Why’d I buy him a dog? I should have gotten him a new sniper rifle, I thought, dismayed. A dog isn’t going to one-up this damned armory they’re giving him.
“Hey, Sasha, you’ve known Russ a long time, right? Way longer than me, anyway.”
“Too long if you ask me.” The lioness winked. “Why?”
“Do you think I did the right thing with the puppy?”
“Why are you having second thoughts, sweetie?” Jada looked at me in concern. “She hasn’t been any trouble, I promise.”
“Well…” I fidgeted and wished I hadn’t brought it up. Then again, if I couldn’t talk to my best friends, who could I talk to? “What if he doesn’t want to train her? I sort of worry he gets bored staying at home.”
“Russ, bored at home? Are you kidding me?” Leigh asked. One of her brows shot up.
I wound a lock of hair around my finger. Normally Leigh was the worrier, always fretting about whether the guys were happy as retired, married men. It must have been infectious, because the most recent trip to Russia kept me on pins and needles, in a persistently troubled state. As the days stretched in silence without word from our husbands, I wondered if his number was finally up and Ian would arrive on our doorstep with awful news.
All I’d wanted for Christmas was to have my husband back, safe from harm.
“The guys seemed really eager to escape to Russia—”
“Oh, Dani, trust me. Russia wasn’t something they wanted to do,” Sasha assured me. “We had to go and Russ really made a difference in everything over there. Nobody else knows the language as well, and he can speak like a native.”
“It’s just, I thought…” The words remained on the tip of my tongue, eluding me. My mouth became dry and my heart slammed against my ribs. “I feel selfish for this, but when they said they were retiring, I thought that would be the end of it. When does it stop? Does it stop?”
“It’ll get better, I promise.” Sasha squeezed my shoulder.
I could only hope she was right.
Russ
Christmas lights twinkled from every corner of the two story house, and a large pine tree bedecked in shiny tinsel dominated a corner of the living room. The pile of wrapped presents covered the floor beneath the branches, bearing gifts for everyone in the household, including the guests.
Ian and Taylor had the larger homes, both two stories, spacious, and most suited to hosting all of our friends and close family in a single room without us stepping all over each other. And while I did enjoy my friend’s generosity, his place was yet another reminder of what Dani and I lacked; I needed to expand my former bachelor pad into something suitable for a growing family.
“Cookie?” Leigh offered. She wore a green dress and white leggings tucked into green slippers. She and Dani had matching elf ears and festive clothing in similar styles, but Dani’s tight red dress and black leggings suited her hourglass figure. She claimed she’d gained weight since having Mateo, but I thought she’d never looked better. All I wanted was to hustle her away into a spare room for a few moments of private time. Tugging down the bodice of her dress and letting both full breasts spill free into my hands.
“Russ?” Leigh repeated.
“Crap, sorry. Was daydreaming,” I muttered. After breathing in the sweet smell of vanilla, I helped myself to some sugar cookies from her platter.
“Musta been some good daydream,” Leigh teased. “Take another, there’s more in the oven.”
“Good lord, woman. Why’d y’all bake so many?”
She chuckled. “You guys put them away so fast last year, I wanted to guarantee the actual children had their shot.”
“Trust me, you’ll be thanking us for sparing you from having a sugared-up monster on your hands.”
Leigh’s daughter, Sophia, played with Mateo in the warm glow from the fireplace. Coloring books and plastic building blocks were spread out between the children, as well as cookie crumbs and empty juice boxes. Sasha joined them and presented each kid with a plush lion, a sight which made me smile. Another toy to add to Mateo’s stuffed menagerie. His favorite was still the black bear I’d given him the day he was born. It was a fitting gift, considering he’d eventually develop his own shifting ability. I looked forward to the day.
“Where’s Nadir and Juni?” Leigh asked while she passed out mugs of spiced cider. She pressed a steaming mug into my hand, and the scent of cinnamon, clove, and apple drifted to my nose.
