Jingle Bell Wolf by Terry Spear
Chapter 21
The next morning, Roxie gave Landon a lift to the airport. He was as excited as when he was a kid getting a favorite toy at Christmastime. He had every intention of doing everything he could to help Gabrielle and not stress her out any more than he knew she had to already feel about the move.
“You two have fun. I know you both have work to do, but this is also a time to get to know each other better in her own domain.”
“I agree. Tell everyone thanks again.”
“I will. You deserve it, Landon, as hard as you work. At least until Gabrielle came into your life. You are absolutely no good without her.” Roxie smiled and gave him a hug and kiss. “And I mean that in a good way.”
He hugged and kissed her back. “I’m seriously going to have to get some Christmas presents for all of you.”
She laughed. “I’ve seen the packages under the tree for us already. Take care, Brother, and have a good time.”
“Hopefully, we’ll see you soon.”
Then Landon checked his bags, went through security, and boarded the plane. The flight to Florida seemed to take forever, probably because he was so anxious to see Gabrielle again. He was envisioning swimming in her pool and catching her, like the mermaid she was. Then before he knew it, he was at the Daytona Beach International Airport and Gabrielle was waiting for him at the luggage carousel, collecting him and his suitcases. She was all smiles, hugs, and kisses and he knew—if he’d even had any doubts—that he had done the right thing in coming here.
She motioned to the suitcases. “Did you pack enough stuff?”
“Yeah, just in case it takes us longer to get you moved. But if you get tired of me being around, you can send me packing.”
“Ha! You will have way too much work to do. Now that you’re here, I’m not letting you go, just in case you get homesick.”
He wrapped his arms around her back and kissed her again. “God, I’ve missed you. You fill a special place in me that I never knew existed.”
“Oh, I feel the same way about you. I’ve been really busy with work with the shortage of vets, believe me, and still trying to get rid of stuff before I move and put the house up for sale, but whenever I was free—swimming in the pool in the evening for a respite, trying to sleep at night—all I could think of was you and seeing you again. I was serious about sending you airfare, but I had to make sure that your family wouldn’t miss you.”
He laughed. “They were so ready to be rid of me.”
She smiled. “They love you.”
“They sure do.” He kissed her cheek, then grabbed two of his bags, leaving his laptop for her to carry.
“I picked up some Reuben sandwiches and bottled waters for lunch. I wouldn’t have had enough time to make us lunch or for us to drop by somewhere to eat in. I’m afraid I’ve got to get back to work after I drop you off at the house.”
“That’s no problem at all. Did you want me to drive and you can eat on the way?” he asked.
“No, that’s okay. I know my way around and we’ll get there quicker. How was your flight?”
“Long, but shorter than when we return home, since we’ll be driving. If you want me to stay until you are able to return.”
“Oh, yeah, you’re helping me drive to Colorado. We can stop someplace on the drive to Silver Town and enjoy ourselves. No sense in rushing to get there,” Gabrielle said.
He took his fill of her, her blond hair done up in a bun, her green eyes bright with excitement, her shiny, pink lips curved in a perpetual smile. She was wearing black slacks, pumps, and a long-sleeved black shirt, professional. He suspected she wore a lab coat over them at work.
It was hot and humid here, seventy-one degrees this afternoon. When they reached her car, he admired the silvery-blue Camaro convertible. A cool car for a sexy mermaid of a wolf. He loaded his bags into the trunk.
Before he got into her car, he pulled off his sweater and rolled up his long-sleeved shirt.
“Are you hot?” she asked.
He gave her a wolfish smile.
She laughed. “I sure missed you. Well, I received good news while you were on your flight coming here. The Colorado state board has all my vet documentation. So now it’s just a matter of them taking the time to approve my Colorado license.” She got into the car, started it, then got out and set the partition in the trunk, and folded the top down as Landon watched in fascination.
“That’s great news, and that’s one fantastic car.” He climbed into the passenger seat.
She sat in the driver’s seat and smiled at him, then drove to her house. “I figured you would like the car. In other great news, we have two veterinarians coming in for interviews this week. We’re hoping they like the facility and the rest of the vets in the co-op like them so that we can hire them.”
“They’ll still be short because of the vet with the broken leg though.” He hoped that didn’t delay things further.
“Right, but they said it wouldn’t be a problem for me to leave.”
