A Christmas Home (4 page)

Chapter Six

Snowmobiling
with Jagger had been amazing. He had even shown her his bear, which was
massive. But she’d known when she had looked into the dark blue eyes of the
bear that Jagger was in there and he would never, ever harm her. She knew that
without the shadow of a doubt, and that was huge for her.

They
laughed and chatted the entire drive to his place after dropping the
snowmobiles off at the shed and she grabbed an overnight bag, because she knew
she was going to stay the night with him
…
both
of them knew it.

It
wasn’t until they pulled up at his home, however, that she actually looked
around and gasped. Awestruck, she didn’t know what to say. “Jagger.” She felt
her heart beating faster and faster in her chest. “This.” She looked wildly
around, slipping out of her seat belt and all but jumping out of the truck when
they came to a stop. “This.” She ran to the back of the home. “Oh God, this is
it.” She looked at the massive lake behind the home, the mountain range—even
the tree that in her vision had held a tree house. “I don’t understand.” She
had icy tears running down her face because this was where she actually called
home in her visions.

Large
hands landed on her shoulders to turn her around to face him. Jagger watched
her, a confused look on his face. “Don’t understand what, sweetheart? What’s
going on, Ophelia? Why the hell do you look a second away from collapsing?”

“This
is the yard I was telling you about. I was hugely pregnant, standing right here
looking over the lake and mountains and holding hot chocolate. I could feel
someone behind me holding me, his hands rubbing over my big belly and feeling
the baby moving. This is home,” she confessed. “I think I’ve come home.” And it
confused her.

“Okay,
okay,” he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. Jagger drew her in
close and led her to the back door. “Let’s get you inside and warmed up. Damn
but you scared me diving out of the truck like that. Don’t do shit like that,
sweetheart.” He opened the door and ushered her into a mudroom off what looked
to be a large, open-concept home.

“I
didn’t mean to scare you, but I had to know. I saw that mountain over the top
of the house, and then the house, and I had to know. It was a shock to my
system, to say the least.” Yes, she had many dreams that had come true over her
lifetime but this was so personal and so perfect
…
so thrilling. She took her boots off, settled them beside his, and walked into
the massive home. She looked around and smiled. “I love it.” The home was an
open floor plan. The dining room, kitchen, and living room all seemed to be one
massive room, the only difference being the tile in the kitchen and the
hardwood that was in the living and dining room. She looked around and saw
stairs that led up and ones that led down. “Show me around, please?” She wanted
to know every inch of this house because all she had seen was the outside.

Nodding,
he took her hand in his and gave her a guided tour. The main floor was all
open, the kitchen, dining, and the living room. A movie/game room was the only
enclosed space besides the bathroom on that floor. Upstairs were four bedrooms
and an office. The master bedroom looked out over the lake. The en suite
bathroom had the same view from the tub. When they returned downstairs, he left
her for two minutes, returning with their food his friend had cooked, and the
rest of the bakery items. Jagger made quick work of setting up at the breakfast
bar connected to the kitchen island.

“This
is a beautiful home, Jagger,” she said and turned into his arms instead of
sitting. “I can see you in this home and I love it.” She did, however, pull the
bakery bag closer to her. “I want sweets. Later I will eat food but for right
now I want sweets. Later will you show me that hot tub I thought I glimpsed?”

“We
can do the hot tub after I get back from my meeting,” he said. Brushing her
hair back, he tucked it behind her ear. “I need to eat, sweetheart. We shifters
burn a lot of calories in a day, especially with shifting.”

“Okay.”
She had forgotten about his meeting. “Can I stay here while you go to your
meeting?” she asked while she watched him eat.

“Absolutely.
You can even poke around if you want to and snoop. The meeting is the town
council wanting to talk to us about a new shifter clan who wants to move into
Shifter Falls. They have to get permission from the alphas because we’re all
territorial. Our six groups have managed to get through our various differences
to work and live together in some form of peace, but adding another to the mix
could fuck up the balance. The council already knows our answer, but everything
has to be done by the book.”

“Wait,
you’re an alpha?” She knew that meant something big. “And what is the group
that wants to move in and why would you have issues with them coming in?” she
wanted to know. “Who owns the resort and runs it? Are they shifters, too?”
Rapid-fire questions, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

“So
many questions,” he teased. “I am an alpha. As to the group, we don’t know who
they are. We won’t know until this meeting. But the main issue is having too
many different shifters in one place ups the chances of us being outed and
could lead to pack wars. Something that happened a lot in the early years of us
colonizing here with the humans. The resort is owned and run by the lynx
shifters. They are some of the calmest of the shifters beyond the grizzly. Not
that both groups can’t get damn riled up, they can, and both are handy in a
fight, but they tend to do better with the gigs where a lot of human tourists
are around. Some of us don’t have the same patience.”

