Sassy Claws

Chapter One

Chapter One

ALANNA BRADBURY STARED at the box Josh set on the table. “What’s this?” She crossed the living room to where Josh stood, staring at the box with pinched brows as she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “Are you moving out?” She glanced back up at him. “What? My snark finally get to you? What was it that finally did it? Tell me. I need to keep notes on this sort of stuff."

“What? Why would you even suggest such a thing?” He turned and stared at her, his mouth slightly ajar. “Are you wanting me to move out?”

Alanna chuckled, shaking her head. “You really need to relax. If I wanted you to move out, your stuff would be on the front porch already. I’ve almost got you broken in. Why would I toss all that hard work away?” She wiggled her eyebrows at him and then pointed to the table. “Now, what’s in the box?”

He stared at her for a moment, apparently still unsure if she told him the truth or not. She decided to keep him guessing and said nothing. After a few more lengthy seconds of awkward silence, he turned and opened the flaps on the box, obviously deciding not to push his luck. “Christmas decorations.” His face lit up at the words as he reached inside the box and pulled out an old Santa with a yellowish beard. “After how great our Halloween party went, I had my mom send them down to me a couple of weeks ago.” He glanced up at her. “Do you realize we’re the only cabin in the area not decorated?”

“Um, how old are these decorations?” Alanna asked, backing away from the figure he tried to hand her. “And we’re always the only house in the area without decorations. I prefer it that way.”

His brows furrowed as he turned the Santa around, staring at it. “What do you mean? What’s wrong with Santa?”

She c****d an eyebrow at him. “Seriously? Are you staring at the same little… What is this thing anyway? A statue? Stuffed animal? It’s not one of those musical contraptions, is it? I hate those. They’re creepy. Remember that mounted fish that used to sing while it’s head and tail flipped back and forth. Now, that thing was creepy as hell.” She shuddered visibly. “I mean creepy.”

“Really? I kind of liked it. The way it sang while it kept bending on its wall mount.” He laughed, nodding. “It always cracked me up.”

She stared at him, disbelief pinching her brow. “You need help. You really need help.” She turned and walked away from the box, holding in her revulsion at its contents. Plopping down on the couch, she turned to him, hands clasped together in her lap. “What made you bring that box out now? Feeling nostalgic?”

He turned to her, a puzzled look on his face. “What do you mean? Christmas is almost here. We need to decorate. After how successful our Halloween festival was, I can’t wait to see what we come up with for the Christmas party.”

“I don’t decorate,” Alanna said, wishing now they had this conversation sooner. She just assumed that after the past two years, he would have figured it out. She should have known that Halloween festival would have made him ambitious. There was a lot about her she had yet to share with Josh, and she knew it wasn’t exactly fair to him. He had been patient so far, not marking her as his mate even though they both knew their animals had scented the other as their forever one. It hadn’t been easy, of course, but he had given her the space she said she needed without pushing. She still had way too much baggage to unpack to be adding more to it now, even with Josh. “I don’t do holidays period.” She pointed to the box. “You can put that somewhere else.”

“Excuse me? What do you mean I can put this somewhere else? It’s the holidays. People decorate for the holidays. It’s part of the fun. I thought you’d be on board with this. You had a blast at Halloween.”

“I almost died at Halloween, remember? And you haven’t decorated for Christmas since you’ve been here.” She shrugged, considering the matter dropped in her eyes. “And, it may be part of the fun for those people who decorate. However, it’s just an annoyance to me, a reminder of things I don’t want to remember. Really, I hate Christmas. It wasn’t something I ever looked forward to each year.”

He stared at her for a moment, his expression showing how lost he was as to what to say. She felt bad for him but not enough to fill him in on her reasons. Her memories were hers, and hers alone. “You’re serious? You don’t want to decorate for Christmas? No tree? No colorful lights?” He grinned, waggling his eyebrows at her. “No hanging the mistletoe, so we can make out under it?”

She laughed, shaking her head. “As if we need some w**d hanging from the ceiling to give us a reason to lock lips and tongue dance with each other. And yes, I’m extremely serious. No decorations.”

He dropped his arms to his sides, the Santa still clutched in one hand. “How could you not like Christmas? How come this never came up before now? I mean, what’s not to like? Christmas means happiness, joy, family…” She saw his face fall as soon as he said that last word, realization dawning on him. “You don’t like Christmas because of your family?”

