Save Me, Santa: A Chirstmas Anthology of Romance & Suspense (12 page)

Reid frowned. He didn’t want to lose Lucy to L.A., but he couldn’t very well balk at her career choice. He had to be loving and supportive or he’d lose her.

And losing Lucy made him itchy, like he was going to break out in hives.

A small frown puckered Lucy’s brow as she studied the number on the caller ID screen. Then she slid from bed and headed to the bathroom. “Be right back.”

Reid watched her sashay into the bathroom, already missing her sexy little tush.

Being in a relationship was completely foreign territory to him. His sister Maddie had given him pointers, basically her ten rules to please a woman, so he wouldn’t screw up. But he’d frozen up around rule two when she suggested he forget about Sunday afternoon football and give Lucy full reign over his remote.

After all, he was still a bachelor.

In fact, he and his brother Lance and their best friend Chase made a bachelor pact a few years ago, and Lance and Chase had broken the pact when they’d gotten drunk enough on lust and love to get hitched.

His body shuddered as he pictured himself in a monkey suit walking down some aisle and saying words like
forever
. Could he really do it?

Make a commitment to Lucy?

Shoot, what was wrong with him? He
had
made a commitment to her. They were
exclusive
.

Committing didn’t have to mean marriage, did it?

* * *

Lucy shivered as she closed the bathroom door and answered the call. The man on the other end of the line was the last person she wanted to hear from.

It couldn’t be good news.

“Lucy?”

She leaned against the bathroom sink and sighed. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry to have to phone.”

“What is it, Wallace?”
The two words she’d dreaded hearing the past two years echoed back. “He escaped.”

Oh, God. “How?”
“A van crash. Looks like a set up.” Wallace sighed in disgust. “Apparently he faked a suicide attempt, was sent to the hospital and was being transported back to jail when it happened.”
Lucy chewed her thumbnail. Emmet Roach had made her life a living hell before she’d finally convinced the police that he’d been stalking her. First, he’d befriended her at a Vegas show and she thought he was harmless.

An autograph here. A chance meeting at a coffee shop.

Then it had gotten weird. He’d started following her, sneaking into her apartment and dressing room, stealing her wigs and boas and underwear.

Wearing
her wigs and boas and underwear.

The whole situation had gotten downright creepy.

He’d taken it a step farther by trying to kidnap her from a spa when she was getting a bikini wax.

Not only had it been embarrassing, but he’d walked in and told the salon worker exactly how he wanted her landscaped.

She shivered again. He liked his women bald like a baby.

Not that
that
bothered her, but no man told her what to do.

“Lucy,” Wallace said. “I know this is not good, but we will find him.”

Tears burned the backs of Lucy’s eyes. If Emmet had gone to such drastic lengths to escape, he would find her.

“But, Lucy, I think you should go in hiding until we do.”

Lucy looked out the window at the Christmas tree lot across the way. Reid was naked and in her warm bed where she wanted to stay. She thought they might shop for a tree together later like a real couple.

Sophie had worked hard to build a new life with Reid’s brother Lance.

None of them knew about her situation. About Emmet.

What if he came after one of them to get to her?

“All right,” she said. “I’ll do it. But not for me. I don’t want to endanger anyone I love.”

“I understand,” Wallace said. “We can put you in a safe house.”

Lucy’s claustrophobia set in. “I can’t be locked up twiddling my thumbs. I’ll go crazy.” Especially during the holidays when she wanted to be with Reid and her family. And she still had presents to buy!

Besides, since her mother Deseree had quit stripping, attended cosmetology school and started styling wigs for the drag queen show in Savannah, she and Sophie had tried to get together with her at least once a month.

She’d also hoped for a special gift from Santa this year.

“All right. We’ll work something else out.” Wallace wheezed a breath. “I’ll meet you in the Savannah Square in an hour.”
Lucy grimaced. A half hour ago, she’d been in blissful heaven with Reid. She wanted to run into his arms now.

But she couldn’t tell him what was going on.

Knowing him and his macho overprotective brother, they’d play Tarzan, beat their chests and hunt down Emmet themselves.

