Sweet Montana Christmas Read online

  Sweet Montana Christmas

  Casey Dawes

  Avon, Massachusetts

  Copyright © 2015 by Casey Dawes.

  All rights reserved.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

  Published by

  Crimson Romance

  an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.

  10151 Carver Road, Suite 200

  Blue Ash, OH 45242. U.S.A.

  www.crimsonromance.com

  ISBN 10: 1-4405-9570-4

  ISBN 13: 978-1-4405-9570-7

  eISBN 10: 1-4405-9571-2

  eISBN 13: 978-1-4405-9571-4

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, corporations, institutions, organizations, events, or locales in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or, if real, used fictitiously. The resemblance of any character to actual persons (living or dead) is entirely coincidental.

  Cover art ©iStock/Chris Bernard Photography Inc.

  This book is dedicated to the hard-working men and women who keep our airports safe and to the chocolatiers who make our lives a little sweeter.

  Thank you for purchasing a Crimson Romance novel. Please sign up for our weekly newsletter for information on new releases, contests, discounts and more.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Acknowledgments

  A Sneak Peek from Crimson Romance

  Also Available

  Chapter 1

  After six months as a public safety officer at Missoula International Airport, something had to give for Zach Crippin. He couldn’t be stuck in Montana for the rest of his airport career.

  He checked his gear bag one more time before he threw it in the locker for the start of his ten-hour shift. A quick look in the mirror showed him his uniform was pressed and tidy and his streaked blond hair was neatly combed. Almost time for a haircut. He had to look and act sharp—be at the top of his game.

  Couldn’t the chief see he was ready for a leadership role? Or was the stupid mistake he’d made in Denver still holding him back?

  “All quiet?” he asked as he walked into the break room.

  “Tony’s patrolling the perimeter, and Jim’s out front making nice with the last of the Christmas travelers,” Pat Neucomb said, looking up from the training manual he was reading.

  “Once all the festivities have passed, they’re ready to get home,” Zach agreed, trying to make small talk. It wasn’t one of his strengths. Especially with people he didn’t like.

  And he didn’t like Pat. Not that Pat wasn’t a nice guy. He was too nice, the kind other guys like to have around.

  A talent Zach didn’t have, but he was working on it. He had two rules to constantly remember: be nice to the other guys, and don’t get entangled with a woman in any serious manner.

  “At least the weather’s clear,” Pat said.

  “Yep.” His capacity for chitchat exhausted, Zach headed for the training room.

  Working at the airport was 99 percent routine, lots of checking, drills, with a few moments a month of adrenaline-rushing crises. The team covered all the services that other airports broke out into separate units: fire, medical, police, and airfield operations. The variety was interesting, but he ached to get back to a bigger airport where he had a real chance at advancement.

  Then he could begin fixing the other thing that had gone wrong in Denver. Oh, not with Erin—she’d already moved on—but with a new woman who had a little more patience with his work.

  He clicked the icon for federal security updates. With all the different disciplines the airport required, the training was constant. After a half hour of brushing up on the latest government regulations, he switched it off with relief. Dry as the dirt on his parents’ Iowa farm after a month without rain. Who wrote this crap? Couldn’t they liven it up a little? Even cartoons would be better.

  After checking his appearance one more time, he headed out to the small brick lobby, a smile on his face, and a gun on his hip. Although little happened, he was helping people feel safer simply by being there.

  He walked back and forth through the lobby, watching the surge of travelers deplane, stand around for their baggage, and then dissipate. He always wondered what out-of-towners thought of the mounted animals in display cases and Native American decorations that hung on the high walls of the terminal.

  Two young women, college students probably, gave him big smiles as they walked to baggage claim. An older woman asked his assistance to locate her gate. An hour before his shift ended, he reunited a young boy with his mother.

  He’d miss this interaction with the public at a bigger airport.

  “Um ...” A woman with a slim face and brown curls tumbling all around it fidgeted with her two suitcases, three shopping bags, and oversized purse in front of him.

  Why is it some women need so much luggage?

  She was about five six, and, while she wasn’t beautiful, her face and figure reminded him of one of Santa’s elves. An elf with curves in all the right places.

  She also had the most delicious set of lips he’d seen in a while. What was it one of his trainers had called them?

  Bee-stung. Plump, pouty, and ready to be kissed.

  “Excuse me?” A frown drew her perfectly arched eyebrows together.

  He ushered his previous thoughts from his mind.

  “How can I help you?” he asked.

  “I can’t seem to find my car.”

  Great. Driving around looking for a lost car in the parking lot was his least favorite chore. Most of the time, the car was right where the traveler left it. Maybe he could pawn it off on Tony, who should arrive any moment.

