Christmas at Evergreen Inn (2 page)

It was true. He'd been out most of the day, and the intense attention it had taken for him to drive had left him exhausted. Particularly now that he was done, out of the storm, and relaxed. It was as if it all caught up with him at once.

He let her hang up his coat while he took off his boots and placed them neatly by the front door. She led the way to the kitchen. Todd watched the gentle sway of her hips and wondered—not for the first time—why he'd never bothered to ask her out. He'd never been the shy type. Maybe it was the sense that Lainey was out of his league. When she did something, she did it all the way. As a teen she'd made straight A's and was school council president. Now she'd taken over the inn and was making a great success of it. As far as Todd knew, she'd never failed at anything.

The kitchen of the inn was an old-fashioned monstrosity, lined with solid wood cupboards. A big oak table and chairs sat at one end, flanked by several windows. A butcher block provided a working area in the middle, and there was a hutch made for the back corner, a triangle-shaped piece painted a brick red and then distressed to make it look antique. A red tablecloth covered the table, and in the middle was a beautiful pine-and-candle centerpiece. Christmas-themed serving dishes lined the hutch as well, giving the room an appropriately festive look. Despite the old-fashioned country décor, the appliances were stainless steel, shiny, and large.

“You know, I've never been inside the inn before.”

“Really?” Lainey turned on the coffee machine to heat the water. “It's generally not so busy this time of year. Sure, it fills up during the weekend of the Christmas festival, but once that's over we're pretty quiet until at least Easter.” She busied herself taking out muffins and pastries and two coffee mugs. “I let the seasonal staff go after Thanksgiving.” She laughed. “So it's just me here. I certainly didn't expect a full house this close to Christmas. I'll have my hands full tomorrow morning.”

She popped a coffee pod into the machine and hit the button. “What do you take?”

“What?” Todd had been watching her efficient movements, marveling at the change in her. The girl he used to know had been a little bit of a hell-raiser. Nothing too serious, but definitely good for a beach party or whatever was happening after the sun went down. Now, though, she'd gotten all respectable and … domestic, with her coffee and home-baked muffins and cozy kitchen. But when she smiled at him, there was a sparkle in her eye that told him the girl he'd known growing up was still in there.

“In your coffee,” she said, and grinned. “Which you'd know if you quit staring at my ass.”

He coughed. “Jesus, Lainey.”

That was the girl he remembered. She'd say what was on her mind and then laugh about it.

“You take it black, don't you?” she asked, tilting her head.

“Don't all cops?”

She laughed again and reached for a plate for the muffins. “Yeah, well, you becoming a cop was a big surprise, that's for sure. Mr. Straight and Narrow.”

Right. Because those parties he'd been thinking of earlier? He'd been at them, too. And not to shut them down.

“Truce,” he said, chuckling. “Yes. I was staring at your ass. It's a mighty fine one, as it happens. And yes, I take my coffee black. And finally, you, Miss Lainey Price, still have an awfully smart mouth. I see that much hasn't changed.”

“Thank you.” She winked at him, then shoved a muffin in his hand. “I bet you didn't eat dinner. Have a muffin.”

She'd sounded confident and flirty, but he'd seen the heat in her eyes as he'd admitted he'd been checking her out. Well, well. Maybe she wasn't completely immune to him after all.

Lainey disappeared with a tray containing Mr. Sewell's coffee, muffins, a bowl of fruit, cream, sugar, and butter. While she was gone, Todd's coffee finished brewing and he reached for the cup. God, it was good. Hot and rich and soothing. The muffin was good, too, some sort of carrot nut thing with a crumb topping. Since she was taking her time coming back, he reached into the container for another. He'd missed dinner, and once he'd started eating he'd realized how hungry he was.

Lainey came back to the kitchen and put her hands on her hips as she saw him reach for a third. “If you'd waited two minutes, I would have made you an omelet or something. Heated you some soup … I don't have much in this kitchen, but in the cottage my fridge is pretty well stocked.”

“Cottage?”

