Because there were about a trillion presents left to wrap, but you don’t know that, because you’re too busy planning pie-in-the-sky publicity stunts like surprise reindeer to actuallymanagethis place.
Once again, those gritted teeth came in handy.
“We’re almost done,” Mira said, and she escaped back to Wade.
He was, in fact, finishing up the very last present. Appropriately enough, it had glittery reindeer paper.
“Bad news,” she said. “I tried to convince him that you had a reindeer phobia, but he didn’t buy it.”
“I heard that part,” Wade said. At least he sounded amused rather than disappointed. “I looked it up. It’s a real thing, for the record. Tarandophobia.”
“Marsh is not sympathetic to tarandophobes. Or shy reindeer who might not want to be part of a public display, gettingswarmed by kids. Those were the only approaches I could think of. He wants a Santa with reindeer, and he doesn’t care if it’s bad for Santaorbad for the reindeer.”
No surprise there.
“I’ll think of something,” Wade said. “Maybe if I splash on enough cologne, they won’t pick up my polar bear’s scent at all.”
“And I’ll try to keep them away from you. Marsh wants you to pose with them, but he’s almost never around during the day. Hopefully he won’t notice if you keep your distance.”
Wade crossed his fingers, and Mira did the same, tipping her hand towards his until their fingers touched. His smile warmed her down to her toes.
He said, “That sounds like a plan. And now ....” He stuck a glossy red bow on the last present and stowed it away in its locker. “We can head out for the night. Do you want to go to my place? I was wondering if you’d like to meet Fiona.”
“I’d love to meet Fiona,” Mira said, and she meant it: Wade’s pictures of his tuxedo cat meant she was already half in love with the little kitty. She meant the follow-up even more: “And maybe we can even think of one or two other things to do.” She went up on her tiptoes to pant a lingering kiss on his lips. “You know—bake cookies, trim a tree, roast chestnuts ....”
One of these days, she thought, they probablywouldget around to all that.
But not tonight.
Chapter Fifteen
December 23
Wade could get used to this.
The day before Christmas Eve began with Mira curled up in bed with him, her dark chestnut hair in disheveled waves. She had stopped by her apartment to pet Bigfoot and clean his litterbox, but she’d forgotten to grab a pair of pajamas while she was there, so she was wearing one of his T-shirts instead. There was something intensely, sexily cozy about the unraveling hem of one of his oldest shirts resting against the lush curves of her thighs.
Fiona was snoozing between their heads, letting out purry little snores. Every now and then, her whiskers would twitch and brush Mira’s nose and make her sneeze in her sleep.
It was an adorable, idyllic morning, and the only problem was that it couldn’t last.
Wade gave Mira a reluctant nudge. He hated to do it, but he knew she was afraid of being late and giving Marsh the only excuse he would need to stiff her on her bonus.
Mira stirred, her hair falling across her face like a curtain. “Mm?”
“Sorry. The alarm went off.”
She groaned and shifted, putting her arm across her eyes before she had to open them to the weak morning light. “I didn’t hear it.”
“I’m pretty quick at turning it off. Shifter reflexes.”
“That’s nice.” She rolled over to give him a quick embrace. “I’d rather wake up to you than to a blaring beep-beep-beep.”
She could wake up to him for the rest of her life, as far as he was concerned.
He needed to tell her that, which meant he needed to tell her about the mate bond. He should have done it last night, but somewhere between their clothes hitting the floor and their heads hitting the pillows, he’d forgotten about it.
He had to stop waiting for the perfect moment. But at the same time, he couldn’t go to the other extreme and drop the news on her while she was scrambling to brush her teeth and get to work on time.
