Holidays Are Hell

by Kim Harrison

  “Ha ha,” she said dryly and then heaved a sigh and slumped on the passenger seat, resting her head on her front paws with dejection. “I guess I’ll have to go as a dog.”

  It wasn’t how she’d imagined a first meeting with his family would be.

  Nick glanced at her dejected state and frowned before turning his attention back to the road. When he turned right several moments later, and the SUV bounced slightly as it went over the lip of a driveway, Jill sat up and peered around curiously, expecting to see that they’d arrived at his sister’s house. Instead, she found herself staring out at the large parking lot of a mall.

  “What are we doing here?” she asked with bewilderment as he steered the car down the ramp into underground parking.

  “There’s something I need to pick up before we go to my sister’s,” Nick answered as he pulled into an empty parking spot in the back corner of the complex. Turning off the engine, he glanced at her with concern. “Will you be all right here by yourself for a few minutes?”

  “Yes, of course,” she murmured, her gaze sliding over the other cars. It was winter and cold out, but there weren’t many people around either coming or going from vehicles. Jill supposed when it got cold or inclement, workers of the shops in the mall who started first thing in the morning took up the majority of spaces in the underground parking. Nick had probably been lucky to find an open spot.

  “I’ll be as quick as I can,” he assured her and then slipped out of the truck.

  Jill watched him walk across the parking lot to the elevators that would carry him up into the mall itself, then relaxed back on the seat, a little sigh slipping out. Her mind was filled with thoughts. Worrying mostly, about where John was. Was he back at her store, searching it? Checking her house to see if she’d gone there? Or he might be headed to Kyle’s house expecting her to head there for help.

  That last thought made her sit up anxiously. She wished she’d been able to reach her brother. Something bumped against her paw as she shifted and she found herself peering down at the cell phone Nick had left on the seat with her and stilled. She should try the house again. If John were headed that way, who knew what he’d do to her brother and his family. Jill pawed at the phone and even managed to flip it open using her paws and nose, but punching in the numbers was impossible. The keypads were just too tiny.

  Growling in frustration, she peered around the parking garage again, but now that she worried that John was heading to Kyle and Claire’s, she was overwhelmed with the desperate need to call there. She peered around the SUV’s interior, searching for a pencil or something she could hold in her mouth and use to punch in the numbers, but there didn’t appear to be anything like that.

  Her gaze slid to the elevator in time to see the doors open as it disgorged a couple of people. Neither of them were Nick. Jill’s gaze slid back to the phone. She had to call her brother. If she changed back to herself, she could. She’d also be naked.

  Jill shifted on her paws, trying to decide what to do. She couldn’t show up at Nick’s sister’s house naked…She needed to warn her brother…

  Naked. Brother. The two words began to alternate in her mind.

  Growling with frustration, she turned on the seat and peered into the back of the SUV, hoping to find something to help her out of this situation. She sighed with relief on spotting the red plaid throw folded neatly on the back seat.

  Perfect! she thought happily. She could change back into herself, wrap herself in the blanket and call her brother. Then she could wear the blanket to Kyle’s sister’s, where he could slip in and maybe borrow something for her to wear. That way she could try calling Kyle right away and hopefully warn him before John got there.

  The plan had its flaws, but it was better than nothing, she told herself. Besides, she simply couldn’t sit there doing nothing while her family might be in danger.

  Mind made up, Jill leapt between the two front seats into the back, dropped onto the floor in front of the seat, and closed her eyes. Just wanting to be herself had been enough to cause the shift while she’d been on the float and on the street, so that’s what Jill concentrated on. She wanted to be herself. She repeated that refrain in her mind several times, then cautiously opened her eyes and peered down, relieved when instead of black fur, she found herself staring at her own pale flesh.

  “Yes,” she breathed and snatched up the folded blanket, only to freeze as it dropped open and she saw that it wasn’t a blanket at all, but a plaid scarf. A large scarf to be sure, measuring perhaps five feet long and a foot wide, but still just a scarf. Jill closed her eyes briefly and groaned.

