Greatest Gift (7 page)

Chapter
Thirteen

Holland woke warm, and surrounded by male flesh.
Snuggling in deeper, she let out a breath when
Jakob’s
arm tightened around her back, and the hand on her hip squeezed. A woman could
get used to waking up like this she knew. She definitely wanted to do it often.

While she didn’t want to lose her independence she
had a feeling with
Jakob
that wouldn’t be an issue.
Protective though he was, something she’d figured out from the night before, he
wasn’t the sort to want her to be someone she wasn’t. She could totally get
behind that.

Rubbing her nose to the smooth skin pressed against
her, she breathed his scent in deep. Last night had been amazing. Not only the
first round, but the other two he’d woken her for. Where the first had been
fast and a little desperate, the second had been slow and easy. Round number
three before dawn had been oddly playful. They’d stroked, petted, and generally
had fun. She’d even learned he had a spot down by his pelvic bone where he was
seriously ticklish. A tidbit she filed away for any time she might have to use
it to get her way.

For a time she lay there enjoying being with him,
her mind flipping through thought after thought. Some were about him, some
about her, and the rest about how they could make it work. She wasn’t
delusional and knew they still had to talk about any number of things. But she
had the distinct impression that
Jakob
would do
whatever made her happy. And she realized she would do the same for him.

Twenty minutes later, she felt him stirring,
stretching his legs out before pulling her impossibly closer to him. Turning
her face up, Holland pressed a kiss to his collarbone, throat, and under his
chin.

“Good morning,” he said, his voice all gravel and
grit. But she heard a smile in there too that made her happy.

“Morning,” she replied. If she could have she
would’ve moved to see his face. His hold though didn’t allow any movement like
that. He had her wrapped up tight and didn’t seem all that inclined to let her
lose. Unfortunately, her bladder wasn’t about to wait for him to enjoy himself
much longer. “I need the bathroom.”

With a grumble, he loosened up his hold. When she
pulled back he dropped a quick kiss on her lips. “I’ll go start the coffee,” he
told her.

Happiness trying to explode from her body, she gave
him a quick kiss in turn, and then scampered for the bathroom. After attending
to business, she brushed her teeth, and tamed her hair to some degree. Yanking
it up into a ponytail to keep it from pissing her off, she headed off to find
Jakob
, snatching up his shirt from the previous night to
cover her nudity.

In the kitchen, his back to her to show off the
amazing ink he had permanently etched in his skin, she found him wearing ratty,
soft looking jeans resting low on his hips. Walking up behind him, Holland knew
that he knew she was there. A kiss to his shoulder blade, and then he turned to
envelope her in his arms, his head lowering for a lazy kiss. Idly, she noted
his own minty fresh breath and figured he must have used the half bath to rid
himself of his own morning mouth.

“I’m thinking bacon, eggs and toast for breakfast.
Nothing too fancy I know, but I think we may need to venture out for some
groceries today.”

She was fine with that, and told him so. Letting
him go with another petting that earned her a knowing look, she moved to get
coffee. After also refilling his cup, she added cream to hers before hitching
herself up onto the counter. She sipped at her coffee watching over the mug’s
rim. Holland had to admit he was a fine specimen. He moved with a grace not
many men could manage, but then again
Jakob
wasn’t
merely a man.

“You have the day off, right?” she asked.

He gave her a nod, and looked her way. “Yup, why?”

“I seem to recall you mentioning that you needed to
do your books at the shop. And I did offer to give you a hand figuring out the
accounting program. I thought if you didn’t have any other plans we could do
that for a couple hours.”

“Yeah, we could. Are you sure? I know you offered,
but it’s not actually necessary. Besides you have work tonight, I don’t want
you too tired to deal with whatever might wander through the door.”

Unable to resist any longer, Holland reached over
to run a finger down his arm. It worked like a lure and soon he stood between
her legs allowing her more skin to pet. “I’ll be fine. It’s been pretty dead
lately with this crazy ass weather we’ve been getting. In fact, I’m going to
suggest to Marty that he stick around for the first rounds from the regulars,
and then close up early. He owes me more nights off than even I can count. We
could do some Christmas shopping.” The last she said with a full smile that
only grew when he flinched. Typical male, he obviously hated the idea
completely. Not that she blamed him.