“I don’t have a family, remember?” She shoved herself off the couch, moving to the small kitchen. She didn’t need a drink or a snack, just something to do besides look at him and deal with her past. “At least, not a family like other people have.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “I just don’t like Christmas, all right? Leave it at that.” She opened the cabinet and pulled out a coffee mug and then moved over to the coffeepot to pour a cup of coffee when she realized she hadn’t made any yet. She growled, her body tense from memories she didn’t want to deal with right then. She almost slammed the cup on the counter as she set it down, grabbing the carafe from the coffeepot with her other hand to make a fresh pot. She could see Josh staring at her out of the corner of her eye, but she chose to ignore him. He wanted answers she wasn’t ready to give, she knew. However, she might not ever be ready to give them. It wasn’t fair, of course, but he would just have to deal with the unfairness of their relationship. It wasn’t her fault their animals had sensed each other as their mates. She tried hard to avoid that situation, intending on living out her life alone to avoid all the traditional relationship bullshit. That was one of the reasons she came to Bull Creek. Who knew the universe had a twisted sense of humor?

She punched the brew button on the coffeemaker, closing her eyes and sighing. God, I’m such a b***h. Taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes again, staring at the wall in front of her. Josh deserved better. He had put up with her quirks since they met, and here she was shutting him down once again.

Turning, she leaned back on the counter, crossing her arms as she stared over at him. He hadn’t moved. Just stood there watching her. “Fine. You can decorate. A little.” She pointed at him, her eyes narrowing. “Very little. I don’t want to come home and see my house from two miles away because of all the damn lights you’ve strung up. Agreed?”

He gave her a childish grin, as if she just handed him his Christmas present. “Agreed. Subtle. I can do subtle.”

She sighed. “I highly doubt you even know what the word means.”

He chuckled as he reached out and held the yellowish Santa up in front of him with both hands. “I can look it up,” he told her with a wink. Then, she watched as his expression grew serious, and he set the Santa down on the island as he moved around toward her. She knew that look; it meant he was about to get all sappy and sweet on her. She hated sappy and sweet. She didn’t know how to handle it.

When he reached her, he placed his hands on her upper arms as he stared into her eyes. “Look, I don’t know what happened back then. You won’t talk about it. And I’m fine with that. Really. We all have things in our past we want to forget. But,” his smile grew, and the way he looked at her made her wolf prance about inside, “I’m not those people. None of the people in Bull Creek are those people. We’re your family now, and I promise, whatever you need, we’ll help you accomplish or get through or deal with or whatever. I love you. From the moment I first saw you over two years ago, we both knew we were fated to be together forever, and there isn’t anything on this earth I wouldn’t do for you. The past is the past. We only have the future, and together, we can make it the best, most joyous future anyone could ever imagine.”

She sighed as she stared back at him. She had been right. Sappy and sweet. She took another breath as she leaned in and kissed him soundly on the lips, sliding her arms around his waist and up his back. She felt his arms sliding around her, as well, and soon they were pressed tightly against each other, bodies grinding against each other, tongues dancing, hands roaming, as they forgot about Christmas and threw themselves into each other instead. They fell back against the counter, Josh pressing against her so hard the counter dug into her back. She didn’t care; it at least got him to shut the hell up about Christmas. Did she know how to distract him or what?

She felt his hands grabbing at her shirt, pulling it up and over her head, her dark red locks falling in all directions once the shirt was off. Josh immediately dove for the top of her breasts as his hands slid to her b*a straps, fumbling with the hooks in his haste. She would have laughed except she didn’t want him to stop and start decorating again. Instead, she reached down for his pants button, making quick work of it and his zipper, and shoved her hand down the front of his pants until she gripped his growing c**k. Yes, this was definitely much better than anything that had to do with Christmas.

Once she felt her b*a sliding off her shoulders, she leaned her head back, giving him complete access to her exposed breasts as she ran her free hand up into his light brown hair. She gripped him, shoving his mouth to her hardened n****e. She felt his tongue glide across her sensitive bud, and it brought a moan from deep within as she clutched him to her while stroking his c**k in his pants. He moaned against her tit, sucking her swollen n****e into his mouth while he slid his hands down to the front of her jeans.

As soon as he had them open, he pulled away from her breast and took a deep breath. With both hands, he grabbed the waistband of her pants and jerked them down her legs. Leaving them bunched around her ankles, he spun her around and bent her over the counter, pulling her a*s back a little as he worked his pants down his legs with one hand. She felt him slide his hard c**k between her legs to find her entrance as he reached around her, pulling her head back slightly so his lips were right against her ear. She groaned as she felt him lick the ridge of her ear, his breath warm against the side of her face. Then she heard him chuckle, slightly. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about decorating. Although, I do love this type of distraction.” And then he buried his shaft deep inside of her.