Chapter 28
Once Sheri had the garlic Parmesan baby potatoes in the oven, she began helping Slade move the boxes he hadn’t unpacked, consolidate others that were partially unpacked, and load the empty, flattened boxes in the SUV to recycle. She wanted Slade to know that he wasn’t taking up some of her space, but they were sharing it together as mated wolves as if they had always been there together from the beginning.
They moved their summer clothes into the extra room and folded them into the chest of drawers in there and hung up the other garments in the closet. Everything was starting to look really organized again like she liked things. She could even see the Christmas tree, which reminded her she had to wrap some things when they got home tonight after dinner.
“Better?” he asked.
“Being with you makes everything better,” she said, pulling him in for a hug and a kiss.
“I feel the same way about you.”
They were just getting into the kiss when the oven timer went off. “Ooh, potatoes are ready. Which means we’ve got to go.” She hurried into the kitchen and removed the casserole dish from the oven.
Then they got dressed in their Christmas sweaters—his featuring the Grinch, which she had to smile at, and hers a snowman with a blue background, cardinals sitting on his branch arms.
“Who gave you the Grinch sweater?” she asked, pulling on her blue plaid skirt to match her sweater and then her boots.
“Amelia did. She teased me that she wanted me to buy her a laptop for Christmas one year, but of course I wouldn’t, so she got me the Grinch sweater. I wear it proudly.” He buckled his belt and pulled on his boots.
Sheri laughed. “That’s an expensive gift.”
“Yeah, I asked her for the same thing the next year.”
Sheri raised a brow. “You didn’t.”
“I did.”
“Don’t tell me. She said no and you got her a Grinch sweater.”
“I sure did. Well, a Mrs. Grinch sweater.”
“Oh, how fun.” She loved how Slade and his sister played with each other.
After they were dressed, he drove them over to his parents’ home to have dinner. But when they got there, Hans said, “Dulcie sent her regrets. She had a call on a case, and she said she wouldn’t be able to make it.”
Sheri could tell Hans was disappointed but maybe Dulcie could make it for Christmas lunch. She was also disappointed because Dulcie should be able to enjoy the holidays too. But Dulcie was brand-new at the job and that meant since she was the rookie there, she would work some of the holidays when an important case came up.
Elizabeth and David had made Christmas cupcakes. Sheri carried in the casserole dish of roasted garlic Parmesan baby potatoes. Hans arrived with bread and red wine to go with dinner.
Slade made Mrs. Claus cocktails of a blend of eggnog and peppermint schnapps, topped with whipped cream and crushed peppermint candy for everyone before they sat down to eat. Amelia and Elizabeth were drinking plain eggnog topped with whipped cream and crushed candy canes. “These are in honor of Sheri’s participation as Mrs. Claus at the Christmas toy giveaway.”
Sheri kissed Slade. “Thanks.” She took a sip of her drink and had whipped cream and sprinkles of peppermint candy on her mouth which Slade quickly licked off. She smiled and he kissed her again.
Sheri and Slade finally shared what had happened at the Lincolns’ house with everyone, and Lolita shook her head. “I can’t believe I sent you on that mission to take Benny to Mr. Lincoln and you ended up having to fight Fitz and Otis to protect the Lincolns and could have been seriously injured or worse.”
Henry and Fred started cooking the steaks.
“And that Sheri was with Slade at the time and put in harm’s way,” Henry said. “We’re so fortunate the two of you protected the Lincolns and came out unscathed.”
“And that the criminals are locked away now,” Georgia said.
Gavin ended a call on his phone. “I checked with the DA’s office, and they said that the judge didn’t allow them to be bonded out this time.”
Amelia nursed one of the babies. “They shouldn’t have been allowed out the first time. Not when they had both been found with illegal handguns in the BWCA.”
“I agree,” Fred said. “Hopefully they will stay in jail now and won’t be any more trouble for anyone else.”
“Here, here,” Slade said, raising his Mrs. Claus cocktail to everyone.
They all lifted their drinks and cheered the outcome of the case as it stood today, though it probably wouldn’t go to trial for months from now.
“I can’t believe how dangerous this case has been for you,” Gavin said.
“Yeah,” David agreed. “Cameron would have never given it to you.”
“But it all worked out in the end,” Sheri said, “and I’m glad I was able to solve it.”
“True. You and Slade have done an outstanding job,” Elizabeth said, rubbing her tummy. David reached over and stroked her back.
Sheri loved how caring David was toward Elizabeth. He always was, but it was so endearing to see the way he took care of her while she was pregnant. “I love your Christmas sweater,” Sheri said to Amelia. “Slade told me the reason for both of your Grinch sweaters.”
Amelia laughed. “Yeah, you know, it’s a twin thing.”
“Okay, let’s open a Christmas present before we eat dinner,” Georgia said. Earlier, the parents had gotten together and decided Christmas pajamas were to be opened at the Christmas Eve dinner and let everyone know who was supposed to be purchasing what and for whom.
