“She only told me this morning. She also told me you’d all accepted.”
“Under duress.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I lost a bet with your sister.”
“What kind of bet?” she asked suspiciously.
“A hand of poker.”
Julia laughed. “Never play poker with my sister. She always wins.”
“She cheated?”
“No. She just wins.”
“A New Age cardsharp. I suppose I should have expected as much from the sister of a belly-dancing librarian.” He paused a beat. “So it’s okay with you that we’re coming for Christmas dinner?”
“Sure. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you might not be able to resist the urge to tear off my clothes and have your way with me.”
“Not a chance.”
“Then how about because I might not be able to resist wanting to tear off
your
clothes and have my way with
you
?”
“We won’t be alone.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, that hasn’t stopped me before.”
“It will this time.”
“You think so?” He smoothed a loose strand of her hair away from her face. She was wearing such sensible clothing—black pants and a blue sweater—that there was no excuse for him to want to strip her naked and nibble every inch of her soft, bare skin. But he sure wanted to anyway. “Because?”
“Because I say so.”
“That argument doesn’t work well with me.”
“No argument works well with you,” she muttered. “You can be very stubborn.”
He grinned. “Another thing you love about me.”
“Hah!”
“Julia, do you need help back there?” a woman called out.
“No, Alice, I’m fine,” she quickly called back.
“There are patrons waiting for you.” The woman’s voice was clearly disapproving.
“I’ve got to get back to work,” Julia said.
“Don’t let me stop you.”
“I don’t intend to,” she informed him before walking away and leaving him to enjoy the sway of her hips as she did so.
Oh yeah, libraries were great. So were sexy librarians.
When Julia stopped in her tracks, he almost ran into her. Looking over her shoulder, he saw Angel standing there.
“I wanted to look through a few cookbooks to see if they spark any ideas for me,” Angel told Julia.
“I don’t think Walt has banned the cookbooks yet, so you’re probably in luck,” Luke said.
“Walt is banning books? We need to stop that immediately!” Angel was getting her protestor face on. “If you let these powermongers have an inch, they’ll take a mile!”
Luke nodded. “I hear you.”
“Don’t get her riled up,” Julia warned him, elbowing him in the ribs.
“If someone is threatening to censor what the library carries, then we should all be riled up.” Angel’s voice rose. “Unless this is part of a bigger plot?”
Julia rolled her eyes. Her mother loved conspiracy theories.
“Does this have something to do with that corporation wanting to pollute the falls by bottling the water?” Angel demanded.
“I hadn’t heard that one,” Luke noted.
Angel nodded. “I’ve been doing some research on the Internet about it, but someone doesn’t want us to know much about the project.”
“I’ve heard a few rumors, but the bottom line is that the town of Serenity Falls owns the park,” Julia pointed out. “So no one can ruin the waterfalls.”
“Unless the town council votes to turn the park over to a private concern,” Angel replied.
“Why would they do that? It certainly wouldn’t help their Best Small Town in America cause. The judges pay attention to things like parks.”
“And clean water? They should pay attention to that, too,” Angel said.
“I’m sure they will.” Julia used her best soothing voice. “Let me show you where the cookbooks are.”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Luke said.
Julia watched him walk away.
“He really has a great butt, doesn’t he?” her mother noted with approval.
All Julia could do was nod and admire the denim-clad view. For once, she was in complete agreement with her mother.
Tyler’s only concession to the holiday was the fact that his flannel shirt was red and black. Algee wore a blazer over his Superman T-shirt. They left Luke feeling like a dork for wearing a jacket and tie.
What did he know? He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d eaten Christmas dinner with a family. Probably not since his mom had died when he was a kid. His dad certainly never bothered doing anything special.
The holidays were pretty much the same as any other day on his calendar lately. He’d often been working, pulling shifts for others in the bureau who had families needing their attention. He certainly hadn’t been the only agent who’d done that. But he hadn’t done it because he was married to the FBI the way some agents were.
