“I know,” Lana said, voice softening as she leaned into him. “The feeling is mutual, dearest.”
It felt a little wrong to be making out like this dressed as he was, especially when his snowy Santa beard kept tickling her chin and making her giggle.
So Rick settled in to lure a moose, trying not to be nervous about the fact that Lana had a tranquilizer gun in her hands once again, hiding out in the bushes, waiting.
He tried to stay patient, but there was only so long he could sit out on a stump, trying to look festive.
“This isn’t working,” he told her.
“Sing a Christmas carol.” Her whispered suggestion only horrified him a little. It was possible Rick was starting to get used to all this.
It was even more possible that he liked it.
“What do you want for Christmas?” he asked her instead, taking out his phone and turning on his downloaded holiday-themed music.
“A present isn’t necessary, love.” She hummed from her hiding spot behind a large clump of blackberry bushes. “I appreciate the classics, but this moose seems more of a contemporary creature.”
He dutifully switched over from Bing Crosby to Mariah Carey. “Is the beard really necessary?” Rick asked, tugging on the scratchy thing.
“I doubt the moose will be fooled without it,” Lana piped up. “This seems to be an above-average-intelligence animal.”
“I’m getting you something for Christmas,” he said. “If you don’t give me any ideas, I’ll have to wing it, and no one wants that.” Hearing a giggle from the bushes warmed his heart, even if his hands were cold. “How do you feel about hedgehog-themed ugly Christmas sweaters?”
“If you’re trying to turn me on, it’s working,” she said.
If only. Memories of the previous night curled through his mind, leaving him warm all over, even his hands. She had felt so perfect against him, sleeping with her nose pressed into his bicep. And yes, the sex had been great, but waking up like that? With Lana in his arms? That feeling blew everything else out of the water.
“I care about you,” Rick said to the woods, because it was true. Because she needed to hear it more than in the middle of the night, when he was reaching for her.
Vulnerability wasn’t his thing, but neither was luring moose in Santa suits. He’d do more than this to make her know she was cared for, that the things that mattered to her mattered to him too.
The only reason she was out there was to try to make people happy.
“I’ll stay out here until New Year’s,” he added calmly. “Just know that you don’t have to do this. People can think whatever they want to. I know you. I know you care about us. There’s nothing you have to be forgiven for.”
Silence, then he heard a rustling in the bushes, followed by his absolutely perfect snowlady in her winter camouflage ghillie suit emerging from the woods.
Lana joined him on the stump, her hip pressed to his. “Do you really think so?” Lana asked softly.
“I know so.” Finding her within the ghillie suit’s fronds wasn’t easy. But it was kind of fun.
“I care about you too, Rick. So very much.” Those liquid dark eyes pooled with sincerity. There was a time he’d never have believed it. But he believed it now.
Life had never felt this good.
His phone beeped with a text message. “Sorry, Lana. Your quarry hit the Lockett property.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Graham says its pandemonium. Whatever that means.” Standing from his stump, Rick stretched. “We probably should get over there.”
* * *
“I didn’t know what was happening.” Ash sounded a little dazed. “I was out on the porch, checking my email, and then boom. Something was attacking the lights.”
On the front yard of the Lockett family home, several tall, very attractive people were gathered, gazing up at the destruction done to the porch in front of them.
In the midst of them was tiny little Zoey, her pocket notebook out as she took charge of the situation, rapidly scribbling down notes. “Something attacked lights. Can you be more specific?”
“Specific?” Ash tilted her head in confusion, vibrant hair catching the low sunlight.
Yep, these were definitely some attractive people all squished together in front of a backdrop of pristine snowdrifts beneath rich evergreens. If Lana were to make a flyer for Moose Springs to entice people to come look at her condos, this was the picture she’d use.
“Were they blinking lights or nonblinking lights? What color coordination?”
Ash looked over at Easton for help, where the massive man was nudging a broken porch rail with his gloved fist. “Umm…blinking? I think?”
“They were blinking,” Easton grunted. “Red, green, blue, white pattern, small outdoor bulbs.”
“Small…outdoor…bulbs.” Zoey finished scribbling in her notebook and turned to Lana. “What do you think it means?”
“What do you think it means?” Graham asked Zoey, sounding amused.
“I think it means the Santa Moose is establishing a pattern. It seems to be triggered by the brightest light combinations, high-pitched Christmas carols, and life-size decorations. The moose definitely has a thing against the larger holiday decor.”
“Like Rick over there?” Easton wondered.
“I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that,” Graham said to Ash.
Lana shifted in front of him. “We were moose luring. When one tries to capture a sadistic holiday scrooge, one must use the tools at one’s disposal.”
“One can also admit when one looks stupid, sweetheart,” Rick said in her ear, looping an arm around Lana’s waist. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Can I take the beard off yet?”
“If the moose is close, you may be our best chance at finally nabbing it.”
Graham jutted his head at the porch, then at Lana. “What’s your plan?”
Zoey actually growled. “Graham, it’s not her responsibility. If she wants to find the moose, she’ll find it. But don’t you put pressure on her.”
Instead of teasing her in reply, Graham grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Besides, you’re the mayor now. Isn’t it your job to do something about the Santa Moose?”
Graham blinked. “Me?”
“Lana and I have nothing to prove to you or everyone else in this town. We are perfectly fine how we are.”