Wild Holiday Nights. Samantha Hunter

      “Not like this.”

      Her heart warmed. “Well, then, what are we doing in here?” She opened the door and went outside.

      He joined her just in time for her to smack him in the side of the head with a makeshift snowball. The snow was soft and fluffy, so no harm done. Calla laughed at his momentary shock, and then at the sheer glee in his expression as he scooped up some snow and threw it back at her.

      He managed to get her at the back of her neck, and the snow slid down her back, making her wiggle as the cold snaked down her spine.

      “Oh, good shot, but so cold,” she said, still laughing and shivering at the same time.

      Then she caught his eye, how he watched her, and she stopped wiggling. Gideon’s dark hair was plastered against his forehead, wet from the snow, his cheeks ruddy from the cold. The look he leveled at her, though, was hot enough to make her forget the icy snow sliding down her back.

      For a moment, so much heat leaped between them they might as well have been back behind the barn in midsummer rather than standing in the middle of a snowstorm.

      Then he broke the connection, shaking the snow from his dark hair as he turned to go back inside.

       Oh, no, you don’t.

      Turnabout was fair play, and Calla hadn’t grown up with two older brothers without knowing how to hold her own. She scooped up some snow, quickly catching up with him as he walked back into the store. She grabbed the back of his sweater, dropping the icy bundle down inside.

      His yelp was her reward.

      When he spun around, wiggling as she had, she grinned and closed the distance between them.

      “Wait. I know a better way to warm you up,” she said, pushing up on tiptoe and kissing him.

      She meant it to be a quick kiss—or maybe she didn’t. Calla was exhausted, thrown off her game by the strange week and by being so close to Gideon for most of the day.

      All she could think about while they’d been making those wedding bells was the kiss she’d had with him nearly a decade ago.

      She’d wondered if it would be as good now.

      It wasn’t. It was better.

      His lips were still cool from the outdoors, firm and just right. She darted her tongue out to taste him and his arms came around her, pulling her up tight against him. She slid her hands under his sweater to flatten her palms against his solid—and slightly wet—back. Gideon took over the kiss almost without her realizing it, parting her lips wider as his tongue made all kinds of promises to hers.

      Calla moaned and pressed her hips into his, and then again as his erection nudged against her belly through his slacks.

      “If you need to keep an eye on me, this is a much better way, I’d say,” she whispered into his ear.

      As soon as she said the words, Gideon’s hold loosened, and he backed away.

      “I’m sorry, Calla. I shouldn’t have done that.”

      She blinked, still not quite recovered from his touch. “Why not? And technically, by the way, I did that to you.”

      “I thought after so much time we wouldn’t have the same chemistry, or I...I don’t know what I thought.”

      She frowned. “But we do have it. And what’s wrong with it? Unless...” Her stomach dropped as she realized what could be the very large problem. “You have someone back home?”

      She’d never thought he might be attached, even married. Her eyes dropped to his left hand. No ring. But that didn’t mean anything these days. A lot of people she knew were in committed relationships without the traditional symbols.

      “Absolutely not. There’s no one.”

      Her knees almost sagged with relief.

      “Except your brother Nathan.”

      Calla froze, momentarily stunned.

      “My brother? Wait. No. I know for a fact he’s been seeing a woman he’s fairly serious about for the last year—”

      Gideon rolled his eyes. “No, not like that. Jeez. I mean, he’s my friend, and he asked me to come here to see if you were okay, not get you into bed. I’m fairly sure doing that breaks some kind of code that would allow him to shoot me if he found out.”

      Calla read between the lines as fast as Gideon spoke.

      “But you’d be interested otherwise?”

      “I’m so interested I’ll be using a lot of cold water back at my hotel tonight.”

      “So...” Calla posited what seemed to be the obvious thought. “Why does he have to find out? What business is it of his?”

      “You think he wouldn’t know if I was seeing his younger sister?”

      “I’m not talking about a long-term relationship, Gideon. I’m not moving back to Texas, and I assume you aren’t planning to move to New York, so...why not enjoy each other’s company for the holidays? I can show you the city, and you can make sure no bad men attack me.”

      “I think I would be the bad man attacking you,” he said dryly, but she could also see he was interested.

      “Sounds good to me.”

      In part, Calla almost couldn’t believe the words coming out of her own mouth, but the more she spoke, the more she convinced herself, if not Gideon.

      This was the perfect way to spend her Christmas holiday. A few days of no-strings mattress gymnastics with Gideon was suddenly all she wanted for Christmas.

      Then he shook his head. “If he asked, I’d have to tell him the truth, and it could ruin a good friendship. Not to mention the trust we have on the job. You know that trust is a serious thing.”

      She couldn’t argue the point. The wind went out of Calla’s sails as she realized she’d done the exact thing she’d promised herself she wouldn’t do—she’d thrown herself at Gideon again, only to have him walk away.

      She felt like an idiot. Humiliated twice by the same guy. Wouldn’t she ever learn?

      “Fine. You’re absolutely right, and I understand. So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to close up for the night. Your help was great. Thank you,” she added stiffly. “You can ask the police anything you want. The detective in charge was Howser. I hope you have a nice trip back.”

      With that, she walked to the door and held it open in a clear message for him to leave. The cold air rushing in reminded her of how hot he’d gotten her minutes before, adding to her resolve. If he was going to walk away this time, she was making sure it was at her invitation.

      Gideon blew out a breath. “Calla, please—”

      “Really, I do understand, Gideon. Have a safe trip.”

      When he halted his progress, pausing next to her by the door, she thought for one hopeful second that he’d changed his mind. That he might sweep her up and say the heck with her brother, but he only looked at her one more time with regret and then stepped out the door into the snow.

      Calla shut the door behind him, locked it and went back to work on her cake. She’d lied about going home to sleep. Right now the last thing she wanted was to go to bed alone.

3

      GIDEON KNEW HE’D done the right thing—just as he’d done by walking away eight years ago.

      Doing the right thing sucked, but it was a lesson his father had drilled into him when he was very young.

      He wished he could have broken the rules this once. But Nathan wasn’t just another cop on