Hans and Sheri had gotten their mother and dad a matching howling wolf set of pajamas, hers with a pink, long-sleeved shirt and his with a gray, long-sleeved shirt, their pj pants plaid to match them. Their mom and dad had gotten Hans and Sheri wolf pj’s with a wolf wearing a Santa hat. They had gotten David and Elizabeth the same thing. Slade and Amelia had picked out wolves on Christmas tree pajamas for their parents. Henry and Lolita had gotten Slade, Amelia, and Gavin pajamas that matched Hans and Sheri’s, which Sheri thought was cute.
It seemed everyone had the same idea as far as buying wolf-themed Christmas pajamas. Tomorrow, for picture taking at the Christmas lunch, they would wear Christmas wolf sweaters and blue jeans.
Amelia nursed the other baby while Gavin changed the first one’s diaper before they ate dinner. “When the kids are older, we’ll have to bake Christmas cookies for Santa like we did when we were kids,” Amelia said.
“For sure,” Lolita said.
“What else do you usually do for Christmas Eve?” Slade asked. Since they had two different families combining the activities for Christmas, it was important to incorporate both their ideas, if they had special traditions they wanted to continue.
“Opening a Christmas Eve present, special drinks, and dinner are about it for us now,” Georgia said.
“We open the gifts in our Christmas stockings, but we like the idea of pajama gifts for this year. That’s fine for a new tradition for us,” Lolita said.
“When the kids are older, we can make our own pizza dough and create our own pizzas. That’s what we did when Hans and Sheri were younger,” Georgia said.
“That was fun,” Sheri agreed.
Amelia handed the baby she’d just finished nursing to Gavin, and he changed his diaper too. Then they rocked the twins to sleep, and everyone set the table and served up the food.
“Later, when the babies are older, we could do a karaoke Christmas song sing-along, but not while they need to sleep,” Gavin said.
Slade laughed. “I would definitely wake the babies with my singing.”
Everyone chuckled. Then they started passing around the food and eating their steak dinner.
“So when are you leaving on your mated honeymoon for Silver Town?” Henry asked Slade and Sheri.
“We’re driving out on the day after Christmas,” Slade said, “early that morning.”
“Yeah, so we’ll need to pack our stuff tomorrow night,” Sheri said.
They had cupcakes after dinner, then it was time for everyone to start saying their good nights. Amelia and Gavin had been having a lot of sleepless nights with the new babies, and Elizabeth was feeling tired, so she and David were ready to go home. Hans teased everyone about getting old with being mated. Sheri knew their parents were probably tired too and they had a big day tomorrow with the Christmas celebration.
Slade and Sheri said their good nights to everyone, wished them a merry Christmas, and then left for home.
“That was so nice with all the families. Poor Hans. I think he felt a little left out. It would have been nice if Dulcie could have been his ‘date’ for the night,” Sheri said.
“True, but she might have felt a little bit uncomfortable about being a date when she doesn’t know Hans at all and everyone else was family,” Slade said.
“You don’t think she skipped out for that reason, do you?” Sheri would really feel bad about that.
“No way. She wouldn’t have missed coming for that reason.”
“Okay, good.” They arrived at their apartment and started to pull off their parkas.
She was glad all of Slade’s things were put away now so that he had easier access to what he needed, and they weren’t tripping over boxes in the middle of the night. She still needed to figure out what to take to wear on their honeymoon. Winter clothes, some dressy skirts and sweaters for eating out, a swimsuit for the indoor pool, and her wolf pajamas. She thought of wearing them tonight, but she knew they would only have them on for a few minutes. They could wear them in the morning when they had breakfast and unwrapped the presents in their Christmas stockings before they dressed to leave to go to her parents’ house for Christmas lunch.
“It’s time to go to bed so we can get up early. After we open our presents in the morning, we’ll have time to take a nap”—which meant make love—“shower and get ready for opening presents at your parents’ place and having Christmas lunch,” Slade said.
“That sounds like a plan.” She grabbed his hand and tugged him to the bedroom, ready, eager to make love to her mate on Christmas Eve and every other night. It still seemed so unreal that the hot wolf she wanted to mate was now hers for real—before Christmas even.
They entered the bedroom, and he pulled her into a heartfelt embrace and kissed her cold nose, his mouth nice and warm against it. “When we return from our trip to Silver Town, we’ll have to begin planning the wedding. I figure while things are kind of slow for me on scheduled trips, I would help you plan it as much as I can along with your mother and mine, of course, and all the ladies.”
“You’re so sweet.” She hadn’t figured he would want to plan anything, but she was glad he was eager to. But now, all she wanted was for them to make love to each other, snuggle, and sleep before they woke up bright and early on Christmas Day.
She slid her hands underneath his sweater and ran her palms over his pebbled nipples, and she loved that she could turn him on so easily. He pressed his hips against hers to show her just what else she had done to him as she felt the swell of his arousal. Just touching each other like this always made it happen, which made her feel sexy and loved that she could arouse him like that.
She kissed his stubbly chin and then pulled off his Christmas sweater, exposing his naked torso—glorious muscles that she wanted to touch all over. And she did, sweeping her hands all over his heated skin.
