Page 46 of Run, Run Rudolph (Fairy Godmothers and Other Fiascos #2)

~ Haden ~

T amara’s fingers slid into the hair at the nape of my neck, pulling me close for another kiss and sending electric fireballs down my spine.

Her lips drifted from mine.

“You okay?” I asked, hoping she wasn’t going to tell me I was pushing too fast. Now that the door had opened between us, I wanted all of her. Now.

“Am I really the reason you’ve never dated anyone for longer than four months?”

“Four months?” Had she been keeping track of my past relationships?

“Yeah.”

I paused, considering my conversational options. I didn’t want to talk about exes right now. I wanted to keep kissing Tamara. But I got the impression that if I didn’t talk about my exes, there would be no more kissing.

With a sigh, I ran a hand through my hair. “What’s the point of staying with someone when you know you’ll never fall in love with them, because you’ve got feelings for someone else?”

She sighed in my arms, and it was the happiest sigh I’d ever heard. It made me wonder if we would have dated in high school if we’d been the same age. If it hadn’t been necessary for me to put up mental blocks and walls to keep things appropriate between us for so many long years.

Before Tamara could ask anything more about my long-buried, not-fully-understood feelings about her, I grazed her lips with mine.

I’d never get tired of her and her coconut lip balm.

The tender touch of her mouth. The way her lashes fluttered down before mine did when we kissed, the way she lost herself in being touched by me.

The light kiss turned into something more, a need that made our kisses suddenly turn frantic and deep.

I suddenly jolted back, freezing as I processed what was going on around us. Something had clanged. Was it a door? Had Mrs. Claus found us?

Could Tamara magic us away again with another wish? The seamless way we’d travelled here made me wonder if someone else’s wishes had ever impacted my life before. Maybe the renewed friendship between Tamara and myself tonight was nothing more than a product of someone’s wish.

I’d be okay with that, as long as the wish didn’t wear off. Right now, her sweet lips were millimetres from mine, and I felt their pull, my libido wrestling for control. This felt real. So very real.

I heard the whisper of fabric, maybe the squeak of a rubber sole, and the instinctual part of my brain tightened its grip on my focus.

Something wasn’t right.

Tamara was still gathered in my arms, and I pulled her into a full upright position, releasing her.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered as I heard another undefinable noise. I slipped my night vision goggles down over my eyes again. The store was cold without Tamara pressed against me, my jaw pleasantly tired from kissing.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she whispered back. She was feeling around in the dark for her own goggles, which had gone skittering across the floor at some point. I passed them to her.

“Is it Mrs. Claus?” she asked me.

“I don’t know.”

Flickering security lights strobed, streaking the store’s ceiling. Had we accidentally tripped the alarm? I was sure I’d turned it off.

Adrenaline thundered through my veins as I heard a boot land on the hard floor somewhere to the right. I slid Tamara behind me, trying to gauge where the intruder was, and whether I should announce our presence or not. If it was Mrs. Claus, we wanted to stay completely off her radar.

I picked up my Nerf gun, prepared to throw it once I had a target.

“Police!” a deep male voice shouted, and Tamara jolted, hitting her head on the boxes on the shelf behind us. Large sounding feet, in some pretty serious boots, stomped across the floor in our direction.

Was it really the police, or was Justin playing a prank on us? He could have installed cameras without me knowing, and thought he’d come scare the crap out of us. But the red and blue lights rotating on the ceiling…yeah, it could be the police.

Tamara and I scrambled to our feet, listening. She backed against a wire rack and it swayed, dropping whistles and keychains around us. She squeaked, and the footsteps came closer.

“Police! Stay where you are!”

“We’re unarmed,” I shouted, realizing just how far south this situation could go if we weren’t careful.

“Drop your gun!” Tamara said to me, and I let the plastic toy clatter to the floor.

“He’s armed!” the police yelled, and Tamara screamed.

“We’re not armed!” I hollered back. “It’s a toy. A Nerf!”

The overhead lights flashed on, blinding me as the night vision goggles bloomed out in a sea of greenish white.

Footsteps. Scuffling. Hands spinning me, pushing me to the floor.

I didn’t resist, letting out a grunt as my stomach made contact with the cold, gritty floor.

