Deadly Christmas (9 page)

James kept one ear on the conversation as he pulled Mandy’s pants off. The tiny thong she was wearing was cute – red velvet with Santa hat trim – but he was much more interested in what was underneath it.

“I need to get her great stuff,” Finn said. “This is the last Christmas for just the two of us. She needs to be spoiled. Everything is going to be about the baby after that.”

“Do you want me to go shopping with you? Is that what you’re asking?”

James licked the inside of Mandy’s thighs and caused her to cover the bottom of the phone as she whimpered.

“Could you?” Finn asked. “Please. I … please?”

“I would love to go shopping with you,” Mandy said, sympathy taking over. “We have a holiday week at work. I will text you when I can go. Does that work?”

“Thank you so much.” Finn sounded like he was on the verge of crying he was so relieved.

“Don’t mention it,” Mandy said. “I … omigod!”

James plunged his tongue into Mandy’s waiting core, tightly holding her thighs as she squirmed.

“On that note, I’m going to let you and my brother get back to your dirty reindeer games,” Finn said dryly. “Thank you, Mandy.”

“Don’t mention it. Ugh … James!”

“You’re a pig,” Finn announced, fixing James with a disgusted look as he walked into his office Monday morning.

“You’ll have to be more specific,” James replied, nonplussed.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure what you were doing to Mandy when I was on the phone with her the other night, but I have an idea and … you’re a pig,” Finn said. “Couldn’t you wait until we were off the phone?”

“Apparently not.” James wasn’t particularly perturbed with Finn’s assessment of his storm activities. “My wife needed attention. I was happy to provide it. It’s not my fault you picked the worst possible time ever to call.”

“You called in the middle of sex?” Grady asked. He sat on the couch in the office, a stack of files on his lap, and his smile suggested he was enjoying the conversation. “Everyone knows you don’t call people during a snowstorm because they’re busy doing other stuff.”

“Yeah,” James said, smirking. “Why weren’t you busy?”

Finn glanced over his shoulder to make sure Emma wasn’t within earshot. Their apartment was located on the second floor of the security business building. For the most part, she stayed out of their way during business hours, but curiosity sometimes got the better of her. “Because I just realized I was a complete and total dumbass and freaked out.”

James’ expression softened. “Mandy told me what happened,” he said. “Not right away, mind you, but eventually … between storms … she told me that you bought Emma all baby stuff. Nice move, by the way.”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Finn said, making a face. “I … she’s always so excited about the baby. I watched what she looked at when we were shopping. If she thought something was too expensive she walked away. I always went back and got it when I could. I lost track of getting her something special.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand that,” Grady said, his expression earnest. “This is a big deal for you guys.”

“How many gifts have you bought Sophie?” Finn asked.

“Um … like twenty,” Grady admitted.

Finn turned to James. “And Mandy?”

“A few,” James conceded. “Mandy is getting one really big gift and several smaller gifts.”

“How many?” Finn pressed.

“I probably got her another ten or so,” James conceded.

Grady crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He didn’t believe his brother for a second.

“It’s probably closer to twenty … or, maybe, thirty-five or so,” James finally admitted. “Most of them are not expensive, though. I got her like eight things from the
Shark Week
website alone.”

Grady snorted. “Did you find anything to match her Jawesome underwear?”

“I found a shirt,” James said. “I also found a cute cereal bowl, two other shirts, blu-ray collections, a necklace and a hoodie.”

“You’re so sick,” Grady said, laughing.

“She likes it and it makes her happy,” James shot back. “Sue me.”

“That’s the thing,” Finn interrupted, his gaze bouncing between his brothers. “Emma brought up the fact that we’d only been dating a few weeks last Christmas. I didn’t want to smother her with gifts then because I was worried it would make her feel bad so I bought her one nice necklace and two small gifts.”

“So?”

“So she’s never had a big Christmas all to herself,” Finn replied. “She’s never been the center of attention at Christmas. This is her last shot.”

“Oh,” James said, realization dawning. “Now I feel a little guilty. We spent a lot on her for Christmas, but it’s all baby stuff. Maybe … .”

“This isn’t your responsibility,” Finn countered. “It’s mine.”

“Still … .” James glanced at Grady. “What do you think?”

