True, it hadn’t worked completely in the past. Now, though, I seemed to feel the universe letting me know that the charm would do its job this time. Our miraculous babies had been born, and there wouldn’t be any more until Connor and I made the conscious decision to have them.
We stayed that way for a long moment, still locked together, neither one of us wanting to break the contact. At last, though, I said, “I love you, Connor, but you’re squishing me.”
He chuckled and rolled over to one side so I could get up out of bed and head into the bathroom to get cleaned up. All right, I could feel a tiny bit of soreness, but that was all right. The pleasure I’d experienced in exchange was more than adequate compensation.
I came back into the bedroom, now wearing my robe, which had been hanging from the hook on the back of the bathroom door. Connor had already slipped back into his jeans, although I noticed he’d replaced the sweater with one of his faded old Northern Pines University sweatshirts.
From the baby monitor came a gurgling little sigh. “Want me to check on them?” he asked.
“I’ll come with you. I just need to grab my underwear.”
I retrieved my panties from where they’d been tossed onto the rug and slipped into them. Still barefoot, I padded down the hall to the nursery, Connor right behind me. But when we peeked inside, we could see that the twins still slept, that the funny gurgling sound we’d heard must have been from one of the babies shifting slightly in their sleep. The little lamp we’d left on against the coming wintry twilight cast a soft glow over the room.
“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” I breathed, gazing down at our children as they slept.
Connor stepped closer to me, pushing my hair out of the way. He placed a gentle kiss on the back of my neck, lips warm and welcome. Then he shifted his position slightly so he could look down into my face. A quick glance over at the twins, and again his focus returned to me, as if I was the only thing in his world right then.
Smiling, he said, “Yes, I think I have seen something that beautiful.” His arms went around me, holding me close.
I breathed in his scent, his warmth. We’d just begun this journey together, and I still couldn’t know all that the future could hold. Seeing what might come to pass wasn’t my talent, after all. Right then, though, it was enough to be with Connor, to know our love was a shining thing, perfect and strong.
Yes, we were parents. But, even more so, we were still lovers…and always would be.
The End
About Christine Pope
Christine Pope is the author of the bestselling Witches of Cleopatra Hill, Djinn Wars, and Tales of the Latter Kingdoms series. She fell under the Land of Enchantment’s spell while researching her Djinn Wars series and now makes her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
www.christinepope.com
The McCall Brother Trilogy by Marie Mason
Part I
About Stranded with the Wolf
JAROD
Who wouldn’t want to be… stranded with a wolf?
When the snow started to fall in Chicago, everyone in Sara Allen’s office building quickly hurried home. Everyone except Sara and her boss, Jarod McCall. Why? Because her boss was CEO of McCall Holdings and a dominant alpha who made his own rules.
Even if it meant being stranded until the city shoveled its way out from under a record snowfall. As the hours past, Sara became more than upset with Jarod. He’d stranded her in a building with little food, a heating system that powered down on the weekends… and with him! How could she keep her feelings to herself when he kept touching her… kissing her… loving her?
Jarod was a big man with big appetites, and he wanted his curvy assistant to satisfy them. Sara might think he was an inconsiderate jackass, but he knew exactly what he was doing… stranding her with the wolf.
Chapter 1
Crap on a cracker.
Sara cursed as she took her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave listening to the weather forecast. Someone had left the television in the employee lounge tuned to The Weather Channel. Was it a requirement that the women they hired had to be blonde-headed and drop-dead gorgeous? Because that was the only type she ever saw giving the forecast. Today’s weather girl was pointing to the map of the United Stated projected behind her on the green screen. The Midwest was almost completely covered in white, indicating snow and more snow.
A blizzard was headed directly towards downtown Chicago.
Shit.
This was not the time to soften her cursing she realized.
Oh, don’t get her wrong, originally being from the southeast, Sara usually got as excited as a fifth grader when it came to snow, but not this year. One, she wasn’t a fifth grader so she never got a snow day anymore and two, this was the second such storm to hit the city in less than two weeks. It seemed as if they had barely dug out of the last one and Mother Nature was about to drop even more on their heads.
Trying to get to and from work in the knee deep—sometimes waist deep—white stuff took away some of the sparkle and magic she usually felt when it snowed.
As she watched the forecast, another woman walked into the lounge and Sara called out a greeting, “Good morning, Brenda.”
The other woman answered with a smile. Sara loved working for McCall Holdings. The people were friendly, she made an excellent salary as an executive assistant, and her office was equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art technology—some of which she thought had too many bells and whistles, but that was just her opinion.
Brenda made herself a cup of coffee from one of those single serving machines. There were two of them in every McCall Holdings’ employee lounge, plus a generous supply of coffees, teas and—her favorite—hot chocolate. She didn’t know about the coffee and tea, but it made a damn good cup of hot chocolate. Sara, unfortunately, hadn’t been able to finish hers from this morning, hence having to heat it up in the microwave.
“Is that really the forecast for today?”
Sara took another sip of her drink. “Yep. Snow, snow, and more snow.”
