CALLEN LOOKED AT the assortment of presents he’d got. Definitely a different kind of Christmas for him. There were some contenders for the strangest gifts he’d ever received.
There was the scarf Rosy had knit for him that replicated a fuzzy armadillo when coiled around the neck. Since it was from Rosy, he’d wear it proudly.
Well, maybe not proudly, but he’d put it on.
It might go well with the group picture and snake hatband from Nico. Not snakeskin but a silver grinning snake more suited for a circus costume than a cowboy. There’d be no such proud wearing of it because a kid brother—while loved—didn’t get the same reverence that came with Rosy’s gift. The snake, however, could become a conversation piece on his desk.
Judd had gone with giving Pringles and beer to all of them. And Callen doubted that Judd had got those gift suggestions from Havana. Nope. It was likely he’d chosen the first thing he’d seen in the Quik Mart, something Callen would have done had he not stepped into Ted’s.
Kace was the only brother who’d gone with conventional gifts. New cowboy boots for all of them. A nice gift rather than strange.
The one Havana had given him had fallen into that nice category, as well. It was a digital picture frame with dozens of rotating photos. She’d put in shots from the wedding. Not the professional ones the photographer had taken. These were somewhat out of focus and somewhat lopsided, ones that she’d taken herself on her phone. A handful were of the screen of the wedding ceremony in the hospital, but most were of Shelby and him. Until he’d seen those pictures, Callen hadn’t realized he looked so...
It took him a few seconds to come up with a word, any word, to fill in, but what finally came to mind was:
Needy.
The hunger in his eyes. The almost-possessive way he’d held Shelby in his arms. Hell, when they’d danced he’d had her pressed against him as if they’d been at a high school prom—only a millimeter away from foreplay or groping.
Probably not the casual but happy look he’d been aiming for.
He put the frame in the packing box along with some of the other gifts just as Havana came in holding her own packed box. Thankfully, she’d put the singing tree in there and had taken out the batteries so it couldn’t launch into some merriment that would make Callen want to kick it.
Apparently, a needy man didn’t want to hear such nonsense.
“This is the last one,” Havana said. “I’m all packed up.” But she set her box on his nearly empty desk when she looked down at his gift stash. “Sheez Louise. Who gave you those?”
And, yes, her attention was on the sex objects.
“Shelby. She bought a whole shelf at Ted’s. And, no, you can’t have them,” he added when he saw the glimmer in her eyes. “I refuse to hand over any object that you might use on my brother.”
She dismissed that with a flick of her hand, but the glimmer stayed. “Nico was just my Christmas plaything. Nothing serious at all about it. I doubt our paths will intersect much with me in Dallas and him on the rodeo circuit. Still, there will be other playthings in my future...”
Without a doubt there would be, but Callen closed the lid on the box to let her know that her plaything wouldn’t get the penis adornment or the screwing couple snuffbox. They were from Shelby, so he would keep them. Probably from time to time, he’d look at them, in a nonsexual kind of way.
Now that she no longer had the sex gifts to distract her, Havana picked up her box and glanced around at his office. Or at least what would be his office for another couple of hours or so. There were a few things to be packed up.
“Let me put this box in my car, and I’ll come back up and help you finish,” Havana offered. “When will the movers be here to deal with the furniture?”
“In the morning. Unlike us, they don’t work on Christmas Day.”
She made a soft sound of agreement but then stopped after taking only a step. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked.
“Yes.” Callen didn’t hesitate, but Havana certainly did. She opened her mouth as if she might argue, but then she headed for the door. Again, though, she didn’t get far because Shelby came in.
He felt his stomach do a flip thing, as if it’d rolled over in its sleep, and Callen was reasonably sure his reaction wasn’t because of what she was wearing. An armadillo scarf identical to the one Rosy had given him and a silver snake hatband—identical to the one Nico had given him—that sat on her head like a weird tiara. Her boots were new, too. Ditto for the identical department to Kace’s gift.
It made Callen wonder if she also had got the Pringles and beer from Judd.
“Hi,” Shelby greeted him.
