Page 7 of A Very Naughty Christmas

It had been all he could do to lecture Aunt Sherry on her poor behavior while keeping a straight face. Her husband had promised to get her to rest, and in the morning—or later that evening, for that matter—she’d be too hungover to want to speak above a whisper.

He’d gotten another call after that, about a pair of teenagers harassing the homeless guy who hung around the corner of Harbor and Fifth. He’d given them both amuchsterner lecture than Aunt Sherry had gotten, with a promise to talk to their parents if there was a next time, then he’d put the homeless man, whose name was Art, into his car and dropped him off at the local shelter. He suspected he’d see the man again in the next week or two. Then after writing up incident reports on both cases, he’d driven the streets until his shift was over. He had a short one today, because the chief avoided handing out overtime. Not that it bothered Alex—he was single and lived comfortably. Besides, the holidays passed pretty quietly aroundhere, which meant that overtime wasn’t really necessary.

He was pulling into his driveway when something caught his eye. Was that Sara Schroder on his doorstep? What was she doing there? Her face looked peaked in the beam of his headlights, her eyes wide. She looked, he couldn’t help thinking, like a little stray kitten that had wandered over hoping for a bowl of cream. The thought made him smile. He never knew why, but seeing Sara always made him think of cute animals.

He hadn’t thought of her except on occasion since she’d left for college. Of course, his heart had gone out to her when he’d heard about her parents. He’d been off that day and hadn’t been called to the scene of the accident, but he’d heard that it had been a brutal one. The only upside of that was that both her parents had died instantly.

Seeing her on his doorstep made his heart constrict. She was old enough to fend for herself, but she’d been the only child of, from what he could tell, a very close family. They’d loved this time of year especially, so he was sure that wasn’t easy on her. When he’d seen her the other night, he’d been determined that he’d do everything he could to help her have a good holiday.

He was just being nice, he told himself. Neighborly. People around here were like that. And besides, he’d liked her parents. He hadn’t known them overly well, though her mother had brought over a homemade pound cake once or twice a year, and had made him a batch of chicken soup once when he’d been ill. Her father had him over once for barbecue chicken a few months after Sara had left and the two of them had sipped on beer bottles and talked sports while the barbecue smoke swirled around them. They had been good, nice people, and if he was being a bit overly nice to their daughter, that was the only reason.

It didn’t have anything to do with her beautiful blond hair that cascaded down her back, those wide, innocent blue eyes, or her flawless cream complexion. Not one thing. Sure, she’d grown up to be a looker. That wasn’t why he’d let her off with a warning, and certainly not why he’d brought her breakfast this morning. He’d let her go without a ticket because he was trying to be understanding, given all that she’d been through. He knew that her world had literally been turned upside down overnight. That had to be hard to come back from.

And the breakfast… he still wasn’t really sure why he’d done that. It had been impromptu, that was for sure. The minute he’d seen that chocolate glazed doughnut bursting with colorful sprinkles, he’d thought of Sara. He’d hidden a smile the minute he’d seen her reach for it. And it wasn’t because he still thought of her as a kid, like she seemed to think. Not exactly. At twenty-two, she was a woman. He knew that. And yet… there was something so undeniably childlike about her. He wouldn’t be telling her any time soon, though, because he suspected that he’d just offend her. How could he explain that he found it charming? That what she perceived as an insult, he actually meant to be endearing? He didn’t have the faintest clue how to go about it—he didn’t know how to talk to women. That was clear, given hispermanent bachelor status.

Alex parked in the driveway and opened the door, watching Sara out of the corner of his eye. Her eyes were fixed on him, and only getting wider as he closed the door and began to make his way up the walkway. He wasn’t sure what was going on, but when he approached and saw her lower lip began to quiver, he grew concerned.

“Sara? What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I… I did something… hor-horrible!” she exclaimed mere seconds before she burst into tears.

Oh, boy. Here he’d just been thinking that he wasn’t good with women and one had shown up on his doorstep like a reminder from the universe.Thanks, Universe. Thanks a lot.

* * *

Sara hadn’t meant to start crying, but once she had, she couldn’t seem to make it stop. She tried, especially when she saw the bewildered look on Alex’s face, but it only made the tears come faster until she was sobbing incoherently.

He stepped toward her, but she turned away, embarrassed. This had been a bad idea. She didn’t know why she’d come here. Everything was fine.Fine. Sure, something bad, really, really bad,couldhave happened. But it hadn’t. Everyone was fine. So what was she doing here, on his doorstep?

As soon as he caught her in her arms she knew the reason why. His strong, capable hands came around her and her head went to rest on his firm, manly chest. And just like that, she felt the tension begin to leave her body.

“Calm down,” he murmured, brushing his hand across her hair. “Everything is going to be okay. Just take deep breaths.”

Thiswhat was she’d come for. She missed her parents so much—it was a deep, permeating ache that never went away, not even for a second. Sure, she’d stopped noticing it, but that was because it had simply become a part of her. And this was what she’d needed—for someone to hold her while she cried and tell her that everything would be okay, and make her believe it, even if it was just for a second.

And said in Alex’s strong, commanding voice, she did believe it. She leaned against him, enjoying the tenderness of his concerned attention until her tears began to subside. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand, took a deep, shuddering breath, and stepped away from him.

“Thanks,” Sara sniffled.

“No problem.” His blue eyes were still full of concern. “So, you want to tell me what allthat was about?”

“Not particularly,” she admitted with a little laugh. “But thanks again. I’ll be fine.” She gave him a half smile and a weak wave, but when she turned to leave, Alex stepped in her path.

“Uh-uh. It doesn’t work like that. When I come home to find a girl crying on my doorstep, she doesn’t get to just walk away. Tell me what’s going on.”

“You have girls crying on your doorstep often, huh?”

“Sara.”

Her name was punctuated with possibly the sternest stare she’d ever been subject to. She couldn’t help but squirm just a little. And yet, strangely she felt a little turned on. It was only because she was the focus of his attention. It didn’t have a thing to do with the compelling way he looked at her, or the commanding way he’d said her name. No, nothing at all.

“It’s nothing,” she tried again, weakly.

“I’ll be the judge of that. Now get to talking, missy.”

She flushed at the admonishing nickname. God,whywas she acting like this? She wasn’t some love-struck teenager anymore! She was a grown woman! She nearly had a college degree to prove it! But somehow, being under Alex’s scrutinizing gaze and hearing his stern voice made her forget those things as though the clock had indeed turned back. When he called hermissy, which was quickly followed by crossing his big, strong arms over his manly chest, she felt like a little girl who was about to get a good scolding.

More bizarre still was the fact that she didn’t mind it.

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