Her Mistletoe Minotaur: A BWWM Paranormal Holiday Romance (A Very Alpha Christmas Book 1)

by Erin St. Charles

  When they arrived at Blue's truck, the older man got out of Mitch's vehicle, then went around the front of it to lean against the driver's side door.

  "Don't forget to invite me to the wedding," Blue grinned and gave Mitch a saucy wink.

  Mitch grunted, then drove away.

  Instead of driving by Tu's house again, he went home, and immediately to the attic where he pulled out the boxes of his mother's Christmas accouterments.

  He dragged everything down the stairs, then stayed up half the night sorting everything. He made notes of what he still needed to get when he went to Waco the next day. He went to bed, but he tossed and turned, then slept only fretfully, before deciding to get up, guzzle black coffee, clear out the bed of his pickup, and head into Waco.

  It was going to be a long, long day.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Grandma got run over by a reindeer

  "Where is this place? Why is it taking so long to get there?"

  "Keep your pants on,” Jasmine said over her shoulder. Tu sat in the back seat of Jasmine's sensible little car on the way to some little old lady's house to help her set up her outdoor Christmas lights and train display. Apparently, it was a town tradition to visit her elaborate Christmas display.

  Jasmine and Auntie pounced on Tu at the cottage when she had been trying to sleep in. Not because she was depressed about Mitch or anything. It was just a normal weekday a few days before Christmas. Perfect for sleeping until late in the morning. Or even early afternoon, which is when Jasmine and Auntie invaded Tu’s space, forced her into the shower, then slapped makeup on her and forced her into a cute outfit.

  All of this to go help some old wolf lady from the pack put up her Christmas display!

  Whoever this lady was, she sure lived far out of town. Further than Mitch, even.

  They drove on the service road along the highway. When they passed the farm-to-market road leading to Mitch's place, Tu watched it longingly, expecting him to materialize. She let out a sigh and twisted her fingers together in her lap.

  Auntie turned around from her place in the passenger seat and smiled brightly.

  "Why the long face?" she chirped brightly.

  Tu refused to account for her irritated mood. She ignored Auntie's question.

  "When are we going to get there?" Tu asked peevishly.

  Auntie's bright smiled faded into a wistful one. "Soon."

  A few minutes later, they pulled onto another farm-to-market road adjacent to Mitch's property, which she had learned since moving to town was extensive and quite a few acres outside of town, as his home had once been a cattle ranch. She knew Mitch had money, but somehow, she didn't picture him being so wealthy. He drove around in either an old pickup truck, or his wrecker. He had been out there the night they met, by himself, instead of having an employee do it.

  They bounced along the gravel road, Tu getting more irritated as they went. They were in the middle of nowhere.

  Suddenly, Jasmine stopped the car. She looked at Auntie, then frowned. "Did you hear that?" Jasmine asked.

  "I did!" Auntie said, eyes wide.

  What the hell were they talking about?

  "Did you hear that, Tu?" Jasmine said. Both her sister and her aunt looked at her, eyebrows raised expectantly.

  "No, not really." Tu had been distracted. She hadn't been paying attention to anything in the world around her.

  "It was like a shhhh shhhh sound," Auntie declared, hissing through her teeth, nodding avidly.

  "Yeah, and with a ka-ching, ka-ching rattle too!" Jasmine put in.

  Tu looked at the two of them. "Are you both nuts?"

  Jasmine opened the driver's side door, and stepped out, mumbling, "I think it's one of the rear tires..." Auntie followed her. Tu turned her head to watch the two women round the back of the car, then disappear as they crouched to examine the rear bumper.

  Sighing harshly, Tu got out of the back seat and headed for the back of the car.

  "Oh good, you're here," Jasmine said, gesturing Tu to come closer. Tu rolled her eyes and crouched near the other two women.

  "I didn't hear anything," Tu said, feeling salty. "Y'all are both crazy."

  "Oh yeah," Auntie said, ignoring Tu's crankiness. "Look at this."