“Hi back,” Callen said. No stomach antics this time, but there was need. No doubt about it.
Her face was pink from the cold, telling him that maybe she’d walked farther than just the inn’s parking lot. Maybe one of those head-clearing walks like the one he’d taken just a couple of hours earlier. Since the temps were only in the low thirties, he hoped the snake hadn’t frozen to her head.
Shelby smiled. A tentative one that got even more tentative when she noticed the box Havana was holding and the other packed boxes in his office.
“I’m soooo glad you came by,” Havana gushed. “It saves me a trip out to your place.” The box landed on Callen’s desk again while Havana hugged her.
“I wanted to bring you your Christmas gifts,” Shelby said. She had the handle of a large gift bag draped over her arm, and she took out a small box to hand to Havana. “It didn’t come from Ted’s.”
“Awww.” Havana made a mock pout. “I wouldn’t have minded the snuffbox.” But she beamed when she took out the copper and leather braid bracelet from the box. Then she squealed. “Love, love it.”
“Well, hang on to that love because this is from Rosy.” Shelby pulled out an armadillo scarf. She touched her own. “We all got one.”
Havana squealed again, bobbling on her toes in excitement. She put on both the scarf and the bracelet and hurried into the bathroom to admire them in the mirror.
Callen took a moment to admire Shelby. Or rather to examine her to see what she was thinking. Definitely no signs of a woman falling apart. That was good, he assured himself.
That was good.
“I’ll call Rosy and tell her how much I love it,” Havana announced when she came back in the room. She waved her bracelet for Shelby to see how it looked on her wrist. Somehow, it all worked despite Havana’s now-green hair.
“One last gift.” Shelby took the small wooden box from the bag. “From Buck. It’s a memory box, and that means he now considers you one of his kids.”
No squeal or toe bobbling this time. Tears sprang to Havana’s eyes. “God, I wasn’t expecting this.” She fanned her face as if to stave off some full-fledged crying. “You think I could pay him a short visit just to tell him how special this is to me?”
“I think he’d like that a lot,” Shelby assured her and got another hug from his assistant.
“Okay,” Havana said as if to steady herself, and she fanned away more tears. “Now I have something for you.”
Havana dug through her purse that was bigger than a suitcase and came out with a tiny box. She flipped it open with the flick of a thumb to reveal a ring.
Then Havana went down on one knee.
A classic pose for someone proposing marriage.
Callen couldn’t say who was more stunned by that—Shelby or him—but he thought Shelby might be the winner.
“Shelby McCall, I’m asking you to be...” Havana paused and paused and paused. “...my best friend.”
Havana giggled like a loon, stood and hauled Shelby into a hug. “Say yes,” Havana prompted.
Shelby was looking at everything but him. Probably because she was afraid he might think she’d put Havana up to this to prompt him into a proposal of his own. But Callen knew Shelby had had nothing to do with this. Nope. This was all Havana.
“Yes,” Shelby answered, causing more foot bobbling and excitement from Havana. She took Shelby’s hand and slipped the ring on her finger.
Callen went closer for a better look. Not a gag gift, which would have been Havana’s usual. This was a small diamond, about the size that would have been in a teenager’s promise ring.
Shelby smiled when she studied it, and this time she was the one who launched into a hug. “Best friends,” Shelby whispered to her.
That set off Havana fanning more tears, and she quickly picked up the box from his desk. “All right, let me go see Buck and get out of your hair so you two can talk.” She kissed Shelby’s cheek, and as she’d done before, Havana stopped after taking only a step, and her gaze zoomed in on him.
“You’re sure?” Havana asked.
Well, he had been, but this time there was some hesitation. Still, he nodded, causing Havana to shrug, and she finally walked out.
“It’s been an unexpected Christmas,” she said, looking at the ring.
She was still dodging his gaze, and that was why Callen went to her and lifted her chin, forcing the eye contact. No trace of tears. Good. He needed to tell her some things, important things, and he hadn’t wanted to start that with tears close to the surface.
He started to speak, but Shelby put her hand over his mouth before he could even get a word out.
