Santa' Wayward Elf (12 page)

“You look very handsome,” she said.

He seemed embarrassed by the compliment. “Thanks.” His gaze
went to the table. “You made breakfast? You didn’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to.” She pulled out her chair. “I wasn’t sure how
to make bacon and eggs, so I made bread pudding instead. I hope that’s okay.”

He flashed her a grin as he sat down across the table from
her. “That’s fine.”

Sosie watched eagerly as he spooned some into his mouth. “I
put butter, honey, maple syrup and some of those yellow packs of sugar in it
along with the milk. What do you think?”

He shook his head, letting out a chuckle. “I think it’s
sweet.”

She caught her lower lip between her teeth, unable to ignore
the pang of hurt she felt at his words. “You don’t like it?”

“I love it. I mean, it tastes amazing. It’s just that
I…um…like to watch what I eat.” His mouth quirked. “No one wants an overweight
cop with clogged arteries on the force, right? How could I go out and catch bad
guys?”

Her shoulders sagged. “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

She’d completely forgotten BPs dealt with a myriad number of
health issues as a result of poor nutrition. Elves didn’t have that problem,
which meant they could eat whatever they wanted. She’d have to remember that when
she cooked for Derek again. She didn’t want him to be unhealthy.

She picked up her spoon. “What are you doing at work today?”

“I’ll probably be catching up on some paperwork this
morning, then see if anything new has turned up on any of the cases I’m
working. If I’m lucky, one of my informants will have something for me.”

“Informant. What’s that?”

Derek looked at her over the rim of his coffee mug. “People
who give information to the cops that helps them out on whatever case they’re
working.”

She thought about that. “I see. They’re concerned citizens.”

“Not exactly. Most of the time, they’re petty criminals who
give information on other, not-so-petty criminals in return for the cops
looking the other way.”

She frowned. “That doesn’t seem right. If they’re criminals,
shouldn’t they be imprisoned, too?”

“Yeah, well sometimes you have to let the little fish go in
order to catch the bigger fish.” He downed the rest of his coffee in one
swallow. “I’ve got to get going.” Pushing back his chair, he got to his feet,
then bent to kiss her on the mouth. “Thanks for breakfast.”

“You’re welcome. Although it probably would have been better
if I hadn’t made it so sweet.”

He kissed her again. “You’ll be here when I get home,
right?”

“Of course.”

His mouth curved into a sexy smile. “Good.”

Sosie followed him into the entryway. “Where is your
workshop?”

He chuckled. “It’s called a precinct, not a workshop, and
it’s a few blocks over from here.”

She nodded. Maybe she’d surprise him by stopping by his
precinct later.

He grabbed a folded leather pouch and a set of keys from the
table, shoving them in his pocket. “I know you’re probably eager to meet up
with your friends, but you’re more than welcome to stay here for however long
you’re in the city. If you want to, I mean.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I’m sure. In fact, I was kind of hoping you
would.”

“I’d love to.”

“Good. Feel free to hang around and watch TV if you want, or
do some more sightseeing. Be careful if you go out, though. The neighborhood is
safe during the day, but you still have to keep your wits about you.” He opened
the drawer underneath the table and took out a key. “This is for the door and
there’s some money in the cookie jar in the kitchen, in case you want to go
shopping for more clothes or something.”

Sosie didn’t know what to say. Not only had Derek offered to
let her stay at his apartment for as long as she liked, but he’d given her a
key and told her to use his money, too. Could she have run into a nicer guy?
While she didn’t mind staying at his place, she wouldn’t feel right about using
his money.

She was about to tell him as much, but stopped when she saw
him shrug into a strange collection of leather straps. She thought at first
they were some kind of suspenders designed to hold up his pants like Santa
wore, but then she spotted the gun tucked into a pouch on one side. Even though
she’d never seen one before, she knew what a gun was and what it was used for.
According to
The Polar Evening News
, every BP owned at least a dozen of
them. Since she hadn’t seen one since she got here, she thought the news had
been mistaken about that, too. Apparently not. She chewed on her lower lip,
worried Derek was taking one to work. Maybe the “organized” criminals he went
after were more dangerous than their names implied.