“Okay, good.” He was glad to hear it because he didn’t want to have to hold out here too long, though he knew his family could do without him for as long as it took. “It seems surreal not to see any snow here.”
She laughed. “That’s something I’m going to have to get used to at a ski resort. But I’m excited about seeing the fall colors, and it’s fun dressing up for the fall. Here, it’s hot, hotter, hottest, and cool.”
He laughed. “You’ll definitely get all the seasons there.”
“Did you make your gingerbread house?”
They had skipped making it while Gabrielle was there so she could spend more time alone with Landon at the end of her trip. Next year, it would be a family affair. He hoped.
“Yeah, but it didn’t win. Silva at her tea shop won. She made one of a teapot, featuring windows and a door.”
“How cute. I’m glad she won.”
“The MacTire sisters of the Silver Town Inn won on the snow sculptures again. We did win on the lighting of our lodge.”
“That’s great! And Sparkle, the giant snowman?”
“That was a big hit. Everyone loved it because no one had thought to create a giant snowman. Everyone has been creating snowman families because we’re so family-oriented, so ours took first place. Tons of people, both guests in town and pack members, took pictures of it to share.”
“I’m so glad I got to help you make it.”
“Me too. But remember, next year—”
“Oh, next year the vet clinic will be in direct competition with you.”
He laughed.
“I’m serious.”
He laughed again. He couldn’t help himself. He had missed her lighthearted sense of humor.
When they arrived at Gabrielle’s place, he loved the white stucco one-story house with the red tile roof. He noticed she didn’t have any Christmas decorations out, no lights on the trees or house.
“You didn’t decorate for Christmas.”
“I have boxes of decorations, but I wasn’t planning on having anyone here for Christmas and I was gone right after Thanksgiving, visiting Silver Town, so it didn’t seem like enough time between when I returned home and when Christmas arrived to bother.”
“Gotcha.” And she was working and she didn’t have anyone to help her with it anyway.
She carried his laptop and the sacks of food into the house and he brought in his suitcases.
Several packed and sealed boxes were stacked against one wall in the living room. Otherwise, everything looked neat and tidy and like she wasn’t going anywhere. He hoped to remedy that in short order.
“I’ve got to eat and run. If you start packing, just try and only pack things I might not need for a few weeks.”
“Like your pictures hanging on the walls?”
“Yeah, though I’m thinking of selling any of the ones that have beach themes. You can take them down and set them against a wall. I have spackle sitting on the kitchen counter. You could putty up all the nail holes.”
“I’ll certainly do that.”
“I should have asked,” she said, opening her sacked sandwich. “You are a handyman of sorts, aren’t you?”
“I sure am.”
“Good. Could you clean the pool, if you don’t mind? The sweeper is running, but I noticed some leaves fell into the bottom and it’s not getting them. So go for a swim, unpack, make yourself comfortable. I have a list of things on the counter that I’m trying to do. If you see anything on there that you could do, feel free to. Or if you think of anything else that might need to be taken care of before I put the house on the market, feel free to handle it.”
“I’m your man.”
“Hmm, and a wolf at that. I feel so relieved that you’re here. I know we can knock a lot of this stuff out, but don’t worry. I don’t intend to make you work the whole time. I want to take you to the beach and out to eat, swimming in the pool, stuff like that. I want to enjoy being with you.”
“I can’t wait. Don’t worry about a thing. I’m here to help, not to make more work for you.”
“We’ll have fun too. I need some downtime.” She ate her sandwich and drank some of her water. “I hate to eat and run when you just got here, but I really need to get back to the clinic before my next client arrives.”
Landon rose from his chair and drew her into his arms and kissed her. “More of this later.”
She smiled. “I will hold you to your promise. God, I’m glad you’re here.” She gave him a big hug and a brief kiss, then headed for the door. “The place is yours.”
Then Gabrielle left the house, and Landon texted Roxie to let her know he’d arrived just fine and Gabrielle had gone back to work.
Roxie texted: Make sure you show her a good time. Don’t just do a bunch of work to get ready to move.
Landon replied: We’re going to have fun.
Roxie texted: Good. Talk to you later.
Landon took the rest of his sandwich and water outside to the patio that overlooked the swimming pool, sat down at the table, and smiled. He would never have come to Daytona Beach if Gabrielle hadn’t been here. All this was going to be work, but they would make it fun. He did see the appeal of her home, though, and how different it was here from her new home in Colorado. He hoped she wouldn’t miss it too terribly. He, his family, and the wolves in the pack would have to make sure that didn’t happen.
