by R. E. Butler
“I love you, too, Holly,” he whispered against her lips before he eased away and looked into her eyes. “I’ve been crazy about you since the moment I walked into the bar and saw how much you wanted to succeed. I’m happy to work by your side, and I won’t let you fail.”
She smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Will you stay with me tonight?”
“Yes,” he said, sliding his hands down her throat and brushing his thumb against her pulse. His fangs throbbed in his gums, his beasts making interested noises in his head. His mind spun, and a plan formed quickly. “But I don’t want to make love tonight.”
She blinked in surprise. “You don’t?”
He would’ve laughed at the absurd idea that he wasn’t going to toss her over his shoulder and take her right to bed to cement their mating, but it was the most serious thing he’d ever said. “Sunday morning, after the bar is closed, let me take you to a private cabin so we can spend some time alone together.”
“We’re alone now.”
“Yeah, but the bar is right below us. You can’t really get away from it if you’re always around it.”
“I’d have to keep the bar shut down on Sunday night. Ivy and Jack can’t run it by themselves, and I wouldn’t ask them to try.”
“If we leave early Sunday morning, we can be back late Monday afternoon before it opens. It’s not ideal – I’d like to take you away for a week, at least – but it’s enough to give us some privacy and time away.”
She pursed her lips and then smiled. “Okay.”
“Yeah?”
She chuckled. “I haven’t had a break in ages. Even if it’s just for a short while, I can’t think of anything better than actually going away.”
“Good. Now it’s very late and I need my beauty sleep.”
She laughed and took his hand, leading him to her bedroom. Grabbing a piece of clothing from the dresser, she excused herself to the bathroom, and he stripped to his boxer briefs and pulled the covers back. He’d just made himself comfortable and covered his lower half with the blanket that was swimming in her sweet scent when she came out of the bathroom wearing a short sleep shirt. Her lovely legs were on display, and she’d taken out the braid in her hair and left the blonde locks loose.
She joined him in the bed, sliding under the covers, and he settled back against the pillow and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He pulled her close, and she rested her cheek on his chest over his heart and laid her arm across his stomach.
“Are we together now? I mean, are we a couple?” she asked softly, almost shyly.
He hugged her a little closer and tipped her chin until he could look into her eyes. He realized he’d made a mistake when he told her he loved her, because if she was asking if they were actually a couple, then he hadn’t made his intentions clear.
“Holly, will you be my girlfriend?”
Although the word that actually came to mind wasn’t ‘girlfriend’ at all, but ‘mate.’ She wouldn’t understand the term, though, at least not until she came to understand him.
“Yes.”
He kissed her, but not as deeply as he wanted. If they took things too far, they’d make love, and he wasn’t confident in his abilities to keep his beasts in check under those circumstances.
“Good,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re mine and I’m yours, beautiful.”
“I like that you’re mine,” she whispered, kissing his pec.
The brush of her lips over his skin made his spine tingle, but he pushed aside the sexy thoughts, promising his beasts that Sunday morning wasn’t far at all.
“I do, too.”
* * *
Vaughn woke several hours later, sunlight filtering through the blinds and bathing the room in the late morning glow. He rose onto his elbow and looked down at Holly. Her eyes were open and the covers were pushed down, revealing that her sleep shirt had ridden up, baring her blue panties and stomach. His hand rested on her stomach, his pinky touching the waistband of her panties.
She smiled at him, her eyes full of heat. “I thought I was dreaming.”
“About you and me?” he asked, leaning over to kiss her.
She murmured an answer that was lost in the kiss, but it sounded a lot like ‘Yes.’ He slid his free arm under her shoulders and pulled her close as they kissed, sliding his hand slowly down her panties. He could feel her heat, her body a temptation he was having a hard time ignoring. Slipping his fingertips under the edge of her panties, he stifled the growl in his chest when she spread her legs and arched her back, covering his hand with one of hers while fisting his hair with the other. She guided his hand under her panties, the apex of her thighs wet and silky with her arousal.
He teased her, barely brushing across her folds and circling her clit with the lightest of touches. She squeezed his hand and growled, the sexiest, sweetest sound he’d ever heard.
“Tired of the teasing?” he whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth and then her jaw. He nipped a line down her neck, his fangs throbbing as he found the perfect place to mark her.
“Yes, please, Vaughn.”
He loved the way she said his name, like a plea and a demand wrapped together in the huskiest tone.
He watched her face as he rubbed her clit, finding a fast rhythm that made her eyes lose focus and her breath hitch in her throat. He could sense the change in her body, smell the heat of her arousal and see the tension in her limbs. Just as she crested into pleasure, he thrust two fingers into her heat and she came around them, her nails digging into his hand and her fingers twisting in his hair. She let out a sharp cry that slid into a groan and made his whole body light up.
Temptation had never looked so sweet.
Her eyes were bright, her skin flushed.
He lifted his hand from her and sucked her dewy wetness from his fingers. He could’ve come on the spot from how good she tasted, and the need that rolled through him was enough to make him forget that she had no idea what he was or the truth of his people.