  But she was too cute to let anyone else near her. While Zach wasn’t looking for a serious entanglement, a fling might help while away the winter hours.

  She was still frowning.

  “Well, are you going to help me? I can’t believe I can’t find it.”

  “Where did you leave it?” He’d best be patient. Normally it was oldsters having senior moments who needed help finding their cars, not women his age. This was a great opportunity.

  Those lips were begging for a kiss.

  “Long-term parking,” she said.

  “And you’ve already looked out there—where you left it?”

  “I looked everywhere.” The corners of her mouth turned down.

  Maybe she wasn’t the right one for a lighthearted friendship with benefits.

  Creaking leather and the jangle of keys accompanied the footsteps coming up behind him.

  “Do you want me to relieve you?” Tony asked Zach. “Or would you rather I take the young lady to find her car?”

  Tony smiled at the girl. “Ma’am.”

  Those full lips turned upward, and Zach swore she batted her eyes.

  “I’d appreciate if someone will help me find it. That is one of the services you all provide, isn’t it?” A faint hint of the South honeyed her words.

  Brother. He should leave her to woman-hungry Tony,
but pawning off car-finding duty on someone else would detract from his effort to show he was a team player.

  “You’re up for public presence duty,” Zach said with a smile to soften the words. Turning away from his teammate, he said, “If you’ll follow me, I’ll help you find your car.”

  “Sue Anne.”

  “Huh?”

  “My name’s Sue Anne Devereaux.” Her heels beat a rapid tempo on the floor. “You are?”

  “Zach Crippin.”

  “I do appreciate your help, Mr. Crippin, but could you slow down just a tad? I have all these things to carry.”

  Damn it. In his rush to get the chore over, he’d acted like a jerk.

  “Let me help you.” He reached for the shopping bags.

  “Why, thank you.” The sugar was back in her voice as she handed him the shopping bags. And the small suitcase. “I think I can handle the rest. But can you still slow down?”

  “Sure.” He should make small talk, set her at ease. At least that’s what one of his training programs had said. “Where did you fly in from?”

  “Seattle.”

  “Business or pleasure?”

  “Visiting my grandmother.”

  He’d gone several strides before realizing she was no longer next to him. He turned and backtracked to where she was still standing.

  “Do you think we can find it?” The worried frown was back. “I don’t ordinarily lose things. I mean, well, I do, but nothing as big as a car.”

  “I’m sure we will.”

  His rescue gene, the one that had impelled him into public service in the first place, kicked in. She looked like she needed a knight, even one who’d started out life as an awkward chubby kid.

  She didn’t say anything else until her stuff was stowed in the back of his patrol car.

  “Where do you think you left it?”

  “I know I left it in the last row.”

  He released the brake and pulled away from the curb. She seemed so unsure one moment and confident the next. Which one was the real person?

  Oh well, he’d probably never run into her again. Too bad. He’d like to find out what those lips tasted like.

  “There. That’s where I left my car.”

  “And that’s not yours.”

  “I drive an old Subaru Outback. That’s not it. Obviously.”

  The girl he’d had a crush on in junior high had used that exact same tone when she’d turned him down for a date.

  Miss Sue Anne Devereaux, no doubt a former debutante, was off the possibilities list forever.

  He steeled himself for the next fifteen minutes—the time it took him to tour both parking lots.

  “Okay. Let’s take it row by row.” The sun set early in January, and the light was already fading. He started the car down the well-lit pavement.

  How did someone misplace a car?

  His ex, Erin, would never have lost her car. She had been a confident nurse who knew what she wanted—a ring on her finger, a house in the burbs, and enough income to be a stay-at-home mom.

  He’d almost made it happen for her.

  He drove slowly up and down the rows, stewing about their breakup, ready for the ride to end.

  • • •

  Sue Anne couldn’t wait to get out of the patrol car. Maybe the search would have been more fun with the other cop. This one was way too serious. He drove with a frown on his face, looking like he’d eaten a full bowl of lima beans.

  If she ever met someone who liked lima beans, she’d steer clear.

  “Do you like lima beans?”

  “What?”

  She’d obviously snapped him out a full-bore daydream.

  “Do you like lima beans?”

  A hint of a smile turned up the corner of his lips. “Planning on feeding me some if I find your car?”

  “Only if you like them dipped in chocolate.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m just curious.”

  “Sure. My mom used to make them—not too mushy, lots of salt and pepper, and drowned in butter.” His lips curled up a little more. “But I like chocolate better, if that’s what you’re offering.”

  Was he flirting with her?

  He was kinda cute, in a cop sort of way. But then there was that grumpy side of him. That must be the part that liked that disgusting food. Those little pods had to interfere with endorphins somehow.

  “Could it be in short-term parking? We’re almost at the end of the lot.”

