Chapter 22
NOELLE
Fuck Bishop.
The nastiness of the thought stopped me in my tracks.
I took a slow, deep breath and pushed aside the rejection.
I’d show him.
He thought I was too drunk to fuck, but there was a whole other level to my naughtiness that I had yet to explore.
Rafe brought that side of me out to play, and now that he’d unlocked it, I planned to enjoy every second.
Captain Delaney would be ashamed.
Fuck him too.
None of them deserved the work I’d put into my job.
I’d done what I could, learned what I could, during the Christmas drive.
Now that they’d started the afterparty, I’d left my wire behind.
I grabbed a mug of peppermint schnapps and gave it a taste.
The mint was almost overpowered by the alcohol, so I took tiny sips instead of long drinks to make it last and keep the low buzz going.
Colt motioned me toward the dance floor, and I didn’t hesitate to join him.
My body felt light and bubbly, my joy overriding my usual self-consciousness.
I shook my ass and danced with Colt in a way that felt liberating.
Colt was a perfect gentlemen, and while others were grinding all over each other, we simply moved to the music.
Every now and then, I caught sight of Bishop still in his corner.
I felt his gaze on the back of my neck, that awareness that started a fire in my belly.
Ash and Rafe stood near the bar, both deep in conversation that they broke every few seconds to look my way.
I finished the schnapps and went back to the eggnog, preferring the softer flavor over the bite in the peppermint.
Colt helped me into a chair, and we laughed together when he missed his seat and ended up flat of his back on the floor. He stared up at the ceiling. “Maybe I’ll stay here. Pretty colors.”
I leaned my head back, and the ceiling whirled in a brilliant sheen of multi-colored lights from the Christmas tree.
My heart squeezed.
Rafe.
He’d done that for me.
He’d never admit it, but I knew.
The flush that spread through me had nothing to do with alcohol and everything to do with my inability to control my feelings for the three men.
A bell rang out, and Rafe’s voice rose over the din. “Good night.” He ended the party with those two words.
Colt brought his knees up and rolled them from side to side.
His head lolled with the same motion. “I need someone to scrape me off the floor.”
“I can help with that.” Rafe stood over his brother, his face pinched in a hard scowl. “Thought you promised not to drink too much.”
“I didn’t…” Colt held up his hand, then waved it back and forth in front of his face. “I mean, I promised, but I didn’t drink too much. Or maybe I didn’t mean to drink too much. I only had one.”
His hand fell onto his stomach with a thwack, and he laughed at the sound. “Sorry, Rafe.”
Rafe grunted and hauled Colt up by the arm. “Come on. I’ll get you settled into a room.” He turned a pointed glare my way. “And you.”
“Hmm?” I hadn’t been paying much attention to his words.
I heard them, but I’d been so busy studying his ass when he bent over that it took a minute for what he’d said to register. “I’m fine.”
“You’re drunk, and you’re not leaving.” He bent toward me. “Half the guys are staying tonight.”
I managed to stop ogling him long enough to look around.
Sure enough, several members climbed the stairs and disappeared into the rooms above.
“Too dangerous to drive intoxicated.
Especially in the snow.” Rafe hauled Colt toward the stairs. “Bishop, you got the designated drivers lined up?”
“Yep.” Bishop stopped beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder.
One look at him and everything he’d said earlier was forgiven.
I rested my cheek on his knuckles, and he squeezed my shoulder in response.
That’s how things were between us.
We understood each other with looks, though sometimes, I still misread things.
Ash helped me up the stairs and into a cute room decorated with black roses.
I fell face first into the bed and dragged a pillow under my cheek.
Ash kissed my forehead. “See you in the morning.”
“Stay.” I grabbed for his hand, missed.
Ash smoothed my hair back from my face.
“I’ll be here if you need me, but not in your room. I’m too tempted to be here right now.”
“Bishop said the same thing.” Close enough.
I sat up. “Why won’t you sleep with me?”
“Because you’ve been drinking. Probably more than you realize. When we have sex, it will be with all parties completely sober. That’s how we do things, Noelle.”
Sweet and chivalrous even when presented with an opportunity most men wouldn’t dream of passing up.
“Goodnight, Noelle.” He kissed my forehead again. “Try to get some sleep.”
“Night.” I expected to fall asleep right away, but as soon as the door clicked shut, my eyes flew open.
My heart pounded in my chest like it wanted to race on the Indianapolis speedway.
I flipped onto my back and stared at the blacked out ceiling with a galaxy of stars sparking with gold and silver.
What a day.
I’d barely given myself time to process all of it, and now that the world had gone quiet, my mind attempted to catch up.
Groaning, I smacked my fists onto the soft cover.
All the warm feelings I’d experienced downstairs fled in an instant.
How was I supposed to get dirt on three of the best men I’d ever met?
They deserved better than that.
Was there even anything illegal that they were hiding?
My brain hurt from all the thinking, and I rolled over, trying again to fall into the oblivion of sleep.