No, he’d done it because he didn’t want to stop working. Unless it was to start gambling.
Which is how he ended up here, with Algee and Tyler as his trusty sidekicks, ringing the doorbell of the tidy house on Cherry Lane.
They hadn’t had a white Christmas, despite the weatherman’s prediction of possible snow last night. The four inches they’d gotten a week ago had melted. Not that it was warm today. His leather coat wasn’t effective. He’d forgotten how damn cold it could get around here.
He warmed up the instant he saw Julia, looking all curvy and sexy in a red dress that hugged her body in all the right places. A little more cleavage and a shorter hem, and it would have been perfect.
“Merry Christmas everyone!” she greeted them. “Come on in.”
Algee shoved a bedraggled bouquet of white and red carnations at her along with a bag of presents. Only now was it occurring to Luke that maybe he should have gotten something for the rest of Julia’s family.
After Julia proclaimed her thanks and hugged Algee, Luke tugged him aside. “Why didn’t you tell me to bring stuff?”
“I’m not your assistant, man.”
“No, you’re a buddy. And buddies protect each other’s backs.”
“Which is why Adele put a gift certificate for dinner at Maguire’s in your coat pocket for Skye and Angel. I’m assuming you weren’t so dense you didn’t get Julia something on your own.”
“You assume correctly. What about Tyler?”
“What about him?”
“He know about this present protocol?”
“Tyler knows a lot more than he lets on.”
Luke was coming to realize that. He still hadn’t heard anything on that set of fingerprints he’d lifted from Tyler a few weeks ago. He’d have to get on that.
“Welcome, everyone,” Angel greeted them. She was wearing a swirling purple velvet dress that matched the amethyst crystal she always wore around her neck.
As her mother led the group into the living room, Julia felt like a stranger in her own home.
Her mother had prepared the dinner—bourbon brown sugar salmon, organic baby carrots, lemon angel-hair pasta with fresh snow peas, oven-roasted squash, sweet peppers, and yams. Not the traditional turkey fare maybe, but it all smelled really good.
Julia had tried to help out, but her mother has insisted on doing it all herself. So Julia had fussed with the holiday decorations and the table, making sure that each place setting was just right. Angel had insisted they get a live tree that could be planted in the backyard afterward, so it was on the small side but held a cute selection of wooden snow-men ornaments Julia had recently purchased. There was no chance she was unpacking the hand-blown German glass ornaments she normally had on her tree. Not with Toni around. As it was, her niece had already yanked one snowman’s head off.
After getting everyone a drink, a special cranberry concoction Julia had made up, she tried to make conversation. Algee was the only one who really cooperated. Tyler looked ready to dash out the door any second, and Luke was eyeing her as if imagining her in bed.
“Come on, people, this isn’t a funeral,” Skye stated as she sauntered into the room, wearing an orange tank top and sequined royal blue sarong-style skirt that hung low enough on her hips to show off her navel ring. “I told you that you should have added alcohol to the drinks,” she said to Julia.
“I want presents,” Toni declared, wearing her customary lopsided tiara, tutu, and yellow Wellington boots. Today she’d replaced the kitten flannel pj’s beneath the tutu with red and white polka-dotted ones.
Julia just knew that Morgan, the little girl next door, was probably wearing an adorable red velvet dress with dainty white stockings.
“Nice threads,” Luke noted.
“You sucked Julia’s face,” Toni retorted. “On the mouth.”
“Okay then,” Julia said, her face turning bright red, brighter than her own red dress. “I’m just going to check on our meal.”
“Dinner almost ready?” she asked her mother as she entered the kitchen.
“Yes. Why don’t you get everyone gathered around the table.”
That proved to be easier said than done when Toni decided she wanted to play tag around the table. But eventually Julia got everyone settled and helped get all the food on the table.
“If we could all join hands, please?” Angel said.
Julia was seated next to Luke, who brushed his thumb over her knuckles before insinuating his fingers through hers as if stealing gems from a safe.