“That’s
interesting. I still can’t get over it. I never would have dreamed there were
such things as shifters. I thought I was the oddity in life. I always believed
that I was the only one who was different in this world.” She leaned back in
the chair she had settled into and watched him as he ate. “And you are the
mechanic. Do you have a pack? Is that what it’s called for bears? I can never
remember the groupings.”

“We
just call them packs, but a grouping of bears is known as a sleuth. I do have a
pack. Some of them work for the shop with me. The old alpha actually owned the
place, and when he passed his mate asked me to step up to run it. She’s still
the owner but never comes in, leaves everything to me, and I send her the check
each quarter for her part of the business.” He threw a look at his watch and
cursed. “Shit, I better get going or I’m going to miss the exciting parts of
listening to the minutes from our last meeting. Make yourself at home, poke
around, grab a nap, whatever you feel like doing. It should only take a couple
hours, three at most, and then I’ll be back.”

“If
I’m asleep when you get back will you join me? I promise not to attack you, but
I feel that safe with you. I want you to know that,” she said. She did, she
trusted the man more than she could ever tell him and she felt as if there were
the smallest of ties starting to pull the two of them together.

“I’ll
join you, but you’d better not be asleep. I’d like to get you naked in the hot
tub,” he told her. Standing up, he pressed a kiss to her lips. “If you’re
asleep I may wake you up just for kicks. See what you do with that.”

She
kissed him again. “Go, do what you need to do and come back to me quickly. If
I’m sleeping, wake me because I want to try out that hot tub, naked.”

“I
will,” he said. Another kiss and he left her to the large box of bakery
goodies. Probably a bad thing, but if she couldn’t have him there with her it
would have to do for the time being.

Chapter Seven

When
Ophelia woke the next morning she was nice and toasty warm. She reached for
Jagger but frowned. He wasn’t in bed with her. Why? She sat up with the
blankets held tightly to her chest. Then she smelled it. Coffee and bacon, two
things she loved. “Oh God that man.” She got out of bed and even though she had
on shorts and a t-shirt she wrapped the blanket around her because she was
bloody damn well cold. She walked down the stairs, then stood against the wall
and watched Jagger as he moved around the kitchen. “You made me breakfast?” she
asked with a smile. “I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone make me breakfast
before.” She moved from the wall and toward the coffee pot. Pouring herself a
cup, she leaned against the counter while she watched him. “So why aren’t you
married yet,” she teased.

“I
never found my mate before so there was no reason to marry. Now that I’ve found
her it’s changing my thinking on the subject.”

“Wait,
what? Then why did you sleep with me last night?” she demanded, feeling even
colder now. No they hadn’t been sexual but they had gotten hot and heavy with
touches and kisses. It would figure that her vision would get screwed up.

“I
said I only recently met her. To be precise she tried to mow me down in a hotel
lobby. Thankfully she’s too tiny to manage it, otherwise I’d be rethinking the
whole mating her thing.” Stepping in, he pressed a kiss to her lips, then
smacked her bottom. “And yes, I’m making you breakfast. The cinnamon buns are
fresh, so you can start snacking on them while I do up the eggs. Go and sit
before your head explodes.”

She
did, taking her coffee and snagging some bacon. She settled into a chair and
finally asked, “And am I her?” That’s what she had to know. She knew it. In the
deepest part of her heart she knew it, but she needed him to confirm it. That
she was his.

“Yes,
you are her, silly woman.” Chuckling, he scraped out the pan he’d cooked the
bacon in and got rid of the gunk. Then he poured in the eggs and got them
cooking. “I figured you would have clued into that fact with that detail about
you trying to mow me down in the hotel lobby. Was I not clear enough?”

Just
hearing the words made her feel warmer. The fact that he was telling her that
she was his reaffirmed the thought she’d fleetingly had that they were mates.
When she didn’t respond, he said, “Hey. Tell me what you’re thinking?”

 
“I was just thinking of how good it felt to
have you touching me, how nice it was to have you holding me. I know that’s
weird but it’s the truth.” When he came toward her with a plate of eggs and
bacon she let him put the plate down, then pulled him close after dropping a
cinnamon roll on her plate. “I like you, a lot.” She could see herself giving her
heart to him, easily.

“I
like you a lot, too, sweetheart.” He wrapped his arms around her and she felt
him press a kiss to her hair. “Eat up, and then we’re going to have ourselves a
chat. I have to go into work for a couple hours, but then we have the afternoon
to do whatever we want.”

“If
you need to, you can go ahead and go. I’ll be here. No, wait.” She paused.
“Instead will you take me to the resort? I don’t want to not have any way to
get anywhere.”

“Absolutely.
If you want you could even pack up your stuff and turn in your key card. You
know, if you’re interested in maybe doing a few more sleepovers.” He shot her a
grin before letting her loose to get his own plate of food. Joining her at the
breakfast bar, he set two cinnamon buns on his plate and began to eat. “When
you’re ready come by the shop and we’ll drive back here.”

