad of cash after sitting in the Nevada sun and wind for the last forty years.

“I don’t feel right taking money from friends or family.”

“Hey!” I gaped at Buffalo. “What about that fifty bucks you still owe me?”

“Well,
your
money feels just fine, Monty.”

Buffalo turned back to Joel. “How are those Vegas lights?”

“Too damned bright and crowded,” Joel answered Buffalo, but his green eyes held mine captive, fire burning in their depths like usual whenever he tried to sex my boots off. “Not enough big blue sky there.”

I curled my toes, holding on to my boots and my heart.

“What do you want, Joel?” I asked, not mincing words.

His gaze hovered on the front of my T-shirt. “I missed you, too, Montana.”

The asshole had a lot of nerve, strutting back into my world and throwing hungry looks in my direction.

I let the mop handle fall against the bar and walked around to the wall full of liquor bottles.
Eenie-meenie-minie-moe.
I grabbed a bottle of whiskey, sending him a stink-eyed glance. “Go back to the bright lights, Joel. It took me long enough to scrape you off the bottom of my boots last time you came around.”

Buffalo whistled between his teeth. “She ain’t pullin’ her punches tonight, Joel.”

“Come on, Shooter,” Joel said. “Is that any way to treat a guy just out of the cold on Christmas Eve? Where’s your holiday spirit?”

“Brunhilda ate it,” Buffalo said.

Brunhilda swiveled an ear in our direction.

I poured myself a shot, my trembling hand itching to pour the amber liquor over Joel’s head. How dare he show his mug in here after kicking me in the teeth the last time we talked?

The phone rang. I glanced at the caller ID—unlisted number again.
Damn it!

Reaching over, I grabbed the phone base, tore it off the wall, threw it on the floor, and stomped down on it with my heel.

“Breathe all over that, jerkoff,” I said and tossed back the shot of whiskey. It burned a path all the way down, slamming into my toes.

With a tight smile for Buffalo, then Joel, I said, “You both need to get out of my bar before I fill you full of holes.”

“She ain’t bluffing,” Buffalo said. “She’s got her shotgun with her.”

“What’s up with the phone, Montana?” Joel asked, leaning his elbows on the bar. His eyes tried to read my face like the wrinkles and sunspots had tall tales to tell.

“None of your business. Lock the door on your way out.”

Without another word, I grabbed the bottle of whiskey and shoved through the swinging half-doors that led back to my office.

Change of plans this Christmas Eve—chuck the old Westerns marathon and cuddle up with a bottle of firewater until Joel went back to Vegas and took his heartbreaking grin with him.

The bastard didn’t let me make it that far.

“Montana,” Joel called from behind me. “I need to talk to you.”

“Go to hell.” I stepped through my office doorway. “You’re killing my holiday buzz.”

He followed on my boot heels, shutting the door behind him. “This can’t wait.”

“Really?” I whirled on him, whiskey sloshing in my hand. “What’s so damned important that you had to break the four months of beautiful silence we had going?”

He took the bottle from me and put it on my desk. “Your ex-husband escaped from prison a week ago.”

What!
“Are you serious?” At his nod, I stumbled backwards, falling onto the silver couch I used to sleep on in the old days when my parents ran the bar. “Oh, fuck.”

Joel kneeled in front of me, holding my clammy hands in his. He smelled fresh from the desert, all spicy and earthy, like the tumbleweed he was. Just last week I was daydreaming about using a nail gun to pin him to a fence once and for all.

“We’ve had an APB out for him since he disappeared. Yesterday, a convenience store owner down in Beatty recognized him and called the cops, but he slipped by them.”

“You’re sure it was him?”

“He bought unfiltered cigarettes, black licorice, and orange soda pop.”

I grimaced. Yep, that was him all right. “How did he escape from prison in this day and age?”

“His girlfriend seduced a guard.”

“It’s that simple, huh?”

“There’s a bit more to it, but you get the gist.”

“So, is that why you’re here,
Detective
Andersen? The Las Vegas Police Department has you working overtime on Christmas Eve looking for my ex?”

