A Devilish Christmas (The Marchesi Family)

“There’s a tree in our vacation cabin?”

“Not yet, but there will be. I wanted to decorate it with you, but don’t worry, there are plenty of other decorations already in place.”

Joe huffed. “Of course there are.”

When I pulled into the driveway of the rental, Joe practically leapt from the car. “Oh my God. This is… It’s so much like my foster parents’ house.”

He turned to me, and I grinned. “I might’ve had Emilio use his hacking skills to find me some inspiration pictures.”

“Devil that’s… Thank you.”

“Thank you for putting up with me.”

“I wasn’t sure if I could tonight, but… Shit.”

“What’s wrong?” I wasn’t going to let anything fuck this up.

“How long are we staying? I didn’t pack anything or—”

“I’ve got everything you need. I packed before I came to get you, and I even had groceries delivered to the cabin.”

“And anything I don’t have we’ll get in the adorable little town?”

“Yes, at the Christmastown General Store.” I couldn’t wait to look around there. I was sure they had amazing ornaments for sale.

“You’re not kidding, are you? There’s really a general store?”

“And a diner and a bakery, and you’ve already seen the perfect little park. It has everything a Christmassy small-town needs.”

“And you think we’re just going to drive into town and fit right in with these wholesome, Christmas-obsessed people.”

“Of course we are.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “Right. I bet there are lots of enormous, tattooed guys here.”

“I’m prepared to blend in. I brought my best lumbersexual clothes.”

Joe looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “You don’t have any clothes like that.”

“I do now and so do you.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The horror on his face had me laughing so hard I struggled to catch my breath. “No joke. I packed flannel shirts, hiking boots, fisherman sweaters, and—”

Joe held up a hand. “How about we get inside this cabin and stop worrying about clothes. I don’t think we’re going to need any tonight.”

I gave him a slow once-over. “We most definitely will not.”

10

Joe

I had every intention of getting my revenge on Devil for forcing my hand with this honeymoon, but it was my own fault for not telling him about the threats I’d received. As far as he knew, I was just being altruistic in trying to find Donaldson, and anyone else could be assigned to the task.

I wanted him to know how much I appreciated him finding this cabin. He was right. I needed this. I had let myself get pulled too deep into the case, and it had become an obsession. Giorgio had already warned me I was too close to the case to be objective, and he didn’t know how personal it had become. Should I tell Devil? He deserved to know, but I didn’t want to ruin our first evening here. Maybe X and his men would take Donaldson down without me.

“Come on,” Devil said. “Let’s see the inside.”

I started to follow Devil, but then I heard something that had me whipping around to study our surroundings.

“What is it?” Devil asked.

I held up a hand to silence him. I was hesitant to move quickly. The last time I’d rushed into the woods, the “stranger” I’d ended up following had been Devil carrying out his diabolical plan to kidnap me and bring me here. Maybe this was even less of a threat, like a squirrel or a bear.

I couldn’t see anything but the vaguest outline of trees. Streetlights had helped in town when I was watching Devil move among the shadows, but other than the floodlights on the cabin, there were no other lights anywhere. The woods were utterly black.

A stick cracked, but that could have been caused by an animal. There was no reason to think anyone was out there. I was just primed to expect an attack.

“Talk to me, Joe,” Devil said.

“I heard something or someone.” I shook my head. “It’s probably nothing, but…”

“What does your gut tell you?”

“Someone was watching us.”

“Was?”

I listened intently but didn’t hear anything other than the hoot of an owl, and the prickles on the back of my neck had settled down. “Yeah, I… I think they’re gone now.”

Devil nodded. “I made sure we were prepared for anything.”

“You were expecting trouble in Christmastown?” Did he know more than he was letting on?

“I always expect trouble.”

And he usually got it, often because he went looking for it. He handed me my gun. “Keep this on you.”

“I always do, except for when I’m assaulted by overzealous men.”

“No other man is going to touch you.”

I loved the visceral reaction from him. His possessiveness could piss me off, but it also made me hot as hell.

“Who do you think it was? A crazy neighbor? Or is someone watching us specifically?”

Tell him. I shrugged. “There’s no way to know.”

Devil moved so his body partially blocked me from the woods. “What does your gut say?”