She’d have to come up with an excuse to leave town. She couldn’t tell Reid the truth or it might put him in danger.

And lordy, lordy, she didn’t want him to think she’d encouraged the creep or attracted trouble.

* * *

The shower water kicked on, stirring wicked thoughts in Reid’s mind, and he slipped from bed, anxious to join Lucy.

But the bathroom door was locked.

Frowning, he paced to the window and looked out. Last night they’d shared a romantic picnic on the riverbank, then raced back in the rain and made love for hours.

He didn’t want the night to end. And today was Sunday…

Sunday usually meant a lazy day reading the paper. He jerked on his jeans and went to retrieve it. Maybe he could talk Lucy back into bed and they could read it together.

The delivery boy had tossed it into the bushes, so he grabbed it and headed back into the kitchen to make coffee. Before he could brew a pot though, the bathroom door opened, and Lucy flitted out in her silky robe. He spied her from the kitchen and rushed to tell her his plan. They’d read the paper together, then he’d serve her breakfast in bed, those croissants she liked with apple butter, and yogurt. And maybe he’d spread a little strawberry jam on her and lick it off…

“Hey, sexy.” He dropped the paper on the chaise in the corner, then reached for her.

But Lucy sidestepped him then disappeared into the closet. “Sorry, Reid, but I have to go.”

His fantasies wilted. “Go where?”

Lucy yanked out a white t-shirt emblazoned with sparkly angel wings and a pair of jeans then started dressing. “That was my agent. He landed me an audition for a new show they’re filming in L.A., and I need to catch a plane.”
Just what did this agent guy look like? “This morning?”

She dragged out her suitcase and began to pile clothes in it. “Yes, it’s last minute, but a great opportunity. One of those scandalous nighttime soap shows. “And,” she added with exuberance, “they already have a big male star signed on.”

Just what he wanted to hear.

But he’d be a selfish pig if he asked her not to go because of him.

Hell, if she got the gig, maybe he could find a project for himself out in L.A.

A moment of insecurity struck him. Of course, Lucy might not want him to follow her.

Especially with this big male star she’d be working with around.

“When will you be back?” He frowned as she piled outfit after outfit into the bag. She was taking a lot of clothes. And why did she need those red thongs if he wasn’t going with her?

“I don’t know,” Lucy said as she filled a cosmetic bag with enough assorted lotions and creams to last a month. “It might be a few days. Maybe a week or two.”

He glanced at her countdown calendar. “But what about Christmas?”

“Christmas?” Lucy tried to fasten her suitcase, but it was so full the zipper wouldn’t budge. She plopped down on it, using her weight to close it. “I can’t think about the holidays now, Reid. This part is to die for.”

So a part in a show was more important than family and him.

She stuffed his shirt in his hands. “Honestly. Reid. Put on some clothes.”
“Not even a quickie before you go?”

She gave his chest the evil eye. “No. I… don’t want to miss my flight.”

So much for all those crunches he’d done to tone his abs.

Irritated, Reid dragged the shirt on, confused by the change in her demeanor. Lucy was always peppy, fun, up for a good time.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get there in time. I’ll drive you to the airport.”

Lucy’s eyes flared with something akin to panic. “No, Reid. I’d rather drive myself.”

“Why?” He grabbed his belt. “If I drop you off, you won’t have to pay for parking.”

Lucy shook her head. “No. This way my car will be at the airport when I return.”

At least she was planning to return.

She took his arm and pushed him to the door. “Last night was fun. But please leave. I don’t need you distracting me.”

He pulled her against him and nibbled at her ear. “You didn’t mind me distracting you last night.”

Lucy whirled away from him, her pretty lips pinched into a scowl.

“Maybe not, but right now I do.” She opened the door and shoved him through it. “I’ve been waiting for this call for months. I can’t let anything stand in my way.”

Especially him?

Reid started to kiss her again and wish her good luck, but she didn’t give him a chance.

She slammed the door in his face.

He stood on the doorstep, bewildered and hurt. Last night they’d whispered words of love while he’d brought her to ecstasy.

This morning he was standing in her way?

