Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa (24 page)

K
IM FOUND HERSELF TAKING THE FULL BRUNT OF
E
VERGREEN’S
demise on her shoulders. While in her head she knew it was poor financial planning and bad loans that had them on the verge of bankruptcy, she still felt responsible. Several times she had attempted to speak with Ricco, but he’d avoided her. There had been no warm reception from his mother or sisters either. Only Enrique hobbled over to her as she was about to exit the town hall.

He grinned and said, “How guilty are you feeling right about now?”

She scowled. “Guilty enough. What do you want?”

“I just went on sale. Fifty thousand and I disappear.”

Kim laughed, and because she did feel so guilty, she pulled out her checkbook and wrote out a check for fifty thousand dollars. She tore it off and handed it to the crook. “The check is my receipt. Come back here after you leave tonight, I show them the canceled check, and you can kiss their pity party good-bye.”

He grinned up at her and kissed the check. “Merry Christmas, Miss Michaels, Merry Christmas.” He hobbled off, and as he met up with his daughters, Kim caught Ricco’s dark frown across the way. She started toward him, determined to say what she had to say, then leave.

He moved toward the front of the building and she followed him.

“Ricco!” she called to his retreating back. He kept walking. “Fine, walk away like you always do. Be the coward!” He hesitated in his step but kept going. Kim ran after him.

“Stop for once in your life and let someone who made a mistake apologize!”

He did stop then. Slowly he turned around. A storm waged on his face. “The next thing you’ll be telling me is I’m a coward for not playing nice with my father.”

“No, I understand how you feel. I don’t know that I could ever forgive him. And I think you’re right, anyway. He hasn’t changed.”

“Why do you say that?”

She shrugged, not wanting to add to this man’s misery. “A hunch.”

He stood glowering down at her.

She opened her mouth several times to say what she felt, to lay it all on the line, but the fear of complete rejection paralyzed her. “I-I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”

“Glad you have a conscience.”

“I have more than that. I have feelings. I hurt too, you know!”

“Cry me a river, Kimberly. You’ve lied, cheated, and lied some more. You’re as bad as that piece of crap you call your fiancé.”

“My
ex
-fiancé. Hell, he never was officially!” Ricco’s anger was so absolute that he could not see through the haze of it. Any attempts to convince him how bad she felt would go unheard. He needed time, she decided. And so did she.

“Good-bye, Prince Charming,” she softly said, then walked past him to her car and drove out of town.

• • •

I
NSTEAD OF WALLOWING IN HEARTBREAK AND SELF-PITY
as the miles mounted between them, Kim’s brain went on high alert. She was not a quitter and never a loser when it came to the art of the deal. She’d be damned if she’d lose this deal and her man in the same day! Her brain churned, it plotted, it connived. There
had
to be a way to save Evergreen. She pulled up in Auburn and took a room at a local hotel, where she pulled out the laptop and started making phone calls.

Long after midnight she crashed, still clothed, on the bed. She was up at first light and back on the computer, making calls and calling in favors for phone numbers to CEOs who were getting ready to celebrate Christmas halfway around the world. But it paid off. Two days later she had an investor. And better than that, she had one who was willing to give Evergreen the resources to remain fiscally solvent, even if, like this year, Christmas was canceled. She was as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning!

Kim jumped into the shower. After she dried off, she pulled out a sweater from her case. As she did so, the small box Ricco had put in her drawer plopped out. For a long moment she didn’t reach for it, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to be a part of anything that was a part of him. With a shaky hand she reached for it and slowly lifted the lid. Hot tears erupted and she gently touched the gold heart locket. It wasn’t the one her grandmother had given her, but it was close. He knew how precious the locket had been to her, and he must have moved hell and earth to find one so similar in what must have been only a matter of hours. She opened it up and caught her breath. Engraved inside were the words
To new beginnings
.

She clutched the locket to her heart and closed her eyes. For long moments she didn’t move. She barely breathed. He got her. He understood her fears because they were his fears. They were so much alike it was scary. But in that, she knew what she had to do to convince Ricco she was worth taking another chance on. A new determination filled her. No man had ever fought for her, and when she thought about it, she hadn’t fought for any one of them either. But she was going to fight for Ricco. After all, it was Christmas Eve, and everyone knew miracles happened! And she would not stop until she bagged him. She smiled and quickly packed the rest of her things.

As she drove toward Evergreen a light snow began to fall. When she hit town Kim expected the lights to be dim, the cheer and happiness to be gone. She truly expected to find a wasteland. Instead she found the entire population of Evergreen in the street with candles in hand held before them. She parked the car in front of Esmeralda’s B&B and listened. Like angels from above, she heard the song “Silent Night” being sung. Slowly, mesmerized she followed the procession of carolers toward the gazebo. As the people of Evergreen formed a circle around the stable that had been erected for the reenactment of the birth of Christ, Kim caught her breath as a sudden rush of emotion choked her.

Sweet little Mari, in a white robe and blue veil, held a baby doll in her little arms and looked lovingly down at it. She kissed it and placed it in the manger. Kim’s eyes filled with tears as she watched and listened. Despite the town being in the throes of complete financial disaster, they’d come together as one to celebrate the true reason for the season. Her gaze caught that of Leticia, who smiled at her, then Elle’s and Jasmine’s who also smiled. Esmeralda stood with a handsome man in uniform, who she looked adoringly at, and Kim almost lost it. But what caused her more emotion was the sight of Ricco standing beside his father. While there was no great affection coming from Ricco, there wasn’t that perpetual scowl that always showed up when Enrique was present.

