Under The Kissing Bough: 15 Romantic Holiday Novellas

by Kathryn Le Veque

  Yes, those men were well trained and deadly, but they were human and they weren’t Oz.

  Right in front of his face for who knew how long a tiny camera had been monitoring Selene’s every move, ruining her privacy, watching her, providing delicate bits of intel to that scheming psychotic fuck!

  Pure hatred oozed from Oz.

  He’d hated Raymond Tyrone before. But now he was certain that if it was the last thing he did, he’d kill that bastard.

  “Tyrone is a sick fuck. I want that camera and all its footage. She is no one’s voyeur victim. I’m going to kill that bastard. Let’s go.” Oz bolted up from the seat, grabbing the back before it fell against the bed, and tucked it under Mrs. Johansson’s vanity table.

  “Hold on there, cowboy.” Garrison’s foot came up to block Oz’s exit. “Couple things for us to consider before we head out. First, if we take that camera now, Raymond will know it’s missing and he’ll probably know we took it and that we’ve been monitoring her when she’s off base. Second, or fourth…” He shrugged. “…that camera may be a trap that either blows our asses to bits or records us, thereby sending top secret info back to Raymond.”

  “It won’t send shit to anywhere when I get my hands on it.”

  “Lastly, Selene has been your voyeur victim for several years so probably you want to rethink that statement.”

  “I’ve been protecting her. There’s a difference.”

  “Is there?”

  “What?” Oz sneered.

  “You may be protecting her, but you’re not fooling anyone.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Oz grabbed Garrison by his shirt and lifted the scrawny punk off his feet, bringing their faces within inches.

  Garrison’s phone appeared between them. A picture of Oz from earlier in the night displayed on the screen, and he knew exactly when Garrison had taken it.

  In the picture a pink tinge lit Oz’s cheek where Selene’s hand met his skin only seconds before, but that slap had done nothing to dim the light in his eyes from the kiss he’d stolen under the mistletoe. In fact, it did nothing to alter the dopey grin on his face either.

  “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but everyone knows you love her.” Garrison smiled like a goddamned idiot, and for the first time Oz wanted to fold him in half and then snap his body over his knee.

  HER VAMPIRE PROTECTOR

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Selene jolted out of bed, awakened by loud pounding that sounded as though someone was trying to beat the door in.

  “Open up! For the love of an abandoned puppy open this damn door,” a familiar female voice yelled. “Oh shut up or I’ll come down the hall and beat your ass into the ground! Go back to bed! We’re not here to see you.” The tone of her voice grew angrier.

  A door slammed down the hall.

  “What the hell? She must sleep like the freaking dead. You know, it’s easier to wake Hunter up at noon than this,” she said.

  “Yes, same with Rafe. I wonder if she’s all right. Oz said she hit her head. I bet she has a massive concussion and is unconscious,” another female voice said. “That’s it. I’m worried. Break the door down, Alice.”

  “Oh God,” Selene mumbled, yanking on her robe and running to the door. “Stop! Don’t do it. I’m coming!”

  Fumbling in the dark with the locks was more challenging with shaking hands, which only made Alice and Maddie’s complaints grow louder, which in turn made Selene more nervous.

  “What the hell? Just open the damn door,” Alice said.

  “I’m trying, but I was sleeping, and it is dark!” Selene snapped back.

  “Well, turn on the light!” Alice said.

  Selene stepped back, took a deep breath, and flipped the switch, throwing the apartment into bright light, which made her squint for several seconds but did eventually help.

  When she finally got the last lock unhooked the door flew open and Alice and Maddie rushed in, dragging Selene back to the table and shoving a bottle of champagne in her hand.

  “Let’s celebrate! A night on the town! We’ll just get you dressed and out we’ll go,” Alice said, stomping into the bedroom.

  “Yes! Champagne for you!” Maddie jerked the bottle out of Selene’s hand, and after five unsuccessful attempts to open it handed it back to Selene. “We’ll just wait on the champagne.” She looked around the room, up in corners, underneath the table, and inside the lampshade.

