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wicked smile.
Oh, I must have been a very good girl this year. She laughed in delight as he set her down on his
bed and quickly climbed in after her.
Mmm, yes, you have. You re definitely on Santa s good list.
That s too bad. I kind of like the idea of being on the naughty list, she said, then blushed.
This just keeps getting better and better, Ms. Ridgley, he told her after a pause.
I can t imagine it getting any better, Mr. Mystery Man, but I m more than willing to give it all I ve
got. We could at least try to stay on a roll.
They didn t have to try very hard at all.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. Storm. You re a free man.
Tanner looked down at his monitor-free ankle and sent the officer a withering look. He needed these
guys to get the hell out of his apartment before Kyla woke up and found them here.
When this had all begun, he d been planning on beating the officers out of the building as soon as the
ridiculous contraption had been removed. Now, it was Christmas morning and he had a beautiful
woman sound asleep in his bed.
He and Kyla hadn t gotten more than two or three hours of sleep the night before. Still, he felt more
energized than he could ever remember feeling. He didn t know whether that was from a night of great
lovemaking or because he was off house arrest, but the ankle device was history, and he could finally
return to his beautiful penthouse.
Why wasn t he just writing her a note and thanking her for a great night, telling her that she could
have whatever she wanted from his apartment and that it had been fun, but he was out of here? Sheesh,
what a bunch of questions. But he d gotten what he wanted. There was nothing else for them to say to
each other. It was finished.
Of course, he d never done that to a woman, and he didn t want to be the kind of man who did. Kyla
wasn t some cheap hooker, and he wasn t a complete bastard. Or at least he hoped he wasn t.
Even just thinking about bailing out on her like that turned his stomach. When the officers left and he
shut and locked the door right behind them, he found himself wandering back to his bedroom, just
standing there in the doorway and watching the rise and fall of her beautifully bare chest as she
breathed evenly in her sleep.
She was stunning both inside and out. It was depressing to think that he d never really looked
beyond the externals with any other woman he d been with. He d really only cared that they looked
good on his arm and satisfied his needs in the bedroom.
Kyla had seemed like a completely new woman last night, much different than the shy woman he d
been with a week earlier. Her confidence with him and with her own body had made her bold and
daring, and she d taken his breath away more than once. She d teased him once again about leaving
his socks on, but he d found a satisfying way of distracting her when she d told him she was going to
pull them off. The last thing he d wanted was for her to find the monitor. But that was a nightmare in
his life that was now over and done with.
As she began to stir, he left his position in the doorway and went to start a pot of coffee. When it
had just brewed, she walked into the kitchen, her hair tumbled and his shirt the only thing covering
her, offering him a tasty view of her honey-toned thighs.
I hope you don t mind that I borrowed your shirt, she said, shifting nervously on her feet.
You look far better in that shirt than I ever have, he said with a smile before he walked over and
leaned down to join their lips for a brief kiss.
I have to agree. I prefer you without any shirt at all.
Merry Christmas, Kyla, he whispered, his throat uncomfortably tight.
Merry Christmas, Tanner. I& uh& have a favor to ask of you. Her voice was wobbly.
He was ready to say that he had to get going, but that s not what came out.
Anything.
I want to go home where I lived with my parents, I mean just to see the place, just for a few
minutes, she said, choking on the last part of her sentence.
I think that s a great idea, he told her, though he really didn t understand why she d want to do
something like that.
I know we don t know each other that well, but I don t want to go there alone.
Ah, no wonder she was having a difficult time asking him. Did he really want to go along with this?
It seemed too intimate, too personal more so even than making love. He was walking away from
this woman today. He started to tell her no, but once again, the wrong words came out of his mouth.
Of course I ll go with you. What was with his brain these days?
But her sweet smile made it all worth it.
I m going to get changed; would it be OK if we went in half an hour?
When he nodded, she ran back to his room, gathered her clothes, and then opened his front door,
peeking out into the hall before crossing over while still wearing only his shirt. He wouldn t mind if
that was all she wore the entire day.
Shaking his head, he went and grabbed a change of clothes, then jumped into the shower. She would
return within minutes and he was glad, because if he had too much time to think about this, he would
find a way not to go with her, and though their time together was over, he needed to grant her this one
final request.
Tanner didn t know why it mattered, but he wanted her last memory of him to bring a smile to her
face. If she were to hate him, he didn t think he could bear it. He was going to leave her, though, so
why should her feelings matter at all?
By the time he climbed from the shower, he still didn t have any answers.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
KYLA TREMBLED AS they stood on the front porch of her family s home. The dried out and
browned Christmas wreath still hung in the center of the door, testifying that this home had been a
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