A Hollywood Shifters' Christmas: BBW Tiger Shifter Paranormal Romance (2 page)

But Jan was able to handle him. Shelley let out her breath in a whoosh, wondering what kind of close call would require the fire dragon. One thing for sure, they weren’t going to talk about it over the phone. “Tell me when we get together, okay?”

“Sure thing. And that’s why I called. I want to lock down your arrival time.”

“We’ve scheduled the private plane for five, and, um, is it going to be a problem to add two more? Dennis and Mindy. Is her last name really Mork?”

“It’s Maurek. Em-aye-you-arr-ee-kay. They explained that over dinner,” Jan said. “She used to get made fun of as Mork as a kid, but she and Dennis call each other Mork and Menace. It’s adorable.”

“Did you like her?” Shelley asked.

“Yes,” Jan said, sounding surprised. “Why, has something bad happened? No, not if they’re coming, and by the way, JP would be hurt if Dennis was anywhere in North America and didn’t come. But what’s with Mindy? I hear something in your voice.”

Shelley decided not to mention the prenup stuff. Jan didn’t need any more to deal with, and it wasn’t anyone’s business. “Nothing but tiredness from a day of running around getting ready for the film premier,” she said, hoping she sounded casual. “Just wondered what Mindy’s like.”

“She’s somewhere between your size and mine, with frizzy hair that looks great on her, and a kind of bright, happy expression that’s hard to explain.”

“That sounds creepy—like a Stepford Wife.”

“Oh, not at all. Opposite,” Jan said.

“Cheerleader?” Shelley wrinkled her nose. A super-rich cheerleader who wanted a prenup?
I already hate her
, she was thinking, and tried to squash that down.

“No! I’m describing her wrong. Wait and see—I think you’ll like her. I did. Now, tell me, did you try the pregnancy test?”

“Yes, and it showed positive. How did you guess it might be that? I thought it was way too early.”

Jan squeed, then laughed. “One thing I’m learning as Mrs. Future Mayor is how much people talk, and when these women got onto pregnancy, and all its varieties, the one thing that seemed universal was that when they have the flu none of them want to be touched. You hurt too much.”

“That’s true,” Shelley said, thinking back to the few times she’d been really sick.

“But craving sex when you think you have flu . . .well, there’s a good chance it’s not actually flu.”

“Got it in one.” Shelley grinned as she opened the car door. “Speaking of which, I think I’ll go fill the bedroom with candles, so whenever Mick does get home, we won’t waste any time.”

She walked out of the garage into the quiet house, thinking about on how fast Mick’s beautiful house had become home.

Then she saw him, and as always, her entire body lit like July Fourth fireworks—and she saw in his sudden smile that he felt the same.

They walked into each other’s arms and kissed, then he said, “You looked a little solemn. Anything wrong?”

“Oh, no. Just the opposite.” She repeated her thought, to see him utter a soft chuckle.

“And here I’ve been coming around to thinking of it as home, too. Until you moved in, it was just an address, a place to keep my stuff. Home was reserved for my grandparents’ little place in Sanluce.”

They walked hand and hand into the vast living room. Mick said, “You know my third mistake lived here just long enough to decorate and then jetted off to Europe, leaving me with divorce papers and fifty thousand dollars in decorators’ fees. Want to get rid of it all?”

Shelley looked at the beautiful Spanish tile, the Mediterranean style furniture, simple yet artistic, and perfectly suited to the spectacular Southern California view out the window, and shook her head. “Oona might have been a total flake in relationships, but she had really good taste. This is perfect for entertaining.”

“Roger that.” He laced his fingers with hers as they walked together, hips bumping, down the hall to the other wing, which had been completely shut off.

Here were five beautifully proportioned bedrooms, looking out over the hills on the north side and into the garden and over L.A. on the south.

Mick said, “Looks like it might be time to actually do something about these rooms. Paint or wallpaper? Carpet or tile? You said you like decorating, and I hate it. Do you want to take it over and surprise me?”

“Surprise you?” she said, gazing hungrily up into his blue, blue eyes.

