Eggnog Trifle Trouble (Murder in the Mix #28) - Addison Moore Page 0,40

me at all if they were shooting those pictures off to Noah and Everett in real time.

Kringle takes the stage and does a little dance himself, and as the crowd goes wild, he turns and shakes his bouncing booty at them—okay, so it’s probably not him they’re responding to, but the timing was perfect. I have to admit, the little spook has style.

Soon, I’m upright again and the Santa holding me hostage takes my hands and places them over his hips.

“Oh no,” I say. “I’m sorry. I’m a happily married woman,” I wail, but my protests fall upon deaf ears as the music only seems to get louder and the crowd that much more volatile. I glance around to see the other women in full compliance as they help strip the pants off their Santas, but the only thing I want to remove is myself from this stage.

I try to circle around him, but he blocks my path, much to the delight of the crowd. I go left then right, and he meets me at every move. Kringle hops past me, headed to the back of the stage, so I follow his lead. There’s a backstage area, which practically highlights itself as an escape route. I turn to bolt and my shoe gets caught in a loop attached to one of the thick red cables, and like a bear caught in a trap the tiny noose tightens around my ankle at record speeds as I go flying twenty feet in the air like a hot air balloon.

A burst of laughter fills the room, but I don’t find a single thing funny. In fact, I scream my head off with my arms and my free leg flailing in a panic.

“Lemon,” I hear that familiar thundering of my surname, and I look down to see Everett Baxter looking up at me in horror.

All four nearly naked Santas mobilize, and soon I’m being lowered until I land safely in my husband’s strong arms.

“Everett, I can explain,” I say as I shake my head, because truthfully I really can’t.

Noah bursts onto the stage, and it all feels a bit surreal at this point.

Everett doesn’t say a word; he simply speeds us out of there, and soon the three of us—four if you count Carlotta—are standing outside of the luxury hotel just under the awning that protects us from the falling snow.

Noah’s eyes are filled with fire. “Are you freaking nuts?” His jaws clench as he barks the words out.

Typically, that line is reserved for Carlotta, but seeing that he’s looking right at me, and the dicey circumstances I’ve just escaped, I realize those words were indeed meant for me.

“How did the two of you get here so fast?” I ask as I adjust my dress as Everett sets me down.

Everett folds his arms across his chest. “Noah and I put a tracking device on your car.”

Noah nods. “I put one on yours, too, Carlotta.”

Carlotta blows on her hands to keep them warm. “I feel safer already.”

“I don’t,” I say. “Neither of you bothered to talk to me about this.” Never mind the fact Noah had one on the last car I owned.

Everett’s chin dips down as he pierces me with those stormy eyes. “He did it last night. I didn’t realize he was going to do it before we had a chance to bring it up to you. But now I’m glad he didn’t wait.”

Cormack and Cressida run out of the hotel, already chirping after Noah and Everett.

“Big Boss!” Cormack shrieks. “Did you get my message? Did you see her goosing that man in the red suit?”

Cressida’s chest bucks as she huffs Everett’s way, “She’s got a wandering eye, Essex. I’d check that prenup twice to make sure it’s ironclad. She had her hands all over those men in there.”

“I didn’t have my hands on anyone,” I riot. “I was trying to make an escape, and that’s exactly how I found myself in that dangling debacle. I could have killed myself, no thanks to the two of you!”

Noah growls at Cormack, “You could have hurt the baby.”

Both Cormack and Cressida huddle in horror.

My hand flies to my belly as the gravity of what just happened hits me.

“Oh my God, the baby. A fall like that—it could have destroyed everything.”

“Yes.” Everett nods my way with his eyes hooking to mine, and I can see a hint of anger in them—and it’s not for Cressida or Cormack, it’s all for me. “These little excursions to hunt