Five minutes to Midnight

Leo led Aunt Helen over to her table at the side of the dance floor, traded "Happy New Year!" greetings with the group of sloshed older women seated there, and headed for the bar across the hall. The room was deserted. Everyone had congregated on the dance floor and roving waiters were busy passing out flutes of champagne.

"Can I get you something?" The bartender looked happy to have a customer.

"I've got a long drive ahead of me. Do you have any bottled water?"

"You're not leaving before the big moment, are you?" The man made no move to go for the water.

"Midnight on New Year's Eve is just sixty seconds in time, special only because we've decided to make it special." Just call him the New Year's Eve Grinch.

"Bet Grace Devine doesn't think so."

"What do you know about Grace?" Leo's muscles tensed and he leaned slightly toward the man. He noted his nametag. Harry.

Harry backed up a step, bumping into the bottles at his back. "I saw you with her earlier. And people have been talking. Every year her date deserts her before midnight. It's kind of the town joke." He looked Leo straight in the eye. "Reminds me of rats leaving a sinking ship."

Young Harry had balls. His analogy sucked, however. "First, Grace is not a sinking ship. If anything, I'd call her unsinkable. Second, if that's true, her dates have all been rats, me included, but I'm not her date at the moment." He didn't know why he felt compelled to continue this conversation. "Her current rat is dancing with her right now."

The bartender half-turned and reached into the small refrigerator. He pulled out a bottle of water and handed it to Leo. He nodded his head toward the ballroom. "No he's not. And you see all those people gathering on the dance floor? Sure, they're there for the confetti, the balloons, the countdown to midnight. They're also there to see if Grace gets dumped again. I heard more than a couple of side bets going on in here this evening."

"What do you mean, 'No, he's not'?" Leo turned to look at the ballroom. He couldn't believe she'd been dumped in past years. What idiot would walk away from Grace?

"The big blond guy left the room and Grace is up on the stage talking to her dad." The bartender shrugged. "Looks like it's happening again."

Fuck. Where the hell was Wolfram? He looked out over the heads of the glittering crowd. The band was winding down their last number before midnight. People were half-dancing, careful not to spill the champagne they held in one hand. Grace was up on the stage. She looked heart-stoppingly beautiful. She held herself with an almost regal grace. He could imagine men bowing at her feet. He could imagine himself bowing at her feet, and slowly moving his lips up her legs. He could imagine uncovering every inch of her body and finally touching those perfect breasts, the smooth muscles of her stomach, the soft damp center of her.

He took the water Harry held out to him and turned his back on the stage. She was heading to Salt Lake City with Wolfram, the asshole who'd been rubbing his hands up and down her back on the dance floor. The asshole who wasn't an asshole, and who would be working with her every day. The asshole who wasn't an asshole, and who was probably a better man for her than his fucked-up self.

He uncapped the water and took a long swallow. Harry had stopped talking and was turned toward the ballroom, leaning forward on his side of the bar.

Leo walked out of the room, across the empty hall to the edge of the ballroom. Grace was still on the stage. She looked toward the lobby doors and then her gaze moved over the dance floor. She shrugged when someone said something to her and gave a laugh. Then her shoulders firmed, she folded her hands in front of her and she looked straight at him. Her smile was warm and loving and rooted him to the spot. She tilted her head just slightly, waved her hand twice and her smile became a goodbye.

Fuck.

Two minutes to midnight

It was happening again. Grace couldn't believe it. Her date had left her. Only this time, there was no dependable Lewis to kiss. There was no one to kiss. Well, her dad had pulled her up on the stage and offered, but that didn't count. Interestingly enough, even though she felt the eyes of every person on her, could almost hear the whispered speculations, none of it bothered her. Her attention was focused solely on the man standing in the doorway. The man who watched her with brooding intensity but who was willing to let her walk out of his life.

Enough. She blinked and wanted to slap herself. When she had a goal, she went after it. She worked hard, picked herself up when she fell, and kept going. So, okay, with Leo she'd mostly been jogging in place. But faint heart never won the ex-micro-date. Or whatever.

She stepped up to the microphone and gently hipped her father aside. She looked out over the sea of curious faces and for a moment she froze. How did Tess stand up on stage night after night? Her knees were actually shaking. There must be some similar strand of DNA in her body that she could tap. Or maybe not. She cleared her throat and leaned toward the microphone.

"Hello, everybody. Since I know you're all wondering, and some of you--Vance Evans and Brooks Bennett, I'm looking at you--have money on this, it appears as if I may be without a date to kiss at midnight."

The crowd erupted in boos, groans and laughs. Someone yelled, "Where's Lewis?"

"I know most of you--probably all of you--are here with a date tonight, but in case anyone is looking for someone to kiss at midnight, I'm here and available." She frowned when someone let out a loud hoot. "Jimmy Lee, get your mind out of the gutter, I'm talking kissing here." She looked away from the grinning teenager. "There's just one caveat." She paused and sent up a quick prayer. "If you kiss me tonight, you have to be willing to commit to kissing me on future New Year's Eves as well." She didn't look toward the doorway where Leo stood. "I'm getting too old to be going through this every year." The crowd laughed. "So be careful before you head up here. I'm looking for a very special New Year's Eve kiss. I'm looking for the kiss of a lifetime."