She nodded. “I like my own space. When I took over the inn, I hired Tom Arseneault to convert the storage building at the back into a little apartment for me. It leaves another room open for guests in the house, too.”

“You've done a great job with it since Joan and Roger retired,” he said, referring to the previous owners.

“Thanks.” She looked absurdly pleased at the compliment. “Are you sure I can't fix you something?”

“This is fine. Fills the hole. I need to call in, anyway. And be on my way.”

Lainey raised one doubtful eyebrow at him, but he ignored it. Instead he pulled out his cell and dialed the office and dispatch.

When he hung up he looked at her, eyebrow still raised, and sighed. “Okay, so you were right. The roads out of town are all closed.” As much as he hated to ask, he did anyway. “Is there room at the inn for me, too?”

*   *   *

Lainey stared up at Todd. Room at the inn? For a brief second, she had the absurd thought that her normally quiet life had suddenly become some sort of weird Christmas play. Not only that, the place was filled to the gills. All the rooms were taken. She was going to have to put the last fold-out cot in one of the rooms for Mr. Sewell, if one of the male guests consented to sharing space for the night. The father-and-son duo had already volunteered to give up their room to a pair of sisters on their way to Boston for a girls' weekend. The men would be bunking on the sofa and love seat in the parlor, once everyone went to bed.

“You can't get out to your place at all?”

“Nope. The highway's shut down and the chief just ordered us to stay put, wherever we are. Particularly if we're in town, because he'll need us in the morning.”

Bryce Arseneault might be the youngest chief Jewell Cove had ever had, but no one doubted his authority. If he said stay where you are, you stayed. There wasn't anything Lainey could do about it. Besides, having Todd Ricker at the inn was no big deal. They were all adults. This was her job.

But stay the night?

The only available space for him to stay wasn't at the inn at all. It was in the cottage. In her quarters. The very thought sent a strange sort of swirling through her stomach, a combination of nervousness and desire. As much as she hated to admit it, Lainey had had a thing for Todd for years. She certainly wasn't going to come right out and tell him. The hot and sexy police officer was never at a loss for dates, yet she didn't want to be one of his flavors of the month. When Lainey did something, she was all-in. And Todd … he was more of a passing-through kind of guy.

“You can sleep on my couch,” she told him, hoping he couldn't see the heat that had risen in her cheeks. “It's the only space left, but it's comfortable enough.”

“On your couch. You mean over there.” He hooked his thumb to the right, gesturing out the back.

“Yes, over there.” Her pulse quickened at the thought. She needed to keep this businesslike. Like everyone else, he was merely a casualty of the storm. Besides, he'd been out there trying to help people. The very least she could do was give him some food and a blanket for the night. Just because it was at her place didn't actually mean anything.

“I guess it'll have to do.”

The words were blandly said, but Lainey saw a twinkle in his eye. When Todd looked like that, it was hard to remember to resist his charm. Maybe he'd never asked her out, but he could flirt like a champ. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing his uniform today. She'd have been a goner. There was something about a man all pressed and starched and official looking that made her weak in the knees.

“You,” she said, pointing a finger, “are incorrigible.”

“So they say.” He tilted his coffee cup—it was nearly empty. The clock in the hall chimed, over and over, marking the hour.

Lainey sighed, feeling suddenly weary. “Listen, do you want to join everyone in the parlor or anything? With the surge in guests I haven't had time to finish everything and it's ten o'clock. I've got make sure the rooms are done up and everyone has enough towels and stuff. Flashlights, too, in case the power goes out.”

“Let's hope not. That'd be fun. Not.”

“We've got a generator. But I'd rather not have to worry about it.”

He lifted his cup. “I might have another of these.”

She reached for his cup and their fingers brushed, a jolt of electricity sparking at the simple touch. It sent butterflies winging around her stomach as she turned her back on him and fussed with the coffeemaker.

“I can get it.” He must have felt it, too, because his voice was quiet and a little rough. “Go do what you need to do, Lainey. You don't need to entertain me. I'm just glad to have a place to hole up for the night.”

