The Heat of Christmas: A Stonewall Investigation

Freaking crazy.

Meanwhile, my body still buzzed from what had happened in the sunroom. Those lips, that tongue, those fingers… inside me… fuck.

I put my fisted hands in my lap, holding down my boner.

“First off, thank you, Zane and Enzo. This is definitely a holiday party I’m never forgetting.”

Yeah, me neither.

I pushed down as my cock throbbed.

“Now, about the matter at hand. The Secret Santa Slayer.” He crossed his arms, making his chest look even beefier, his biceps stretching the sleeves of his dark red shirt. His hazel eyes glowed under the light of the crystal chandelier above him.

“From the clues Mav and I found, we narrowed it down to someone who worked at Stonewall’s Miami office but also was there from the beginning. This could have meant a few things. The beginning of the party? Impossible, since Mav and I got here first this morning. Maybe the beginning of Stonewall’s Miami branch? Jonah, you were killed, so it couldn’t have been you, but Fox, you were alive and kicking and you were in Miami from the beginning.”

Theo started to walk back and forth, arms clasped together behind him, a hunter’s smirk plastered on his handsome face.

Fuck, he looked so good, clearly in his element, basking in it. His confidence and cockiness had me melting in my seat.

Too bad that cocky smile wasn’t underneath me anymore.

Damn, okay, focus. Focus. This is getting real good.

“Except the clue written in the window didn’t mean that. It meant from the beginning of Stonewall period. Plus there was the clue by the lake, talking about ‘heat’. Again a Miami reference, but the horseshoe prints leading away from them? That was an even bigger clue, considering someone here has a deep passion for horses.” His eyes raked over the crowd. I had a hundred percent certainty that I was innocent, and that gaze somehow even made me shrink back and think oh shit, he knows.

Fuck he was good.

“Zane, Griff, when you two came in from the yard, right after Jonah, Penny, and Caitlyn were slayed, do you remember Andrew running in with you?”

Zane and Griffin both nodded.

“Was he with you two outside?”

They both shook their heads.

“No, he wasn’t. And I realized that since he didn’t have a single fleck of snow on him, but he brushed right past the question when I asked. Why? Because he was hiding out in the bathroom across the hall, where he ran after he sleighed three innocent people. Not to mention the fact that his mislead us, giving us the wrong directions to the kitchens so he could go in first and try to tamper with the clues.” Theo pointed at Andrew. “Because Andrew is the Secret Santa Slayer.” Andrew’s eyes opened wide. He stepped forward, his hand coming up to his chest.

“I’m—this is—I mean, come on—you really…” His eyes narrowed devilishly. “Ho, ho, ho, bitches.”

The room broke into claps and laughter and calls of “Really? No! Oh my baby Jesus.”

When things calmed down, Zane stepped forward, putting a hand on Theo’s shoulder and one on Andrew’s.

“For the newest detective to join our team, you sure did prove yourself,” Zane said.

Theo took a bow, the party clapping. “Gracias, gracias.” His hazel eyes—a stunning storm of green and gold—aimed at me. “I couldn’t have done it without my handsome date, Mav.”

Holly ribbed me with an elbow while Penny bumped me with her shoulder. It felt good, like family. I could see why these group of detectives worked so well together. Not only were they coworkers, but they were bonded to something much deeper, much more familial.

I would know, having found my family a little later than some, but loving them for every single second they entered my life. Mia, Ash, Dust, Katey, Benj. All of them. Tammy, that furry little gift from the heavens.

Damn, I couldn’t wait for Theo to meet them. It would be catapulting us to an entirely new level in our relationship, no denying that, and that shit was definitely scary. I didn’t normally deal in fear. Lawyers could smell it like a great white picking up on chum from a couple feet away.

And yet it scared me. It raised the stakes. And added an entirely new level of pressure.

Still, I had zero reasons to think Theo and my family wouldn’t get along. In fact, I was a hundred percent sure they’d click. Something in my gut told me I didn’t have to worry about that.

His smile beamed as he walked my way, people congratulating him for cracking the case of the Secret Santa Slayer.

“You did it,” I said, putting my hands on his hips and drawing him toward me. The silver and gold lights of the towering Christmas tree reflected back at me from inside Theo’s jewel-like eyes.

“We did it.”

“Well, you put the strings together.” I kissed him. “And looked sexy as fuck doing it.”