As he put on his coat, she opened her mouth to confess her
fears, but he bent his head to capture her lips with his.

“Have fun today and don’t get into too much trouble.”

She didn’t know what kind of trouble he expected her to get
into, but she smiled up at him anyway. “I’d have more fun if you spent it with
me.”

Derek chuckled. “It’s tempting, believe me. But if I don’t
go now, I’ll never get out of here.” Tilting up her chin, he gave her another
kiss. “I’ll see you later, babe.”

After Derek left, Sosie stood in the entryway. Figgy, she
forgot to ask him what time he’d be home. If it was anything like the hours an
elf put in at Santa’s workshop, he probably wouldn’t be home until after dark.
How was she going to occupy herself all day until he got home?

She considered his suggestion to do some more sightseeing,
but quickly decided against it. After spending the day with Derek yesterday,
wandering around the city by herself didn’t seem as if it’d be very much fun.
She could always ask Tracee and Linda if they wanted to go with her, she
supposed. If they weren’t working. Then again, she’d promised Ben she would
take a look at the air conditioning unit while she was here. Maybe she should
do that instead.

Before she did anything, though, she needed to get dressed.
Walking around in Derek’s T-shirt probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

As she passed the huge television in the living room, she
stopped. It was much bigger than the one she’d had back home, and according to
The
Polar Evening News
, BPs had hundreds of channels to watch—unlike elves. On
impulse, she picked up the remote control from the coffee table and turned it
on.

Since she was unfamiliar with the stations, it took her a
while to figure out what she was watching. At first she thought it was a news
program because the man talking to the viewers was sitting at a table reporting
on something called football, but as she continued to watch, she realized it
was a station devoted to nothing but sports. Eager to see what else was
available, she went through the channels, pausing to watch each of them for a
few minutes before going on to the next. When she came to a show about healthy
cooking, she put down the remote control. She watched in fascination as the
woman on the screen made a delicious-looking pasta dish. According to the host,
it had less fat and calories, which made Sosie think Derek would love it. She
couldn’t find anything to write the recipe on, so she had to commit the
ingredients to memory.

Luckily, she was good at that kind of thing. It was like
assembling a toy.

That show went into another, then another, and before she
realized it, two hours had gone by. Abruptly remembering she wanted to help
Ben, she went into the bedroom to change clothes. She left the television on so
she could hear it, though. She didn’t want to miss out on any great recipes.

After getting dressed, she checked her appearance in the
mirror to make sure her long hair was covering her ears. Turning to leave the
bedroom, she caught sight of the alarm clock on the bedside table and frowned
as she remembered the horrific noise it had made earlier. She chewed on her
lower lip. It probably wouldn’t be too hard to adjust so it didn’t screech so
terribly. She’d have to remember to ask Ben if she could borrow a few tools.

Going back into the living room, she shut off the
television, then left the apartment, making sure to lock the door with the key
Derek had given her.

Ben opened the door of his apartment as soon as she knocked.
“Sosie! I thought you’d be out sightseeing with Derek. Come in.”

She gave Mabel a wave, then turned to Ben. “Derek had to go
to work today, so I thought I’d see if you wanted help with the air
conditioning.”

“That’s mighty nice of you,” Ben said. “I was about to go do
the maintenance rounds, but we can take a look at it after that. You’re more
than welcome to come with along me if you want. I sure could use the help.”

Her lips curved. “I’d be happy to.”

She and Ben spent the next few hours going from one
apartment to the next doing minor repairs. The work was easy and fun, and she
had a great time meeting all the people she hadn’t met at the Christmas party.
When Ben explained she was staying with Derek, more than a few commented on
what a great guy he was—which she already knew—and that a woman could do a lot
worse than getting “hooked up” with him—which she thought she knew, but wasn’t
sure. She smiled and nodded anyway. She had never in her life imagined an elf
would be so welcome in the land of the big people. In a lot of ways, she felt
more accepted and comfortable here than she had up in the North Pole.