She shoved him back against the wall hard enough to bring a startled laugh out of him. Then heat flared in those eyes as she raked her nails down his chest, stopping at his belt.

She pulled the leather strap as she said, “My idea is, we first make this place lived in by doing it in every room. Maybe twice. Starting with this wall right here.”

She yanked his pants down. “Surprise,” she said, deep in her throat.

His hands were already at her waist. Ten seconds later she kicked free of her jeans, already wet and slick.

Still standing with his back to the wall, he slid his hands over her ass, molding and caressing before he pulled her to him. She straddled his feet, reaching up for a hot, hard kiss.

Then he lifted her. She was six feet tall, but he lifted her like she was a featherweight. It was incredibly hot. She tipped her hips, finding the head of his rampant cock, and with a grunt of sheer bliss, she hissed as he buried himself in her to the hilt.

He backed from the wall just far enough for her to get her ankles locked around his waist, and then, with wall-thumping enthusiasm, they got busy on her plan.

Chapter Three

After so many days surrounded by nothing but ocean, and then long stretches of barren land along the Baja peninsula, to Dennis, the California coast looked like something Pixar might have designed. The entire coast was outlined by lights in every color of the rainbow. It was beautiful . . .

And the thing about a boat is, it’s also a lot of hurry up and wait.

He checked his phone again. Still not in range.

He dropped it impatiently into his pocket and leaned against the bow as cool air ruffled his hair. He reflected on how weird it was that, when they had no definite goal, he was happy to drift along. But now that he had a destination and dates lining up, he felt the same impatience that drove him when he was hunting down a story.

“Getting antsy, Menace?”

He turned his head, and there was Mindy, her marvelous cloud of soft hair lifting in the wind, her big brown eyes turned up at him in question. Love detonated in him so fast and hard it knocked against his ribs from the inside, but it was a hurt he wanted to feel all his life.

As he grinned stupidly down into those eyes, he wondered how he could have possibly been blind to the fact that she was a dog shifter. She had the same honest gaze as a dog, the happy anticipation of someone who looks out on the world from a clean soul.

“I know what to do,” she said, rubbing her cheek against his arm. “I’m in the mood to lick an ice cream cone,” she drawled like Marlene Dietrich. “Know where I can find one?”

If it hadn’t been for the crew all on deck, he would have left a vacuum trail getting down to the cabin. As it was, he suspected they all knew where Mindy and Dennis were going—and why—but he didn’t care.

The second they got the cabin door shut, he threw himself back on the bed, and then she was on him. In the few seconds it had taken to get from the bow down to the cabin he had stiffened like an eighteen-year-old who’s been away from girls all year.

Mindy grinned lasciviously as she unzipped his pants, and fingered his cock free. She started at the base, running her fingers enticingly through his pubic hair, the little noises of pleasure she made jolting him with pure lust.

Then with one hand she massaged his balls as with the other she took hold of him, running her hands over him as his dick jumped, his hips twitching with anticipation. “Mo-o-o-r-k,” he groaned.

“M-e-n-n-n-a-c-e.” She laughed like a pirate, then licked all along the shaft, paying attention to every vein, every curve. The twitches intensified as his breath came in gasps.

She licked round and round, flicking her tongue over and around the head . . . and bit the tip.

Heat zapped through him, nearly launching him off the bed.

At that moment she opened her mouth and engulfed him, and sucked. The pulses were already starting. She rode them with sucks, and tongue teasing, letting go only to run her mouth up and down his shaft until he was bucking like crazy. When he built to frantic pumping, she returned to take him once again, and pulled him with tongue and teeth over into white-hot, shattering orgasm.

And rode him all the way down, making cute little grunting noises that nearly set him off again. When the last faint pulse died away, he flopped back, cooling in his own sweat as she crawled up beside him.

“Still antsy, my menacing tiger?” she murmured, nuzzling his ear. “Want another go round?”

“Gah,” he breathed, nearly in tears. God, she was amazing. So smart, and sexy, and funny, and beautiful, and giving.

He wanted her as his wife. He wanted the proposal to be the best moment she’d ever had. In an awesome place, with all his friends there—the people he wanted to make into her new family, as hers seemed to be idiotic enough not to realize how totally special she was.