  She should have examined it before carrying out the change. She should have…

  Really, it was too late for should haves, Jill told herself firmly and forced herself to examine the scarf. It wasn’t a blanket, but it was large for a scarf and would just have to do. She shifted the material around in her hands, considering the best way to cover the most she could with the scrap of cloth. Finally, she wrapped it around the back of her neck, brought both sides down over her breasts, and then tucked the ends of the material between her legs. This covered all the vital spots, but just barely. Unfortunately, it was the best she could do and it was too late to change her mind; she didn’t have a picture of the dog or anything else to change back into now.

  Grimacing, Jill leaned around the back of the front seat and tried to snatch up the phone, but it was farther away than she’d thought and all she managed to do was brush it with her fingertips and send it slipping off the seat onto the floor in front.

  “Perfect,” she muttered to herself and rose up enough to peer around the parking garage. Fortunately, there didn’t appear to be anyone around to witness it, so, muttering under her breath, Jill quickly climbed between the front seats into the front of the vehicle, then dropped onto the floor there to keep out of sight as she searched around for the phone. It took her a moment to realize she’d sat herself on it, but then she found it, flipped it open, and punched in her brother’s number.

  As had happened every time before this, the phone rang several times before being picked up by the answering machine. Jill hung up as soon as she heard her brother’s recorded message and then stared at the phone unhappily, wishing she’d bothered to memorize his cell phone number. Unfortunately, with it programmed into her cell phone, she’d never taken the trouble to memorize it. Why bother when all she had to do was hit contacts, find her brother’s name, and hit dial?

  Now she peered absently around what she could see of the car interior from her position, running numbers through her mind trying to recall it by memory. She was sure it ended with 1432…or maybe 1342…1234?

  Growling with frustration, Jill lowered her head, then jerked it back up in surprise when the driver’s door suddenly opened. Nick peered in, frowning when he didn’t see her on the passenger’s seat, then froze when he spotted her on the floor.

  “You changed back,” he said with surprise.

  “I’m really worried that John might go to Kyle’s. I wanted to try calling him again,” Jill explained apologetically, drawing her knees closer to her body to help cover up her near nudity.

  “Oh.” Nick hesitated, glanced around the garage behind him, then stepped up into the vehicle, dragging a large shopping bag with him as he settled in the driver’s seat and pulled the door closed. He then glanced at her again, only to pause and blink. “Is that my scarf you’re wearing?”

  “Oh.” Jill glanced down at herself self-consciously and drew her knees even closer still to her chest. “It was the only thing I could find in here.”

  He bit his lip, she suspected to keep from grinning, and then said, “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I picked this up then.”

  Jill’s eyebrows rose as he now offered her the bag he’d brought with him.

  “What is it?” she asked rather than take the bag.

  “A dress,” he answered quietly. “I thought maybe you’d prefer not being a dog the first time you
met my family…or borrowing clothes. I thought you might rather change back into yourself and wear this to my sister’s house.”

  “Oh,” Jill breathed and then lifted shining eyes to his. He was such a thoughtful man, so smart and clever and caring. God, she could love this man. Maybe already did. She’d known him for six months. This certainly wasn’t the first time he’d shown this considerate, caring side. He’d shown her that and much more since moving into the store next door. He’d proven himself funny, and smart and insightful and sweet…Yes, she might very well love the man. And he apparently liked her back. He’d admitted to her when she was Noelle that he was more interested in her than in any other woman since leaving his wife. Maybe…

  “If you keep looking at me like that…”

  Jill let her thoughts die and blinked at Nick. His expression had gone serious, his eyes hot and intense. It reminded her of those few passionate moments at the end of the alley, of his arms around her, his mouth on hers, his hands sliding over her body…and she wanted to experience all that again, this time as herself, in her own body, not a body borrowed from a calendar.