  “I wouldn’t leave it there. I was gone for almost two weeks.” But she’d been running late for her outbound flight. Crap. If she’d done that, there was going to be a really big bill.

  “And you’re sure you left it here? I mean, you didn’t have a boyfriend drop you off or something.”

  Hah. If he knew her boyfriend, he’d know Reed would never inconvenience himself like that. What had his excuse been? Oh, yeah, drinking with his buddies.

  “Quite sure my boyfriend didn’t drop me off.”

  His lips drooped a little, although she wasn’t sure why.

  And why was she staring so intently at his lips? She had a boyfriend, even if she was thinking about dumping him.

  Lima beans. Ick.

  “Well, let’s take a look, just in case.”

  “Okay.”

  Maybe someone stole my car. That would be good. Insurance would cover it. Then I could get something else. Something with more zip. More class.

  Something that didn’t scream aging hippies.

  They’d hit the second row when she spotted it. “That’s it.”

  Zach cleared his throat.

  He had better not be smug. He was already too full of himself.

  “Let’s see if it starts,” he said.

  A note was on the driver’s seat.

  Needed to borrow it. Reed.

  Short and definitely not sweet. She was so over him.

  “Someone borrowed it. That’s why it’s here.” Somehow it was important that Zach knew she wasn’t a total ditz.

  “Give your car keys out to everyone?” Zach hauled her luggage from the back of the patrol car and lugged it to her car.

  “No. Just one person.” One soon-to-be-dead person.

  “Someone who couldn’t bother to let you know where he’d left the car?”

  “Yeah.”

  He shook his head, but whether he couldn’t believe what Reed had done or that she had lent her keys to someone like him wasn’t clear.

  The headache that had been simmering since she’d gotten off the plane gripped her temples.

  She couldn’t do anything about the asshole cop, but it was definitely time to dump Reed. This car fiasco was one of a long line of incidents where he’d shown his total disregard for her feelings.

  “See if it starts,” Zach said, command in his voice.

  The engine started smoothly. Her University of Montana classmates had instilled in her a habit of car maintenance the first winter she’d moved to the state.

  So there.

  She fished a business card from her purse and got out of the car, hoping her face reflected the triumph of a woman starting a car all by her little self in the Montana winter.

  “Thanks for your help, officer. I owe you. My chocolate shop is opening in February”—at least she hoped it was—“Stop by, and I’ll give you a sample.”

  “Nice. My mother used to make chocolate.”

  An odd tone in his voice made her look up at him. Several expressions crossed his face, like the rapidness of clouds chasing each other around the valley. She stared into his eyes, trying to decipher what the frowns and smiles meant.

  “I shouldn’t do this,” he said, “but it appears I’m going to.”

  The realization of what he was going to do hit seconds before his lips landed on hers.

  Chapter 2

  Oh ... yes. But no.

  Zach liked ... what were they called? Those mushy beans. He was all wrong. His kiss was driving Sue Anne’s ability to think right
out of her head.

  She should tell him to stop. He was a cop. Or kind of like one. He should know better. Especially in Missoula. “She needed to get … somewhere ... His kiss was driving her ability to think right out of her head.

  Home. That’s where she needed to go.” She should stop.

  But there was no way she wanted to pull back from this.

  Zach’s lips were firm without being aggressive. His kiss was sweet because of its unexpected nature and dramatically different from any she’d ever received.

  Several seconds passed before she disconnected.

  “Uh,” she started. She had no follow-up.

  “I’m sorry. That was totally unprofessional. I don’t know what I was thinking. You aren’t going to report me, are you?” The earnestness of his expression almost made him human.

  “Report you for the best kiss I’ve had in years?” She giggled. “Not hardly.”

  “Really? The best kiss? You’ve been hanging out with the wrong man.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that.” She gestured toward the car. “I think he’s already proved that tonight.” She giggled again.

  Giggling? Really?

  Not good. She had a plan. A plan that didn’t involve any kind of relationship for at least a year. She hadn’t really been serious about Reed, so letting him go was going to be easy.

  She needed to focus. The little store west of Higgins was the first step in making Sweets Montana a household name. There was no time for a man.

  But that kiss...

  She pressed the card into Zach’s hand. “Stop by in February, and I’ll be sure to give you more kisses—the candy kind.” She took a better look at the man standing in front of her.

  He did fill out a uniform nicely.

  She needed to get out of here.

  Focus, Devereaux, focus.

  “I have to wait all the way until February?” A smile threatened his lips, but it didn’t quite make his eyes.

  “That’s when we’ll officially open.”

  “I’ll be sure to be there. Be safe now.” He touched her cheek with his index finger, then slid into the patrol car and cruised away.

  After staring after him for a minute, she started toward the exit, her emotions caught between euphoria and terror.