He spent the rest of the day taking down pictures throughout the house and setting them in a spare sewing room. Then he began puttying all of the nail holes. He didn’t want to paint until they had more of the stuff cleared out of the house. He looked at the list she had on her table. She wanted to have a garage sale this weekend. He smiled. He’d never done that before. It should be fun.
He made up signs for the garage sale and set them in the corner of the living room. Then he went through all the Florida pictures and placed them against the wall with the garage sale sign. He figured if she wanted to keep any, she could sort them out and set them aside.
Then he found his board shorts in one of his suitcases and stripped out of his clothes and put them on. He thought that her request to have him clean the pool really meant she wanted him to have some fun and not work all the time while she was at the clinic, but he didn’t mind helping out wherever she needed him to. That was a good part of why he was here.
He walked outside. It was still seventy-one degrees Fahrenheit, which felt hot to him after being in the freezing weather in Silver Town. He dove into the heated pool and swam across the length. It was a nice-sized pool, the water perfectly warm. A pretty landscaped yard provided privacy from the neighbors, though all the places here were one-story and they had six-foot wooden fences. He suspected a lot of the homes had swimming pools. If he had lived here, he certainly would have invested in one.
He left the pool, grabbed a net from a storage building, jumped back into the pool, and began cleaning. When he was done with that, he swam some more laps, but he wanted to swim with Gabrielle later too.
He went inside, grabbed his clothes, went to the guest bathroom, and took a shower. He was thinking of making dinner for them when he heard the garage door open, and he hurried to dry off and pulled on his clothes. “You’re home.” He was so glad to see her.
“Yeah. We’re only open until six thirty weekdays, and on Saturday until one thirty, closed on Sunday.”
“Okay, good. I was going to make us some dinner.”
She smiled and hugged him. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I can cook something on the grill. It’s perfect weather for it.”
“Sure, that would be great.” She glanced at his suitcases still sitting in the living room. “Oh, I’m sorry, I should have told you before I ran back to the clinic that you could stay in my room. I’m trying to keep all the rooms as neat as possible for when it comes time to put the house up for sale so I wanted to use only the one bedroom. Did that sound convincing enough without sounding like I am claiming you for my mate?”
He laughed. “Yeah, I agree with your logic.” He hadn’t wanted to assume she would want him in her bed at night here, though he’d sure hoped that’s where he would be staying.
“Thanks for the garage sale signs. They’re great. And so is the spackling. I’ll price the paintings tonight, and we can store them in the sewing room until the sale this weekend. I don’t work this Saturday, but I’ll be working the next Saturday, which is why I planned the garage sale for this weekend.”
“Okay. If you want me to start it on Friday, I can do it by myself.”
“Oh, that would be a great idea. We could keep bringing more stuff out on Saturday and Sunday.” She pulled out a package of chicken thighs. “Here, you can grill these and I’ll make us mashed potatoes and chicken gravy and broccoli.”
“That sounds good.”
“I have boxes of stuff in the sewing room I planned to get rid of. And furniture too. I listed them in the garage sale ad.”
“Okay, great.”
After they had their dinner, Gabrielle cleared the table. “Let’s go to the beach. I might not have very much longer to visit it, and being able to go with you will make it even more special to me.”
“I would love that.”
They dressed in jeans, and she wore a sweatshirt while he was wearing a T-shirt. She was going to wear a light jacket. She made him take one, too, just in case, but he insisted he wouldn’t need it.
She let him drive the short distance to the beach—he loved her car!—and they parked and saw the hotels featuring tons of Christmas lights. Then they got out, rolled up their pants legs, and began walking along the boardwalk until they reached the stairs to the sandy beach. The sun had already set, but with their wolf vision they could see perfectly well. A cool, steady sea breeze swept over them.
“This is great,” Landon said, walking on the sandy beach with her. “Not that I want to convince you to stay here, but I can see why you enjoy it.”
“I’m going to love taking hikes with you in the woods and running as a wolf, and we’ll still have a lot of fun. It won’t be the same, but we can always take trips to other places that have beaches.”
We? He took her hand and looked down at her. She was eyeing the sand under their feet, then glanced up at him. And smiled.