  Tu craned her neck to see what there was to see. The previous night’s snowfall, followed by this morning’s warm spell, had left the ground soft and soggy, as the ground didn't freeze in Texas. Jasmine had parked next to a ditch off the gravel road, and Tu had to be careful not to get her cute jeans and sweater dirty. She scooted closer from her crouched position.

  "There's nothing—" Tu started to say, when suddenly, she found herself off her feet, hitting the ground hard on her ass, and rolling into the ditch.

  "What the hell?" Tu struggled to right herself. She expected her female kin to be standing there with helping hands, to pull her out of the ditch. Instead, Jasmine and Auntie were moving fast...away from her.

  They hopped into Jasmine's little car, and as they peeled away, Auntie stuck her head out of the passenger side window and yelled, "I'm so sorry! You'll be fine!"

  They were leaving her. Leaving her! On the side of the fucking road!

  "Where the fuck are you going?" She shook a fist at the women, even though they could no longer see her, and yelled, "You lousy bitches!"

  Tu scrambled out of the ditch, slipped, and slid back again, banging her knee and ripping the knee of her cute blue jeans.

  "Motherfucker!" she screamed. She really liked those jeans!

  With no one around, there was no need to be nice and careful of sensitive ears, so she let loose with a cussing fit that would make a mule driver blush. She was on a roll, and she wanted to yell and rage about everything and everyone that had ever annoyed her.

  "Fuck you, Mom and Dad, for never teaching me how to cook! Fuck you for fucking on Jasmine's kitchen counter! Fuck you for telling me I couldn't drive down here by myself."

  She didn't stop there. As she dragged herself out of the ditch, she went right ahead with the unladylike, non-good-girl profanity.

  "Fuck you, Jazzy and Auntie, you fucking bitches, for stranding me in the middle of fucking nowhere."

  "Fuck you, Mitch-fucking-Wayne! Fuck you and the tow truck you drove in on! Fuck your big, stupid house, and your organized pantry, and your fear of letting anyone get close to you!"

  She was trembling with anger, but she felt alive for the first time in days, having dropped more F bombs in one tirade than she had in about a year.

  Take that, asshole!

  On the gravel road again, looking down at the muddy, dirty ditch, Tu sighed to herself. She was totally alone on the road, and she loved it. She could say whatever the fuck she damned well pleased. She looked up at the sky and screamed with her hands cupped around her mouth to amplify the sound.

  "Fuck you for making me love you, asshole!" Tears welled and spilled from the corners of her eyes. "I hate you! I hate you!"

  "Most of all, fuck your goddamn fucking huge ass dick, your tongue that gives the world's best damned cunnilingus, fuck your dick-swinging fucking technique, and your goddamn big as dinner plates hands that feel so fucking good on me."

  She buried her face in her hands and let herself cry. She cried for Mitch. She cried for herself. She doubled over and cried and cried and cried.

  When she was all cried out, her head sore from crying and raging, she dried her eyes with the backs of her hands. She took several cleansing breaths, heaved a great sigh, and looked around to gain her bearings.

  She patted her back pocket for her smartphone. Except, it was empty.

  Fuck. Fuck! Fuck!

  Okay, she told herself. It's just past lunchtime. I'll just walk back to town.

  She was reasonably sure she knew how to get back to town. She would simply go back the way she came, taking the little gravel road back to the highway, then walk along the highway on the service road. So, she set off for the walk back to town.

  After w
alking for about thirty seconds, she was surprised to hear music playing. It was loud and jolly, and coming from the stand of pine trees a few hundred yards away.

  Puzzled, she followed the sound of music into the trees, which grew in nice, neat, deliberate rows in a manner not found in nature.

  The music got louder. It was a Christmas song.

  Grandma got run over by a reindeer…

  Huh.

  The music was no longer just loud. It was blaring. It was so loud she could almost see the trees vibrating. She got closer...and she saw a box. In the middle of the human path leading to a gap between the trees she could now see were planted in neat rows. Kind of like a nursery.

  The box was white and folded like origami. On top, there was a bell tied on with a red ribbon. She picked it up.