“Well, I’m in the Christmas spirit,” Grady replied. “I think you should buy her a car.”

James scowled. “Way to help.”

“What are we talking about?” Jake asked, breezing into the office.

“Finn needs to spoil Emma on Christmas and he totally screwed up,” Grady supplied.

Finn punched him in the arm. “Don’t push me. I’m a man on the edge.”

“You’d better hurry up if you’re going to buy twenty gifts for Emma before Christmas,” Grady said. “You’re going to need help.”

“Twenty gifts?” Jake was floored. “I … you’re buying Emma twenty gifts?”

“James bought Mandy thirty-five,” Finn protested.

Jake’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “Huh.”

Grady snickered. “I see someone else is now wondering if he purchased enough gifts,” he said. “How many things did you buy Ally?”

“About ten,” Jake said, rubbing his chin. “That’s not going to be enough, is it?”

“Probably not,” James said. “I’m not trying to be a pain after our … thing … the other day. I’m sorry about that fight, by the way. I was just … .”

“Worried about Mandy,” Jake said, holding up his hand. “I get it. Don’t worry about that. Worry about the gifts. How many gifts is Ally expecting?”

“I’m not sure,” James cautioned. “Mandy says she was being manic about buying you stuff, though. She was going to buy you a diamond watch until Mandy talked her out of it.”

“Crap,” Jake said, making a face. “That means I have to go back to the mall.”

“What did you get her?” Grady asked curiously.

“I got her a few things,” Jake said. “Diamonds earrings, a silk robe, some … other stuff.” His cheeks colored.

“He got our sister sex stuff,” Grady said. “Should we kill him now?”

Finn snorted. “Leave him alone. I’m sure you got Sophie sex stuff.”

“Yes, but she’s an only child,” Grady replied.

“She still has a father who carries a gun,” James reminded him.

“This bites,” Jake muttered. “I don’t know what else to get her. My sister said gift cards for your girlfriend are a no-no. I know she loves shoes and clothes, but I would never pick any of that stuff out for her.”

“I think gift cards are only a no-no when they’re the only thing you buy,” James corrected. “I got Mandy gift cards for DSW, Amazon, and Think Geek.”

“What’s Think Geek?”

“It’s a place for nerds to buy stuff,” Finn said. “Grady shops there, too.”

Grady scowled. “I’ll have you know that Think Geek is the height of sophistication.”

“Ally isn’t going to like any of that stuff,” Jake said.

“Ally is a Trekkie,” James reminded him. He turned his attention back to his laptop and brought up a Google search window. After clicking on the Think Geek website, he beckoned for Jake to move around his desk. “They have a ton of cool
Star Trek
stuff. You could start a Pandora bracelet for Ally – like I did for Mandy – and add some of these
Star Trek
charms.”

Jake was intrigued. “Click on both of those and the bracelet,” he ordered. “What else does this site have?”

James smirked. “There are these really cool tumblers.”

Jake studied them for a moment. “Click on those, too. Show me more.”

“This is really the man’s way to shop,” Grady said, curiosity getting the better of him as he joined his brother and Jake behind the desk. “Ooh, order those planet glasses. Sophie would love those. She’s a science nerd, even if she doesn’t like pop culture stuff.”

“I guess we’re getting all of this delivered here,” James muttered.

“One one-day rush to be safe,” Jake said. “I’ll pay for the extra shipping.”

“We’ll split it,” James said, sighing as he added two Harry Potter charms to the shopping basket. “What? Mandy loves Harry Potter.”

“None of this is going to do me any good,” Finn lamented. “Emma doesn’t like any of this stuff.”

James rubbed his forehead, searching his memory for anything on the site Emma might like. “Wait a second … .” He navigated through a few panes and pulled up a set of gorgeous journals. They looked like antiques. “Wouldn’t she like stuff to write down her thoughts after she has the baby?”

“Those are pretty cool,” Finn admitted. “Order me one of those.”

“Me, too,” Grady said. “Sophie is always jotting stuff down in notebooks.”

“Add one for me, too,” Jake instructed. “Get the pink one. Ally loves pink.”

“What else does this site have?” Finn asked. “I … holy crap! Is that a Batmobile replica?”