But the thought of mating her without her knowing everything brought him up short.
She pressed her hand to his cheek. “I want to take care of you.”
He shook his head. “Beautiful, if you touch me, I’m not going to be able to stop myself from taking things all the way, and I don’t want to do that here.”
She sat up on her elbows, her hair a beautiful golden waterfall around her shoulders. “Can I tell you something?”
“Anything.”
“No one’s ever touched me like that before.”
His bear, who seemed the most vocal around Holly, wanted to strut and roar.
He brushed his lips over hers. “I’m glad. I want you to be happy in every way.”
“I am. Finally.”
“Because of my magic fingers?” he asked, wiggling his brows.
She laughed. “Yes. But also because I feel like my life is finally lining up, and it’s because of you.”
“You’re strong enough on your own to handle anything, though. You don’t need me to be successful.”
“But I’m glad you’re here.”
“I’m not going anywhere, either.”
“Good.” She kissed him and sat up, stretching with a yawn. “I hope you like eggs and toast, because that’s all I have in the fridge.”
“Want some help?”
“Nope.” She stood and then leaned over for another kiss, which he was all too happy to give. “Just stay right here looking sexy, and I’ll be back.”
He watched her saunter from the room, the sleep shirt hugging her curves and revealing a tantalizing peek at her thighs, then settled back against the pillows with a smile on his face. His whole body was strung tight, but he’d made his mate come, and her happiness put everything else in shadows.
He finally understood what his friends had told him about finding their fated mates. She was the utter center of his universe. He would do anything to make her happy, no matter the cost to himself.
It
didn’t matter if they stayed here or moved to NPC at Christmas. As long as he had her in his arms every night, they could live on the moon and he’d go to sleep with a smile on his face.
Chapter 5
Holly’s nerves were strung tight as she waited for the computer to shut down. Saturday night had come and gone, and it was nearing 4:00 a.m. She could faintly hear Vaughn, Jack, and Ivy out in the bar cleaning up. As soon as they were finished, she and Vaughn were heading to his friend’s cabin, the same one Jack had taken Ivy to.
Holly had packed for the overnight trip before she’d come to work that night. Vaughn had told her to bring hiking boots so they could explore the woods around the cabin. She hadn’t been on a hike since she was a kid and her favorite grandfather had taken her and Ivy camping, and she found herself looking forward to it.
She shook herself out of her reverie, realizing the computer had shut down completely and she was staring at the dark monitor.
The door opened and Vaughn smiled at her. “Ready to go, beautiful?”
She picked up her backpack and stood, returning his smile. “Yep.”
When she joined him at the door, his expression slipped some. “Everything okay?”
Sometimes when he looked at her like he was now, she felt like he could read her innermost thoughts. “I’m just being ridiculous.”
“How so?”
“I’m worried.”
He arched a brow. “You’re not worried about me, are you?” He cupped her face and moved close. “If I didn’t make it clear before, I’ll say it again right now: I’m yours and you’re mine, and I’m not going anywhere. You are well and truly stuck with me, Holly. If I’ve made you feel like there’s even a shadow of a chance that we won’t be together forever, then I’m the one who’s failed.”
“No.” She gripped his wrists and kissed the inside of one palm. “It’s not you, it’s just me thinking too much. Whenever something good happens to me, I always spend a lot of time worrying about it.”
“Worrying doesn’t fix things, though.”
“Maybe not, but it’s kind of what I do. I’m a worrier.”
“Don’t worry about me or us, okay? I’m crazy about you, and I can’t wait until you’re really mine so we can start the next chapter of our lives together.”
“What do you mean by ‘really mine’?”
His eyes smoldered and a smile quirked the corner of his mouth. “The sooner we get to the cabin, the sooner I can show you.”
Images of them naked and writhing together flashed through her mind, and Vaughn closed his eyes with a hum that sounded like a soft growl. He opened them after a beat and kissed her. “You smell so good when you’re turned on. I can’t even describe it, but it’s like melted sugar.”
She’d never had anyone say that to her before, but she liked it. Her cheeks heated, and he chuckled.
“How do you always know just what to say to make me feel better? You’ve been doing it ever since we met. You’re right where I need you to be at the perfect time, with the right words to set me at ease.”
“Lucky, I guess. In fact, I feel especially lucky to have you in my life. That I can ease some of your worries just by being around makes me feel like the king of the world.”
She could relate. He made her feel amazingly special, too.
“I’m ready to go,” she said.
He slipped her pack from her shoulder and put it on his own. She grabbed her coat, and they headed through the bar and out into the cold night, where his truck was running. The warm cab was inviting, and she sat on the passenger side with a sigh, grateful he’d warmed it up before they left. When he was behind the wheel, he said, “It’s a few hours to get to the cabin. I have supplies, so we don’t have to stop until we get there.”
“I’m so glad you suggested this.”
“Me, too.”
She was definitely ready to see where their short time away took them. She didn’t know what would happen, but in her heart she knew it didn’t matter as long as they were together. It was hard to explain how quickly things had changed between them, but it felt right.
