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“He’s just jealous because he doesn’t have a Christmas tree up,” Trixie said. “It’s two weeks until Christmas and your brother doesn’t even have up one decoration. It’s like you two were raised by two very different people.”
“It seems that way sometimes,” Wren breathed. “How about I make us all some pancakes while you two come up with a plan? Trixie looks like she needs to eat and then, I’ll quickly pack. I’m assuming that the plan is that I’ll go home with Chris while you two head back to Blade’s house to finish your conversation.” His sister loved to stir the pot, something that he really hated. But she was right. They were going to have to go back to his place and finish the conversation that they had started. He needed to get to the bottom of how Trixie felt about him because he already knew how he felt about her—he wanted her and if that made him sound crazy, so be it.
“Well, I haven’t gotten to that part of the conversation with Yonkers,” he grumbled, “but yeah, if he doesn’t mind babysitting you.”
“Again, I’m a grown-ass woman, Blade,” Wren shouted.
“I don’t mind helping out,” Yonkers agreed. “I’d do anything for you, man,” he said to Blade.
“I appreciate that,” Blade breathed. “I’d do the same for you.”
“I hate to break up this little love fest,” Trixie said, “but, I’m starving and would really love to have a few of those pancakes that you mentioned, Wren,” she said.
“Yonkers will start reviewing your camera footage while I install some new cameras. I have some that will be virtually tamper proof that I just got in for a client.” Blade had started his own security firm when he graduated from college with his master’s in business. At first, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his degree, but security was one of his favorite things. His dad was a cop and he loved helping his father out on side gigs he got around town, installing security systems for homeowners. He used to take Blade out on jobs with him and the time that he spent with his dad was precious to him now that his old man was gone. It didn’t take him long to think about what kind of business he wanted to start—security just seemed to suit him.
“Just point me to the nearest laptop,” Yonkers said. His friend was in cyber security. Hell, he was practically a hacker, but he worked for the government, so Uncle Sam let Yonkers’s seedier jobs slide. “If anyone can find this guy, it’s me. I’ll also do a bit of digging when I get home to see what I come up with for him. I’m betting that your stalker has prior victims and that’s how we’ll catch him. In the meanwhile, have you requested a restraining order against him?” Yonkers asked.
“No,” Trixie breathed.
“But we’ll take care of that on our way back to my place. We go right by the police station, and it won’t take long to fill out the form or get it approved since you called the cops out to your place so many times.” Blade shot her a look and she gave him a sheepish grin.
“I said that I was sorry about keeping all of that from you, right?” Trixie asked.
“You didn’t, but I’ll take that as an apology. We can work the other stuff out later. Right now, we each have stuff to do, Blade ordered.”
“Um, I don’t,” Trixie said.
“You can help me make pancakes,” Wren offered. Trixie nodded and Blade walked out the back door of his sister’s place, into her garden. He needed some air and the sooner he got everything done around her town home, the sooner he could get Trixie home and have their come to Jesus discussion that he was planning on having with her.
* * *
They stopped off to file a police report about Wren’s break-in and also filed a restraining order against Trixie’s stalker. Hearing her explain in detail about what that asshole had done to get her attention pissed Blade off. It also took a bit of his fight away when it came to being angry with her for lying to him and Wren about not knowing the guy. He knew that it took guts for her to come clean with them both and he had to give her credit, she was damn good at taking care of herself. But there was no shame in asking for some help, and he was all too happy to help Trixie out of this mess. Especially since she had admitted that she liked him. Yeah, that made this whole mess a little bit easier to get through.
After leaving the courthouse, Trixie seemed to be a bit more rundown. “You okay?” he asked. “You’re awfully quiet.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, “I will be better once we get back to your place and I can sleep. It’s been a long day.” She was right, it had been a long day, but he had one more stop to make before they could go home.
“I hate to tell you this, but I have one more stop if you’re up for it. I think that you’ll like where we’re going,” he said. He hated hearing her call him a scrooge for the holidays. Trixie was right though; he didn’t have one single decoration up at his place. He wanted to at least put a tree up while Trixie was with him and that would require a quick stop to the tree lot in town.
“Okay,” Trixie grumbled, “but, do you mind if I stay in the car?”
“Sure,” he said, “but, I think that you’ll want to tag along for this errand since it was your idea.”
“What was my idea?” she asked.
“Getting a Christmas tree,” he said. “You told my sister that I didn’t have up one single decoration and well, I’d like to at least put up a tree.”
“And there are only two weeks until Christmas,” she reminded.
“Right, so how about it? You want to help me pick out a tree?” he asked.
“Do you have anything to decorate it?” she asked.
“I think I can get a few things together,” he said. He knew that he had a few of his parents’ ornaments and things to decorate a tree. He and Wren had split everything in half, each taking a few of their handmade childhood ornaments that their mom liked to pull out and embarrass them each with every year. Seeing those ornaments only made him miss his parents even more than usual, but maybe it was time to miss them a little bit at Christmas. His sister’s decorations made him see that.
“Would you want to help me decorate?” he asked.
“I would,” she breathed. “I put up an artificial tree at my place, but I guess I won’t be seeing it on Christmas morning. At least we will have a tree.” He nodded, liking the way she had referred to them as a “we.”