Hole up for the night. He'd be in her cottage. Using her bathroom, sleeping on her sofa. Lainey knew there shouldn't be a shred of intimacy to it but this was Todd. When a hunky cop spent the night—even platonically—intimacy, even the awkward kind, was a given.

She left him there in the kitchen and busied herself in the remaining guest rooms, checking supplies and testing flashlights. She took extra blankets from the linen closet in case they did lose power and it got cold, and took the last fold-out cot out of storage and put it in the Captain's Room for Mr. Sewell since one of the guests had now kindly offered the space.

She passed the landing and the railing decorated with spruce boughs and red velvet bows. As she stopped to straighten one of the bows, she caught sight of her naked ring finger. The one good thing to come out of the storm was that she was incredibly busy, and it took her mind off things. Namely, Christmas.

It had always been her favorite holiday, but this year she just couldn't seem to get in the holiday spirit. Last year had been such a disaster that these days the goodwill to men and warm holiday glow just seemed to bring her down.

It wasn't even that her heart was still broken. She'd moved on; started putting the pieces back together. It was more that the decorations and songs and sappy TV programs reminded her of how she'd felt last year. Of how much she'd hurt. Yes, it was the reminders that hurt now. She'd loved Jason with everything she had. He'd been The One. And a week before Christmas—a week before their wedding—he'd broken their engagement.

Now Todd Ricker was in her kitchen and for the first time in months she felt the delicious, unexpected stirrings of attraction. In a way it was scary as hell. Love hurt. But this wasn't love; far from it. Besides, Todd didn't do love, and that made her feel tons better. Because in another way, it came as a great relief to know she actually could feel like this again.

The closing of a door brought her back to the moment. What was she doing mooning over a bit of flirting when there was work to do? Back downstairs, she checked on the guests congregated in the parlor. The room was cozy and warm with a large Christmas tree in the corner. That afternoon, one of the guests had helped her carry the stack of firewood closer to the inn just in case, and a fire snapped and popped behind the grate. The two sisters were playing a cutthroat game of cribbage, and a few others had dug out the checkers board.

Todd wasn't there, but she spent several minutes chatting, letting the guests know where she'd be in the night if anything happened. They checked the weather report and before long the first of the group decided to go up to bed.

Lainey took the tray of dirty cups and plates and went to the kitchen, expecting to see Todd there, but the room was empty. A strange, rhythmic grating sound came from behind the house and she peered out the window. He'd found a shovel and was clearing the walk between the main house and the cottage. She stopped and smiled for a moment. He was a good man when it came right down to it. Hardworking and honest.

But the last thing Lainey wanted to think about was romance. A relationship. She wrapped her arms around her middle and watched him in the dim circle of the porch light. Nope, she certainly wasn't interested in a boyfriend. Scratching an itch with a guy like Todd, though? That thought had its attractions.

She was twenty-six. What was she going to do, stay celibate the rest of her life? That was hardly realistic.

Todd moved around to the front of the house, wading through the drifts until he was out of sight. With a sigh, Lainey put the dishes in the dishwasher, then went back to the parlor to set up the hide-a-bed and lay out blankets for the father and son. She wouldn't go to her own quarters until everyone was settled.

Todd came back inside. His jacket and hat were covered in snow, his cheeks ruddy from the cold wind. Lainey took one look at him and knew it would be stupid to make him wait for her. She handed him the key to her door. “Go on over. I'll be there soon. I'm just waiting for everyone to get settled, in case they need anything.”

“Are you sure?”

“Look at you. It doesn't make any sense for you to take off your boots and coat and then have to put them back on again. Besides, you can turn on the TV, kick your feet up for a bit. I won't be long.”

He took the key. “Sold.”

He opened the door again and Lainey called after him, “Don't snoop through my stuff.”

His eyes snapped to hers, and she wondered how in the world they could seem like they were twinkling all the damn time. And why she had such a weird, fluttery reaction to him when she was far older and wiser than she'd been in high school.