“I look forward to being with you in the new place. I realize it won’t be the same as here, but being with a pack more than makes up for it,” he said.
“Being with you makes up for most of it,” she said.
“Most of it?” He laughed.
“Well, we will have to see, won’t we?”
Then she pulled at his hand and ran into the shallow water, back out of it, and down the beach. He chased after her, loving this, coming here, being with her in her world.
* * *
When they were ready to go home, Gabrielle pulled a couple of beach towels out of the trunk of her car and handed Landon one. “I have them in my car for trips to the beach.” She brushed the sand off her legs and shook out the towel. He did the same, then they climbed into the car. She let him drive home. She swore he was torn between loving her and the car. She suspected whenever they had a chance to drive in warm weather in Colorado, he would want to be the one driving the car.
Once they reached home, they headed inside the house. “Let’s go for a swim.” It was her usual routine and now his too. But what would happen after that wouldn’t be routine at all. She wasn’t sure she could hold out that long though.
They stripped out of their wet jeans and shirts and underwear and put on their swimsuits. She grabbed a couple of fresh towels for them and then they went outside to the pool. She dropped the towels on the chaise lounge, then dove into the pool before he did. He quickly dove in after her and caught up to her. He pulled her into his arms. This time he wasn’t letting her swim laps first.
He encircled her waist with his arms and kissed her smiling lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, his stiffening erection already pressing against her body.
“I have caught you and you are mine,” she said, even though he was the one keeping them afloat and keeping her pressed against his hard body.
“You are mine as well, sweet wolf. All mine.” He kissed her thoroughly.
She would miss this with him, their private pool with no prying eyes watching them, like they could have at the lodge. But they would have the lake in summer too.
And the woods to run in as wolves.
“I am so glad I’m here.” He finally let go of her so they could swim their laps.
But she wanted him to be her mate and she was much too impatient to delay the inevitable. She couldn’t wait to make love to him all the way. As long as he was agreeable!
“I’ve dated off and on over the years, but I never met a wolf like you who means everything to me. I can’t wait for this. In between clients, that was all I’d been thinking of.” She took his hand and walked through the shallow end of the pool to the stairs. “Laps later. You are the only wolf for me.”
“Hell, you mean you’re going to agree to mate me?”
She loved it when he looked like he was ready to eat her all up. She smiled, kissed his chest, then grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. He might be hot in the Florida winter weather, but she was cold. “Yeah, I can’t resist you any longer. If I have to persuade you further, I will. But if you love me the way I love you…”
He grabbed his towel and dried himself off in a hurry. “Oh, hell yeah, I do. Why do you think I came out here after you’d only been gone for a short while? It seemed like forever. I was hopelessly lost without you. Hopelessly in love with you. Nothing was the same after you left. I would have done anything to convince you that you were the only one for me.”
She smiled up at him and kissed his warm mouth. “Then let’s make this official.”
“I’m beyond ready for that!” He dropped his towel on a chair, grabbed her up, and carried her into the house and then into the bedroom. “Shower first?”
“Yeah.” They ended up in her walk-in shower and she turned on the hot water.
He pulled off her bikini top and then kissed her breasts.
She ran her hand over his rock-hard erection, his wet swimsuit molding to him. “Hmm,” she said as he started to kiss her, their tongues making contact, sliding, tasting, teasing.
“How could I have ever gotten so lucky,” he murmured against her wet hair.
“You were determined to catch me breaking your pool rules.”
He kissed her lips again, his hands sliding down her wet back until he reached her buttocks and slipped his hands under her bikini bottom waistband. His hands were hot on her cold bottom, and she loved how heated she felt whenever he was holding her close, kissing her, hugging her.
She pulled at his board shorts, and once he slipped them down his legs, he kicked them free and pulled off her bikini bottoms. Then he was wrapping her legs around him and holding her against the tile wall, kissing her again.
“You’re sure you want to mate now? No doubts?” he asked.
It would be forever as wolf mates, so she knew why he wanted to make sure she was absolutely ready for this. “Yes, I want to mate you now. And it’s all your fault.”
He chuckled, then set her feet on the shower floor. “I knew I couldn’t live without you once you came into my life.”