If not for him coming into her life, Holland
wouldn’t actually have any reason to go Christmas shopping. But he was there
and she wanted to get him something. She didn’t have a clue yet what but knew
she would come up with something eventually.

“You don’t have to come shopping with me,” she said
when he remained silent. Running her fingers over the tribal design, she leaned
in to press a kiss to his jaw. “I only thought that if you did come you could
have some input in what I buy you for a gift.”

He jerked back a little, and blinked. “You’re
planning to get me a gift?” He sounded stunned by the idea.

Holland felt her cheeks warming. “Absolutely,” she
said.

“Wow.” He looked unsure what to say.

“Do you not celebrate Christmas?” She hadn’t
considered that when she’d mentioned the gift.

“Not for years,” he said in a quiet voice. “Ever
since my parents passed. It was too hard in the first years, and then it seemed
to be too much trouble later. After a while, I tried to avoid it.”

Stroking a hand over his chest, she moved it up to
his neck, and wrapped her arm around
Jakob’s
shoulders to draw him in closer. A kiss to his cheek and she held tight. “Until
I was older I didn’t particularly like Christmas. But once I could make it my
own I found it had a certain appeal. We can make it whatever we want,
Jakob
. If you’ll give it a chance.”

She really wanted to do this with him. While she
might still be hesitating on sharing everything, and getting too close, a
holiday shared with him was a different matter. And she did love buying gifts
for those she knew. They were never extravagant, she couldn’t afford that, but
she did put thought into each in an attempt to personalize them to the
individual.

Holland didn’t yet know what she would get for
Jakob
, but figured a couple hours at the stores helping her
get gifts for the others in her life would give her some necessary insight. She
would ask his opinion, find out his interests while they shopped to distract
him, and then get something for him. One would be pure silliness, and the other
would be geared toward his interests.

She wrinkled her nose, and jerked her head up.
“Shit the bacon!”

“Fuck.” Moving fast,
Jakob
snatched up the pan, and dumped the bacon onto the platter. “Well, I hope you
like extra crispy.”

With a laugh, she slid off the counter to walk up behind
him and give him a hug. “We’ll make do. Get the food on plates and I’ll bring
the cups to the table.” Dropping a kiss to his skin, she breathed him in for a
quick second before releasing him.

Now that she had the basis for a plan, Holland
needed to switch things into high gear. Getting to know more about
Jakob
Nichols was top priority. After that she’d take it as
it came.

Chapter
Fourteen

Holland had changed their plans slightly after
breakfast. They went shopping first.
Jakob
couldn’t
believe he’d agreed to this let alone willingly walked into the various shops.
He’d even carried the basket each time, or whatever items she’d picked out.
Holland seemed to be having fun.

Then, he’d taken her to the bike shop. In the
office she’d settled in behind his desk to start up the computer. He left her
to it while he checked to see if there was anything he needed to do before
wandering back in with a drink for her. It was only juice in a bottle from
their fridge but he figured she’d appreciate it.

Setting the bottle down on the desk, he took the
chair on the far side. “Well? How bad is it?”

“Not too bad. It’ll take more than a single session
to get it back up to date, but I can work on it for a couple days and you’ll be
back in business.” She opened the bottle and took a drink. “Where are the
books?”

“Top drawer in the file cabinet behind you.”

She got up to take a look, and sat back down with
them in hand. A quick flip through and she gave him a nod that unknotted his
gut. “Looks good in here. Getting everything input won’t take much time once I
sort out the program. I’m assuming you have all the receipts and such necessary
to square off against the books.”

Not even a question. “Absolutely. Second drawer in
the cabinet has them by month. I don’t think they are in any particular order.”

She waved that off. “Doesn’t matter. You have them
by month so sorting them into order will be easy. And with your notations in
the books, nicely done by the way, it will be easy to ensure everything
correlates properly. Four days, a week at most and this will be all updated.
Think you can put up with me around here for that long?”

Jakob
shoved up from the chair and went around behind her. Hands on her
shoulders, he leaned down to press a kiss to her temple. “I’d keep you if
you’ll let me.” Not exactly what he’d meant to say but what was in his heart.
He was guardedly hopeful for the future. One where she was by his side every
step.

“I’ll let you know on that,” she said, her voice
husky, and her look to him shy. She quickly cleared her throat. “Go find
something else to do for another half hour. I want to finish getting the
updates for the program in here. Then we can go grab lunch before heading home
to enjoy the day.”

