Santa' Wayward Elf (10 page)

Beside him, Sosie stirred, her eyes fluttering open. Still
half-asleep, she looked at him in confusion, then her lips curved and he was
treated to that brilliant smile of hers.

“Good morning,” she said.

He leaned over to kiss her. “Good morning to you, too.”

She reached up to cup his face, her fingers lightly
caressing his stubble. “When I first woke up, I was afraid last night had been
a dream.”

He grinned. “No way. No dream could ever be that good.”

She laughed, a soft blush coloring her cheeks. She started
to pull him down for another kiss, only to hesitate.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She turned her head to stare at the window, her eyes wide
with wonder. “That noise outside. What is it?”

He listened, then chuckled as he realized she was talking
about the traffic down on the street below. “That’s New York. There are always
people going somewhere.”

“Oh.” She nibbled on her lower lip as if considering something,
then gave him a quick kiss. “I’m going to see what they’re doing.”

Throwing back the blanket, she jumped out of bed and ran
over to the window, heedless that she was completely naked. That was something
else he liked about her. She wasn’t body conscious at all. Not that she has any
reason to be. Derek let his gaze caress her petite, slender figure
appreciatively.

“Where are they all going, do you think?”

Derek tore himself away from her tight, little ass long
enough to answer. “Who knows? Work. Shopping. Sightseeing.”

Sosie didn’t say anything, but instead gazed out the window
as if fascinated by what was happening on the street below. That was okay with
Derek because it let him ogle her perfect ass some more. Until she whirled
around to face him, of course. But that was fine with him, too, since he got to
ogle her equally perfect breasts in this new direction.

“Let’s go outside.”

He frowned. “Outside?”

She nodded.

“Right now?”

She nodded again, more eagerly this time. “You said you’d
show me around the city, remember?”

When he didn’t say anything, she hurried across the room and
jumped into bed to kneel beside him, her blue eyes wide and pleading. “Can we
go now? Please.”

Derek would much rather have spent the whole day in bed, but
Sosie looked so excited at the idea of going sightseeing, he couldn’t say no to
her. “Okay.”

She clapped her hands, bending to kiss him. “Thank you.”

He stifled a groan as her naked body pressed up against his.
It was all he could do not to say the hell with playing tour guide and keep
Sosie right where she was, but a promise was a promise. He’d have to satisfy
his urges later.

After getting dressed, they grabbed a quick bite to
eat—Sosie wasn’t nearly as impressed with the bowl of cereal as she’d been with
the bacon and eggs—then headed for the door. It wasn’t until he was shrugging
into his leather coat that Derek realized Sosie didn’t have one. He reached
into the closet for his other leather jacket and held it out to her.

She eyed it curiously, but didn’t take it. “What’s that
for?”

“You need a coat.”

She glanced down at her borrowed jeans and T-shirt. “Why?”

“Because it’s ten degrees out there.”

“Is that cold?”

Maybe not where she came from, but to him, it was colder
than a well-digger’s butt. “Too cold to go out in jeans and a T-shirt.” He held
open the coat so she could put it on. “Humor me, okay? It’ll be too big for
you, but it’s better than people thinking you’re on crack or something.”

Her brow furrowed as if she had no idea what crack was, but
she didn’t ask for clarification. Instead, she turned around and slipped her
arms into the sleeves of the coat.

She hugged it around her. “Thank you. It’s very cozy.”

On the way downstairs, they ran into Tracee and Linda, who
promptly said they needed to borrow Sosie for a minute, then dragged her off to
the other side of the hallway to talk in hushed whispers. As the three women
laughed and hugged each other, he marveled at how fast they’d become friends.
It was hard to believe Sosie had met the other women the day before. But Sosie
had a way about her that made people immediately take to her.

“What was that all about?” he asked as they walked outside.

“Nothing. Just girl talk.”

Which was her way of saying it was none of his business.

As they made their way along the sidewalk, Derek noticed
that not only hadn’t Sosie bothered to zip up her coat, but she didn’t seem to
notice the swirling wind whipping around them. Maybe this temperature actually
was pleasant compared to what she was used to at home.

