Covert Exposure (11 page)

He stepped toward her, and she stepped
back.

“Are you okay?” Spinelli asked.

She threw her hand over her mouth and shook
her head.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did
that.”

Spinelli raised an eyebrow. “Did what, kissed
me?”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Spinelli went out on a limb. “Well if it’s
any consolation, I didn’t mind,” he teased, trying to lighten the
moment.

“Damn margaritas.”

He fought the urge to smile.

“Didn’t you like the kiss?” Judging from her
initial response to his kiss, he was confident it was safe to
ask.

“That’s not the point.”

“So you did like it.”

She shifted her eyes to her feet.

“Well?” he pressed.

She lifted her gaze and met his. Her chest
rose as she sucked in a breath. “It doesn’t matter if I did or
didn’t, it’s not going to happen again.”

He stared at her, speechless, convinced his
ears had deceived him. They’d perhaps just shared the most intimate
sensual kiss of his life. Was it possible she could kiss like that
and not mean it? Was she afraid, and if so, afraid of what?

His mind raced for something to say. He came
up empty. He inched toward her, and reached for her. She stopped
him with her hand. “It’s just not going to work. We’re two very
different people. I’m sorry,” she stammered.

Spinelli stood in the hallway, dumfounded. In
silence, he watched as she turned and entered her apartment,
shutting the door behind her.
That’s it.
A crater the size
of the Grand Canyon filled his chest where his heart used to
be.

* * * *

Shannon flopped down on her bed. What had she
just done? She knew by the look in Spinelli’s eyes she’d hurt him.
She didn’t mean to but she did. She felt sick.

Damn it.
He’s not the type of man
she’d planned on falling in love with. They were two very different
people and he was messing up her plan. Her brain told her it would
never work, her heart argued the opposite.

Her chest tightened, squeezing the life out
of her.

She pressed her fingers to her lips as she
thought about his first kiss. It was slow, tender, and sweet. The
second kiss, the one in which she nearly threw herself at him, left
her breathless and weak. His mouth was so hot, erotic as sin. Never
in her life had she felt such desire, need, and passion in a kiss.
His lips, his moist possessive lips, were firm, yet soft.

She ran her tongue through her mouth seeking
out every last bit of his flavor. Odd, a man could taste so sweet,
especially a man who hunts down killers for a living.

Chapter
Fifteen

Spinelli taped the wire to Officer Miller’s
chest as he and Walker prepped Miller for his first undercover
assignment. Miller, a fresh academy graduate and newcomer to the
department landed himself the undercover position as an elf due to
his young age and looks. Spinelli tasked Miller to pose as a
college student just trying to earn a little extra cash over the
holiday season, the same situation as the other elves.

“We’re almost there. Is he ready?” Marsh
yelled from the driver’s seat of the black Chevy police issue
van.

“Yeah, he’s ready,” Spinelli replied as he
flashed a look of assurance in Miller’s direction. He could easily
see the kid was nervous.

Spinelli knew Walker and Marsh were of like
mind. They all hoped Miller would click with the other elves and
work his way into the card game so they could find out exactly what
it was all about. Spinelli knew in his gut the card game at the
Greek restaurant had something to do with the murders of Hudson and
Reed.

Marsh manned the van and surveillance
equipment while Spinelli and Walker moseyed about the mall near the
Santa display so they could keep their eyes on Miller.

Spinelli watched as Miller made his entrance
into the Santa display. The night’s crew consisted of an older
gentleman playing Santa and three young elves, including Miller.
One elf assumed responsibility for crowd control, his job being to
control the flow of traffic to Santa. Miller assumed photography
duties, taking pictures of the children as they talked with Santa,
and the remaining elf assumed the duty of exit strategies, helping
the children find their way back to their parents.

The elves were so busy during the two hour
period in which the Santa display was open they hardly exchanged a
word between them. Spinelli had hoped for more of an exchange,
maybe the locker room banter would pay off.

