Pawliday Love

Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

RUDOLPH

T he sound of a phone woke me, but I didn’t move. I didn’t want to let the beautiful woman in my arms go.

Good gracious, what was going on? I might be an honorary Krinkle, but I wasn’t a Krinkle. I didn’t have their history of how they found the woman they were meant to be with. As far as I knew, the legend didn’t affect me but damned if I didn’t feel like all it took was one kiss for me to be deeply invested in Brielle.

The sound of the phone wasn’t going away. I could also hear the dogs outside the door. They were still worried about their mom, and they needed to go outside.

Reluctantly, I pulled myself away from her warm body. She complained in her sleep but rolled over and snuggled deeper into the pillow beneath her. I smiled and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before getting up.

I opened the door to see Dasher and Dancer sitting there, looking up at me.

“I told you she was fine,” I said as quietly as possible. “She is sleeping, and I don’t want to wake her.” They didn’t move. “How about I let you out and then we can come back and enjoy the snowy morning?” They turned without a backward glance and walked to the back door. Snow was still coming down, but not as heavy as last night.

I opened the latch and let them roam free. The cold air froze my bare chest, so I pulled the door closed. I went to find my phone and saw I had four missed calls from CJ. I hit redial and waited.

“There you are.” He answered on the second ring. “We were getting worried.”

“I’m fine, but the truck broke down.” I kept my voice low.

“Sorry man. Did you have to spend the night in the cold?”

“No, the woman from the feed store let me stay at her house.” I smiled just thinking about Brielle.

Either there was something in my voice, or he was leaning into his heritage and could sense something through the phone, or CJ just knew me well enough to know something was up.

“Talk.” He didn’t mince words.

I opened up about what happened last night. I didn’t go into details, but I shared what I could in the hope that he could tell me if this was part of the Krinkle legend or if I was imagining things.

“Sounds like you had quite the night.” CJ actually laughed.

“This isn’t funny.” I let out a breath. “I don’t want to hurt her, but should I feel this connected to her after one night?”

“It is possible that the legend sees you as a Krinkle. You’ve grown up with us, lived with us, and we all consider you a bonus brother.” His words touched my heart. “I know my parents think of you as a Krinkle. Perhaps that’s all that’s needed.”

“So what do I do?” What if this was all in my head?

“That’s up to you,” CJ answered. “You can stay and explore this to see if there is more going on than just one night, or I can bring the carriage to get you, and you can put this behind you.”

I thought about both options. The smart thing would probably be to walk away, but I wasn’t sure I could. I definitely knew I couldn’t put this behind me until I knew exactly what was going on between me and Brielle.

“Can you watch the animals for a few days?” I went to let the dogs back in.

“Sure thing.” CJ laughed. “Just make sure you’re back before Christmas. We can’t do this without you.”

“We’ll be there.”

“We?”

I hadn’t noticed that I included Brielle until he repeated the word.

A huge smile broke over my face. “I have to go.”

Another laugh. “Enjoy the snow.”

“You too.” I hung up and went back to the bedroom, Dasher and Dancer right behind me.

Brielle hadn’t moved an inch. I slid back in behind her and pulled her back into my arms.

“Rudy?” Her voice sounded filled with sleep.

“I’m right here, love.” I pressed my lips to hers. She blinked until her eyes were wide open.

“You’re cold.”

“I let the dogs out,” I told her.

“Oh.” She sat up. The sheet dropped to her waist, but she didn’t seem to notice. I was so glad she had lost some of her shyness during the night. She had great breasts. There was no need to cover them.

“It’s okay.” I pulled her back to me. My hands going right for them. “How would you feel about getting snowed in for a few days with me?”

“Are you serious?”

I chuckled. “Didn’t I tell you to stop asking me that?” I kissed her lips, her cheek, her neck. If she only knew how serious I was.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind it.” She squeaked when I brushed my thumb over her nipple.

“Good.” The dogs barked from beside the bed, and I laughed.

“What?”

“They want to know if I’m their new daddy,” I told her.

A slow smile covered her face, along with the prettiest blush. “Are you?”

“Let’s see how the next few days go, but I’m not against accepting the position.” I rolled us so she was beneath me. “Speaking of positions.”

The snow continued to fall as we got lost in the magic of each other.