If that wasn’t a reminder Sosie wasn’t from around here, her
fascination with everything around them was. She’d never seen a Fed-Ex box or a
jewelry store and wanted to know what they were, along with the guy standing on
the corner with a cup in his hand. She couldn’t understand why he was called a
panhandler when he clearly wasn’t holding a pan, and said it must be one of
those things that was lost in translation.

Derek had a ball teaching her about all of it, astounded at
how much fun it was to see the wonder and joy on her face. It made him look at
the city with fresh eyes and reminded him of how great it really was, something
he often forgot thanks to the sleazy side of it he saw on the job.

After getting a slice of pizza—something else Sosie had
never eaten before, but thought was delicious—they took the subway to Midtown
so he could show her around Central Park. Sosie especially loved the horses
that hauled the carriages around, though she kept calling them reindeer. Derek
couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Do you want to take a ride?” he asked.

She shook her head as she gently ran her hand down the
gelding’s nose. “I’d rather stay and talk to the horses.”

Derek thought she’d meant it figuratively, but then Sosie
attempted to tell the driver the horse said he was bored with walking the same
route over and over, and would rather run straight across the middle of the
park instead. The driver had a good laugh at that, and so did Derek. Until
Sosie referred to the horse by name without the driver telling her what it was.
That freaked the man out so much that Derek slipped his arm around Sosie and
suggested they leave and do some more sightseeing.

“How did you know the horse’s name?” he asked when they were
out of earshot.

“The horse told me,” she said simply.

He chuckled, figuring she was messing with him, but she said
it with such a straight face that he wasn’t sure.

They went to the ice rink at Rockefeller Plaza next. The
minute they got there, Sosie ran out on the ice like a kid, giggling and
calling out for him to join her. Derek stared at her incredulously. She didn’t
have skates on and yet she moved around better than most of the people who did.

Spinning around, she put her hands on her hips and gave him
an impatient look. “Aren’t you coming?”

He laughed. “Hang on. At least let me get some skates
first.”

Though Sosie insisted she didn’t need any, Derek rented a
pair for her, too. Once she had them on her feet, she was even more amazing on
the ice. She skated like an Olympic gold medalist, and her twirls had everyone
oohing and aahing, including him. Then she pulled him out onto the ice with her
and helped him skate. He was terrible at it, but her joy was so infectious he
couldn’t help but have fun.

After falling on his butt for the tenth time, he finally
managed to talk her into taking a break so they could get some hot chocolate.
She’d had it before, but never with marshmallows, and she giggled at the
fluffy, white confections floating in her cup. The moment they’d finished their
drinks, however, she dragged him back onto the ice again. Even though he was
better at staying upright this time, he spent most of it standing off to the
side watching Sosie twirl around. She was such a joy that the rental guy didn’t
make a fuss when they returned the skates thirty minutes late.

“Where’d you learn to skate like that?” Derek asked as he
laced up his boots.

“Home. Everyone learns to skate there.” She jumped to her
feet. “Where to now?”

He grinned up at her, knowing exactly where to take her
next. “It’s a surprise.”

Derek hadn’t been to FAO Schwartz since he was a kid, but he
got the feeling Sosie would love the place. He was right. Sosie squealed the
moment they walked in the door and immediately ran over to sit down on the
floor in the center of the store to play with the toys. Within minutes, she had
a dozen kids down there playing with her. There were even a few adults who
joined her. Though it completely destroyed his cool cop exterior, Derek found
himself loading wood blocks in a Tonka truck right along with everyone else.
That was when he realized how amazing Sosie was. He wouldn’t get down on the
floor of a toy store and relive his childhood for any woman, that was for sure.
But something told him Sosie wasn’t simply any woman. She was special.

Which was why he couldn’t resist buying her the huge stuffed
reindeer he spotted sitting on one of the shelves.

“But you’ve already done so much for me already,” she
protested.

He grinned. “Think of it at as belated Christmas present.”