Failure.
That one word repeated with every heartbeat.
I’d failed my colleagues, failed myself as a detective.
I’d fallen into the idea of the Steel Vipers being good men because they knew how to please me.
I fought against that idea.
They treated everyone with kindness.
Even the night that the townspeople confronted Rafe, he implied threats but nothing else.
I’d not seen or heard of a single one of them being bad.
Was that the point?
They knew I was a ‘reporter’ so they acted nice for me?
Sleeping with them should feel like a mistake.
It obliterated the line between work and play and allowed me to focus in the wrong direction because to me, the Steel Vipers were a bunch of cinnamon rolls underneath their gruff exteriors.
I flipped again.
At this point, I might as well be a potato for all the tossing and turning I’d accomplished.
I forced my eyes closed, but they popped wide again.
Damn it.
I couldn’t sleep.
Every minute that ticked past brought a bit more sobriety.
Okay, so they’d been right.
I was drunk off my rocker, as my grandfather used to say.
I scrubbed my eyes and sat up, checking the clock on the side table.
I’d come into the room at midnight, and the glowing red numbers now boasted four a.m.
No way I was getting any sleep tonight.
I shoved my feet across the carpet until the static electricity raised the hairs on my arms.
Maybe I could risk the drive home now that I’d sobered up a bit.
Being in my own bed might help.
I pushed up from the bed and crept to the door, being careful to keep my steps light, and cracked the door open.
The long, empty hallway stretched out in front of me, and I slipped out and down the stairs without waking anyone.
A warm aroma reached me when I stepped off the bottom stair.
Cookies.
I sniffed again to double check.
Yep.
Chocolate chip cookies.
I’d know that smell anywhere.
I followed the scent into the kitchen.
“Ash?” I breathed his name.
The blond mechanic stood next to the stove in nothing but his boxers and a red apron.
He glanced at me over his shoulder, and his smile was nothing short of devilish. “Look who’s up.”
“Couldn’t sleep.” I eased closer and slid onto one of the barstools.
The high counter separated me from Ash, and I crossed my arms on the cold ceramic. “Are you baking cookies for Santa?”
“Why would I do that?” He withdrew a pan of cookies and set them on the counter in front of me.
I shrugged. “Figured maybe you believe in him like half the town.” I laughed lightly. “You should have heard them talking about it today, grown men and women as sure he was real as their kids.”
“Really?” Ash rested his elbows on the counter and stared at me across the empty space.
“Oh yeah.” I told him some of the things I’d heard, and his smile grew wider and wider.
He tapped one of the cookies with a fingertip, then bent to open the cabinet in front of him. “I’ll have to tell Rafe. He’ll love it.”
“He’ll hate it.”
“Yeah, but I’ll love the look on his face when he realizes the town believes in him.”
He brought out a wire cooling rack and began transferring the cookies one by one. “I have the real Santa as my MC president.” He chuckled and shook his head, holding out a cookie in a silent question.
I took it from him and blew on the surface.
He tracked the movement, his tongue tucked between his teeth until he spoke again. “Besides, I don’t need Christmas as an excuse to make cookies. I might leave some for him. I might not.”
His playfulness brought out my own, and I bit into the cookie. “Oh, wow.”
My eyes closed to better savor the flavor. “These are incredible.”
Ash didn’t speak, and when I opened my eyes, I caught him staring at me with that hungry look that pitched my stomach into a frenzy.
I broke off a bite of cookie and held it out to him.
He opened his mouth and wrapped his lips around my fingers and the cookie.
His tongue flicked between my fingers and heat pooled in my belly.
I knew what that tongue could do… and what I wanted it to do.
Ash chewed and swallowed. “It’s good, but I know something better.”
“Oh?” I took another bite and chewed even slower. “What could be better than warm cookies fresh from the oven?”
“The taste of you eating cookies.”
He was around the counter in a blink, his lips closing over mine.
Warm chocolate and sugar mixed with Ash and the heat of sex that never seemed to go away.
His tongue swept across my mouth, and he ran a hand up my thigh.
I still wore my red sweater dress, but I’d taken off the tights at some point while thrashing in the bed with my thoughts.
The heat of his palm on my bare skin turned the low burn into a fiery flame.
I gripped his shirt in one hand and set the remainder of the cookie on the counter.
The door behind us opened and clicked closed.
Ash raised his head, ending the kiss. “Rafe. Bishop.”
I swiveled on the stool. “Um…”
Rafe stood arrow straight, his dark hair rumpled and clothes creased like he’d slept in them.
Bishop looked as tired as I felt, but something in his eyes reminded me of a man finding his favorite gift under the Christmas tree.
Any thoughts of falling asleep vanished.
“Don’t stop on our account.” Rafe stayed halfway between me and the door.
The look in his eyes was enough to melt my bones and make me want to beg him to repeat what we’d done in his office.
Ash framed my face in his hands and picked up where we’d left off.