Page 41 of Sergeant's Christmas Siege

And it wasn’t the kind of green that the locals wore, which could double as camouflage. It was more of a jewel tone, which suggested to Templeton that his trooper had more girl inside her than she liked to let on. Her hair was in a ponytail, sleek and neat, and she wore the kind of makeup that looked like no makeup at all. And he thought,This is Kate on leave. A woman who looked exactly like the cop she was, but with a few hints here and there that maybe there was more to her than her job.

More to her, full stop, that he had every intention of enjoying.

Temporarily.

“I don’t need you to help me read through my oldcases,” she said, her voice as even and faintly disinterested as her gaze was wary. And still too hot. “So if that’s all...?”

“Are you dismissing me?”

“It doesn’t appear to be working.”

“You’re not here in an official capacity, Trooper,” he reminded her. “Which means that unlike when you were, I don’t have to jump to obey your commands, do I?”

“I don’t recall you jumping. Certainly not at my command.”

“You tossed me out of the Water’s Edge Café. And my feelings are hurt that you can’t remember that example of my perfect obedience.”

“I don’t think you know the meaning of the wordobedience.”

“That sounds a lot like an offer to teach me what I’m missing, Kate.”

“It’s really not.”

Templeton didn’t point out that for all her bluster, her eyes sparkled as they went back and forth. And he could see the smile she was trying to bite back. He didn’t point out what he knew, which was that if he reached over there and got his hands on her, she would melt into a puddle.

And moan against him. And taste so sweet and hot he wasn’t sure he’d recovered from it yet. Or would. Something he was pretty sure he knew how to remedy.

He didn’t point any of that out; he just enjoyed it.

“Don’t you have something to do?” she asked when all he did was gaze back at her. “Impressive physical feats? Various acts of controlled violence? Or maybe you need to go somewhere and... recharge all this.”

She nodded at him when she said that last part.

“Recharge?”

“I don’t know. I imagine you must need to take all that Templeton-ness and plug it in somewhere. So youcan keep simmering away like this without interruption.”

“That sounds a whole lot like a challenge to my masculinity.”

She smiled. “If your masculinity is as fragile as a flower, sure.”

“I’ll say this as delicately as I can, Kate,” Templeton said. With great deliberateness. “I don’t need to recharge. I can go all night, tomorrow, and into next week if necessary. And nothing about it is fragile. Or delicate. Anytime you want me to provide you with a demonstration, just ask.”

And, once again, he had the distinct pleasure of watching her turn several different shades of pink, edging over into red. There was nothing he didn’t like about Kate in cop mode. But Kate flustered made his chest tighten in purely male anticipation.

“I’m going to have to take an extremely hard pass on that,” she said after a moment, in a voice that was all woman. Rough and warm. No trace of trooper at all.

“As long as we agree it’s hard,” Templeton replied.

Because he couldn’t seem to help himself.

And he left her then, before he couldn’t, because her eyes were too bright and her cheeks were bright red. He shoved his way outside and found himself whistling all over again, though he knew, intellectually, that the day was gloomy and wet and cold.

But as far as he was concerned, it was the height of summer. The sky was blue, the sun was shining, and all the pretty birds were singing, because Kate was hot and bothered when she looked at him—and, best of all, part of the team in all the ways that mattered and yet not a coworker.

He was in no danger here. No danger at all.

As far as Templeton was concerned, Christmas had just come early.

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