She ran her hands over his muscular buttocks and marveled at his ripped, muscled strength—all of him, from his abs to his pecs and biceps, all the muscle groups and more. His sizzling brown-eyed gaze took his fill of her, as if he thought she was the most beautiful she-wolf in the world. To her, he was the most beautiful he-wolf known to wolfkind and he was about to be all hers.
He kissed her mouth, pressing gently, then deepening the kiss until their tongues were tasting and teasing each other’s. He moved his warm mouth from her lips to her neck and began kissing her with sweeping, nuzzling kisses, making her tingle with need. The sexual attraction had been there from the moment she’d met him. She’d never felt this way toward any male she’d ever been with. Landon was the one for her—forever and ever.
Their hearts were pounding hard as she nuzzled his chest with her mouth. She reached his taut nipples with her lips, brushed them over each nipple, and licked each in turn. He growled softly. She nibbled on his nipple and he groaned. “You take my breath away,” he said hoarsely.
She smiled, loving that she could practically bring him to his knees. But he nearly did the same to her when he massaged her breasts, licked her nipples, and slipped his hands under her buttocks. He pulled her tight against his rock-hard body. God, he felt good.
She kissed his chest. “I sure missed you.”
He ran his fingers through her wet hair. “I sure missed you too. I couldn’t wait to be with you again.” Then he kissed her mouth again. “I adore you, cherish you.” With his fingers, he spread her feminine lips to find her nub and began to stroke her.
The hot water was sluicing over her back, as she continued to cling to him or she would have melted right into the tile floor. She was kissing his mouth, their tongues licking and tasting. She sucked on his tongue and he groaned. She wanted to howl.
He was stroking her feminine nub, working her. He had such a marvelous way of bringing her to the top. He was so good. “Ohmigod.” She was nearly there, so close. “Oh, yeah.”
She was about to come. As if he realized just how close he was to bringing her to climax, he lifted her up, and she wrapped her legs around him. This time, he pressed his stiff arousal into her and thrust. This was just what she wanted. Him as her mate for all time. His erection embedded deep inside her, filling her, making her feel glorious and loved.
He held her tight, her legs wrapped around his hips, her arms around his neck, and she kissed him as he pulled his cock nearly out and thrust deep inside her. She moaned as the crescendo built and then she shattered, feeling a million pleasures all at once in the center of her core, spreading out, making her feel one with him.
He ground into her and then began to thrust again, her legs still wrapped securely around his hips, her anchor, her mate.
He began to kiss her mouth again, hot and firm, pressuring with passion. She felt loved, satiated, happier than she’d ever been, with a man and wolf who had made her dreams come true.
* * *
Landon had hoped it would come to this, making love fully with Gabrielle, consummating their relationship, becoming mated wolves. He hadn’t thought they would do it the first night he was back with her, but he was glad he didn’t have to beg her to mate him before long.
She was his dream wolf, and he couldn’t have been more thrilled she hadn’t wanted to wait any longer either. He knew in his heart she had been the only one for him the moment he had caught her breaking their rules while wearing the string bikini at the lodge swimming pool and learned she was a wolf. And everything from then on had worked toward culminating in this—a mating between two wolves in love.
He was thrusting hard, not wanting to come too quickly, but he had no intention of stopping there for the night. Later tonight, he was ravishing his beautiful mate all over again. But no matter how hard he tried to keep from coming, her sweet and sexy she-wolf scent, her moans of pleasure, their pheromones enticing each other, her soft body wrapped around his—all propelled him toward the summit. With one last powerful surge, he came with an explosive climax and howled his delight.
She chuckled, but then she made him hold her still. “Hold on, I’m almost…” She couldn’t get the words out, as he realized just what she needed. He worked his hand between them and began to coax another climax out of her while he was still embedded in her. She was so perfect for him.
“Oh, ah, yes,” she cried out, and collapsed in his arms.
He set her down on the floor and began to soap her up with her watermelon bodywash, and she washed his hair with her peach shampoo. He laughed. He would be happy to always smell like her fragrant shampoos and bodywashes—and her.
They finally finished rinsing off and left the shower stall so they could dry off and retire to bed. He knew she had a long day ahead of her and she needed to get her sleep. But if she wanted more loving in the middle of the night, he would do whatever he could to make her happy. He knew he would be ready for more at a moment’s notice.
About two in the morning, she began kissing his chest and running her hand over his erection and he growled low with intrigue. It was time to love his she-wolf all over again.