Ninety seconds to Midnight

Leo stared at Grace, his heart beating quickly. She stepped off to the side of the microphone, her hands folded in front of her. Waiting. Her parents stood to the left of her, stunned expressions on both their faces. Her mom had a hand on her father's arm. Without Mrs. Devine's intervention, Mr. Devine might have picked his baby girl up and carried her off the stage.

"Gotta love her grit." Harry, the bartender spoke from beside him. "I want to kiss her myself." At Leo's fierce look he held up a hand and grinned. "Just kidding."

If Leo walked up on that stage and kissed Grace, he wouldn't let her go again. She would go to Salt Lake City and he had no idea where he would end up. It was crazy-ass stupid to start a relationship right now.

She wasn't looking toward him at all. She stood tall and glorious on the stage. A proud goddess.

He saw movement in the crowd. His brain shut down and he handed his bottle of water to Harry.

Thirty seconds to Midnight

Crap. About five men were making their way toward the stage, one of them the eighty-year-old widower, Lionel Dexter, the biggest lecher in Vance County. None of the men were Leo.

Maybe she should have texted Annabelle and Tess about her little speech first.

Aunt Helen stuck out her cane as Colonel Dexter passed, and he went down in a slow tumble. Grace sent her a discreet thumbs up. Two teenage boys, drunker than they should be, were ribbing each other as they made their way toward her while two sullen young women yapped in their wake. Grace put her hands on her waist and gave them her best FBI stare. They stopped in their tracks.

That left two men still trying to elbow through the crowd, Charlie Brighton and David Ledbetter, both failed New Year's Eve dates from past years but generally nice guys. Not, however, men she was interested in sharing future New Year's Eves with. She sent her dad a desperate look.

Fifteen seconds to Midnight

Harry Devine step up to the microphone and his voice boomed across the ballroom. "Charlie and Dave, you stop right where you are. You're both fine men, but you had your chance with my Gracie-belle. You don't get another."

Grace breathed a sigh of relief when both men, wearing identical sheepish expressions, stopped moving toward the stage. She concentrated on not looking toward the ballroom doors, but there was no movement on the periphery of her vision. Leo wasn't going to take her challenge. He wasn't willing to give her a commitment.

The air left her lungs in a huge sigh and she felt like a deflated balloon. God knows she wouldn't give up on him. But she might need a few days, or a week or two, or maybe a year to get her self-confidence back.

She listened numbly as her dad started the countdown to midnight.

"Ten!"

The crowd shouted along with Harry Devine. Leo worked his way onto the packed dance floor and watched Grace raise her flute, drain it, and look around as if for another.

"Nine!"

Leo had to use shoulder and muscle to make it through the crowd that suddenly felt like a wall. Grace's mother handed Grace her flute of champagne. She downed that as well.

"Eight!"

Leo caught sight of another man moving quickly through the crowd. "Wolfram." The name came out as a low growl. Several people backed away from him quickly.

"Seven!"

Aunt Helen suddenly appeared in front of him, acting as point guard. She analyzed the crowd and shifted to the path of least resistance. Her cane swished at waist height in a large semi-circle in front of her, parting the crowd as effectively as Moses' staff had parted the Red Sea. Leo could only hope God was on his side as well.

"Six!"

Leo took a moment to glance at the stage. Grace was watching him, her mouth half-open in surprise. Who the fuck had she expected would take her up on her offer?

"Five!"

Wolfram. Had she hoped to bring Wolfram back? He might be the better man, but he couldn't have Grace. Grace was his sunshine, the laughter in his day. She was his, and he'd figure out how to keep her.

"Four!"

Aunt Helen stepped aside and there, finally, were the steps of the stage. He took them two at a time. He saw Wolfram bounding up the steps on the other side. Grace stood at center stage, her head swinging back and forth between them.

"Three!"

Leo dashed across the stage. Wolfram moved quickly as well, a bottle of champagne in one hand. He reached Grace first, the bastard. He seemed to notice Leo for the first time. He grinned, thrust the champagne at Leo and took Grace's hand.

"Two!"

Leo's fingers reflexively tightened around the neck of the bottle as Grace pulled Wolfram toward her. She turned her pelvis and executed the perfect Koshinage hip throw. Wolfram landed with a thud on the wooden floor of the stage. The entire room gasped, and Mr. Devine's next count may have been off by half a second or so.

"One!"

Leo set down the champagne bottle. In a single, fluid movement, he gathered Grace against his heart and gave her the kiss of a lifetime.

Midnight

Grace forgot she was on a stage in the ballroom in front of all her friends and family. She forgot she should be worried about Michael, sprawled on the floor. She didn't think of anything but the fact that Leo was holding her like he didn't want to let her go. His lips explored hers with a focused thoroughness that shot fireworks through her body. He lifted his head as the band began to play, and for a moment neither of them had the breath to say anything.