  Drawers opened and slammed shut in the bedroom, and Alice mumbled something Selene couldn’t understand.

  “What the hell is going on?” Selene stood, placing the champagne on the table and turning to get Alice out of the bedroom.

  “We’ve been…we’re selected…we have been chosen as winners of…” Maddie reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “Oh, right. We won the monthly drawing, jointly, we won.” She motioned toward herself, Selene, and then Alice, who had arrived back in the room carrying three trash bags stuffed full of several different items, including a picture of Selene’s parents, which happened to be poking through a hole in the bottom of a bag, created by the frame’s sharp corner.

  “What the hell? Give me that!” Selene moved to grab the bag. “That’s my favorite—”

  “Yeah, I’m aware.” Managing to twist sideways and keep the bags well out of reach, Alice shoved Selene away. “That’s why we’re taking it on our all-expense-paid trip to New York City.” Her voice rose to a near shout.

  Maddie snapped her fingers and smiled. “Exactly. New York. It’ll be fun!”

  Alice’s face held not one bit of enthusiasm. “We’ll be there for a few weeks, and I thought you’d miss the pic. Let’s go.” She marched toward the door, slinging the bags over her shoulder. “Bring the winner, will you Maddie?”

  “Absolutely.” Maddie grabbed the champagne and scooped up a pair of running sneakers by the door. “You should put on some shoes. It’s awfully dirty in the hall.” After smashing them against Selene’s chest she grabbed the high black heels from hell and red flats, too. “You might like to have these. You never know. Alice may have picked outfits for them.”

  Before Selene knew what had happened she found herself standing on the front stoop of the building in the middle of the night in December, holding a bottle of champagne, a pair of running shoes, and wearing a fluffy bathrobe over a pair of pajamas that could also pass for long johns.

  “Brrr. It’s cold.” Maddie gripped Selene’s forearm and pulled her down the steps to a waiting Ford Expedition. “Get inside. You’re going to get frostbite on your toes, and I’ll never forgive myself even though I did tell you to put on the sneakers. Maybe the dirty floor wasn’t a good motivator. I’ll know to use frostbite next time.”

  “What the hell is going on?” Selene demanded while trying not to be kidnapped by two women she once thought might be sane.

  “If you’ll get in, we’ll be on our way to our all-expense-paid trip to New York City.” Alice dumped the bags into the front passenger side of the car before spinning on Selene. “Will you please get into the damn car?” The streak of gray running up the right side of her perfectly straight black hair seemed to glow in the moonlight.

  “No, I will not.” Selene stepped back toward the front steps of her building. “I would know about an all-expense-paid trip to New York. The expenses would have passed my desk, and nothing of the sort has. So until I get some answers, I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Oh, you’re going.” Alice slammed the front door, making the vehicle with black tinted windows seem more ominous than it normally would. Nearly every vehicle owned by The Guard had windows so dark there was no chance of seeing inside.

  “Please get in, Selene. This will be so much more fun if you come willingly,” Maddie said.

  “Someone better start talking or I’m calling Serge.” Selene tossed the bottle of champagne at Alice, whose lightning fast reflexes made it seem like she could very well be a vampire, too.

  “Really? You’re
going to call Serge? With what? A sneaker? You don’t have a cell phone.” Alice leaned on the door and smiled. “I didn’t pack it.”

  Selene glared. Whatever these two were up to, she was certain it would lead to no good. The last time they’d spent any time together outside of work had turned out to be a bit of a disaster. One drink and Maddie was smashed. Alice hit three men, believing each one was a revenant sent by Raymond Tyrone. Selene paid the bill and apologized profusely as they were tossed out of the restaurant before their food arrived.

  “I want to know what is going on right now,” Selene said.

  Ushering her toward the open car door, Maddie said, “A little girls’ weekend. Three days of glor—”

  “Three weeks. Weeks!” Alice lurched forward, pushing both Selene and Maddie inside the vehicle. “Now get in there and enjoy the fucking ride.” The door slammed shut.