Vaughn had her heart, and she wished she hadn’t waited so long to give it to him.
* * *
Holly woke as the truck bobbed to the side, sliding her against Vaughn. She yawned and sat up, looking out the windshield to see they were heading up a mountain. Snow had fallen recently, but the path up was marked by trees on either side.
“Have a nice nap?” he asked.
“Yeah. We’re close to the cabin?”
“Yep, just up this road.”
“Why does your friend have this cabin?”
“Tom and his wife, Neve, lived here. Her cousin Ellie lived in the same town as you and worked at the flower shop across the street from the bar. Neve’s pregnant, so she and Tom decided to move back to his hometown, which is actually where Jack and I are from, too. They keep the cabin for vacations, and they offered it to us to use whenever we wanted to get away from things. It’s rustic, so just candles and oil lamps, but there’s a generator for the refrigerator and water heater.”
She blew out a relieved breath. “I’m glad to hear about the water heater. When you said rustic, I was picturing walking outside in the snow to use an outhouse.”
He laughed loudly, and she loved the sound. “I absolutely wouldn’t bring you someplace like that. It’s nice to get away from modern life, but there’s definitely a limit to how much I’d be willing to give up.”
“Me, too.”
The truck bumped and jostled along the path until they stopped in a clearing where a cabin sat nestled among trees. With the sun streaming through the trees and bathing the cabin in golden light, it looked like a painting. Vaughn stopped the truck near the front porch.
“Give me a minute to clear a path.”
She nodded, watching as he moved to the porch and retrieved a shovel, making quick work of the snow to clear a path to the front door. He opened her door and helped her out, grabbing their bags and taking her inside. It was cold in the cabin, so she decided to keep her coat on for a while longer.
“There are candles and lamps in the kitchen. I’m going to start a fire.”
She walked into the quaint kitchen and found the supplies, lighting several lamps and setting them in the family room while he brought in wood from a box on the front porch and got a fire going.
They carried their things back to the master bedroom. “Will it get warm enough back here?” she asked as she put her bag on a small chair in the corner.
He opened a closet door. “There’s an electric radiator. They have it rigged to run off a car battery. It’ll warm up the room, and we can use the fireplace for the family room and kitchen.”
“Oh, good. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to get to sleep in my coat and gloves.”
He set up the radiator and turned it on, then straightened with a smile. “No worries. I promise I’ll keep you warm no matter what.”
“That I believe.”
When they’d finished unpacking, Vaughn made hot chocolate using a hanging pot over the fire. They sat on the couch and talked, sipping the sweet brew and getting to know each other. When they were hungry, he showed her how to cook in the fireplace using a cast-iron grate, where he seared thick steaks while she tended to potatoes wrapped in foil in the coals.
“It’s sunset,” he said, lifting one of the red gingham curtains to look outside. “Want to go for a walk?”
“In the dark? What about wild animals?”
“I talked to Jack and also Tom. Although Jack saw a bear while they were here, it’s not around anymore, and Tom said there aren’t any predators that call the mountain home. We won’t go far, just into the woods a little to talk.”
She looked at the toasty warm fire. “We can’t talk here? You know, by the fire?”
He grinned. “Trust me?”
She didn’t miss a beat when she answered, “Of course.”
“Then let’s go while there�
�s still some light outside.”
She hurriedly dressed in her hiking boots, warm coat, hat, and gloves. Although Vaughn put on hiking boots and his coat, he didn’t bother with a hat or gloves.
“Won’t your ears freeze?”
“I’ll be fine. The cold doesn’t bother me as much.”
“Why is that? What are you, an Eskimo?”
He laughed. “Maybe. One of the many mysteries of me.”
She followed him out onto the porch with a snort. “You’re adorably mysterious.”
They walked off the porch into the snow and headed slowly to the trees. Where they grew more closely together, there was less snow, so the walking became easier. The sunset colored the sky gold and orange, and she inhaled the scent of the woods and fresh snow. Although home wasn’t that urban, it didn’t quite smell as wonderful as the woods did.
Vaughn stopped walking and turned to face her, taking both of her hands in his. “I have something to share with you, but I need you to do two things for me.”
“Okay.”
“Keep an open mind, and don’t freak out.”
“Why would I freak out?”
“Give me a sec.” He paused for a moment and inhaled deeply, then said, “Do you remember the woman who came to see you on Christmas Eve named Clarise?”
“Of course.”
“Her name isn’t really Clarise. I call her Mrs. C, but you’d know her better as Mrs. Claus.”
Holly blinked slowly, then scoffed. “Seriously?”
“It’s true,” he said earnestly. “Her husband is Santa Claus. I call him SC, and he’s my boss.”
“What are you, an elf? Where are your pointed ears and shoes with bells?” She tugged her hands free of his, exasperated by his craziness.
“I’m very serious. I’m a shifter. I can change into four different animals, including a reindeer. SC is my boss, and I’m one of eight reindeer who drive his sleigh.”