A Fate Filled Christmas (9 page)

He glanced up, shooting her a crooked grin. "You can do mine next."

"Sure. Fair is fair." His attention returned to the task at hand, allowing her a golden opportunity to study him. Dark hair, mussed from an active session of sensual delights, complemented his deep blue eyes, the combination striking. His scruffy two-day shadow added an element of badness, giving him an edgy appearance. Strong arms connected to a wide chest, leading down to a flat stomach and powerful thighs. Handsome didn't quite describe Rye. Gorgeous. Drool-worthy. One hot tamale of a detective.

"Afterward, I think there's a video we need to watch." He smiled wickedly and waggled his eyebrows.

And insufferable.

"Uh huh. I vote we open presents instead." Distract him from that ridiculous porn flick he tormented her with for the past few months.

"You don't want to wait until in the morning?" His head tilted as he released her feet.

She shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. But since it's close to midnight and we're still awake, why not?"

"Suits me." Standing, he walked over to the small artificial Christmas tree, bent over, and picked up a bright blue box. Sitting down, he watched her as she moved across the room.

Brie followed suit, plopping down on the floor within easy reach of the handful of brightly-colored packages resting under the tree with the big living room window to her left.

Grabbing a red present with a bright bow, she handed it to him. "I hope you like it."

He shot her a wary look. "Open yours first."

"No. You."

"No. I want to see your face when you see what's inside." He took the red box and dropped the blue one in her lap.

She shook her head. "Fine. Let's open them at the same time."

He nodded. "That works."

With anticipation and leeriness, she peeled the paper off and popped the lid. Peeking in, she found what resembled clothing. Pulling the item out, she held it up in the illumination of several strands of Christmas tree lights.

"Lingerie?" Holding the silk nightie to the side, she watched a slow smile appear on his face.

"I can't wait to see you wearing it."

As much as she wanted to roll her eyes at his rampant sex needs and revved up engine, she didn't have the heart. He took her for amazing journeys each time, fulfilling her every desire with his skills and unselfish giving. Besides, he'd just given her a foot rub.

"Thank you. It's so soft." She ran her hand over the glistening crimson material.

"You're welcome." He removed the top on his box and dug in, pulling out his three pairs of pink boxers.

Brie grinned impishly. "Check out the front."

His eyebrows lifted before the corners of his mouth turned up. "If I wear these, are you gonna leave lipstick marks on me?"

Her face heated even as she waded into the teasing. "Maybe…"

"Hot damn."

She giggled at his sudden exuberance. Snagging the smaller green package, she gave it to him. "This is yours, too."

"Should I be afraid?"

"Open it and find out."

With ease, he tore the paper aside, yanked the tape holding the flaps together before holding up a piece of paper.

Confusion flashed across his face. "What's this?"

"A big screen TV."

He blinked at her.

"I didn't know what to get you and thought it might be something you'd like, especially for game days. My car is too small to transport it home, so your father graciously offered to pick it up from the store and take it to their house until Christmas day. Since we're going over there for lunch, we can take your truck, and bring your present home." She nervously fiddled with the babydoll garment still in her lap. What if he didn't like it? What if he expected more? Uncertainty set her heart aflutter.

Leaning over, Rye nuzzled her check and kissed her lips. "It's perfect. You're perfect."

"Really?" She met his gaze and tried to read his face.

"Yep."

She sighed in relief.

A flash of green through the window caught her attention. Scrambling to her knees, she half crawled to the sill, looking out. With all the 'gifted' yard decorations, the entire street lit up like an airport runway in the moonless night.

"What is it?" Rye hurried over, his head turning this way and that as he stared through the glass.

Brie stood up beside him. "An elf just zipped by."

Rye shot her a look that clearly said he believed she had lost her mind or needed an emergency appointment with the eye doctor.

She frowned. "It did. I swear." Frantically, she blinked against the bright colors in search of the mysterious person. Another movement caught her attention. "There. Right there." She pointed through the glass. The guy took the moment to turn around, grin, and wave. Brie gasped as the man eerily resembled Jingle, the elf she'd met at the Christmas social.

Rye stared for a long moment before shaking his head.

"Admit it. You saw an elf!" She poked him in the side.

He sidestepped and rolled his eyes. "I saw someone dressed like an elf."

"Noooo. Admit it. You saw an elf. A true Christmas elf."

He sighed in resignation. "Okay. I give. I saw a true Christmas elf."

"Ah ha! I'm not so blind after all." She planted her hands on her hips.

He turned, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her into his embrace. "Never blind. Silly, yes. Sexy, definitely. Squirrelly, absolutely." Each word he accentuated with a light brushing of his lips over her forehead, nose, and finally her lips.

Just as she began to lose herself in his deliciousness, he stepped back. With a quick grin, he reached into the small tree, pulling out a small velvet box from deep inside. Holding her gaze, he lowered to one knee before her and flipped the lid open.

"Brie, will you marry me?"

Surprised, elated, and completely stunned, she reached for the shiny ring with trembling fingers. "Oh my."

He plucked the ring from its holder and slid it on her finger, setting the box aside.