  “If I keep looking at you like that…what?” she asked softly.

  Nick was silent, his gaze slipping down over her, taking in the bit of cloth she’d tried to place so strategically and the expanse of flesh it didn’t cover. Jill felt his gaze like a caress. Goose bumps began popping up on her skin and she shivered where she sat, her eyelids growing heavy and her mouth parting on a little sigh.

  Suddenly he was leaning forward, seemingly unable to stop himself from pressing his lips to her invitingly open mouth.

  Jill breathed out a little sigh as his mouth covered hers and she began to struggle to get her arms free of the cramped space she’d put herself in so that she could touch him. She wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and press her body to his as she had at the mouth of the alley, but was trapped by her position. Briefly. Then Nick suddenly caught her by the arms and lifted her up onto the seat.

  Jill murmured her relief and gratitude into his mouth as she slid her arms around his shoulders, uncaring that the movement had dislodged the scarf, revealing anything he wished to see. Nick cared though. Breaking the kiss, he pulled back slightly and peered down over her, and she followed his glance, noting that her nipples were already hard and erect, eager for his touch.

  As if unable to stop himself, Nick reached out and ran one finger lightly over the exposed tip, then bent his head to cover it with his lips. Jill cried out and arched on the seat, her hand drifting into his hair and holding on as he suckled, but it was too much too quick and she found herself tugging at his hair, urging him back up to kiss her.

  Nick gave in to the demand and covered her mouth with his, quickly deepening the kiss with a thrust of his tongue. His hand replaced his mouth at her breast, caressing and teasing the hard peak and making her writhe and moan beneath him.

  That seemed to cut loose the last of his restraint, because Nick groaned deep in his throat and propelled himself forward, pushing himself out of his seat and forcing her back against her own as he came over her. She felt the leather against her back, then the seat suddenly collapsed beneath her and she found herself flat on her back with Nick on top, his hands roaming her body as his mouth pillaged hers.

  Jill gasped and arched as his hands closed on her skin, each claiming a breast, and this time didn’t protest when Nick broke their kiss again and moved his mouth away to begin a trail down her neck.

  “I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” he breathed against her throat as he moved lower. “You don’t know how hard it’s been not to kiss or touch you all this time.”

  Jill’s answer was to arch and whimper with need as his lips trailed over her collarbone and began to crest the curve of her breast.

  “How many times I’ve sat eating my lunch, thinking how beautiful you are, how much I wanted to touch you and taste you and…” His words died as he reached her breast once more and covered her nipple, sucking it into his warm, wet mouth so that his tongue could swirl around it.

  Jill’s entire body seemed to tighten up in reaction this time, one hand clawing at his shoulder, the other tugging viciously at his hair, trying to make him kiss her again.

  Nick ignored the silent demand this time and simply suckled harder as one hand moved to cover her other breast and tease the nipple there.

  Jill opened her mouth to beg him to stop it and kiss her again, then nearly bit off her tongue when she felt his other hand begin sliding up her thigh.

  A little alarmed at how out of control she felt and at how quickly this was all going, Jill caught his shoulder and tugged hard, relieved when this time he gave in to her and slid up her body to kiss her.

  Jill kissed him back passionately, but wanted more. She wanted him kissing her, suckling at her breast, and she wanted to have him inside her. She wanted it all.

  Frustrated by the clothing separating them, Jill began to tug at his shirt, dragging it out of his jeans with more desperation than finesse. The moment it was loose, she slid her hands under the material and hungrily ran them over his bare flesh, but it wasn’t enough. She’d wanted him for so long—forever it seemed now—and need was exploding inside her, making her demanding as her hands slid down to his jeans and began to tug insistently. When the jeans didn’t slide down his body, she changed tactics and managed to squirm her hand into the waistband and find him with her fingers.

  Nick groaned into her mouth, his hips instinctively thrusting into the caress as she touched him.