“You
wouldn’t mind?” He shook his head. “Then I’ll do it. I have a rental at the
resort that I can use but if it’s really snowy out there I won’t drive, just so
you know. I’m happy to move around on the snowmobile but not the Jeep.” She
trusted the snowmobile more because, well, it was created for the snow. “I can
follow you home, though.” Home. When she said that word it felt right.

“Of
course I don’t mind. I adore you, Ophelia. Of course I want you here,
sweetheart. And the shop isn’t that far from the hotel. We’ll swing by there on
the way to the resort so you know the way back. It’s ten minutes even in these
conditions. The roads will be mostly clear, and if you take your time you’ll be
just fine. Now eat up. We need to get moving, otherwise I’ll end up stuck at
work all day instead of cuddling with you.”

“Yes
and that would make me very cranky,” she said with a grin before turning
serious. “Are you sure that people won’t get upset with me all but moving in
with you?”

“There
might be a set of twins who are mildly upset, but I think I can smooth that out
with an extra scoop of ice cream and some assurances they are still my favorite
under-ten girls. They’re the daughters of one of our workers at the shop. He
had a heart attack a couple months ago, so I’ve been helping out by giving
their mom a break so she can do her own thing or go see him without their
boisterous natures overwhelming everyone.”

“Ah
so you have a fan club already. I can see it.” She was smiling at that. “And
are they shifters, too? How will I know who is a shifter and who isn’t?” She
was curious. She really wanted to know how to tell who was a shifter so that
she didn’t hurt him in the process or upset his friends.

He
shook his head. “No, they’re human. So is their father and mother. Most
shifters will tell you outright, especially now that you’re carrying some of my
scent on you. But generally you really won’t know until you start learning the
little tells each pack has. The wolves are the easiest. They tend to sniff
folks. Can’t help it, and yet it’s still creepy.”

“I
think one of them sniffed me the first time I got a snowmobile. He said I
smelled like honey and he wanted to lick me. He was weird. Seriously weird.
Haven’t seen him since, though, so that’s a good thing,” she added with a
shrug. “He was handsome but there was nothing about him that made me want to
even get his name.”

“That
would be a bear, likely a grizzly since we Kodiaks tend to be a little more low-key.
And we usually do not say anything about honey. The grizzlies see it as an
insider joke. We don’t find it nearly so funny. It’s old, tired and done, in
our opinion.” Scraping up the last of his eggs, he sat back to pull apart and
eat the second of his cinnamon rolls. “You also weren’t fated to meet him and
cozy up to him, only me. And yes that sounds as egotistical out loud as it did
in my head.”

“It’s
okay. I think I really have been waiting my whole life for you. I’m just
thankful that the asshole I was engaged to picked this place as our honeymoon.
I kept it. Turned in the honeymoon suite in for a longer stay, and I’m glad I
did. I got to meet you, after all.” She leaned in and kissed his shoulder. He
pressed a kiss to her lips. “Finish up your breakfast while I shower and get
dressed. Then I’ll tidy up down here while you get ready to head out.”

“Sounds
good. I’ll shower at the resort. And I’ll clean up down here so don’t worry
about it, okay? I don’t want you to be late.”

“You
sure?” She gave him a nod. “Okay. I won’t be long. Ten minutes top,” he told
her. Another kiss, then he slid off the chair and headed for the stairs. “Throw
everything in the dishwasher. We’ll have enough to start it after dinner
tonight.”

“Sounds
good. Think of me while you’re in the shower.” Oh she knew what she was doing
to him, very much so, but she was perfectly fine with it. “Now go. Get your
cute butt in the shower so we can get out of here.”

“You
will
pay for that later,” he called over his shoulder. “Get yourself ready,
woman. We leave in twenty minutes.” A couple minutes later she heard the water
turn on and knew he was getting in. Which led her mind to dangerous territory
best left for when they had time later.

She
quickly cleaned up the kitchen and dressed. She was pulling her boots on when
he came down the stairs. Heavens he was a walking, talking, living and
breathing wet dream. Damn. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

“Then
let’s get moving,” he said with a grin. Jagger threw on a leather jacket before
he grabbed her jacket and held it for her. He opened the door for her and
followed her out to the truck. After helping her in, he went around to get them
moving. A half hour later he pulled up out front of the resort hotel and came
to a stop. Hopping out, he gave her a hand down and walked her toward the door.
“I’ll see you in a bit. Make sure you get everything so we don’t have to come
racing back for your favorite fuzzy socks or something.”

“Don’t
worry, I would never forget my favorite socks.” She moved away from him quickly
to run up the stairs and get her things so that they could go back to his
place. If she was really lucky, in a few hours they would start to cuddle and
warm up with some hot cocoa.