Miller walked with the elves to the locker
room. Spinelli watched from a distance. Once in the locker room
Spinelli could no longer see Miller but he captured their
conversation through his earpiece. Miller made mention of the fact
that he’s coming up a little short for next semester’s tuition,
hence the reason he took the job at the mall. In an effort to get
them to offer up details about the card game, Miller pointed out
that he’s looking for another means to make a little more cash, but
the elves offered nothing.

The subject of conversation turned to women
and the elves informed Miller about the awesome looking babe that
sometimes plays Santa’s helper. They described in intricate detail
how Shannon looked in her short little red dress, giving particular
attention to her pale cleavage.

Spinelli’s fists clenched. He didn’t like
hearing the elves talk about her like she was some sort of female
piece of meat to be used and discarded once they were done having
their fun with her.

One of the elves let out a chuckle. ”I really
wouldn’t mind tapping that. She looks all innocent like all the
time. I bet she’s still a virgin.”

“Oh yeah, hot and tight,” the other elf
commented.

Spinelli nearly blew a gasket at the sound of
those words and it took every bit of strength he could muster not
to storm into the locker room and beat some manners into the
elves.

Miller piped in, “What’s the story? Have
either of you asked her out?”

“Nah, she’s hot and all but she’s a little
older and I can’t really picture her partying and having fun. She’s
probably one of those homebodies with four cats or something. I’m
guessing she plays scrabble and drinks tea.”

“But what if she’s not like that at all?”
Miller asked. “You could be missing out.”

The elf thought for a moment, “Nah, I’m
pretty sure she’s all pure and innocent like. Plus it’s no use
anyhow. I think she might be going out with that older guy who
plays Santa on the weekends.”

“What makes you think that?”

“She was like waiting for him to come out of
the locker room the other night and then they left together. You
gotta wonder why she’d go after a loser like that.”

“What’s with the Santa guy? Why’s he a
loser?” Miller couldn’t help but ask.

“Well, he’s like, I don’t know, at least in
his thirties and he’s working as Santa,” the elf replied. “What the
hell, can’t he get a real job? And he’s the worst Santa I’ve ever
seen. It’s like the kids scare the hell out of him or
something.”

Marsh and Walker roared with laughter as the
elf rambled on and on about what a loser Spinelli was. Spinelli,
hearing it all through his earpiece, did not see the humor.

Spinelli lurked behind a marble pillar as
Miller and the elves left the locker room.

“Hey, you guys want to go get a beer?” Miller
asked.

He watched the elves and waited for their
response. The elves looked at each other for a moment and then back
at Miller. “We can’t. We’ve got a biology final at eight tomorrow
morning,” the taller of the two elves replied.

“Oh, okay. Maybe next time,” Miller replied
as he broke away from the elves and headed toward the parking
ramp.

Spinelli continued to tail the elves. Just
like the night before they walked up to the security gate at the
Greek restaurant and Loukas the Greek’s muscleman opened the gate
and let the elves pass through.

Spinelli entered the van. “Well that didn’t
work. Something’s going on in that restaurant and we need to find
out what it is. We’ll try this approach again tomorrow night.”

Spinelli couldn’t help but notice the
shit-eating grins on Walker, Marsh and Miller’s faces. “What?
What’s so funny?”

“Just you. You ’loser’ old man. And what’s
this? The mighty Spinelli is afraid of a bunch of four-year-olds,”
Walker teased before his uncontrollable laughter echoed throughout
the van. Marsh and Millers laughter chorused Walker’s.

Spinelli flashed a hard-eyed scowl at Miller.
He figured with him being new and all he could somewhat intimidate
him. It worked and he stopped laughing.

“So, I’m going to work undercover again
tomorrow night?” Miller asked.

“Yes,” Spinelli replied.

Miller’s eyes lit up. “Great, I hope to hell
this Shannon chick is working tomorrow. Christ the way the guys
were talking she must be freaking hot.”

Spinelli’s hard-eyed scowl at Miller grew
harder. He pointed his finger in Miller’s face. “Listen here,
you’re not here to pick up chicks. This is not fun and games. There
have been two murders, two lives taken. Furthermore, she is not a
chick. Show a little respect.”

Walker leaned between Spinelli and Miller
causing Spinelli to unlatch his glare on Miller. “Hey, the kid
didn’t know.”