  Wrestling her way out from under Maddie, Selene reached for the handle, yanking so hard it broke, though the door didn’t open.

  “Child safety locks are very helpful.” Alice climbed into the driver’s seat, started the car, and set the wheels to squeal when she gunned the gas.

  “I want some damn answers!” Selene shouted, falling back against the seat.

  “You’ll get them,” a deep voice said from behind the seat.

  Four clicks sounded and the cover over the cargo area folded back, revealing three very large vampires, packed like sardines.

  Of all the things she hadn’t planned to see tonight, Oz, Hunter, and Rafe untangling themselves in the back of a truck driving eighty miles per hour down the main drag of Central City was probably high on that list.

  HER VAMPIRE PROTECTOR

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  In spite of the size of the vehicle, being crammed into the cargo hold with two other vampires was a painfully tight fit, and Oz was more than thankful Hunter climbed over the seats to sit up front with Alice.

  “You did a great job, babe,” Rafe said, sliding onto the seat beside Maddie and passing three bags of Selene’s possessions into the cargo area.

  Glancing over her shoulder and leaning back against him, Maddie gave a smile and a nod, and Oz had the feeling he was eavesdropping on a secret moment.

  “You taking eighty-fifth out to the highway?” Hunter asked.

  “Yep,” Alice said. In the mirror Oz saw her eyebrow rise as her gaze slanted toward her mate.

  “Okay. I’m not saying a word.” Hunter looked out the side window. “Even though cutting over to Monument Drive would be faster.”

  “You’re not driving, if that’s what you’re trying for. We both know I’m the better driver.” Alice grinned when Hunter scoffed, tossing his head back. “Right.”

  It wasn’t lost on him how both women looked at their mates, as if the entire world revolved around these men. A twist of jealousy burned in his chest, and he wished he’d had more time alone in the church with Selene.

  That was the one place he knew without question she felt safe. It made sense that she’d be the most at ease with him there, maybe even consider him as more than a gigolo if she got to know him.

  “What the hell is going on?” Selene demanded, and it was a tone Oz had never heard. She jockeyed around to sit sideways on the seat. “Kidnapping is against the law, whether you’re a vampire or not!”

  Her hair swung loose over her shoulders when she turned her angry gaze from person to person. With narrowed eyes and clenched teeth she looked a lot more menacing than Oz had ever seen.

  One hand held the back of the front passenger seat and the fingers of the other dug into the back of the seat where she sat, making her knuckles turn white.

  If it hadn’t been for the gaping flannel bathrobe and fuzzy pajamas, she might have been intimidating. But the alternating teddy bears dancing across her chest did very little to either make her seem like the brute her posture would portray or minimize the way her shirt clung to her breasts, giving Oz and every other man in the car the opportunity to see that her nipples were hidden under teddy bear bellies.

  “Well?” She smacked Oz on the side of his head.

  “What was that for?” He caught her hand before another slap landed on his face.

  “Are you planning to answer my question or stare at my boobs?” She leaned forward so that her face lowered to chest level and her angry hazel eyes appeared in front of Oz’s line of vision.

  “Uhhh.” He frowned, considering how he wanted more than to stare at her boobs, though now did not seem like the best time to admit that fact or share any other ideas. “What was the question?”

  “She wants to know—” Maddie began, but very quickly stopped speaking when Selene turned on her.

  “I can speak for myself. I don’t need any more of your help. Thank you very, very much.” Selene snarled at Maddie, who pressed backward into Rafe.

  This was a side of Selene Oz had never seen. He was certain no one in this vehicle had seen her this angry.

  “Oswald, what the hell is going on?” Selene’s hand shot out, fisted Oz’s shirt, and she yanked him forward until his chest was flat against the seat and their noses were not more than four inches apart. “My face is up here.”

  “Uh, right. Right. Your face is…I…it’s a pretty face.”

  The sound of Selene’s other hand landing on Oz’s cheek made everyone’s eyes widen.