“They’re carpooling and running late,” I answered with a half fib. “They’ll be popping in real soon, I bet.” Truth was, they were doing me a favor.
She gave me a skeptical look, but didn’t call me out.
“They’re going to miss the party if they take too much longer.” Dani settled down in my lap and leaned in close. Hints of peppermint and vanilla clung to her skin and hair.
“It’s still early, darlin’.”
“Maybe someone should call and make sure they aren’t stopped alongside the ro—”
“Ho, ho, ho!” Taylor’s voice boomed from the doorway, interrupting Daniela’s worries. “Look who I found out in the cold.”
Juni and Nadir stepped inside behind him. Like Sasha, they had come alone without dates. Dani abandoned my lap and I hopped up from my seat to greet all three with a hug.
“You’re all set,” Juni whispered when I pulled her into a friendly embrace. The hug lifted her feet from the floor. She was often underestimated due to her small size and delicate build, but I knew better. The bunny girl was an explosion wrapped in a diminutive package, capable of putting me on the mats during sparring sessions.
“Thanks. You two are the best.” I kissed her cheek before I set her down.
Finding Daniela a Christmas gift had been nerve wracking. And in the end, the best gift hadn’t been what I hunted for in the shopping malls and stores — it had found me instead.
THREE
One Month Ago
“Dani?”
“In here,” she called from the kitchen.
“You better not be finding things to clean,” I chastised.
Since we’d drawn Turkey Day hosting duties this year, the others had done the cleaning before they eventually headed home with full bellies and wrapped leftovers. The counters sparkled and everything was put in its place. Only a few hours ago it had been chaos, an explosion of flour, sauces, and dirty dishes. The lingering scent of pumpkin pie hung in the air, blending with sweet potatoes and mesquite turkey. Taylor and I had smoked the bird ourselves, alternating between drinking beers and standing around on the patio in the blustery cold. Daniela had prepared the rest.
“Was everything okay?” She turned away from the drawer where she’d been putting away the freshly laundered dish towels and hot pads.
“Everything came out great, darlin’,” I assured her. “You know that.”
“I hope so.” She pursed her lips, a thoughtful look in her brown eyes as they lowered to the ancient stove. Earlier, I overheard her swearing at the machine for taking too long to cook. It was cramped and tiny, inadequate compared to the shiny new appliance in her last place, a house she’d rented out from Ian.
“Maybe we should get a new stove,” I muttered.
“Huh? This one’s fine.”
“Come on. Pretend I’m Santa and sit on my lap,” I coaxed as I took a seat in the breakfast nook. “Tell me what you want.”
“I don’t really want anything for Christmas,” Dani said. Her brown eyes twinkled whenever she smiled. They were bright and filled with warmth, overflowing with affection.
And I knew when she said it, she meant it. For that reason, I felt even more determined to grant her a Christmas she’d never forget. Our first Christmas as a married couple, and the second as parents.
“Nothin’ at all?”
Dani sat in my lap and looped her arms around my neck. Rather than answer, she leaned in and kissed me. Pumpkin spice and vanilla whipped cream flavored her tongue, a sweet enticement. I slid my hands under h
er rump and stood, plucking her up with ease. She giggled against my lips.
“Mateo’s still awake,” she whispered.
As if summoned by the mention of his name, our son toddled into the kitchen.
“You just had to jinx us,” I grumbled, setting her down. Mateo tiptoed up to the table where I’d placed the leftover pumpkin pie. He reached for it with one of his grubby hands, but I swooped over and caught him in the nick of time.
“Need my help?” she asked.
“Nah. Leave me to this, and I’ll have him to bed soon enough. Go on and get the bed warmed up.”
Reluctantly, she left, but not without kissing us both. I watched her round bottom disappear around the corner while fantasies ran rampant in my mind of how I planned to bend her over the bed. Dani had the best wiggle in her hips, the perfect amount of jiggle in her ass when she walked.
“Just us now, kid.”
“Dada. Pie.”
“Nope, no more pie for you. Bedtime.”
