Hunger.
Raw, unbridled hunger roared through her. Her body ached like it was on fire and the only thing that could stem the heat was him. Nicholas.
Mine.
His abrupt confession of love was shocking, as was his declaration that they were fated mates. The moment he gave voice to it, her Wolf howled in joy at the revelation.
Yes, her beast growled inside of her mind’s eye. He is ours. Mate.
Then their kiss took over like wildfire spreading through her. Only the sounds of footsteps approaching had stopped her. Even then, Nick’s eyes had glowed a bright sky blue at the interruption.
“Easy,” she whispered, kissing his bearded chin and rubbing his chest with her hand.
“Stephanie?” It was Chris, the teen photographer. “The kids are asking for Santa,” he said.
“Alright Chris, he’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She looked up into Nick’s eyes and saw him trying to battle down the beast within him. Smiling at his near loss of control, she kissed him softly, giving in to the need to soothe him.
“I’m not finished,” he whispered, kissing her back.
“Go take pictures with the kids. You and I will talk about this later, okay?”
“You promise, baby? No more running away?”
“No more running away. You and Clara can stay for some snacks after we close the stand. Then we can chat.”
Nicholas’s chest reverberated with his growl, and she loved the way it trembled through her own body. She kissed him once more, a short, quick meeting of lips. Then Stephanie and Nick walked back to his Santa seat.
He turned to the kids and waved, getting back into character, and she was stuck staring at him for a little bit longer than she’d intended. Finally, duties took her away, and she managed to get her mind back on work for the next couple of hours.
Carols played in the background as the last customers tied their trees to their cars and placed their bundles in the trunk and back seats. Children waved goodbye, tiny faces happy and so hopeful that Santa was going to bring them everything they wished for.
Stephanie really loved the holidays. All the festivities, the decorations, the food, the music, the company, but what she loved the most was the hope. Yes, that was it. It seemed to her that there were roughly eight weeks a year when everyone in the entire world, regardless of color, species, or creed, acted a little nicer, breathed a little easier, and smiled a little freer.
“What are you thinking about, baby?”
She smiled softly as Nicholas approached the fence where she was leaning, watching her customers pull away. His chocolate peppermint scent wrapped around her like a warm blanket. So familiar and delicious.
“I was just thinking about hope.”
“Hope?”
“Yeah, you know, Christmas is a time filled with hope.”
She shrugged and turned around to see Nick out of his Santa suit, in a pair of well-worn jeans and a soft flannel. Clara was running around giggling at the new flakes that were falling from the sky and Stephanie’s heart melted.
“She’s wonderful,” she said, nodding at the pup.
“Thanks. I’ve done my best, but it’s hard now that she’s getting older, being a single dad and all.”
“Her mother?”
“Not in the picture. Never was interested in being a mom, but she had her and handed her over to me the week after she was born.”
“Wow,” Stephanie frowned. “Well, why don’t you both come inside for some food? I made a platter of sandwiches with pickles and chips on the side.”
“Sounds excellent. Clara, honey, let’s go inside and eat with Stephanie.”
“Okay, Daddy!” Clara called and ran over to the grown-ups.
Stephanie watched the little girl hurl herself at her father, and Nick caught her easily, prosthetic and all, and swung her up to perch on his shoulder. She smiled, finding she very much liked the small family. Maybe even loved?
Eeek. That was such a tiny word, and it meant so many things. She wasn’t sure yet. Not about him or herself. And she definitely didn’t want to involve the child in something that might not work out. But maybe if she stopped fighting him, fighting fate, it would.
Mine.
She rolled her eyes as her Wolf made her own thoughts known. Her animal half had been panting after the redheaded Wolf for weeks now. But this, like everything else in her life, was complicated.
Stephanie led the way to the main house which sat a few hundred feet away from the barn store, right against the woods and behind the south most tree lot. Clara chatted away happily about the people she saw and the cookies they’d baked. The little girl was a whirlwind of energy.
“Do you have a smart TV with streaming networks?”
“I sure do,” she told the child. “A seventy-inch one with every streaming station available.”
“Daddy, can I watch?”
“Ask Stephanie, Clarabel.”
“Can I?”
“Sure. I’ll bring you some sandwiches on a tray, how’s that?”
“Sweet!”
Stephanie laughed as Clara zipped past her into the living room. Nicholas took her hand and gave it a squeeze as he moved into the kitchen with her.
“Coffee?”
“Sure.”
“Cream or sugar?”
“Black,” he said and grinned.
“What’s that look for?”
“I just like looking at you,” he shrugged.
“This is pretty domestic, isn’t it?” Stephanie giggled as she put little triangles of sandwiches onto a plate with chips and pickles.
She sat them on a tray and added a small plate of cookies, orange slices, and a tall glass of milk. Nick reached for the tray, and she gave it to him, listening as he instructed his daughter to be tidy, and to be sure to eat her fruit before the cookies.
“Yes, Daddy,” the little girl grumbled.
“She all set?” Stephanie asked when he returned to the kitchen, and the big man nodded and took the seat she indicated at the kitchen counter.