“May we join our souls and energies together so we can experience our shared planetary presence.” Angel was using her serious voice. “May today be a joyful celebration of our spiritual togetherness and entrained vibrations.”
“Did she just say entrails?” Algee frantically whispered from Luke’s other side. “Are we having entrails for dinner? I don’t do entrails, man.”
“Relax,” Luke whispered back.
“Relax?” Algee’s eyes widened. “You know what entrails are? Guts, man. They’re guts!”
“Is there a problem?” Angel asked.
“I don’t do guts, ma’am,” Algee stated with the utmost politeness. “No offense intended.”
“None taken,” Angel assured him. “I don’t do guts either. We eat fish, but otherwise we’re vegetarians. Or most of us are,” Angel added with a meaningful look in Julia’s direction.
“She said
entrained
not
entrails
. Right?” Luke looked at Angel.
“Right. Entrained vibrations in regard to specific vortexes of energy beyond present scientific experimentation or description.”
Julia looked at the blank expressions on all three male faces around the table. “Right. Well then, let’s eat, shall we?”
“Time for a celebration experience,” Angel stated once the meal was over and the table cleared. “If you’ll all join me in the living room, please.”
“Celebration experience?” Algee repeated, clearly still a tad nervous from the earlier entrails scare. “What do you think that means?”
“Spin the bottle maybe?” Luke suggested with a look at Julia, who was on the other side of the room.
“You know if you Google ‘sexy librarian,’ you get boat-loads of porn photos,” Algee told him in a quiet aside.
Luke blinked. “What?”
“I’m just saying that librarians are hotter than I thought.”
“Julia isn’t a porn star.”
“Of course not. At least I don’t think so. Anyway, all I’m saying is that it’s no surprise you’re hooked on her. Apparently that image is a popular one.”
“It’s never affected me before.”
“Been in contact with many librarians before?”
“No,” Luke admitted.
“Well,” Algee smacked him on the back with enough force to make a rhino grimace. “There you have it.”
“If we could gather in a semi-circle, please,” Angel requested. “I just wanted to share a moment with you all. A moment of joy. By telling you what brings me joy. Well, only telling you
one
of the things because there are thousands of things and then we’d be here all night. Then after I share my joy, we’ll move on to the next person.” Angel paused to draw in a calming breath. “My daughters bring me joy.” She spoke reverently before returning to her normal voice again. “Okay, now you go next, Julia.”
What could she say? That Pop-Tarts brought her joy? They did, but that seemed a little shallow after what her mother had just said. “The holidays bring me joy.” That was true enough.
Angel nodded and then moved on to her next victim. “Okay, Algee you’re up next.”
“The first issue of
Superman
, volume 1, number 1, brings me joy. And mega-mega bucks if I ever wanted to sell it on eBay, which I wouldn’t.”
Again Angel nodded. “Luke?”
“A good beer.”
“Tyler?”
“Peace and quiet.”
“Skye?”
“Mixing things up.”
“Toni? What brings you joy, honey?”
The four-year-old frowned a moment as if searching for the answer. Then she said, “A vagina.”
Julia felt like sinking through the floor, but Angel just laughed. “They bring a lot of women joy. Women are the goddesses of the planet. We represent fertility and hope. Okay, now that we’ve all shared our feelings, I’ll go make us some tea.”
Once she left, Algee went to retrieve the bag of presents he’d brought. “I got your daughter a little something. I hope you don’t mind,” he said to Skye.
“Depends what you got her. If it’s a sexist doll with an impossible body shape that will destroy her self-esteem and give her an eating disorder, then I do mind.”
“It’s a teddy bear.” He handed it to her with caution.
“That’s okay, as long as it wasn’t made by child labor in some work camp overseas.”
“It says it’s made in the USA.”
“Thank you, Algee, that was very sweet of you,” Julia said on her sister’s behalf.
“No problem.”
“You should have gotten her a muzzle,” Luke noted after Toni bit Algee’s left ankle a few moments later.