Read A Yowling Yuletide Online

Authors: Celeste Hall

Tags: #werecat, #witches, #shapeshifter, #celeste hall, #kitty coven

A Yowling Yuletide (5 page)

BOOK: A Yowling Yuletide
5.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

She grinned up at him in a devilish way that
made his heart clench in his chest.


I’m stubborn,” she
answered simply. “Just like you. We were made for each other. Even
if there were not some element of magic in the way that we came to
be together, I think I would still have fallen in love with
you.”

His hands trembled as he cupped her cheeks
and pressed kisses to each of her eyes, the tip of her nose, and
then full upon her mouth.

After days of being alternately consumed by
pain, anger, and desire, he felt as though he had died and been
reborn. Now all that he felt was an overwhelming amount of joy and
completion, as if she had made him whole once more.

Magic or not, werecat or not, he was madly
in love with this woman.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

 

Matt awakened to the heady aroma of fresh
brewed coffee and a hot breakfast being prepared. It took him only
a moment to remember everything that had happened the night before,
including the elusive red tabby cat.

Miranda. He could hear her softly singing
Christmas carols as she cooked. She was slightly off tune in a few
areas, but to him it was like listening to a choir full of
angels.

She was his salvation. His Christmas
miracle.

Quickly scrambling out of bed, he pulled on
a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before heading down the stairs to
meet her.


Good morning,” she beamed
as he entered the kitchen.

She was wearing a pair of his sweatpants
with the drawstrings tightened up so far it created a small balloon
of bunched up material around her hips. Last night he'd even dug
through all of his drawers to find the smallest t-shirt he owned,
but the clothes swam on her tiny frame.

With the baggy outfit and her bright red
hair forming wilds curls around her face, she looked like the most
beautiful clown he'd ever seen.


You’ve got amazing
timing,” she informed him. “I was just about to come wake you up.
You saved me a trip up the stairs.”


How did you manage all of
this?” He asked, staring in amazement at the table setting and the
incredible smelling food that she was serving onto each
plate.

The renovations on the house had been
completed only a few months ago, with the original intention of
Tanya being the woman using this kitchen. For that reason,
everything was designed to be ultra-modern and ultra-efficient. But
the blonde had never shown the slightest interest in anything she
considered menial labor, including cooking.

The pots, pans and utensils had remained
unused in their boxes. Some of the appliances still had new
purchase stickers on their doors. Matt hadn’t even bothered to
stock the pantry or the refrigerator with anything other than quick
read-to-eat meals that he could simply heat up and eat on his way
to work.


Where did you find all
the ingredients for this?” Without waiting for an answer, he slid
into one of the chairs and greedily devoured several bites before
moaning in absolute appreciation.

He could add cooking to Miranda’s growing
list of virtues.


I stole your keys and
went shopping,” she admitted. “Which reminds me. There are still
some groceries in your car, I couldn’t carry them all across the
pasture in this snow. If this isn’t going to be a white Christmas,
I don’t know what is. We received at least another foot while we
were sleeping.”

She was talking as if carrying an armful of
groceries through at least two and a half feet of snow was no big
deal. He could only stare at her as he shoveled more food into his
mouth, washing it down with hot coffee after she paused to fill up
his mug.


Wouldn’t it be fun if we
got snowed in?” She grinned. “I can imagine we will be if it keeps
snowing like this. We’ll be stuck here, together, all alone. What
will we ever do to entertain ourselves?”

She was teasing him, but he was so astounded
by her positive attitude he was finding it hard to keep up, much
less reply. He wasn’t used to having a woman around that could not
only run his office better than he could ever hope to, but also
cooked, and had no qualms about trudging through snow or muck to
get what she wanted.


I’ve been meaning to get
the tractor out and clean the driveway,” he finally managed. “But
I’ve just been too distracted lately and it was easier for me to
just walk through the pasture.”


You have a tractor?” She
pounced on the idea, just like a cat. “Can I drive it? Will you
show me how? My parents had one for a while and my dad used to let
us steer it around the farm when we were kids. But after they got
out of pork production, they really didn’t have a need for it
anymore, so they sold it.”

He shrugged, helplessly grinning at her
enthusiasm.


Alright, eat your
breakfast and we’ll go play with the tractor.”

Hours later they had rosy cheeks from the
cold and Matt could barely feel his toes, but the entire lane was
cleared and Miranda had mastered the old farm tractor's sticky
clutch.

"Why don't you drive the car up to the house
and I'll follow you with the tractor," Matt suggested, fishing keys
out of his pocket.

Yet as she backed the car out of his
mother's driveway and started up the lane to his house, an
expensive black sedan pulled up next to the tractor.

He didn't bother looking through the window
to see who was driving, because he already knew. It was either his
sister or her millionaire boyfriend.

Matt still didn't appreciate how the wealthy
real estate developer had chosen to purchase the decrepit old farm
across the road from his mother's home. The man could have afforded
any number of larger and more modern parcels available. But he'd
already sunk a small fortune into leveling all of the old buildings
and begun construction on new, much larger ones.