In other words, I was just part of his
job
—the source of our breakup.

“Yes.”

I had never quite gotten used to his brutal honesty, no matter how many times he lashed me with it. I twisted my hands together to keep from giving him a shiner. “Well, I haven’t seen him.”

“Tell me why you broke the phone.”

“Some asthmatic keeps calling me.”

“How long has this been going on?”

“About a week now.” My eyes widened as a light bulb went on. “It’s him, isn’t it?”

Joel shrugged. “It’s a good bet you’re on his list of must-sees this holiday season, and I doubt he plans on doing the dance of the sugar plum fairy with you.”

“Does your brother know about this?”

He nodded. “Rick has had one of his deputies sitting outside your bar tonight.”

“Nothing like having to babysit the local bar owner on Christmas Eve.”

“Why didn’t you close like Rick asked?”

“The holiday party is a Goldwash tradition and the only get-together for most of the locals living alone out here. You know that.”

“Montana, he’s going to try to kill you again.” Joel’s fingers brushed along my jaw.

I pushed his hand away and stood. “
Try
being the operative word.”

“Don’t be going off half-cocked.” Joel rose to his feet. “Look where that left you last time.”

“In bed with you?”

He shot me a crooked grin. “I was talking about jail.”

Oh, yeah. I hadn’t thought about that in a long time. “Well, maybe I’ll kill him first. Have you considered that, Detective?” I paced in front of my desk. “I have several boxes of ammo in my garage. I’ll just hole up at home for a few days. Buff will cover for me here.”

“Shooter,” Joel said, reaching for my arm.

I dodged him. “No, I don’t want to take any chances of getting someone hurt. I’ll just have to shut the bar down.” Which pissed me off after all I’d spent in preparation for the New Year’s party.

“Damn it, woman,” Joel grabbed me and yanked me against his chest. “Shut up and listen to me for a second.”

I blinked up at him. “You’re out of your jurisdiction, Joel, especially when it comes to touching me. Or have you forgotten that fact?”

He walked me backwards until I was up against my desk, his body tight against mine. “I haven’t forgotten a single thing about touching you, Montana. You’re pretty much branded onto my brain.”

The heat coming off him melted the layer of frost I’d built up over the last few months. Damn, I’d sure missed his rough edges.

“If this is your attempt to distract me from filling my ex-husband full of lead, it’s not gonna work.”

“Oh, yeah? I bet I can still give you goosebumps.” His long, black eyelashes lowered, his green eyes dark with carnal intent.

“If your brother sent you in here to deter me for some reason… “

“My brother doesn’t know I’m here. Nobody does.”

“Buffalo does.”

“Buff is going home.” He ran his lips over my collar bone, making my heart bounce around like a playful foal, the double-crossing muscle.

His tongue flicked over the pulse in my neck. “I want you, Shooter. No matter how much you piss me off with your mule-headedness, I always want you, damn it.”

Not exactly a Shakespearean sonnet, but his words made my head rummy anyway.

“I know you feel the same,” he whispered against my skin. “It’s in those big blue eyes of yours.”

I closed my peepers, trying to focus on the many ways I’d wanted to hurt Joel since our last conversation. “Kiss my ass, Andersen.”

“Sure thing. Take off your pants.” He gripped my hips, lifting me onto the desk, angling between my thighs. “Please tell me you’re still on the pill.”

I slid my hands along his broad shoulders, retracing the lines and ridges I’d missed. “It doesn’t matter. This is not going to happen.”

He covered my lips with his, touched his tongue to mine, and all hell broke loose in my chest.

I scooted closer to him, tearing at his shirt buttons. “Stop flirting with me,” I said, ripping open the last two buttons, leaning in to smell his skin then taste it. Warm and salty, like the desert hardpan.

I felt his groan vibrate against my mouth. “I missed you, Montana. All of you. Especially your smart mouth.”

“Stop talking before you piss me off again.”

He chuckled, lifting my chin until my gaze locked with his. “I thought about you day and night. Especially in the shower.”

“Oh, yeah? You have a funny way of showing it.”