James nodded. “There’s more than just women stuff on here. I’ve found a ton of stuff I would love. I’ve even purchased a few things for the saloon. Mandy is on here constantly. Oh, they have
Star Trek
garden gnomes that are beyond cool, Jake.”

“Load me up,” Jake said. “She’s going to be wowed by presents if it kills me. Are those Tribble slippers? Add those.”

“This order is going to be huge,” James said, laughing.

The sound of someone clearing their throat by the door tore everyone’s attention from the computer screen. James got to his feet when he recognized Art Carmichael, confusion washing over him.

“Art?”

“James,” Art said, a tight smile on his face. “I hope I’m not interrupting.”

“We were just doing some last minute Christmas shopping,” James said, moving out from behind the desk. Grady plopped down in his vacated chair and immediately started navigating the site. “Add those zombie bookends,” James said, almost as an afterthought. “Mandy needs some organization in her office.”

“Give me your credit card,” Grady instructed.

James dug into his pocket and handed over the piece of plastic wordlessly before focusing his full attention on Art. “Is something wrong?”

“Can we talk here?” Art asked.

“Yeah, we all work here,” James said, his expression rueful. “Shopping doesn’t usually take us over like this.”

Art graced James with a genuine smile. “I know how that goes,” he said. “Ava gave me a list of her last minute items yesterday.”

James fought the urge to scowl. “These are more impulse purchases for us,” he said, gesturing toward one of the chairs across from the desk. “Have a seat.”

After settling, Art got straight to the point. “Did you hear about the attempted robbery at the store here the other day?”

“Actually yes,” James said, glancing at Jake as he debated how much to tell Art. “For full disclosure, my wife and sister were in the store when it happened.”

Art’s eyebrows flew up his forehead. “They weren’t hurt, were they?”

“Actually … um … my sister is the one who tasered the guy and made him run,” James said.

Art barked out a mirthful laugh. “Seriously? I saw the video of that. She’s a spitfire.”

“You have no idea,” Jake muttered.

“We explained to her that tasering a guy in the middle of a store when he’s brandishing a firearm probably wasn’t the best way to go,” James said. “If you’re angry about that … .”

Art waved off James’ concerns. “Your sister probably saved hundreds of thousands in inventory alone,” he said. “The only thing the robber got away with was personal items and cash from the customers. I’ve already replaced all of that. I’d like to reward her for stopping things before they really got out of hand.”

“Oh, well, good,” James said. “Ally loves presents.”

Jake groaned and focused back on the computer screen. “Show me some other stuff.”

“I know we talked about the time it was going to take to get the other stores up and running on the new security system, but I would like to get the one here in Michigan settled as soon as possible,” Art said. “I know this is your home and I don’t want to speak disparagingly about it, but the crime rate in this area – even in the suburbs – is high. The crime rate in California is high, too. That’s why I wanted that store done quickly. How soon do you think you can get the store here on the system?”

James rubbed his chin. “It honestly shouldn’t take too long,” he said. “We’re local. In fact, the mall in question is only about five minutes from here. If we all work together, I don’t see why we can’t have it done in a few days.”

“I don’t see why we can’t put a presence in at the mall either,” Grady piped in. “Jake and Finn have more shopping in front of them anyway. They can multitask.”

Finn cuffed the back of Grady’s head. “Stop reminding me what an idiot I am.”

“James, do you think Mandy will be available to take me shopping later this week?” Jake asked.

“Ask Finn,” James replied. “They’ve already set up a shopping date. I’m sure you can go with the two of them.”

“Cool.”

“Whatever you can do to get us through the next few days will be greatly appreciated,” Art said. “And anyone here who needs Christmas gifts for the women in their life can stop in at the store and get whatever they need at a steep discount because of your availability. I’ll make sure the manager knows today.”

“Thank you,” Finn said.

“Have you talked to the police?” James asked. “Do they have any leads on who tried to rob the store?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t follow up since your wife and sister were involved,” Art replied.

“My wife and sister find a lot of trouble,” James explained. “Keeping up with it would be like getting a second job. Jake and I took them out to dinner after the event and then we had a big snowstorm. It wasn’t really a high priority for me since they weren’t hurt and they didn’t lose anything in the robbery.”