Mateo’s nursery was the only room in the house Dani had decorated, taking charge by giving me instructions of what to paint in each color. I’d built everything but the crib, which had come as a gift from her mother and father.
Within a few minutes, I had him cleaned up, stripped down, and in his jammies. I tucked him into the bed in record time, grinning when I considered how long it took for his mama to lay him down each night. I kissed each stuffed animal then his chubby cheeks, read one book, and he was out before I reached the last page.
I hung around for a while to watch Mateo sleep, counting his peaceful and measured breaths. He resembled Dani the most, with her golden, suntanned complexion and wavy, dark hair.
My son was perfect, and I couldn’t ask for more.
By the time I entered our bedroom, Dani had fallen asleep with a book on her ample cleavage. I blamed the coma-inducing properties of turkey and a belly full of pie.
Damn.
Envying the book — I’d rather have my face in her tits — I snuck it from her hands and put it aside with a placeholder. I set the alarm on my bedside table. One of Juni’s creations, it emitted alerts in a frequency only I could hear with my superhuman ears. Lastly, I visited our computer to create a plan my friends couldn’t pass up.
Around midnight, our son wiggled beneath the sheets with us and my bed felt like the most crowded place in the world. Dani liked to sprawl out while she slept, forcing me to cling to a treacherous ledge of mattress. Add a daredevil toddler to the mix, and the result was me hanging precariously for most of the night while Mateo slept sideways, his feet in my face.
I crawled out at three in the morning and quietly dragged on the jeans I’d left hanging over the back of a chair.
“Russ?” Dani’s drowsy mumble made me freeze. “Mm…” The rest of her words dwindled into unintelligible complaints. I grinned and tiptoed out the door.
Once prepared for an adventure with the guys, I left a note on the fridge. Two simple words were all I needed to leave behind.
Gone Hunting.
Technically, it was the truth.
The guys were waiting for me when I reached Taylor’s place, huddled together in the living room with giant cups of steaming coffee. As usual, Ian was bright, chipper and alert, but our cougar shifter was half asleep on the couch. It seemed unfair that the man with graying temples, the oldest of us, was the one with all the energy.
“Sorry for calling about this last minute,” I said.
“It’s no big deal,” Ian replied. “We’ve left our homes earlier than this for issues of state and government, right? I’d say our wives are more important. Christmas gifts rate as high as the assassination of government officials.”
I snorted.
“Why the hell are we doing this?” Taylor asked. “I say we shop for it all online, spend the full cost, and go back to sleep.” He rubbed his bleary eyes and let his head loll back. Typical cat.
“Because half the shit they want isn’t available online, and the toy Sophia asked Santa for is a limited edition. I’m not spending five hundred dollars on Amazon for a toy that’ll cost me fifty in the store,” Ian shot back.
“Hey, Taylor,” I said. “Remember the time you bought that bear off Amazon for your niece’s birthday, but it turned out to be a cheap knockoff from China?”
“And there was stuffing everywhere. Man, don’t remind me. Okay, your points are made. I’ll go, but Ian’s gotta drive.”
“Why me?”
Taylor and I both raised our brows and twisted around to look at our keen-eyed friend. Of the three of us, he was the only one with a happy, alert disposition and a smile on his face.
“What was it you used to drill into our heads all the time, Colonel? Because of you, ‘the early bird gets the worm’ has been firmly drilled into my head. So,” I said as I slapped him on the shoulder, “the early bird also gets to drive his friends around during holiday madness.”
“Fine.”
Bundled in sweatshirts, we brought our coffee along with us and stopped at a bakery along the way. One of our favorites opened around four in the morning, ideal for snagging donuts and hot, sausage-filled pastries to munch on while Ian navigated the SUV through the deserted streets to the shopping center.
“We need a battle plan for this. You can’t just go inside the store and pick up the crap you wanna buy.”
“It’s Black Friday. Why not?” Ian asked. “Isn’t that the point?”
I shook my head. “Right. I can tell you’ve clearly never done this before. Taylor, you’re on guard duty for the cart. Don’t let the old ladies steal what we manage to snag.”
