The door open behind her, a blast of music and the sound of voices erupting into the silence for a few moments before it swung shut. She half turned, and smiled as Darrick, an operative whose cases she often dealt with, strode towards her.
A pixie with a shaven head and a thing about leather, he was as handsome as all hell. The kind of sharp-edged, dark and brooding look she often saw on billboards and movie posters. Darrick wasn’t a movie star though. He was one of the best bodyguards the PPA had. For all his good looks though, and his non-too subtle flirting, there was no answering flutter of excitement in her chest.
Not like when Cole looked at her.
Honestly girl, like a Claus will be interested in you, she told herself as Darrick came to stand beside her.
“Little lonely out here,” he slid her a sideways glance and a hot look. “Thought I’d come and stop you getting cold.”
She opened her mouth to answer, but didn’t get a chance. Before she could speak a rough male voice interrupted.
“She’s a Christmas elf. We don’t get cold.”
Both she and Darrick spun around in surprise to find Cole stood behind them. Her heart lurched, then stuttered, and she put her hand up to her hair to smooth it. Almost instantly she realized what she was doing, primping and preening in front of him, and dropped her hand like it had been burned. Shit, now she looked like an idiot.
“Christmas elf?” Darrick’s brow puckered in surprise. “No, no, no…she said she was a winter elf.”
Both men looked at her, and she shrugged. “Christmas elf… Winter elf, same thing.”
It wasn’t, and a little light in Cole’s eyes said so but he didn’t correct her. She blushed again, dropping her gaze as heat shivered through her veins. He only had to look at her, and her senses went haywire.
“Well, thank you for that nugget of information,” Darrick said waspishly, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Don’t let us keep you.”
“Get your hands off her,” Cole growled, stepping forward with murder in his eyes. His gaze dropped to where Darrick had his hands on her. But the pixie didn’t let go, forcing her to pinch his arm. Hard. Startled, he looked down at her.
“Let go,” she ordered, her voice firm. She knew most people saw her as the shy one, but she wasn’t, not really. She just didn’t like to interact with people she didn’t know well. But she could be firm, and confident. Like now. “I’m okay. Cole and I are practically family.”
“Yeah?” Darrick didn’t sound convinced but did as she asked and released her from his embrace. “I’m not seeing much of a family resemblance.”
Neither did she, and she didn’t want to be related to Cole, not with the fantasies she’d had about him in the last few months. Fantasies that left her hot and needy alone in her bed. Fantasies that had meant she’d needed a regular supply of batteries.
Stepping to the side, out of Darrick’s range, she smiled at them both. Well, she smiled at Darrick, but by the time she turned to Cole, her expression was probably somewhere between overexcited fangirl and teenager looking at her first crush. He looked back, and magic sparkled in the air between them. Not the stuff of movies, but seriously as the fairy lights from the wreaths flew up around them. She stifled a gasp, she’d never seen them do that before.
“What the—”
“Leave,” Cole suggested, his voice hard but he didn’t look away from her. “Now.”
She didn’t watch as Darrick left, her gaze held captive by Cole’s. His eyes were blue, but a blue she’d never seen before. It was somewhere between midnight and periwinkle, shot through with gold. The magic of Christmas, she realized as he took a step nearer.
Gone was the easy, indolent grace she’d admired from afar. Now his movements were stalking, predatory… Lethal. She backed up a step. He followed her, step after step, until the railing pressed against her back and she had nowhere left to go. He didn’t stop there, taking another step, and then another until he almost pressed against her. The heat of his body blazed against hers, evident even through the layers of their clothing.
Neither of them was dressed for the outdoors, not by mortal standards anyway. For any other creature, her shift dress, with its sequins and thin straps, coming out here would have been a one-way trip to hypothermia. Cole, likewise, wore a thin shirt and dress pants. They were creatures of the winter though, and the cold never bothered them.
She looked up at him, eyes wide. He reached out a big hand to capture a loose curl of her hair. His lips quirked as he wound it around his finger. “Christmas is coming, little elf. Can you feel it?”