  “God,” he gasped and pressed his mouth to her neck now, one hand sliding down along her hip as he ground against her.

  Jill pressed a kiss to his forehead and ran her fingers over him again. In the next moment, Nick had shifted them both to their sides facing each other. He then used one hand to catch her by the back of the neck and pull her face forward for a masterful kiss as his other hand went searching. As his tongue thrust into her, his fingers found the hot wet core of her and began to explore.

  Jill cried out into his mouth and bucked against his seeking hand, her own fingers squeezing hard around him. She thought she’d explode any minute, was almost desperate to do so, then laughter hit her ear and startled her back to awareness of where they were.

  It had the same effect on Nick and he suddenly stilled too. They pulled slightly apart and stared at each other briefly, then Nick raised his head and peered out the window. When he didn’t say anything, she rose up to peer out as well, and bit her lip as she saw a pair of young men coming from the direction of the elevator and starting along the row of cars toward them.

  It was enough to have Jill and Nick scrambling. He shifted back into the driver’s seat, and picked up the bag to drag out the dress he’d purchased as Jill slid back to the floor, and out of view of the windows. She began to don it without even really looking at it, managing to tug it on and down over her hips in record time.

  “Here.” Nick leaned down toward her and Jill stilled, unsure what he was doing until he straightened away with the price tag in hand.

  Jill’s gaze flickered over the tag and she smiled with gratitude, then pushed herself up out of the small floor space and onto the seat, tugging the dress down over her hips and upper legs as she went.

  A glance out the window showed the two young men just passing by the SUV, not seeming to even notice them inside. She watched them walk to a car several down from their own, then let a little sigh slip from her lips. Part of her resented the interruption of what she and Nick had been doing, but another part was confused. She’d liked the man for ages and wondered why he’d never made a move, but now things seemed to be moving in high gear. It was a bit overwhelming.

  “Are you all right?” Nick brushed his hand lightly over her cheek, his expression concerned when she turned to peer at him.

  Forcing a smile, she nodded. “I—Yes. It’s all just a little…”

  “Intense,” he suggested quietly when her voice faltered.
r />   Jill nodded solemnly. Intense was a good word for it. Another word was overwhelming.

  Nick leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose, then hugged her comfortingly.

  “It will be all right,” he murmured by her ear. “It’s just that we’ve been seeing each other for six months and all these feelings have built up and…” He paused to clear his throat, then said, “I’m sorry if I was rushing you.”

  Jill’s breath came out on a soft laugh. “You aren’t rushing me. I mean, it’s all rather overwhelming, but you didn’t do anything I didn’t want and…” Frowning, she took a breath and admitted, “I want you. I really do. I’m hard pressed not to ask you to make love to me right here and now, but there’s so much going on, so much to worry about. I’m worried about what John Heathcliffe is doing right now, about whether Kyle and Claire are safe and—”

  “Shh, I know.” Nick hugged her a little tighter and rubbed her back soothingly. “I know. It’s all happening at the same time. I think that’s one of Murphy’s laws or something. But we can handle all this together. We’ll go to my sister’s where you’ll be safe in a crowd of people. You can keep calling your brother and his wife until you get through to them and we’ll take care of this Heathcliffe character. Then we’ll deal with the us part of the equation. Okay?”

  Jill smiled into his shoulder and nodded. They’d handle it together and then deal with the us part of the equation. It had a nice ring to it.

  “Okay,” she whispered into his shoulder and he pulled back slightly to peer at her.

  “We are going to deal with the us part though, Jill,” he reassured her solemnly as if she might think he was just putting her off. “We have something special here and my year is up. My divorce is final and I’m now free to pursue you like I want to.”

  Jill smiled at his expression, and then whispered, “It’s about time. Pursue away.”

  Nick grinned and then kissed her again before saying, “We should get moving.”

  “Yes,” Jill whispered, settling back in her seat and doing up her seat belt.