The kitchen was a bit old-fashioned with white and blue tiled countertops, butter yellow paint on the walls, and solid oak cabinets. She’d added some checked curtains and ceramic cannisters, along with some modern appliances the old farmhouse had done without.
“You like to cook, huh?”
“Love it, actually,” she shrugged.
“What’s your favorite meal to prepare?”
“Oh, I guess I never thought of that,” she paused a moment with her hand in a bag of chips.
“Thanksgiving. I love to cook for the holidays, but there is something about brining a turkey, and spending the whole day before preparing the vegetables and sides that really makes me feel useful or productive, maybe.”
She felt her cheeks flame at the confession, and fully expected him to laugh or make fun, but he didn’t. To Stephanie’s astonishment, Nick just smiled kindly and accepted the plate of food.
“I guess it’s silly,” she added, making him frown with his first bite.
“Why is it silly?” He asked after he’d swallowed.
“I don’t know,” she replied, realizing her reply was inane at best.
“Sit down, stop fussing with those chips and talk to me.”
It was strange and wonderful to be eating a late and casual dinner in her kitchen with a gorgeous man who seemed to be interested in more than getting inside her pants. With his little girl watching cartoons inside, a bowl of sour cream and cheddar chips between them, Stephanie and Nick were the picture of domestic bliss.
She should have been running for the hills, but instead, she smiled warmly at him. There was nowhere else she wanted to be at the moment. Maybe not ever.
“What do you want to know about me?” She asked, giving a man carte blanche to ask insider deets for the first time in her life.
“Anything. Everything,” he laughed and popped a pickle in his mouth.
“Well, you know I’ve been a widow for some time. I recently closed my business in town. I used to run a flower shop called Moonlight Blossoms. Anyway, I sold my client list, and I came home to this place. I grew up here,” she explained.
“Must be why you seem so confident and at home,” he mused, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
“I guess,” she replied breathlessly.
Just being near him was doing fantastic things to her insides. If anyone would have asked Stephanie if she ever thought a man could make her heart pound, her pulse race, and her body ache with need, she would have said sure, thirty years ago. But here she was, closer to fifty than ever, and her body was reacting to Nicholas in ways she’d never experienced.
Her acute hearing told her Clara was still watching TV and munching on her food, and that was the only reason, or so she told herself, that Stephanie stood up and moved till she was standing between his long legs. She didn’t have to do much more, Nicholas’ arms wrapped around her, and soon he was crushing his mouth to hers.
“Mm, baby, you taste so good,” he murmured, devouring her with his next kiss like a man starved.
She loved the roughness of his lips, the firm insistence that made her whimper and moan, allowing his tongue to slip inside. His kiss was devastating as the man himself. Were she younger, this kiss would have ruined her for any other.
Mate, her Wolf growled softly.
“Daddy!” Clara called, breaking them apart, and not a moment too soon.
“Yeah, Clarabel?” he asked, turning his head slightly so as not to yell in her face.
She was happy to see he was a little out of breath himself. The hot hard length of him pulsed against her belly, and for the first time in ages, Stephanie’s body responded in kind.
“Are we leaving soon? I’m sleepy,” the little girl replied.
“Sure, honey. Give me a minute.”
Nick turned to Stephanie. He kissed her lips and hugged her close.
“Look, I know you are scared and unsure. I can see it in your sapphire eyes, and feel it right in here,” he said, gesturing to his chest. “But I swear to you, I want more than you think. You are my fated mate, Stephanie. I want to claim you, to be yours in every way.”
“You do?”
“I do.” He was confident in that, at least.
“Now,” he began more seriously, “I know I am what some Shifters consider damaged goods because of my foot, and yes, I come as a package deal. It’s me and Clara, two peas in a pod. But Stephanie, I think you know that, and I hope you also know just how much we need you and want you in our lives, baby,” he said.
Nicholas smiled with feeling whenever he spoke about his child, and her heart squeezed inside her chest. She’d always wanted more children, had loved Cassie with all her heart from the second she’d set eyes on her late husband’s child. Heck, she still did. Cassie was Stephanie’s daughter from that moment on.
As for little Clara, well, the pup was simply wonderful from what Stephanie knew of her already. How could she be anything else with so loving and attentive a father?
Nicholas’ thumbs made little circles on Stephanie’s waist, where he held her gently against his hard body. Silly man, to think his injury made him anything less than desirable in her eyes.
He was saying all sorts of wonderful things, phrases and promises she’d long since given up hope of hearing or believing. But she found herself really wanting to believe him. Maybe it was time, she thought as she listened to him.
“What you don’t know, Stephanie, is that I swear to love you better and longer than anyone else ever has. You think about that when you go to bed tonight, baby. And I’ll be back tomorrow. Just me. Then you can decide.”
He kissed her gently, and she swore she heard soft silver bells ringing in the distance, as if the Fates themselves were celebrating the moment, marking the minute she felt her heart sway completely towards the big, sexy Santa.
Maybe they were, she thought.
Ho ho ho, indeed.