“And you need a nap before work.”

“Nope, Marty told me to take until after Christmas
off. He agreed with me about the slow down due to the weather, and will wait on
any regulars before shutting up early. Christmas we’re closed anyway, and he’s
not planning to open on Boxing Day. Says there’s no way he’s giving alcohol to
people crazy enough to go shopping on that day.”

Jakob
snorted out a laugh. “Probably wise.” Then his brain clicked over. He
would have her all to himself for three whole days. “What do you want to do for
our time together?” Hope blossomed bigger in his chest.

“I was thinking we could talk, and depending on how
that goes I might have an extra gift for you. It won’t fit under the tree but
I’m pretty sure you’ll like it.”

Curiosity had him shifting to one side to see her
face. “You going to give me a hint?”

“Nope. Not happening.”

“Come on, a little one.”

“
Nuh
-uh, bubba. Go play
or something for thirty minutes.”

Jakob
stared at her a while longer before running a hand over her hair. “I
will get it from you.”

She snorted loudly. “You can try, but don’t be
disappointed when you fail miserably.”

“Damn, now that there sounds like a challenge.”

“Go, now,” she order. This time she pointed at the
door with a stern look on her face he wanted to kiss away.

“Fuck, you’re strict,” he muttered. “Is it weird I
find that hot?”

“Nichols!”

“I’m going, I’m going.” Feeling lighter, he blew
her a kiss from the doorway and left her be. He found he quite enjoyed playing
with her. Whether it was verbal sparring or sexual in nature he was having fun
with Holland Frost. A first for him in regards to a woman. But then again she
wasn’t merely any woman.

****

Thirty minutes later, he went to collect Holland.
Seeing her on the phone, he stayed back from the door to give her privacy. His
own cell rang when she let out a laugh. Enjoying it a moment longer, he finally
answered, and moved away from the office.

“Hi Nix.”

“Am I interrupting?”

The suggestive tone had
Jakob
letting out a growl. “We’re at the shop. Not that that’s stopped you in the
past, but in this case, no, you’re not interrupting. What do you need?”

“Shit, now I owe Grady fifty,” his friend muttered.
“We got a courtesy call from our friends up north. Apparently there’s a small
wolf group, five members, heading our way. They would have called sooner but
their Alpha’s mate delivered a couple days ago.”

Which meant they’d been busy, understandable. “Did
they forward us the particulars?”

“Yeah, and you’re not going to like this, brother.
One is Carson.”

Jakob’s
blood chilled. There was a name he’d hoped never to hear again.
“They’re already here.”

“What? What do you mean? Did you see them
somewhere?”

“No, I haven’t seen them. But I had a weird feeling
last night when Holland and I got to the house. I shrugged it off at the time
because I couldn’t pick up a scent, and it dissipated quickly.” Now he realized
how wrong he’d been.

“Fucking hell, man, you should have called us.”

Probably true. “Wasn’t anything to be
done.
You could have spent the night searching and come up
empty. Now we know that Carson’s here, and he has four friends. Meet us at the
house. Holland and I are going to stall by grabbing takeout, and then we’ll
meet everyone there. And, Nix, when I say everyone, I mean the entire pack. I
want every member on the same page.”

“Shit, yeah, okay. Fuck! Why the hell can’t this
asshole get that he’s unwanted here.”

A noise had
Jakob
turning
and he smiled at Holland. “I don’t know, man, but we’re going to drill the
message into his skull this time.”

“It’s going to take me at least forty minutes to
find everyone, and another ten to clear the house before you get there. Can you
stall an hour?”

“Yup, because I’m going to tell her what exactly is
going on.”

“Is that wise?”

“She’s it for me, Nix.” The other man would
understand. There were never any secrets kept between mates. Including pack
matters. While Holland wasn’t a wolf she was his and needed to be alert for all
issues that could harm them. Especially given she was human.

“Have you told her you’re keeping her?”

“Not yet.” Then he had another thought. “Bet with
Grady on this and I’ll neuter you both.”

“Absolutely, no betting. Talk later.”

Staring down at his cell,
Jakob
rubbed a finger to his nose. Fuckers had already bet. At a guess he’d say that
those two would be talking soon to negate the bet already laid down. He would
have to smack them both later. Hard.