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Earlier, when Ice had realized his secret was out, he’d worried about terrorizing her. She quickly dispelled that with her enthusiasm and curiosity.
He held up his hand. “Hey, remember our deal? It’s my turn to ask a question now.”
“Oh, right! Of course.” She looked crestfallen.
You have no idea how fucking adorable you are right now, do you? Ice asked silently.
A fresh wave of desire swept over him. He longed to see her completely naked and open to him. His fingers itched to rip off that maddeningly demure bra and fill his palms with the delicious weight of her tits. He fantasized about putting his face between her legs and licking her pussy until she came.
What kinds of sounds would she make while he was busy tasting her?
The sweet musk of her arousal rose like a perfumed cloud between them, assuring him she wanted him, too. Her scent drove his cat crazy. It wanted Ice to claim her on the spot. He found it nearly impossible to resist the call to action, since it was something that his human half craved as well.
Aloud, he said, “Why the hell would someone like you want to spend the winter alone in the wilderness?”
“It makes for the perfect excuse to avoid my stepmom’s annual family gathering in New Jersey,” she replied, grimacing. “When my boss at IDFG asked for someone to volunteer for this winter’s study on how climate change is affecting bear hibernation patterns, I jumped out of my conference room chair to volunteer.”
Ice felt a surprising surge of protectiveness. Her family must be horrible if she preferred spending a cold, lonely winter out here.
“So, you’re going to be spending the holidays on your own?” he asked. He sent out a silent, desperate prayer, Please let her be single!
He knew how quickly shifter men courted and claimed the few available single shifter women in this area. If he was lucky, the men of Bearpaw Ridge and surrounding areas might not snatch up an Ordinary human woman as quickly.
She nodded.
“Do you want to come to the Cougar Creek Ranch’s annual Christmas Eve dinner?” he asked. “My boss puts on an amazing spread.”
And Chef Daniel’s mate, a sweet, motherly bear shifter named Margaret Swanson, had organized the event with an iron fist wrapped in honey and velvet. She had already pressed Ice and a few others into service as sous-chefs for Christmas dinner.
Ice didn’t mind. He liked making himself useful. If helping out this year ensured that Becca had the perfect Christmas… well, Ice was all for it.
“Sure!” Holly said. Then she frowned. “Oh, I nearly forgot. One of the other wildlife biologists I work with, Evan Swanson, invited me to his family’s Christmas dinner if I didn’t have anywhere to go. His family owns a ranch about forty-five minutes from here.” She grinned at him. “I have to say, the people of Bearpaw Ridge are amazingly friendly. It makes up for the lack of DoorDash and Starbucks.”
Ice scowled at this. He knew Evan Swanson was happily mated, but there would be other young male bear shifters at the Swanson Clan’s Christmas dinner.
His cat didn’t like that, not one bit. And, to be honest, neither did Ice.
“Well, now you can tell Evan you have somewhere to be.”
Her brows shot up. “Oh?”
“Yeah. You’re spending Christmas with me,” he growled. And hoped he hadn’t overstepped.
But Holly’s eyes twinkled. “Bossy, aren’t you?”
“Yup,” Ice said unapologetically.
The mouthwatering smells of baking bread and reheating elk chili slowly filled the cabin. Holly’s stomach rumbled almost continuously now. The sound made Ice’s cat pace back and forth nervously inside his head.
Feed our mate!
Ice blinked at the demand.
In the shifter world, food was an almost-universal courtship strategy. But Holly wasn’t a shifter… and Ice wasn’t in the market for a mate, not when he planned to move on after the holidays.
I don’t want to mate her. I just want to fuck her brains out, he protested silently.
She still hugged her laptop tightly, as if she expected him to grab it from her.