  It was light. So light she thought it must be empty. She shook it, and it made no sound. Should she open it? But it was a dumb question to consider, because of course, she was going to open it.

  She pulled at the ribbon, and the box opened easily. The box was empty. Except, it wasn't exactly empty, because there was printing on the inside. When she opened the box and flattened it, she could read the text.

  How does a snowman get to work?

  She squinted at the box, now flattened, and blinked at it. Below, the answer was neat printed:

  By icicle!

  A few yards away up the path, there was another box festooned with a ribbon and a bell that contained another riddle,

  Which of Santa's reindeer has the worst manners?

  Again, the answer was printed below:

  Rude-olf!

  She followed the path, found more riddles, excitedly grabbing box after box and reading the riddles. At last, she came to a clearing.

  And there stood Mitch, his back to her, stringing lights on pine trees, as one song ended and another one began from hidden speakers.

  She pinched herself, and it hurt. Definitely awake.

  Mitch turned around, spotted her, and broke into a smile.

  "Great, you're here," he said. "Wanna give me a hand with these?"

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  O Christmas tree!

  Tu appeared through a break in the trees, looking cute, but bewildered. She was wearing the red sweater with the plunging neckline she'd worn the day he came back to the house to find she'd decorated it in full Christmas regalia. It was the sweater that inspired fantasies of fucking her tits, and also prompted him to take a long, cold shower that day. A muddy smudge and a rip in one knee the only flaw in her painted-on jeans. She held several of the Chinese takeout boxes he'd put together for her, only they had been flattened, so he knew she had read the jokes he'd left for her.

  His heart banged in his chest with excitement. It felt like it had been a year since he'd last seen her. He tamped down his excitement, but a smile broke over his face.

  "Great, you're here," he grinned. "Can you give me a hand with these?"

  Tu said nothing. She simply looked around herself, taking in everything, eyebrows furrowed. He watched her carefully, trying to understand where her head was. Was she angry at being stranded on the side of the road? That had been Auntie and Jasmine's idea, to force Tu to follow the trail of clues to the clearing.

  "I don't understand what's going on," Tu said. "What is all this?" She waved her arms to indicate the scene in the clearing. "What, exactly, are you doing? And why are you smiling?"

  Mitch descended the step ladder he had been using to reach the topmost branches of the Virginia Pines his mother had had planted years before. He crossed the open space in the circle of trees and pulled Tu into an embrace. She responded by burrowing her nose into his chest.

  She'd pulled her hair into a high ponytail, letting the braids cascade around her shoulders. She peered up at him.

  He grinned at her. She blinked at him, confused, then she said, "You never smile this much. What's wrong with you?"

  She seemed to be coming back to herself, irritation replacing bewilderment, and she gave Mitch a hard push against his chest.

  "Why did you bring me here?" She stepped away from him, scowling at him irritably. Evidently, Stunned Tu was giving way to Pissed Off Tu.

  "I needed to see you," he said, feeling his confidence slip.

  Blue had told him that as a minotaur, his alpha-hood was essentially baked in his DNA. However, Mitch didn't feel very alpha at the moment, especially when this woman, who was a foot shorter than him, and human to boot, wagged her finger at him. When he’d thought about reuniting with Tu, he’d imagined she would fall into his arms, happy to be with him again. Auntie and Jasmine had suggested this ruse as the surest way to get Tu out here so Mitch could show her how much he had changed.

  Tu had her hands on her hips as she glared at him.

  "Were you the one who told them to bring me out here?" she demanded.

  How to answer that? He owed a debt of gratitude to Auntie and Jasmine. He'd explained himself and pledged his intentions to grovel as much as possible to get Tu back, and they eventually relented and helped. The love of his life stood in the clearing between the trees. He didn't want to throw the two women under the bus.

  Mitch must have had some guilty expression on his face, because Tu's eyes narrowed with accusation.

  "Who is going to pay to replace these jeans?" She waved a hand at the rip in the knee of her jeans.

  He was about to tell her that he'd buy her all the blue jeans her heart desired, when she opened her mouth again to scold him some more.