He wanted to make it the most romantic, magical day of her life.

* * *

Mindy curled into Dennis, her head on his chest, listening contentedly to the slow pounding of his heart, and the happy rush and hiss of his breathing.

How could she get so lucky?

During the first part of their sea journey, she’d tried keeping a list of all the subjects they talked about—music of the world, art of the world, how music and art were tied into culture, how music to dance to and music to listen to sometimes cross-bred.

History. Biography and autobiography. Journalism and what really was objectivity? Animals—shifters—how the world was far stranger than most people in their organized homes and habitual lives ever realized. Or wanted to realize.

She kept the list until she realized that they rarely repeated a subject, and when they did, it was because one or another of them picked up on a point and rambled onward, like a road leading to ever more exciting vistas. He listened to her intently, and even when they argued, it was never rancorous—it was two people with very different life experiences.

He was never boring. Unlike so many of the guys she’d dated. Dennis didn’t brag about his cars, his possessions, what a hotshot he was at work. She’d gotten thoroughly sick of the words “player” and “game” in reference to jobs.

He almost never talked about himself. If she hadn’t been told by a gossipy stepsister that he’d won an extremely prestigious prize the year before, she would not have known. When she mentioned it, all Dennis said was, “That bastard Ellerton and his assholes had it coming.”

And he’d turned the conversation to charities and donations, listening when she talked about how she always tried to make her donations direct, and if she couldn’t do that, to someone she’d researched.

“Too many scammers out there,” he agreed.

He didn’t ask how much she gave, or to whom—unlike her family, who didn’t know how much of her wealth went to those in need. The few times her name had cropped up on donor lists, the worst of them acted like she’d taken something away from them. Or was wasting her money on lazy bums who just needed to go out and get work.

After a hurricane or tsunami or earthquake had flattened their city.

But Dennis? Had actually been there, hands-on, trying to help, and writing about his experience in a vivid and passionate article to spread the word so the world wouldn’t forget those in desperate need.

“What are you thinking about so seriously, Mork?”

She jumped a little, then caught sight of their faces in the mirror on the closet a few yard away. She adored the sight of her tigerish man stretched out on the bed, his tawny hair spilled on the pillow. All that was visible of her was her hip—a round mound sticking up beyond his—and her head and shoulders pillowed on him. And yes, her expression had gone bleak.

“How much fun we have together,” she said. “Don’t worry. I won’t change my mind. I can take or leave all the hoopla of film premiers, but the film itself should be fun. And I look forward to meeting Mick and Shelley. And if that goes as great as you believe it will . . .”

He cupped her face gently, turning her head so he could look into her eyes. “Mindy, that’s after the wedding.”

“What?” She lifted her head.

“Wedding’s the twentieth. Film premier the 23
rd
. Christmas like usual the 25
th
.”

“Oh,” she said, trying to hide a grimace. She realized right then that she’d had no intention of going to that wedding.

He rose on an elbow, looking straight into her eyes. “If you’ve changed your mind, just say the word,” he said gently.

She hated weddings, but even more she hated the idea of disappointing him.
So pull up your big girl panties and deal. It’s a wedding, not a surface-to-air missile strike.

“No, it’s not that,” she said as carelessly as she could. “It’s just, I was remembering. I was a kid, and you know how kids are the center of their universe, because what else do they know? I thought I was bringing bad luck to all those family weddings—until I missed a few, and those ones broke up anyway.” She forced a smile. “So I’m not worried that I’m going to jinx your buddy JP’s wedding.”

His gold-flecked eyes flicked between hers, then he grunted. “Okay. But if at any time you want to take off, tell me. We can be out of there in an hour.” He nicked his scruffy chin toward his go-bag, out of which he’d lived for most of his adult life.

She ran her thumb over his chin, loving the stubble. “Mmmm.” She brushed her cheek against his.

He growled deep in his chest. “I can think of a few places to put that stubble to work before I shave,” he suggested.

“Yes,” Mindy said happily, and fell back on the bed for her turn.