Then a small smile curved his lips and those dimples flashed in his cheeks. "Just so you know," he murmured, "I refuse to have "Auld Lang Syne" be our song for the next fifty years."

After Midnight

Grace dragged Leo off the stage after checking that Michael was fine. The crowd parted for them with laughs and teasing comments. The hallway was empty.

She veered sharply to the right and headed down the hallway until she reached the huge window overlooking the club pool. She turned to face Leo. "I meant what I said up there. You're committed now."

"That works both ways, Devine. You're committed as well. I know it may be difficult when we're both in different cities, but we'll make it work." He studied her face. "It would be in your best interest if we just keep this a friendship."

"Argh." Was the man totally blind? He was intelligent and one of the most savvy FBI agents in the business. How could he be so stupid?

"I didn't know people who weren't pretending to be pirates actually made that sound," Leo said.

"Really? I can't imagine you haven't heard it multiple times." She tried to read the emotion in those deep brown eyes. "I don't want to keep this a friendship."

"Good. Because I was going to say that even though it may be in your best interest, there is no way I'm not taking that dress off you tonight."

Thank you, God. And thank you for the pretty underwear, Annabelle. Still, there were a few things to clear up. "You shut me down that night at the Pub." She took a breath. "I might look different and all girly, but I haven't changed."

"You stopped my heart the first day you walked into the field office. You never needed to change. I did." He frowned. "Or maybe I didn't." He held up a hand. "Wait. Don't make that noise again. I'll explain." He reached for her hand and held it. She moved closer to him because she could, because she had to.

"I've been changing since the day I met you," Leo said. "Katherine Dill shut a part of me down. I know crazy people exist. I've gone after them, cleaned up their messes, locked them away from society. Dill was different. She was one of us. And it scares the hell out of me that I didn't know until too late what she was capable of."

"So, what, you developed a suspicion of women? You had to sleep with as many as you could in order to learn how to trust them again?" She didn't quite succeed in keeping the sarcasm out of her voice.

"No." He ignored it. "The problem was more that I couldn't handle that my judgment was so piss-poor. If I'd seen who she was, understood how she might react, I could have saved Parker, kept Mackenzie from taking five bullets, and saved that kid."

Maybe. "So you had to learn to trust yourself again?"

"In part, and in part I had to learn to live with the fact that I make mistakes. I don't know everything. Sometimes I'm going to walk into a situation and I won't walk out the winner. For a competitive bastard, that's a hard pill to swallow."

She had her own problems getting that one down her throat.

"The competitive bastards are the ones who keep going, no matter what," Michael Wolfram said from behind him. "You combine that with a healthy dose of understanding that shit is going to happen and you've got the ingredients for a hell of a leader."

Michael's hair was tousled and his bow tie slightly askew. He gave Leo a pointed look. "Carter contacted me at the start of the week and told me you were interested in moving into a supervisory role. I got approval today to offer you a position as an assistant team supervisor on the task force I'm forming. I'd like to meet with you in Washington next week to discuss it." Wolfram clapped Leo on the shoulder.

He looked toward Grace. "The Koshinage?"

She nodded.

"Nice execution. Saying 'no' would have worked just as well."

"I'm so sorry. My brain froze and my reflexes took over. I owe you a drink." At his raised eyebrow she amended, "Or three."

"Call it even. I know I've been the date from hell." His smile was crooked. "I don't think you'll mind if I head out. It's starting to snow. I want to get to my hotel and crash before the roads get too bad. I'll call you when I'm back in Washington." He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

"Well," Grace said, watching him leave. "Was that Santa Claus and is this really Christmas? Because I feel like he just gave us a hell of a gift."

Leo wasn't looking anywhere but at her. "You're the gift, Grace. We'd have found a way to make this work, even without Wolfram's offer." His face was serious. She couldn't look away from the desire and love that were clear in his deep brown gaze. "You are strong, courageous and full of warmth and love. I want you by my side for a lifetime, Devine."

He bent down and slowly trailed his tongue from her shoulder to the curve of her neck. She shivered, an odd reaction given the heat rushing through her. "Every inch, Grace," he whispered in her ear. "I'm going to start the new year by licking every inch of you." He raised his head, his expression intent. "In fact, I think that will be our tradition. We'll start every new year that way."

She closed her eyes but felt she was seeing into a future of laughter, love and desire. His hand tilted her chin and she opened her eyes to see his smile.

"Let's go find someplace more private."

She nodded and smiled back, happiness bubbling through her like champagne. "You know, Leo," she said as she took his arm and tried to keep pace with his rapid strides toward the clubhouse entrance. "I'm pretty sure New Year's Eve is about to become my favorite holiday."

~*~*~

~*~

Read more about Michael Wolfram's new task force in

Out of the Shadows, available in 2013.

Holli Bertram is a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner in Romantic Suspense. For more information about Holli and her books, visit her website at hollibertram.com.

Lewis

Dedicated to every great romance that began on New Year's Eve