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COP UNDER THE MISTLETOE
True Love in Uniform Book 2
BY KAREN DOCTER

BLURB

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COP UNDER THE MISTLETOE
True Love in Uniform Book 2
BY KAREN DOCTER

Excerpt

Nicole Kelly glanced out her office window at the snow piling up on the park-like expanse of lawn that surrounded the Riverton city building. Almost a foot had already fallen, and she still had several hours of work to do before she finished for the day.

At this time of year, it was dark by five o’clock. That was without the storm front blasting down on the metro-Denver area from the north. It was already becoming difficult to see the police station situated across the commons.

Staring at the wintry scene, she considered her options. Her Mercedes could handle most inclement weather. If it continued to snow, she could call Andrew, her parents’ handyman and chauffeur, to pick her up in the four-wheel drive. However, the last thing she wanted to do was pull the man from his wife and their warm gatehouse to rescue her.

She also didn’t want to provide a new grist for the office mill. After a year as director of the Riverton Outreach Program, she’d finally proven her mettle to most of her city co-workers. However, her part-time college intern, Lisa Greene, still irreverently razzed her about “slumming it.”

It was Nicole’s first year organizing the city’s holiday season alone. She had something to prove to herself, if not the new city manager, Samantha Ballentine. She didn’t know whether it was her family connections or her over-qualification that bothered the woman most. But Nicole suspected she was itching to clean her predecessor’s house. She’d been eyeballing the Outreach department for several weeks.

Mrs. B, or “Witch with a B” as Nicole’s intern called her, hadn’t admitted to looking for a way to get rid of her. However, she knew the holiday events she’d scheduled this season needed to go without a hitch. She refused to hand the city manager ammunition for her own demise.

With a sigh, she listened to the oppressive silence filling her office. “Don’t let that woman ruin your day, Nicole,” she muttered, clicking on her favorite internet radio station. Christmas music filled her office, immediately brightening her mood. She didn’t feel so alone.

Usually, this entire floor bustled with activity. However, most of the building had emptied in the two hours since lunch when she sent Lisa home. “Just finish up the critical items and take the rest home,” she told herself, eyeing the files covering her desk. Then, she shook her head. She was dreaming if she thought she’d get through any of it under the controlled mayhem that had gripped her family home in recent months.

The instant she hit the front door, her mother would drag her into organizing yet another of the political functions she was spearheading for her husband’s gubernatorial bid. Nicole’s job with the city might be good press for her father’s campaign, especially now that the media had dubbed her St. Nic after interviewing her last week about Saturday’s Parade of Lights. It still wasn’t as important as the fundraisers and hand-shakers meant to carry William and Marilyn Kelly to the governor’s mansion next fall.

A twinge of irritation lodged in her chest. She should have moved out before her father threw his political hat in the ring. She’d been meaning to for more than a year. Now, it was too late.

It would appear that she was abandoning ship when they needed a cohesive family front for the media. Her younger sister, Dana, was happily toeing the party line. Then again, she was still back east at Harvard for a couple more weeks. She’d escaped the brunt of the recent public scrutiny.

The knot in Nicole’s chest tightened. She was used to taking second, third, and even fifth place in her parents’ public lives. It was a little harder to handle during the holidays. She’d never lacked anything growing up except maybe the normalcy she craved. She knew her parents loved her. Still, she’d learned more about traditional family holidays from their nanny and housekeeper than she had from her politically active parents.

Despite that, until she was twenty-four years old, she’d firmly planted her feet on the path laid in front of her. She had her degree from Harvard, an imminent partnership with her father’s prestigious law firm, and a rock on her ring finger that would have comfortably housed and fed a family of four for over a year.

If she hadn’t caught her fiancé, Mark Lennon, servicing one of the catering staff in the bathroom at the police chief’s Christmas party two years ago, she’d have stayed on course, if dissatisfied, for reasons she refused to analyze.

Fed up with the poor, little rich girl role she’d accepted by rote, she kicked her fiancé and her father’s partnership, the reason Mark admitted to proposing—like that was an excuse for infidelity—to the curb. Then, she’d promptly drunk enough champagne to embarrass herself with a midnight make-out session with the deliciously sexy police officer she’d surprised in the chief’s empty library, where she’d gone to hide from inquisitive eyes.

Carter Eben.

She hadn’t even questioned why her Riverton High School classmate was there. In the eight years since their graduation, her too-serious AP chemistry tutor had grown into six feet of hot cop in uniform. She’d practically assaulted the poor man under the mistletoe, thrown her arms around him, and demanded he kiss her while the boisterous party DJ in the next room rapped out to RUN-D.M.C.’s “Christmas in Hollis.”

Upset by Mark’s betrayal, she had wanted one moment of pure pleasure. Boy, did she get it!

Her holiday red cashmere, off-the-shoulder cocktail sheath hadn’t protected her much from the sharp edges of Carter’s gun belt and badge. The moment their lips met, none of that mattered. The entire world disappeared under that one searing caress. No one had ever really kissed her like that before, not like she was as essential as the man’s next breath of air.

If Carter had taught her about strong and weak forces like gravity and static by kissing her, she might have grasped the chemistry principles a lot sooner!

To read more, slip “Scrooge” and “St. Nic” into your Christmas stocking now! COP UNDER THE MISTLETOE, TRUE LOVE IN UNIFORM BOOK 2.

About Author Karen Docter…

Links to Karen’s websites, blogs, books, #ad, etc.:

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