  "What is all this stuff anyway? Are these your mother's things? Why is everything out here?" She indicated the many boxes of decorations.

  Cautiously, Mitch stepped forward and took her hands in his. They were so tiny compared to his, so delicate, and her fingers were cold. He rubbed her hands between his, and she let him.

  "I missed you, baby," he told her, his voice hoarse with emotion. He decided being blunt with her was the most efficient way to approach the situation. "I brought you here to beg you to come back to me."

  Tu blinked at him, flabbergasted, and also at a loss for words. "Oh!"

  Mitch guided her to a pile of blankets he had placed to one side of the clearing, and sat cross-legged, pulling her onto his lap and giving himself a near-instant boner. This woman...

  "Let me warm your hands up," he said, covering the two of them with a lap blanket. He settled a large palm on her thigh and gave it an experimental squeeze, watching her face closely for a reaction. A flame of desire flickered in her eyes. Great. Progress.

  He adjusted her body to bring her as close as he could. She broke eye contact with a suspicious frown and looked around.

  "Is this a nursery? Do you own this place?" She was really looking around now, taking in the lights and decorations. Her face was filled with wonder, and he was transported back to his childhood and seeing his mother's handiwork for the first time.

  "Yes, I own this place," he said. "Or rather, my family does. I just take care of it."

  "That reminds me," Tu said, her eyes still roving over the trees. "Just how rich are you?"

  He chuckled and slid his hand farther up her thigh. He could almost feel her feminine heat. He wondered just how far she'd let his hand go...

  "Why is that funny?" she asked, wriggling on his lap as if to get away from him. But the way she made him feel made him want to hold onto her instead. He squeezed her thigh to keep her in place. She froze, and he saw sexual interest flame in her eyes again. She liked being restrained, something they had yet to truly explore.

  "I have a lot of money," he told her. This was the first time she'd expressed any interest in his wealth.

  "How much is a lot?" She cocked an eyebrow at him. She squeezed his hand to emphasize her point. "And stop trying to distract me. Tell me."

  "Can I tell you about something else instead? Something that means more to me than my family's money?"

  Tu gave Mitch a wistful sigh. "What's that?"

  "When she was aliv
e," his voice hitched, and Tu squeezed his hand again. "My mother went crazy for Christmas. She started decorating right after Thanksgiving."

  "Sounds like fun," she said, her dark eyes soft with compassion.

  "I have to admit, it was," he confirmed, his voice hoarse with emotion. "When she...died, there was no one to carry on with it, and it seemed easier to let it go. It was painful."

  "I can imagine," she said. "And when I pulled out your mother's things and started decorating, it must have freaked you out. No wonder you reacted the way you did. I'm sorry."

  "It's not your fault. Decorating for Christmas is normal. It's what I grew up with," he said.

  "Still, I should have asked," she said. "I was just so frustrated with you. I had nothing to do all day, and you wouldn't talk to me. And I couldn't figure out why, since you were obviously attracted to me."

  "I'll explain it to you later," he said, giving her a quick peck on the lips. "First, we have some work to do."

  He lifted her off his lap, then gave her butt a sharp crack. She whirled around. "Hey!"

  He grinned at her mischievously as he got on his feet. "We need to get this place ready."

  "Ready?" She squinted at him. "Ready for what?"

  "We're having a party tomorrow," He put a hand in the small of her back to guide her to the boxes of decorations. She resisted him.

  "Who is we?" she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. She looked like a petulant toddler. "I haven't forgiven you yet! I barely even like you."

  He grinned at her. "We is the two of us, you will forgive me, and you more than like me."

  She scowled, looking cute as could be. He grabbed her up, palming her ass cheeks and holding her close enough to squash her breasts against his chest. Despite her protests, her legs went around his waist. She yelped in surprise, then tried to push against his chest to no avail. Even in his human form, Mitch was freakishly strong, and he used it to his advantage.

  "Put me down!" Tu demanded.

  "You're so cute when you're angry," he deadpanned. Her eyes narrowed, then it was like steam was coming out of her ears. "It's nice. I'm so used to you being sweet as can be. Cranky is good, too."