Sheer joy exploded inside her as she stared at the precious gift and realized what it meant.

Wiping a tear from her face, she threw herself into his arms with a resounding, "Yes. Oh my god, yes!"

Rye caught her with a chuckle, lowered her to seal his lips over hers as he wrapped her tight in his arms. She held him just as snug, too excited to let him go for a single moment.

Brie poured all the love and passion she felt for him into the kiss. The man of her dreams. He might drive her to distraction, but he was her knight in shining armor when times got tough. She couldn't have asked for a better man to share the rest of her life with.

"I love you, Rye."

He rubbed his nose against hers. "I love you too, squirrel." After a tight hug, he leaned back to look down at her. "At least this will give the family something else to talk about than those blinding calendars you dropped off."

"Don't worry. Thelma dropped over three dozen of her special cookies for our contribution to Christmas lunch. They'll forget all about the calendars then." Brie's lips twitched.

He groaned dramatically. "What am I going to do with you?"

She smiled and rubbed against him. "Love me?"

"Forever and always." With those words, he meshed his lips over hers.

In the background, she distantly heard sleigh bells and a deep male voice exclaim, "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night."

The End

About the Author

Growing up in the Midwest, I began reading romance novels in high school, immediately falling in love with the genre, to the point where I decided to write professionally for a career. However, that dream splattered against a brick wall, resulting in a quick death in my first writing class in college when my professor told me bluntly that I wasn't any good at it. I shifted gears quickly, and left my writing dreams behind, eventually settling on becoming a nurse.

A few years back, I stumbled across a fan-fiction writing site on a favorite author's webpage. I began to read stories others wrote, not only making some wonderful close friends from the experience, but also, really learning to write for the very first time. Here I was able to share short stories, practice my writing skills, and truly develop into a writer. More than that, the experience allowed me to revitalize my dream, as I rediscovered joy in writing. Now, I spend my days off with my alpha male characters, quick witted heroines, and see how much trouble everyone can get into.

When I'm not working or writing, I enjoy working in the garden, canning, and seeing my backyard as a living canvas for my whimsical landscaping, and, of course, reading romance novels.

Blog

http://cheyennemeadows.blogspot.com/

Email

[email protected]

Titles by Cheyenne Meadows

Available from
Silver Publishing

As Fate Would Have It

Christmas with Mesa

Broken Bridges

Triad

Turbulent Rain

A Fate Filled Christmas

WIND WARRIORS

Tiger's Lily

Loco

Summer's Night

Sky's Lark

Silver Spoon

Blue Blood's Trifecta

Ghost's Treasure

THE COIN TOSS

Heads: Vampire

Tails: Werewolf

HUMAN INTERACTION

Human Interaction

Species Interaction

Entangled Interaction

Reviews

5 Cups
for
Triad

This is the first book that I have read by Cheyenne Meadows and I can tell you right now it will not be the last. Yowsa! Talk about hotter than a firecracker! I really really LOVED this book. It is not often that I find a book that captures my attention as much as this one did, but I simply could not put it down until I had read the very last page. It has everything you could ever want in an m/m romance, suspense, scorching hot sex, love, romance, a murder mystery, and really awful bad guys. I just cannot say enough good things about this story, I ADORED it! If you never pick up another book this month, make sure you pick up
Triad
by Cheyenne Meadows, it is to die for!

—Coffee Time Romance & More

5 Stars
and a
Recommended Read
for
Species Interaction

Warning: you must read the first book in this series, or you will be lost. This book is not a stand alone. That being said, I read the first book (which was great) and came back and finished this one.

I loved this book. You will not be able to resist Shy's character. That girl has no filter—and she lets it all out! She kinda reminds me of Betsy Taylor (Mary Janice Davidson) meets Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich). She also seems to be a close personal friend of Mr. Murphy and his laws. Be ready to laugh out loud at the "good parts" of this book—and in complement, drool over hot characters and the yummy sex scenes—which are not overly explicit.

"Meat," the liger stripper PI alpha boyfriend is too much—hot, hot, hot. Of course, the only way to actually know in this world whether they are true mates is if Shy becomes pregnant. Due to the fact that her period is mentioned twice, makes me thing that we're in for a "surprise" in the future.

Five stars?!? You might be thinking… Cara hardly ever gives five stars. Well, it felt totally warranted in this case—are there issues? Yep. However, the rest of the story was so fascinating and funny; I didn't get hung up on things. I enjoyed this book for what it was, a funny sexy read.

So, here's the deal with this book: it is part of an ongoing series. Overall, there are no resolutions in this book, though lots of questions are raised: the perfect bridge for the book three! The characters are fleshed out, mysteries are spoken off, relationships are tested, and crimes committed. Don't let that deter you in any way, shape, or form. I actually got mad when I finished the book, going, "Wait, wait, wait! The End? No way! What the…? When does the next book come out?!!? How could Meadows do this to us!?!? Will Cannibal actually eat Shy's toes?" Please, please, please pick up this book—I promise you won't be disappointed, and I need more people chanting with me "MORE MEAT!"