“Well, crap.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
Brenda gave her a sly look. “Oh, are you going to miss a hot date tonight?”
It was Friday night and Sara felt a twinge of self-pity, reminding her that she was facing another weekend, alone in her apartment. She didn’t date, not much anyway. Most men found her body type—round and curvy—a turn-off. And she found most types of men—annoying and full of themselves—a turn-off. As the song said, where had all the good men gone? “No, no hot date. Just a struggle to get home this evening when all this white stuff starts pouring down.”
“What, don’t you think Mr. McCall will let you go home early when it starts to snow?”
Sara gave a short bark of laughter. “He won’t know it’s snowing until he walks outside and sees his Lexus covered in ice.”
“Well, tell him.”
“Nope, not me. I like my job too much.” Jarod McCall, CEO of McCall Holdings expected everyone to pull their weight, keep their nose to the grindstone… yada, yada, yada. He did have a few redeeming qualities, however. He paid well, gave generous bonuses, and did little extras for the staff like the coffee machines and free coffee.
Sara knew the other supervisors would release their workers early once it started to snow. That was another thing about Jarod, he gave his department heads and vice-presidents almost free reign with their personnel. But she’d told Brenda the truth. She could hit Jarod McCall square between the eyes with a snowball, and he still wouldn’t believe the weather was bad enough to let her go home early.
The women left the break room together, Brenda heading down one side of the hallway, Sara down the other. Brenda, no doubt back to a shortened day of work, thanks to the weather gods and Sara back into the wolf’s den.
Literally.
Because Jarod McCall was a wolf shifter. Handsome, intelligent, and so damn gorgeous it made Sara want to cry at night.
>
She felt like she’d been with McCall Holdings forever. Not in the I-hate-my-job and can’t-wait-to-get-a-new-one type of way. No, she loved it here at McCall Holdings. The moment she’d walked into the skyscraper six months ago when she’d been called in for an interview for a job in marketing, she felt like she’d come home. And that feeling centered directly on Jarod McCall.
She remembered the day she’d first seen him. She’d been sitting in the human resource office waiting for her interview. All of a sudden this giant of a man had walked by, a deep scowl on his handsome face. He’d looked like a wolf on the hunt. He’d stopped abruptly, then stalked into the room.
They’d stared at each other for several moments before the inner office door had opened, and the woman who’d taken her resume had appeared. She’d taken one look at his face and invited him into her office and shut the door behind her. He’d walked out five minutes later and five minutes after that Sara had been offered the job as executive assistant to the CEO—executive assistant to the man who had looked at her from the doorway with hungry eyes.
Sara was no fool and took the job immediately, even though it hadn’t been the one she’d applied for. Even as chills of apprehension had coursed through her body. She got those same chills every day when she walked into her office. Because Jarod McCall still looked at her with hungry eyes for one brief moment each morning. Then a shutter closed over his face, blanking out the flare of awareness, his look no longer personal but strictly business, employer to employee.
Sara readily admitted to herself that she’d developed a crush on her boss. What girl wouldn’t have? He was indeed drop dead gorgeous with a head full of dark, silky hair. Well, she assumed it was silky, but she’d never actually gotten to touch it, even though the temptation was there every time she had to stand behind his shoulder and wait for him to review the work she’d completed.
His eyes were dark. Darker than any chocolate she’d ever seen. They turned an amazing shade of amber when he was angry or excited. Or aroused. Or so she assumed since extreme emotions seemed to trigger the response. Not that she’d ever seen him aroused.
Her knees went weak just thinking about what his fully aroused cock would look like.
Down, Sara-girl. Seeing your boss’s private parts up-close and personal was not on the calendar any time soon.
Jarod McCall was a dynamic individual and Sara was on the shy side when it came to the opposite sex and romantic relationships. He emitted a raw kind of power that she was sure came from his animal side. She’d seen it in other shifters, but not to the degree Jarod had. Maybe because he was alpha of the McCall pack? His control was sometimes scary. She rarely saw him ruffled by anything. Whatever obstacles or crises occurred, he met with calm self-assurance. The threat was either solved or removed from his path. Most days, she saw only a hint of his strength and power, and it was roused only when there was a need and not in anger. To her, those were traits of a good leader, a true alpha.
Dear Lord, what would it feel like to have all that power released, directed at her—in bed?
She’d had fantasies about her boss—raw, erotic fantasies that made her wish she had stock in a battery company since she went through so many, so quickly, with her vibrator. She would be dishonest if she didn’t admit she’d had secret hopes in the beginning that she might be his mate from the abrupt way she’d been hired. But as the days had turned into weeks and the weeks into months, she’d realized that wasn’t true. As far as she knew, wolves claimed their mates the moment they saw them. Or scented them. Her boss hadn’t exactly been sniffing around her.
She smiled at her own joke. Then realized her life was singularly boring. It had been ages since she’d been out on a date. Even had a girl’s night out with some of the women from work. Maybe after this storm passed, she’d see if anyone was up for some dancing and maybe some serious flirting. Her ego could stand a stroke or two. There were men out there that appreciated a curvy girl. Sara might appear mousy from the way she dressed and differed to others sometimes, but at other times, in the right circumstances, she had a wild side. Look how damn often she thought of her boss in the most carnal of ways?