There was a clink of handcuffs, and I was bound.

“Hands in the air,” a female hollered.

“Tamara!” I shouted, imagining the worst.

“Hey, Stacy. Um, sorry?” Tamara said sheepishly. I turned my head, the goggles twisting off my face, and saw Tamara, hands raised, looking embarrassed.

Stacy, a member of the local police who also acted as the school resource officer, had her taser trained on Tamara, feet planted far apart.

“Is it just you and Haden?”

“Yes.”

Stacy relaxed, looking around the store, her weapon still raised. She studied me, and I smiled apologetically. She took in Tamara from head to toe.

“Stand down,” Stacy said to the officer behind her, placing her taser back in its holster on her belt.

“We got a call about the alarm. That you?” Stacy asked.

“Does Lady MacBeth ever sleep?” Tamara grumbled.

“We didn’t break in,” I said, wondering how we were supposed to explain our situation. It was true, though. We technically hadn’t performed a break and enter.

“Right,” Stacy said, clearly unconvinced. “It’s the middle of the night, and all of the security lights are off. Justin called us about an unexpected, de-armed alarm.”

Of course he did. He got notices for that, but no cameras to see it was just me?

“We were Christmas shopping,” Tamara said lamely.

“Christmas shopping?” Stacy’s tone made it clear she knew it was a lie. She kept eyeing Tamara like she didn’t quite know what to believe. I understood the feeling. She’d thrown me for a few loops tonight, too.

Everyone said she’d changed, but I didn’t think so.

It was more that she was finally showing people who she truly was—fun, adventurous, bold, and yet also still that loving, quiet, unassuming woman.

And now they could actually see her, since she wasn’t being overshadowed by my brother and his large personality.

“Stuff for a Christmas stag party,” I said from my spot. My cheek was getting cold from the floor, but at least they hadn’t cuffed Tamara. “I have the security code. I didn’t want to wake Justin.” Truth, truth, and more truth.

The officers were staring at us. Then Stacy eyed Tamara again, her eyes drifting to the discarded bright orange plastic gun. “Nerf gun war?”

Tamara nodded.

“Ever go paintballing?”

“Yeah. Char likes to go.”

“We need someone for our team.”

“I like to play,” I said from my spot on the floor.

Stacy held out a hand to shush me.

“We need a female.” She was still watching Tamara. “I didn’t ask you before because you’re so sweet with the kids at school. I didn’t think you’d want to shoot people with paint.”

She glanced at me for a second before returning her attention to Tamara, like she was sizing her up anew.

“But if you can actually hit someone with bags of chips, and like to sneak into stores in the middle of the night to have toy gun wars, you might be the kind of woman we need on our team.”

“I’m really not very good,” Tamara said. “Char always nails me, and Haden got me more than I got him tonight.” She gave Stacy a hopeful look. “Can we go home?”

“Hm. Shopping, was it?” Stacy asked. She looked between the two of us, and I swear she could tell we’d spent most of our time in here goofing around and making out. And basically having the best night I’ve ever had with a woman. No exceptions.

“Yes,” I confirmed.

“One moment.” Stacy took a few steps away, speaking into the radio clipped to her lapel. She waited to hear a garbled reply, then said to me, “We’re going to need confirmation from Justin that it’s okay for you to be in here.”

Great. What kind of mood was my cousin in tonight? Hopefully not the kind where he’d find it funny to send us to the clinker.

“But we didn’t break in!” Tamara protested. “Haden knows the security code. Please?”

“I’m sure half the town knows it. We need to ensure you have proper permission, and it doesn’t sound as though you do.” Stacy said to her partner, “You can uncuff him.”

“You sure?” asked the recruit.

“I know where he lives.”

“You know where everyone lives,” the man muttered under his breath as he released me. Man, it felt good to be able to stand up, use my arms, and get my cheek off the grimy floor. I moved to Tamara’s side, wanting to hug her, even though she was clearly okay.

“I sure wish Justin would answer his phone, and let us go,” I said pointedly to Tamara as Stacy waited to hear something through her walkie talkie. “Don’t you wish that?”

Tamara rolled her eyes at me and shook her head. What? What was the point of a fairy godmother if you didn’t use her liberally?