Ian raised a brow. “You’re afraid old women will steal our stuff?”
Poor Ian, he had no idea. “Again, it’s Black Friday. People get into fist fights over the last Elmo toy.”
“It’s not only the old ones,” Taylor muttered. “My mom used to do this in Houston until last year when she hung in the towel and started shopping online.” He shot me a meaningful look. “Said some chick took the vacuum straight outta her cart.”
“How’d that work out for her?” I asked.
“Mom’s not allowed in that Walmart anymore. No matter the time of year.”
Ian rolled the window down in the front, allowing a blast of cold air into the SUV. Taylor swore at him immediately, shrank back, and huddled in his hoody.
“The hell is wrong with you?”
“What? It feels good,” Ian said.
“It’s eleven degrees outside. Nothing about this feels good,” he disagreed. While it was unusual, recent years of late fall weather in Texas heralded cooler temperatures in the teens, a biting wind held in disdain by most of us natives.
“Don’t be a pussy. We’ve dealt with colder,” I reminded him. Taylor shot me a dirty look from the front passenger seat. I beamed and pulled out my phone. “Okay, since it seems like I’m commander for a day, this is the plan.”
“Ha ha,” Ian said from the front.
I grinned at him then detailed the schedule of opening stores. We each knew what our women and families wanted, and with a couple calls and favors phoned in, our comrade Juni had maps of the sales floors and the top secret inventory layouts sent to our phones.
“I can’t believe you woke me up before dawn because you’re shopping,” she moaned into the phone. “I’m going back to bed, call me if one of you gets arrested.”
“You’re the best, Juni.”
After I coordinated our plan of assault, we split up and divided our numbers in the store, each of us moving to the front of a line where employees would unveil a particular item. We met afterward, consolidating our goods to a single cart placed in Taylor’s care. He maneuvered the cart through the packed aisles and away from greedy, reaching hands while Ian and I went over last minute gift ideas.
Three hours later, we made our escape intact, only to begin it anew at the next shop on the list, scheduled to open in thirty minutes.
Ian’s cheery demeanor crack
ed when he had to scour the entertainment section in search of the new television he’d hoped to buy. We’d placed ourselves last, giving priority to the gifts of our loved ones. A new television was the only thing Ian wanted, and the thin, curved model he coveted had enough digits after the store discounts to make me blink.
We found the last one stacked behind a display for a different brand, as if hidden by someone.
“Ha! Success,” Ian crowed.
“Let’s get out of here, then. Williams-Sonoma is our last stop.” Dani had her eye on a few kitchen gadgets and I hoped at least one of them would still be on the shelves.
Ian shook his head and glanced into the rear of the SUV. “Next year, if we do this again, we’re doing it with the girls.” He glanced at Taylor. “Or online for Cyber Monday.”
“Didn’t I tell you,” Taylor griped. “Now we have one last job.”
“What’s that?” I asked as I took a double look at our list. Everything was crossed off.
“Operation Hide the Presents.”
— — —
I chuckled at the memory of our eventful day out. By the end of the evening, we’d all vowed to never undertake Black Friday again. Ian’s idealistic views on holiday shopping were forever marred, and I still hadn’t found the ideal gift for my wife. I’d found her some presents, but not the gift. That came later when I returned from Russia.
“What’s so funny?” Ian asked. I’d been so lost in my own thoughts I didn’t even realize the eagle-shifter was beside me. He had light feet, a quiet man with a slimmer build than my muscular brawn. We used him often for stealth operations by air.
“Ah, nothin’. Thinking about past escapades is all.”
“Did you get everything wrapped?”
I snorted and motioned to a pile of wrapped gifts meant for my teammates. They weren’t the prettiest of the bunch, but I’d done my best. Dani’s gifts looked professional in comparison, with neat corners and every tidy ribbon in its proper place. She’d made her own bows while sitting in front of Pinterest.
Sugar, Spice, and Shifters: A Touch of Holiday Magic Page 72