Hell, he’d been brushed off before, but never this abruptly. He didn’t even know what he’d done wrong.

Maybe she was just looking for fun like you usually do
.

And now she had a career break, she was moving on.

He stumbled toward his SUV.

If she landed this part, did that mean it was over between them?

Chapter Two

Lucy swiped at tears as she watched Reid drive away. Dad blast it, it had been all she could do not to jump his bones again. Looking at that naked, sexy chest had almost made her cave.

That stupid Emmet Roach.

It wasn’t fair that she had to leave the people she cared about because he was a lunatic.

But she would do it if it meant protecting Reid and Sophie. After all, Emmet had been a twittering, nervous, pimple-faced menace before he went to prison. Being locked up probably hadn’t changed him for the better.

He might even want revenge against her for having him arrested.

She rushed back to her bedroom, grabbed her bags, and hauled them to her car. A minute later, she hurried back inside, then glanced at her shoe collection and felt a stab of remorse that she had to leave her stilettos and Jimmy Choos behind.

She hadn’t packed her sexy lingerie either although she had thrown in those red thongs.

Well, it
was
Christmas and even if no one saw them, she could fantasize about wearing them for Reid on Christmas day.

Tears clogged her throat, but she swallowed back a sob. No use blubbering like a baby.

She didn’t have time to cry or dwell on what she was missing or the fact that the people she loved might not even miss her.

They
would
miss her, wouldn’t they?

Outside, dark clouds gathered, indicating a storm on the way, so she ran back in the apartment for her purse. But the picture of her and Reid at Sophie’s wedding mocked her from the end table, and she snatched it up.

Panicked at the idea that Emmet might find her apartment, break in and scour through her things for clues to find her, she made a mad dash through every room, gathering all her personal photos, address book, mail, her ipad, and the newspaper article featuring Reid and Lance’s business and the housing development on Skidaway Island they’d just finished.

She stuffed them all in a tote bag and carried them to her car. She couldn’t leave a trail behind for Emmet to follow.

Thunder rumbled as she drove to the square to meet Wallace Bannister, the federal marshal. He was near fifty and had been as close to a father figure as she’d ever had, giving her a shoulder to cry on during the entire Emmet ordeal.

She parked, then followed the sidewalk. Wallace was sitting on a park bench with a newspaper in his lap sipping a cup of coffee, looking very much the casual tourist in his jeans, polo shirt and lightweight jacket. He rubbed a finger across his mustache as she drew near, their signal that it was clear to talk, so she slid onto the bench beside him.

She felt like some spy in a low budget movie that she didn’t want to star in.

“Any word on Emmet?” she asked, hoping by some miraculous means the police had caught him and she could keep her holiday plans.

“Afraid not,” Wallace said. “But we will get him, Lucy. I promise.”

Lucy nodded. She’d been down this road before. There was no telling how long it might take. “So, what’s the plan?”

Wallace scanned the area as a young couple pushing a stroller passed. Another man, maybe thirties, wearing a suit paused to smile at Lucy.

She averted her gaze, her nerves spiking. What if Emmet had hired a private investigator to find her? He might have already tracked her down.

She had to get out of town fast.

Wallace waited until the suited man disappeared into the café across the street, then slipped a Manila envelope from inside his jacket. “There’s a new ID in here, some cash and a credit card in your new name, along with directions to the place you’ll be staying.”

Lucy removed the ID and glanced at it. Taylor Overby. Not a bad name. She would have chosen something like Jasmine, but then again that might sound like a stage name and Wallace was careful about his selection. Actually she was surprised he hadn’t chosen Smith or Jones.

“Your new wheels are waiting at the Savannah Airport. A beige Buick.”

Lucy raised a brow.

“It’s about as nondescript as we could find on short notice.”

“And absolutely a car I’d never drive,” Lucy said, thinking about her lipstick red convertible bug. Now
that
was a car.

“The parking stub shows where it’s parked in the long-term lot,” Wallace continued. “Leave your car there and take the new one. The space has been paid up for two weeks, but I’ll make sure it’s updated if we need it.”

Two weeks and Christmas would be over.