His crew must be running on overtime too,
because Matt had never seen a house go up so fast. Especially one
of that size.

"Was that Miranda I just saw driving off in
your car?" Rachel's voice asked from within the dark car's
interior. But Matt pretended he hadn't heard that question and put
the tractor back into gear, steering it up the lane in the
direction Miranda had taken.

Rachel had inadvertently reminded him of all
the reasons why he’d been pushing the redhead away, and made him
question what kind of future they might actually have together.

From the way Miranda had been talking all
morning, she was ready to move in and spend the rest of her life
with him. But Matt wasn’t sure if he was ready to commit himself to
that kind of relationship, especially after the devastation Tanya
had made of his life.

He really liked Miranda. But he’d seen the
way she’d been looking at Tyson that day in the office. There had
been more than a friendly look shared between them. What if she
were only waiting for Tyson to grow tired of Rachel and start
looking for a new woman?

Would she leave without even saying goodbye,
the way Tanya had?

The thought of Miranda leaving was so
painful it nearly gutted him.

Although he’d only known her for a short
time, he realized that he cared for her on a much deeper level than
he’d ever cared for her predecessor.

By the time he’d returned the tractor to the
barn and trudged back across the pasture to the house where she was
waiting, he’d worked himself back into a black mood. Yet as he
opened the door to the house, Miranda was there to meet him with
two steaming mugs of hot chocolate in her hands, and his heart
melted into a puddle at his feet.

Ignoring her small cries of protest, he
seized both cups and deposited them onto the kitchen counter,
heedless of the sticky brown liquid he’d sloshed everywhere.

Then he turned and scooped the girl up into
his arms, feeling his chest constrict as she willingly wrapped her
arms around his neck and allowed him to carry her back upstairs to
the bedroom.


What’s the hurry farm
boy?” She laughed as he plopped her down on the bed and began
kicking off his shoes.


I just realized
something,” he told her, grinning down at the baggy outfit she was
still wearing, and her rosy nose and cheeks.


What’s that?”


I have a thing for
incredibly sexy clowns.”

All I Want for Christmas

 

The snow storm continued until Thursday, the
day before Christmas.

Miranda had finally gone home, but she’d
come back an hour later with a mysterious cardboard box and a
zippered clothing bag.


I wanted to bring
everything I might need for dinner tomorrow, so I wouldn’t need to
make another trip back to the house,” she explained before
hesitating, her eyebrows drawing together in concern. “Am I still
uninvited, or is it alright if I join you now?”

Matt cringed as he recalled the lie he’d
told her, knowing she had immediately recognized it for what it
was, an attempt to keep her away from him and his family. But
things had drastically changed over the last few days.

They’d spent almost every moment together
and Matt knew he was in serious jeopardy of having his heart broken
again.

Rachel would be bringing Tyson as her date,
and Matt just couldn’t stop thinking about the way that Tyson and
Miranda had interacted together that day in the office.

It wasn’t just the way that she’d looked at
him. It was how the other man had made her laugh and how he’d
talked to her as if they’d known each other for years.

Matt couldn’t help but feel that there was
something more going on behind the smiles they’d shared, and it
stirred up something fiercely jealous inside him. He was afraid
that if he took Miranda to the dinner, she might decide that she’d
be happier with Tyson. Just as Tanya had.

He could be setting himself up for the fall.
But he also knew how much it would hurt Miranda if he didn’t invite
her, and that was something he just couldn’t do again. He’d put her
through too much pain already.

So he did his best to smile as he helped her
carry her things up to the bedroom.


I’m sorry I told you that
you couldn’t go,” he admitted setting the box and garment bag on
the bed so he could pull her into his arms and just hold her. “I
want nothing more than to spend Christmas with you.”

An idea sparked and he quickly
continued.


In fact, you’re the only
one I want to spend Christmas with,” he told her. “So let’s have
our own private dinner here, at the house. We can go shopping today
and pick up all the groceries we’ll need. Then we can cook it up
together, light some candles, and just enjoy being
together.”

He could tell that she liked the idea, but
after a moment she shook her head.


That sounds really nice,”
she murmured. “But Rachel told me about your mother and
Thanksgiving. I don’t want to be the reason she loses another
holiday with her only son. Let’s do the private dinner tonight,
then we can go spend Christmas with your family, like you
promised.”

Matt sighed and kissed her briefly on the
lips.


You really are an angel.
All right, we’ll go to dinner with my family. But I’m not making
any promises to be nice to Tyson.”

She only smiled and kissed him again.

* * *

The next morning was Christmas and they
surprised each other with gifts which weren’t really a surprise
because they’d actually gone shopping for them together. Then they
went back to bed – and didn’t sleep – until close to one in the
afternoon.

BOOK: A Yowling Yuletide
5.85Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

Again and Again by E. L. Todd
The Mailman's Tale by Carl East
Soldier's Game by James Killgore
Hunted by Kaylea Cross
The Clover House by Henriette Lazaridis Power
Fenella Miller by To Love Again
The Fire Artist by Whitney, Daisy
Kelly Clan 02 - Connor by Madison Stevens
Almost Perfect by Dianne Blacklock