A little later, they walked out arm in arm onto the deck of the
Robin
, fresh from the shower. The city had sprung considerably closer—clusters of buildings could be made out: the Getty lights high on the Pacific Palisades, the Wilshire Towers.

Mindy noticed that Dennis had his cell out. She’d never seen him care that much about checking his phone. He had to be eager to see his friends, she thought as he let out an “Ah! Two bars. And that’s enough for . . . holy shit!”

“What’s wrong?” she asked, instantly concerned.

“I was not ready for a billion texts and emails,” he said grimly. “Looks like we must have gotten on some kind of list.” He sighed. “Of course. Mick’s film premier. Bet you anything his publicity hacks have blabbed our names all over town, and here’s a bunch of people wanting me to give talks for free, and donations, and attend their fundraisers. I wonder if they realize my share of that damn journalism prize was ten grand, not ten million.”

Mindy laughed. “You can’t blame publicity people. That’s what they do. And I guess they think you’re a celebrity. Or?” She stopped as his mouth thinned.

“Just a not-very-veiled threat from some asshole. My guess is, also related to that damn prize.”  His thumb worked as he deleted something. Then his expression changed as he read another, and he gave a non-committal grunt.

She was about to ask again, but hesitated, not wanting to be pushy. It was probably something from his friends, anyway.

And sure enough, after scrolling a bit more, he glanced up. “Mick says we can go with them in his private plane to the wedding. Okay by you?”

“Sure,” Mindy said, glad she sounded easy as she hid the familiar pulse of dread.

He thumbed an answer to Mick, then keyed the phone off and dropped it into his pocket. “What now?” he asked as Captain Niles and his crew expertly guided the
Robin
into Marina del Rey, where a slip awaited them. “Call a cab?”

She shook her head. “That’s already taken care of—we have a rental waiting for us on the Marina. My apartment’s been cleaned and it’s ready for us.” She had been using the same concierge service for a few years, and she knew the fridge would even be stocked.

Dennis pursed his lips, his brows rising over his tigerish eyes. “I have to admit, I’m still more used to grabbing a hammock where I can find one.”

“I’m no good in hammocks,” Mindy admitted. “Give me a comfortable bed.”

He grinned. “As long as I’m in it with you, I’ve got no complaints.”

When the
Robin
had been secured to the dock and the ramp extended, Mindy went in search of Niles and the crew. “You guys are officially off duty. Feel free to invite friends to enjoy the harbor,” she said. “If we decide to entertain on deck, I’ll give you plenty of notice—and I’ll bring in caterers.”

Niles thanked her, and added, “Merry Christmas.”

They all exchanged holiday wishes, and the two walked up onto the dock. Mindy grabbed Dennis’s hand tightly when the dock seemed to heave under her feet. He walked easily, obviously used to switching from water to land.

After the quiet of the ocean, the traffic and noise and lights of Los Angeles seemed to close around Mindy, as always. By the following day she’d be in L.A. mode again. That was no problem.

The problem? She kind of dreaded meeting Dennis’s friends and their wives, or soon-to-be wife. Now that they were here in L.A. the prospect wasn’t some future thing, it was happening real soon. Maybe in the next day or so.

“Hey, what’s on your mind?” Dennis asked as she inched into the Wilshire Blvd. traffic. She smiled quickly at him, as always a little surprised at how sensitive he was to her moods.

“Nothing. Counting up all my various halves and steps and sort-of-cousins I really should contact, since I
am
here. With luck most of them will be off somewhere skiing.” She forced a smile as they pulled to the valet parking booth.

As soon as they entered the lobby of her building, Dennis hefted his go bag, and said in a low voice, “Listen, Mork. If you want back-up with relation duty visits, I’m your man. Just give me a bit of notice, because I’ve got a couple things to see to.”

As soon as the elevator doors closed on them, she kissed him. “My sweet menace. It’s okay. I plan to limit myself to phone calls—they’re used to me being gone. The only one I really want to see is in the Middle East.”

“I’d like to meet that stepbrother of yours some day,” Dennis said as the elevators dinged open.

“You will,” she promised.

And there it was—that feeling that they would be together. That being together felt so natural. And she knew he felt it, too.