  “If you say one more thing about my body and how I look or if you even think about looking at my breasts again, I swear I’ll beat you senseless.” Selene’s teeth gritted. Her little body shook. If her eyes turned red and shot lasers, Oz would not have been surprised.

  “Ouch,” Hunter whispered. “Sounds like things aren’t going so well for The Wizard.”

  “I’ll say,” Alice said.

  Oz cringed. The other members of The Guard nicknamed him The Wizard in the 1930s when the movie came out, and the damn name had stuck. Until recently, when he met Selene he hadn’t minded. In fact, he’d enjoyed the moniker.

  Times had changed. Judging from the way Selene’s eyes darted to the side, then back, but not returning to meet Oz’s gaze, he knew she didn’t like it. He was certain that damn name only served to make her think of him as the male whore he’d once been.

  “Selene, I asked Alice and Maddie to help sneak you out of the apartment to keep you away from Panthera,” he said, finally gathering some semblance of common sense.

  “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Alice huffed. “According to the men in this vehicle—”

  “And Serge and Garrison. Let’s not forget they’re agreement with this plan,” Maddie said.

  “Right. All of them.” Alice waved a circle in the air. “They believe your apartment is bugged and that Panthera is monitoring your moves, conversations, who you’re seeing. The whole nine yards.”

  “What?” The bright red color that had flamed Selene’s cheeks drained from her face. “How? Why?”

  “Cameras on the outside of the building. A camera in the kitchen light, and a mic in the nightstand lamp,” Alice said.

  “Was that all you saw?” Oz asked.

  “Yeah. We didn’t have a lot of time to go poking about. She wasn’t exactly a willing accomplice in this kidnapping,” Alice said.

  “No. She was terrible,” Maddie added.

  Selene released Oz’s shirt and turned forward, slumping against the seat. “This can’t be true. Why would he monitor me?”

  “Your parents worked for Panthera,” Rafe said.

  “Yes, but my parents have been dead for years.” Selene bent forward and put her head between her legs. The sound of rapid breaths followed.

  Oz motioned to Rafe to switch spots with him, and after a quick nod Rafe slipped over the seat into the cargo area, then leaned forward to help Maddie climb over.

  Gently dropping beside Selene, Oz rubbed her back. “The desire for vengeance never dies.”

  “Vengeance?” Selene sat up, pushing the curtain of silky brown hair back fr
om her face. It draped over Oz’s hand, and for a moment he lost himself to the sensation of her hair tickling his skin.

  “What in the hell is wrong with you?” Selene’s hand gripped Oz’s shoulder, and she shook with such force his head bobbed.

  “He’s pathetic,” Hunter said.

  “I’ve never seen anyone quite like this,” Rafe said.

  “You’d both be wise to sit quietly before you embarrass yourselves,” Alice said.

  “I’m sorry.” Oz pulled Selene’s hand from his shoulder and focused on the worried look on her face. A tiny wrinkle creased her forehead and her lips drew to a thin straight line. “My mind was wandering to other things.”

  “Are you saying you can’t even pay attention to me for five minutes? Is it too much to ask that you not think about some woman and some…thing…that you’d do to her for even five minutes?” She yanked her hand from his. “You really should go to confession.”

  “It wasn’t some oth—”

  With arms crossed over her chest she glared at him. “Can anyone else, anyone who can keep his mind focused on anything other than chasing women, explain what the hell is going?”

  “Selene, Oz noticed a camera outside your building and realized your apartment was no longer safe for you,” Rafe said.

  “Knowing Raymond as we do, Oz came up with the plan of having these two lovelies pretend to steal you away on a secret all-inclusive girls’ weekend. It made more sense than having us storm in and force you to leave, thus giving away the fact that we know what’s going on,” Hunter said.

  “It really wasn’t a bad plan.” Alice steered the vehicle onto the highway, accelerating fast enough to force Oz back into the seat.

  “Did it ever occur to anyone that when I came to work tomorrow evening you could have simply told me then or would that idea have been too easy?”