Kim flinched at the sight and grappled with the reality that she would have to be the one to tell the man she loved his father was a fraud. How she would tell him she had not the slightest clue. He’d been through enough hurt already, and the last thing she wanted to do was crush his heart more.

When Ricco looked across the gathered crowd and locked eyes with her, she saw a spark of something. Hope? Happiness? Whatever it was quickly vanished and was replaced with shaded anger.

She stood back and waited. And watched. His friend Jade and Jase were standing nearby with another striking couple, who seemed to be quite enthralled with each other. Kim felt a stab of jealousy. She watched the easy, loving way they touched each other and smiled. The man pressed his hand to the woman’s belly and leaned into her for a long kiss. Jase and Jade grinned up at Ricco, who, in response, turned to stare at her. His eyes were blank, but she could see the tightness of his jaw and knew he was still angry with her—but more, she could guess, hurt.

When the vigil was over and the crowd broke up, she moved toward Ricco. He stood and waited for her, and for that small token she was eternally grateful. He couldn’t hate her that much if he was willing to speak to her.

She smiled, feeling suddenly shy and vulnerable. “Merry Christmas, Ricco,” she said.

He nodded. “Merry Christmas.”

“That was beautiful. I can’t believe after everything that’s happened everyone is so…so…”

He cocked a dark brow. “Into the reason for the season?”

“Yes.”

“There’s more to life, Kimberly, than money.”

“Don’t call me Kimberly.”

“Fine, Kim. So what brings you back here?”

“A couple of things, actually, but you mostly.”

“Then you’ve wasted time and gas.”

She stiffened and moved in closer to him. “I don’t think so. I think the proposal I’m about to make is worthy of a listen.”

He stood as rigid and as cold as an icicle. “Go on.”

She pulled the locket out of her pocket and opened her palm. “First of all, I wanted to thank you for this. Aside from the locket my grandmother gave me, this is the only gift anyone has ever given me. It means more to me than you know. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said through clenched teeth.

She opened it up and read, “To new beginnings.” Then looked up to him. “It’s what I want. With you. And the only thing I can promise you, Ricco, is I will never lie to you.”

“It’s too late for that now.”

“Why?”

“Because in the time you’ve been gone, I’ve decided I liked the way my life was. Uncluttered, uncomplicated, and”—he looked down at her, an earnest expression lighting his handsome face—“unemotional. I’m man enough to admit I don’t like the hurt that goes with emotions, Kim.”

It felt as if a ten-ton boulder had just landed in her belly. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you. You go out and catch bad guys, get into gunfights, and kill people, but you can’t find the courage to open your heart just a little?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she halted him. “I’m in love with you, Ricco. I want to be with you more than I want money or a big house. I want to be where you are. I want a second chance. I want you to be as brave as I’m being right now.”

He reached up and took the locket from her hand. “When I bought this, I felt brave. Like I was king of the world, but I was scared shitless too. These last few days have been the worst days of my life, and not because this town is going under, but because you left me.”

“I—,” she started, but he halted her this time.

“In my heart your betrayal was abandonment. It terrified me. It still does. I’m afraid to give you my heart and find out one day you’ve tossed it away.”

She reached up and touched his cheek. “I’m afraid too, Ricco, but if we don’t try, then we lose even more. What happens if it works? Look at what we’d miss.”

He took a big, deep breath and slowly exhaled, handing her back the locket. “I…can’t.”

“You’re a big pussy, Maza,” Jase said from behind him. As he came to stand next to Kim, he winked at her. She almost smiled. Another man, the one who’d kissed the beautiful dark-haired woman and rubbed her belly, came around to stand on Ricco’s other side.

“I told Jase you didn’t have the balls for this love stuff,” he said and turned to Kim, extending his hand. “Ty Jamerson, embarrassed friend of this wimp who calls himself a man.”

This time Kim did grin.

“So this is how I see it, Ricky,” Jase began. “You fall for Kim here, she falls for you, she screws up, you get your widdle pussy-ass heart cracked, and now you want to take all of your toys and go home?”

Ricco scowled at his friends. “It’s not that simple.”

“The hell it isn’t!” Ty said. “Man up, Ricco, give the woman another chance, for crying out loud. I’ll be damned if I’m going to watch you mope around San Jose for the next two years crying about how you got your heart broken.”

“It’s now or never, buddy,” Jase said.

“You should listen to your friends, Ricco,” Kim softly said.

His scowl deepened. “I can’t.”

“You won’t.”

He nodded. This time, to her utter shock, Enrique stepped in. The swelling in his face had subsided, and now sparks of anger flashed in his dark eyes. “Son, if I can change, and your saint of a mother can give me another chance after giving me one hundred and then some, then by God you can give this girl and yourself a chance at real happiness.” As his words trailed off, Enrique dug into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and extracted the check Kim had written him. He handed it to her. “I don’t need this after all.”

Ricco’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that?”

“The fifty grand your girlfriend gave me to leave you all alone.” He grinned up at his son. “As you know, I decided to come clean with you and to put the old ways behind me. I have no need for that money now.”

Ricco turned dark eyes on Kim. “You did that? For me and my family?”

“I knew he was rotten to the core,” she said, and her cheeks reddened. But at the time, it had been true. “I didn’t want to see you all get hurt again.”

He pulled her away from the small group to a secluded corner. “Cinderella—”

She stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “Shhh, just give us a chance, Prince Charming.”

His arms slid around her waist and he brought her hard against him. Then it was as if all his doubts were let go; his kiss deepened, and she felt the rush of his body against hers. “I’ll…try,” he said against her lips.

Her heart swelled and she grabbed his face more firmly against hers as she molded her body as tightly against his as humanly possible. “You’ll do more than try.”