She nibbled on her lower lip as if not sure whether to
accept the gift, then smiled. “I love it. He looks exactly like Prancer.” She
lowered her voice conspiratorially. “Don’t tell anyone, but he’s always
secretly been my favorite.”

Derek only chuckled. When they finally left the store a
little while later, he was stunned to see it was already dark outside.

“What do you say we stop and have dinner on the way home?”
he asked, pulling her into his arms to give her a kiss.

“At the same place we had lunch, I hope. That pizza was
delicious.”

He chuckled. “I was thinking of something more substantial
than pizza. Italian does sound good, and I know this great place a few streets
over from here. What do you say?”

She pulled him down for another kiss. “I say it sounds
wonderful.”

Derek was afraid they’d have to wait a while for a table
when they got to the restaurant, but the hostess seated them almost as soon as
they walked in. As he and Sosie sat at a quiet table in the corner sipping wine
and eating antipasto, he had to admit that while he’d had fun running all over
the city with her, it was nice to finally spend some time simply talking with
her. Especially since she knew almost everything about him and he knew
practically nothing about her.

Maybe it was because he was a cop, but Derek couldn’t help
noticing Sosie hesitated before answering any of his questions. In his
experience, that usually meant a person was trying to be careful about what
they said. He didn’t press her about it. Lots of people had secrets, and coming
from a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, he figured she probably had more
than her fair share of them. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was a suspect he was
interrogating.

“What about family?” he asked as he added freshly grated
parmesan to the fettuccini alfredo he’d ordered. “Any brothers or sisters?”

Sosie shook her head. “No. It’s always just been my mom and
me.”

“She lives in Snow City, then?”

“Not anymore. She retired and moved away after I graduated
from school and went out on my own.”

“Do you still see her often?”

“Not in a long time.”

“That must be tough on you.”

Sosie looked down at her plate. “It was at first. But it’s
been years since I’ve seen her.”

Derek frowned. Considering Sosie was twenty-five, it
couldn’t have been that many years ago. He found it difficult to believe her
mother had been old enough to retire. While Sosie gave the impression she was
okay with it, he didn’t think she was fine with it at all. He wondered if Sosie
had concocted the whole story to make herself feel better about her mother
running off and leaving her.

“What about your dad?” he asked.

“My father died before I was born. I never knew him.”

Damn. “I’m sorry.”

Her father’s death must have made her mom’s departure even
rougher. Derek was amazed a woman who had been through as much grief as Sosie
obviously had could be so upbeat all the time. Wanting to see her smile again,
he steered the conversation away from her parents to something else.

“Where did you learn to fix toys?”

“I’ve always been good with anything mechanical or
electrical.” Her lips curved. “Toys are my specialty, though.”

He grinned. “I got that impression. Have you ever given any
thought to making them?”

Her eyes danced. “Actually, I have.”

Derek was sure there was a story behind that, but before he
could say anything, the waitress came by to take their empty plates. “Can I get
you some coffee and dessert?”

He gave Sosie a questioning look.

“I think I’ll pass on the coffee, but I wouldn’t mind some
dessert.”

“I’ll bring you a menu,” the waitress said.

He thought Sosie would go for the chocolate mousse or
tiramisu, but she surprised him by choosing chocolate ice cream instead.

“I’ve never had it before, but anything with the words
chocolate and cream in the title has to be delicious,” she said.

Derek was astonished she’d never eaten ice cream, especially
since she lived in the great white north, but as she spooned some into her
mouth and let out a low, sexy moan of appreciation, he couldn’t focus on
anything but those luscious lips of hers and what they’d feel like wrapped
around his cock. He stifled a groan as his jeans tightened in the groin.
Suddenly, he couldn’t wait for Sosie to finish dessert so they could go back to
his place.

Sosie, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to his plight and
what she was doing to him. She took her time, slowly savoring every bite of ice
cream until he thought he was going to explode. When she was finally finished,
it was all he could do not to toss some money down on the table and whisk her
out of the restaurant. Somehow, he managed to control himself.