“I’m in love with you,” she said, her words a little angry. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear, that you preferred a clean goodbye, but you’re not going to get one. You’re going to get me telling you that I love you and that I’ll move to Dallas to be closer to you.”
He tried to speak but she just clamped her hand tighter.
“I won’t move there in a stalker kind of way,” she added. “But I just don’t think I want to go through a day without seeing you.” She shrugged. “Again, nothing stalker-ish. If you don’t want to see me, then...I’ll deal with it.”
Well. Callen hadn’t seen this coming, and he didn’t know whether to feel incredibly flattered by her offer or to tell her that she’d lost her mind to give up the good life she had here.
He opted not to mention the lost mind.
However, he did opt to speak, and that meant moving her hand from his mouth. “You breezed right over the part about being in love with me and moved right on to seeing me daily and dealing with it.”
She winced. “You noticed that, huh? I swear, I meant for that to sound better. Smoother. I even practiced it. Then I got here, and my stomach started flipping when I saw you. My heart went crazy, and I forgot how to breathe.”
Interesting that those were similar reactions to his, and it made him wonder if he could cause her to lose her breath again by kissing her. So he tested that. He slid his hand around the back of her neck. As much of it as he could reach, anyway, what with the armadillo scarf in the way.
And he kissed her.
He made it slow, warm and with the promise of so much more. Callen was certain he’d succeeded when he pulled back from her and saw her. Shelby’s eyes were still partly closed, her mouth partly open, and she had a dreamy look on her face.
“I love you, too,” he said.
The dreamy look vanished. Her eyes popped wide-open. Her mouth snapped shut, and with her forehead bunched up, she stared at him.
“I love you,” he repeated, and because she looked ready to launch into many, many questions, Callen pressed his fingers to her mouth so he could tell her the rest. “There’s no reason for you to move from the home and people you love. I bought Ted’s and will set up a regional office here. Havana will run the Dallas office.”
She blinked, shoved his fingers from her mouth and launched herself into his arms. The kiss she gave him was the very definition of needy. Maybe with some greedy thrown in. And some fire. Lots of fire.
Shelby had been the cause of nearly every unplanned hard-on that Callen had had from age fourteen to age eighteen, and she was the cause of the one he got now.
One he planned to use in the next couple of minutes.
First, though, he wanted to get some verbal confirmation to go along with the kissing and the touching—which she started to do after she kicked his office door shut. She reached behind them and locked it.
“You’re okay with my plans?” he asked. “Even if it means me sharing a bed with you until I get a place of my own?”
She pulled back, licking the taste of him off her lips. “Yes, I’m okay with that. But you breezed right over the part about you being in love with me,” she pointed out.
“Good point. I. Love. You,” he repeated. “Not a trace in a breeze in that.”
Her smile was just like the next kiss he had planned for her. Hot and naughty. And fast.
She moved him to his desk and had him on his back before he could even blink. Callen didn’t mind the no time to blink, but there was something else he wanted to do. While Shelby kissed the living daylights out of him, he fished around in his center desk drawer and came up with the rectangular box.
“One more gift,” he said, working it between them so she could see it.
Shelby saw it, all right, but she didn’t seem nearly as interested in it as she was in unzipping him. Still, she took it when he practically shoved it into her hands. On a huff, she opened it, looked inside.
Her expression went through two stages. Surprise, followed by confusion. She lifted out some of the contents. A piece of yellow yarn, followed by some purple ribbon. Then some twine.
“Uh, it’s a box of...” Then Shelby smiled. Really smiled. “...strings.”
“Yes, I know.” Callen smiled, too. “Use them.”
* * * * *
Coldwater’s deputy Judd Laramie has had a hard time putting his past to rest. And things don’t get any easier when his childhood friend—and the first girl he ever loved—Cleo Delaney—asks him to become a foster father to three orphaned boys. That’s when life really gets interesting...
Don’t miss Hot Texas Sunrise,
A Coldwater Texas Novel,
by USA TODAY bestselling author
Delores Fossen,
on sale in March 2019!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Lawman with a Cause by Delores Fossen.