Covert Exposure by Valerie J. Clarizio

sorry,” she stammered.
    Spinelli stood in the hallway, dumfounded. In
silence, he watched as she turned and entered her apartment,
shutting the door behind her. That’s it. A crater the size
of the Grand Canyon filled his chest where his heart used to
be.
    * * * *
    Shannon flopped down on her bed. What had she
just done? She knew by the look in Spinelli’s eyes she’d hurt him.
She didn’t mean to but she did. She felt sick.
    Damn it. He’s not the type of man
she’d planned on falling in love with. They were two very different
people and he was messing up her plan. Her brain told her it would
never work, her heart argued the opposite.
    Her chest tightened, squeezing the life out
of her.
    She pressed her fingers to her lips as she
thought about his first kiss. It was slow, tender, and sweet. The
second kiss, the one in which she nearly threw herself at him, left
her breathless and weak. His mouth was so hot, erotic as sin. Never
in her life had she felt such desire, need, and passion in a kiss.
His lips, his moist possessive lips, were firm, yet soft.
    She ran her tongue through her mouth seeking
out every last bit of his flavor. Odd, a man could taste so sweet,
especially a man who hunts down killers for a living.
     

 
    Chapter
Fifteen
     
    Spinelli taped the wire to Officer Miller’s
chest as he and Walker prepped Miller for his first undercover
assignment. Miller, a fresh academy graduate and newcomer to the
department landed himself the undercover position as an elf due to
his young age and looks. Spinelli tasked Miller to pose as a
college student just trying to earn a little extra cash over the
holiday season, the same situation as the other elves.
    “We’re almost there. Is he ready?” Marsh
yelled from the driver’s seat of the black Chevy police issue
van.
    “Yeah, he’s ready,” Spinelli replied as he
flashed a look of assurance in Miller’s direction. He could easily
see the kid was nervous.
    Spinelli knew Walker and Marsh were of like
mind. They all hoped Miller would click with the other elves and
work his way into the card game so they could find out exactly what
it was all about. Spinelli knew in his gut the card game at the
Greek restaurant had something to do with the murders of Hudson and
Reed.
    Marsh manned the van and surveillance
equipment while Spinelli and Walker moseyed about the mall near the
Santa display so they could keep their eyes on Miller.
    Spinelli watched as Miller made his entrance
into the Santa display. The night’s crew consisted of an older
gentleman playing Santa and three young elves, including Miller.
One elf assumed responsibility for crowd control, his job being to
control the flow of traffic to Santa. Miller assumed photography
duties, taking pictures of the children as they talked with Santa,
and the remaining elf assumed the duty of exit strategies, helping
the children find their way back to their parents.
    The elves were so busy during the two hour
period in which the Santa display was open they hardly exchanged a
word between them. Spinelli had hoped for more of an exchange,
maybe the locker room banter would pay off.
    Miller walked with the elves to the locker
room. Spinelli watched from a distance. Once in the locker room
Spinelli could no longer see Miller but he captured their
conversation through his earpiece. Miller made mention of the fact
that he’s coming up a little short for next semester’s tuition,
hence the reason he took the job at the mall. In an effort to get
them to offer up details about the card game, Miller pointed out
that he’s looking for another means to make a little more cash, but
the elves offered nothing.
    The subject of conversation turned to women
and the elves informed Miller about the awesome looking babe that
sometimes plays Santa’s helper. They described in intricate detail
how Shannon looked in her short little red dress, giving particular
attention to her pale cleavage.
    Spinelli’s fists clenched. He didn’t