After she and Ben were finished the repairs, he led her down
to the basement to show her the central air unit. Even though she’d never seen
one before, she was able to figure out the problem fairly quickly. Ben didn’t
have the parts to fix it, however, and wouldn’t be able to get to the store to
get them for a few days.

“Mabel should be getting lunch ready,” Ben said as they
walked back into his apartment. “Do you want to join us? A free meal is the
least I owe you for all your help this morning.”

“Actually, I was going to take a walk over to the precinct
and see Derek. But thank you, anyway.”

“I made a fresh batch of cookies,” Mabel said from the
kitchen. “I’ll put some in a container, so you can take them to him.”

“That’s very nice of you. I’m sure Derek will love them.”
Sosie looked at Ben. “I don’t suppose you could give me directions to the
precinct, could you? Derek said it wasn’t far from here.”

“I’ll do better than that.” The older man smiled. “I’ll draw
you a map.”

As it turned out, Ben was very good at drawing maps, which
made it easy for Sosie to find the precinct where Derek worked. For some reason
she thought the place would be more grand since Derek and his fellow detectives
did such important work, but it was a rather nondescript gray building with a
set of steps leading up to big double doors.

Reaching up to make sure her hair still covered her ears,
she walked up the steps and went inside, only to stop and stare at the strange
scene that met her eyes. Half a dozen men dressed up like Santa were cuffed and
sitting on a bench along one wall. On the bench across from them were four
women similarly restrained and wearing green outfits Sosie assumed were
supposed to be elf garb. Except Sosie had never seen any self-respecting elf
dress like these women. They literally had parts of their anatomy falling out
of their clothes. It would be completely impossible for an elf to work in an
outfit like that. The men dressed as Santa didn’t seem to mind, and were ogling
the women in obvious appreciation. She frowned as she looked at the men again.
Now that she thought about it, their outfits didn’t look quite right, either.
In fact, one of the men didn’t have any pants at all. If it wasn’t for the tiny
briefs adorned on the front with a felt Christmas tree, the man’s entire lower
body would be naked.

“Excuse me, ma’am. Can I help you?”

Sosie dragged her gaze away from the strange group of people
to see an older man in a blue uniform sitting at a counter in front of her. She
walked over to him.

“I’m looking for a friend of mine. Derek. He said he worked
here.” She held up the plastic container in her hands. “I brought him some
cookies.”

“Derek who?”

“Derek Clayton. You can’t miss him. He has these amazing biceps
and his stomach is so tight you could bounce gum drops off it. Oh, and his eyes
absolutely smolder when he’s…”

The man behind the counter grimaced. “Detective Clayton is
in the Organized Crime Division. Third floor, turn left. You can’t miss it.”

Sosie opened her mouth to thank him, but he’d already
directed his attention back to the clipboard in his hand. Murmuring a quick
word of thanks anyway, she started to walk away, but then stopped and turned
back to him.

“Um, excuse me. I’m curious about something.” She pointed at
the men and women sitting on the benches. “What did they do wrong? Is parading
around as half-naked Christmas figures a crime in New York?”

The man gave her a wry smile. “Only when they do it in the
middle of Times Square and proceed to put on their own sex-filled version of
’Twas
the Night Before Christmas
while every car and tourist in town stops to
watch and take pictures. They backed up traffic all the way to the tunnels.”

“Oh. I see.”

But she didn’t. Maybe she’d ask Derek to explain it to her.

Thanking the man behind the counter again, she turned and
went upstairs. Once she got to the third floor, finding the Organized Crime
Division wasn’t hard at all because it was written on the first door on the
left in neatly printed letters.

She walked in, expecting to see Derek at one of the many
desks in the office, but he was nowhere in sight. Seeing a man dressed in the
same dark blue uniform as the older gentleman downstairs, she walked over and
asked if he could direct her toward where Derek worked. He looked up, did a
quick double-take, then pointed across the room to a set of tall glass windows.
Turning her head, she saw Derek sitting at a table with several other men.