He trailed kisses along my jaw, leaving a line of heat in their wake. “You’re the one who refused to come with me when I asked.”

Gasping as he nipped my earlobe, I said, “I don’t remember you doing any asking, just informing me after you decided.”

“I thought the ring said it all.”

I tugged his flannel shirt off his arms. “It was a full-sized nose ring straight off a bull.”

“I cleaned it first. Besides, it was symbolic—you could lead me around anywhere by it. Buffalo thought it was romantic.”

“Maybe you should have given it to him.” Joel’s thermal undershirt dropped to the floor. “Your communication skills have never been your… “ I paused to swallow the excess saliva the sight of his bared skin produced, the dark dusting of hair pointing my eyes southward, “… your strong point.”

He tugged my T-shirt over my head. “And your stubbornness will be the death of you, unless I can help it.”

“That’s no longer your concern.”

“You and I both know that’s not true.” His fingers traced along the lace at the top of my bra, making me squirm. He leaned down and kissed the swell of skin just above the fabric. “You look thinner, sweetheart.”

“I’ve been busy,” I lied.

His gaze held mine, suddenly serious. “Tell me there’s nobody else in the picture.”

There never would be, but I had to salvage my pride, what little of it he hadn’t stripped from me yet again tonight. “Why didn’t you call me back, Joel?”

He cupped my face, brushing his lips over mine so slowly, so tenderly, like he wanted to savor them. I couldn’t hold in the moan that reached up from my heart.

“I’ve chased you since you wore pigtails, Shooter,” he whispered. “Just this once, couldn’t you have chased me?”

“You ran too far.”

His mouth trailed down my neck. “I wouldn’t have run anywhere if you’d told me you wanted me to stay.”

I leaned back on the desk, tipping my head back to give him more access, wanting to ask if that meant what I thought it did, but the sound of glass breaking crashed through my lust-filled haze. I froze. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

Another crash resounded.
Buffalo!

“That.” I shoved him back, scooped up my T-shirt from the floor, and raced out the door, pulling the shirt over my head as I ran.

“Montana,” he said from the doorway. “Come back to me.”

I shoved out the swinging doors into the darkness and was halfway along the front of the bar when I realized the lights were off—all of them, even the beer lights I usually left on in the windows.

“Buffalo?” I said. My boot toe connected with what felt like a body, making me stumble to my knees, my hand coming down on something warm, wet, slippery.

A heavy, coppery scent filled my head.

“Oh, God. Buffalo?” I reached for his body, but it wasn’t there, just blood, pooled all around me.

Then I heard it, the breathing in the darkness.

“Hey, baby,” an all-too familiar scratchy voice said.

I froze, my heart throwing itself against my rib cage like it wanted to bust free and high-tail it out of town. Maybe if I just held still in the blackness, he wouldn’t see me.

“Aren’t you going to welcome me home?”

“Montana,” Joel said from the direction of the swinging doors. “Are you okay?”

I heard the click of a hammer being cocked back.

“Joel, get down!” I yelled.

A shot rang out over my head.

“No!” I screamed, struggling to my feet, lurching toward where Joel stood by the swinging doors. Only he wasn’t there.

A second shot exploded. Then a third, which tore across the outside of my shoulder, stinging like a son of a bitch.

I slipped, the blood slick as ice under my boots. On the way down, my skull connected with something hard. Pain flared above my left ear and ripped through my skull…

* * *

Goldwash, Nevada

December 24th

O holy night!

The stars are brightly shining…

“Would you turn off that Christmas crap and help me clean up all this… “ A déjà vu gave me pause in the midst of throwing a wet rag at my cousin Buffalo, who nursed a mug of beer at the end of the bar.

Buffalo frowned at me over his glass. “Jeez, Montana, can’t you let a man enjoy a nostalgic moment? Where’s your—”

“Holiday spirit?” I finished for him, feeling like I was rehearsing for a play I knew from memory. Something was supposed to come next about Brunhilda, Buffalo’s fat bulldog, who lay splayed on her belly next to his bar stool snoring, but I changed it up. “I lost it when Joel left town.”