It was a waste of time to keep pining for someone who was out of her reach. Sara pushed aside her romantic dreamings about her boss and called upon the stronger, more practical side of her nature. Jarod McCall wasn’t the man—or the wolf—for her.
̴ ̴ ̴ ̴̴̴ ̴
Two hours later, Sara wanted to beat her head against one of the glass window panes in her boss’s office at his inconsiderate attitude. She’d worked for Jarod McCall for over six months, trying to soften his image in the firm, but he was still an arrogant jackass who had no consideration for anyone other than himself. Look at how often he’d insisted that she work late, never asking if she had plans for the evening. Heck, she was pretty sure he knew nothing about her life outside of these four walls. Well, maybe eight walls. He did come into her office sometimes—to give her more work.
She felt like a damn piece of office furniture at times. Taking a deep breath, she practiced the calming techniques the yoga instructor had taught her during the last free set of sessions Jarod had provided for the employees. See? That was why she was so damned confused all the time. On the one hand, he was the complete arse who didn’t take any social cues, and at others, he gave and gave to his employees, and she knew numerous charities around the city, even the world.
Right now he was just being a big, old dick head.
She’d been standing by his office windows for over a half hour, literally watching the traffic on the street in the front of the building trickle down to nothing as the snow continued to fall into the afternoon hours.
Most of the supervisors had allowed their employees to leave almost as soon as the snow had started falling. The storm system had been tracking north and was now blowing right across Chicago. But no, her boss hadn’t seen fit to let her go or leave himself. Not the head honcho. She knew she was chicken shit for not just coming out and telling him she needed to leave. That he needed to leave. She’d given hints, even visual clues. She’d deliberately waited to take off her coat after lunch until after she’d walked into his office and placed the white deli bag on the edge of his desk. Then she’d made a production of shaking off the snow from her coat and her hair right in front of him. Right in front of him!
He’d ignored her as usual. She knew she was overly sensitive to his indifference of her. She had a feeling if she stripped down naked in front of him, he’d simply order her to put her clothes back on.
She’d never be a raving beauty, she knew that and accepted it as a fact of life she’d never be able to change. But she wasn’t horrible. Her features were put together in a pleasing way, her hair was auburn brown, falling well past her shoulders when she wore it down. She knew she could do more about her looks. Her hair style for instance. It was easier, and time-saving, to simply wear it up on top of her head or at the nape of her neck. She made a mental note to have it cut as soon as the snow melted. Maybe a shorter, more sophisticated style. Maybe even some golden highlights.
And her wardrobe. Today she had dressed more for warmth than style. Boots, leggings, a thick mock turtleneck—real turtlenecks smothered the hell out of her—and a long corduroy jumper reminiscent of the style worn in the nineteen-eighties. All she knew was that it was warm even on a cold Chicago day.
When the messenger had delivered the contract Jarod was currently working on a half an hour ago, she’d shamelessly bribed the poor man with a cup of hot chocolate to comment on the weather within Jarod’s hearing. Prompting him to tell her how bad it was outside and that she should hurry home. That maneuver had failed as well.
Jarod had looked up when the man had given her an encouraging smile and bent closer to whisper she should just leave. But he hadn’t said anything, just turned his attention back to the contract he’d been reading.
While she couldn’t see the front of the building, she knew the last of her fello
w coworkers were scurrying away like rats from a sinking ship. Not that she could blame them. All she wanted to do was leave the sometimes cold and sterile feeling of the office building and hurry home to her warm and inviting apartment.
Dang it. She really was pathetic. If she had a couple of hungry cats to the go home and feed, she would be well on her way to being a spinster.
“Do you have to pee, Ms. Allen?”
Her boss’s cold, dispassionate voice sounded behind her.
As his words infiltrated the fog of her thoughts, she turned around quickly. “What? What did you ask me?”
“I asked if you had to pee.” He continued to read the papers in front of him, every so often taking his pen and making great slashing marks or writing furiously.
“No, I don’t have to pee.” She shook her head in confusion. “What made you ask that?”
“You’re dancing around like my two-year-old niece when she’s waited too long to go to the bathroom.”
One wouldn’t have really thought that Jarod was a family man, Sara thought, watching the glow from the overhead lights bounce off his dark hair. But then, didn’t everyone have a family at some point in their lives? It wasn’t as if he’d been hatched in a cabbage patch. From the office gossip, she’d been able to piece together part of her boss’s background.
His mother and father were still living. He had two brothers, one of which actually worked as CFO of McCall Holdings. His other one, the youngest, was a member of the military. She wasn’t sure what branch just that he was with a special paranormal unit. The niece he’d referred to belonged to his only sister. Older and married with two girls and a son. Jarod always bought the children presents on their birthdays and Christmas. He wasn’t one of those bosses that made his secretary pick out the presents, although she did have to wrap and mail them when he wouldn’t be home to give them out himself.
Alphas for the Holidays Page 94