Miller’s eyes were as wide as fifty-cent
pieces. He cut his glance from Spinelli to Walker.

Walker glanced at Miller. “He’s just a little
protective of Shannon.”

Miller shifted his eyes back to Spinelli.
“Sorry.”

“Can we just go? Marsh, get us the hell out
of here,” Spinelli snapped.

Chapter
Sixteen

Spinelli found himself in an unusual
situation, home alone on a Friday night watching ESPN while
drinking beer and eating pizza. He couldn’t remember the last time
he spent a Friday night alone. In fact, he couldn’t recall it ever
happening before. On a typical Friday night, he would be out
enjoying the company of someone of the opposite sex, or shooting
pool with his buddies at the very least. But none of that seemed to
interest him tonight.

As he took a swig of his beer, he pondered
the events of the past week. His mind drifted to the Santa and elf
murder case. No breaks yet. His mind wandered to thoughts of
Shannon and he drew another swig of beer. No breaks there either.
She’d been avoiding him since their date the other night. He’d left
her three messages in the past day and a half, all unreturned.
Damn it
. Spinelli lifted his beer bottle to his lips again.
Why can’t I break through her force field? What is it? Burned?
Lesbian? No, can’t be, I know she wants me, I can see it in her
eyes and I can feel it when I touch her. And that kiss the other
night, that mind boggling kiss. There’s no way she faked that kind
of passion. Damn it.

Spinelli drained the bottle and then rested
his head against the back of the chair and closed his eyes. He
fantasized about Shannon in her little red velvet Santa helper
dress. In his daydream, he kissed her in a deep possessive manner,
his tongue dancing with hers. Her sweet flavor matched that of her
sweet scent. He pulled his lips from hers and skimmed them over her
chin, down her neck, and onto her chest. His intensified breathing
caused the furry white trim of her dress to flutter about on the
small portion of her exposed breasts. He continued to shower her
neck and chest with kisses. He used his fingers to trace along the
edge of the soft white trim of her dress. He began lowering his
hand with every intention of plunging it between her dress and skin
to cup her breast but before he was able to do so a loud rapid
knock on his front door interrupted his fantasy.

Under protest Spinelli shook the fantasy from
his head and glanced at his watch, 10:00 p.m. “Who in the hell is
knocking on my door this late,” he said out loud.

He lifted himself from his chair, walked over
to the front door, and opened it. The second he opened the door
Shannon sprang through the doorway as quick as a jack-in-the-box.
She threw her arms around his waist, pulled herself tightly to his
body, and sobbed into his chest.

Instinctively Spinelli wrapped his arms
around her and visually scanned the immediate neighborhood. Seeing
no unusual activity, he pushed the door shut and locked it.

With one arm wrapped tightly around her
waist, Spinelli lifted his other arm and softly rubbed her back. He
rested his chin lightly against the side of her head, her soft hair
brushing against his cheek. He breathed in her scent. She always
wore the same sexy scent. It reminded him of a fresh spring
morning.

Shannon continued to cry and breathe
erratically.

He brushed his lips lightly on the top of her
head. “Shh, Sweetheart, it’s okay.”

God how he wanted her to stop crying. He
couldn’t take her being upset. He still didn’t know what upset her
but whatever the reason he felt a compelling need to fix it.

Her sobs began to subside and her breathing
became more controlled.

Spinelli loosened his hold and inched back a
bit. He looked down at her. She lifted her head and looked up at
him with her big emerald green eyes. He could see the fear in them.
He cupped her head in his hands and ran his thumbs across her
cheeks to swipe the moisture away.

“Do you want to tell me what happened,
Sweetheart?”

* * * *

Shannon nodded and inhaled deeply, “I parked
my car on the second floor of the parking ramp at the mall. I
needed to pick up the donated toys from the drop box by the Santa
display, for the church. Anyhow, I got out of my car and headed
toward the elevator. The elevator doors opened so I looked in and
saw one of the guys that work at the Greek restaurant, you know,
one of the guys always standing by the entryway to the restaurant
at closing time.”