He smiled down at her as he cupped her face and began kissing her lips, taking a break to kiss each eye, her forehead, her cheeks, her jaw, and then her mouth again. He made her feel so special as she kissed him back, their heartbeats accelerating, their blood heating.
But then she pulled away from him to get this show on the road and slipped her boots off, and he yanked his off too. She laughed when she saw he was wearing Santa socks. “I didn’t know you were wearing those. They’re cute.” She had gotten him some special socks for his Christmas stocking that she hoped he would get a kick out of.
“’Tis the season. And you’re wearing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer socks.” He leaned down and lifted her foot to kiss Rudolph’s nose.
She laughed. “That tickles.”
He ran his hands up her sweater and cupped her breasts. She sighed, loving how he molded his palms to them, massaging and lifting. But then he slid her sweater over her head.
She hurried to unbuckle his belt while he was kissing her bare shoulders. “I love your red lace bra and”—he unfastened her blue plaid skirt and peeked under the waistband—“your red lace panties.”
“I wore them just for you for Christmas.”
“I’m so glad you did.” He removed his jeans and then unfastened her skirt and pulled it off.
She tugged off his boxer briefs, releasing his engorged erection. “You are so gorgeous,” she said, running her hands over his abs, his arousal boldly showing he was as ready for her as she was for him. “Every bit of you.”
He cupped her ass, his mouth sweeping over her jaw in a sensual caress. “You are too.”
Oh, man, he was so hot, and her blood was on fire. Like it always did, a heady desire pooled between them. He pressed a kiss to each of her breasts, but then removed her bra and did the same thing, flesh to flesh, which felt even more sensual. Her panties were the last of the articles of clothing to go before he yanked their covers aside, scooped her up, and laid her gently on the bed.
No matter how many different ways they ended up in bed—falling into it while passionately kissing each other, him carrying her after a shower and dumping her on it and then ravishing her, him climbing onto the bed and her taking over like a wolf hunting its prey or tackling him like he did her, or like this, tenderly and lovingly—she loved him.
He covered her body with his, pressing his erection against her mons, kissing her like he couldn’t get enough of her, like she felt about him all the time. His hands were gently combing through her hair, making her feel heavenly. He was a dream lover and made for loving. Her loving.
She rolled him over on his back and climbed on top, undulating against his body, rubbing herself against his erection, kissing his mouth with desire. Their pheromones were all over the place, ratcheting up the excitement, the anticipation of where this would lead.
But then, as if it was too much for him to take before he came, he rolled her on her back and began to pleasure her, using his finger to stroke her into an orgasm. Sheer pleasure streaked through her core as she moaned, and he kissed her mouth with a seal of self-satisfied approval.
“You’re mine, my beautiful she-wolf,” Slade said to Sheri, his voice hushed and saturated with lust. “Merry Christmas, honey.”
She realized it was after midnight and truly Christmas Day. “You are likewise mine, my hunky wolf, a pilot after my own heart and piloting us toward adventures unknown. Merry Christmas.”
***
“The holidays became even merrier once I met you.” Slade was kissing Sheri again, so ready to come and he wasn’t even inside her yet!
He spread her legs further, then pushed into her willing, heated body, thrusting. She was so tight, and she arched against him, making it even better, deeper, hotter. Every time he made love to her, he felt at home, that she had been the only one for him and she made him feel like he was the only one for her.
She moaned under his ministrations, digging her fingers into his shoulders possessively, seeking her own climax again as he was working toward his. He wanted her to come again, wanted them to have an orgasm at the same time, in union, together. So he slowed his thrusts, but she tightened her grip on him, both her fingers on his shoulders and her internal muscles stroking his erection. She was the stuff of dreams, magical, changing his world from so-so to extraordinary. He loved her with all his heart, and he managed to utter these thoughts aloud in a strained way. Then she was kissing him, nipping at his chin, his lips, his earlobe, and he sensed in her wildness that she was ready to come again, and he couldn’t have been more satisfied than that. He started to thrust hard and deep and that sent them spiraling toward climax.
They both cried out and kissed and laughed.
Then they hugged each other close, listening to their rapid heartbeats, smelling their rampant pheromones that had cheered them on all the way to the climax. He was thinking about Christmas morning, about their ski trip, about the wedding, a million things before he drifted off to sleep, when she said, “The cookies!”
“Cookies?” That was one thing that hadn’t been on his mind!
“I need to make the pfeffernusse cookies for tomorrow for Christmas lunch. I need to start them now, and the same thing with the green bean casserole. I don’t know how I forgot about them. And I need to wrap your Christmas presents.”
“Oh, I need to do that for you too. We had a lot going on.”
She chuckled. “That’s for sure.”
“Okay, let’s do this.”
They got up and took a shower. No matter how much they tried to just shower—clean up, and nothing more—it always turned into something more. Then they finally dried off and went into the bedroom, and they pulled on their new Christmas wolf pj’s.
In the kitchen, they started to make the dough. Once that was done, she said, “I need to refrigerate them for two hours, then bake them.”
He glanced at the clock.
“Yeah, I know. It will be really late, or really early, depending on your perspective. That’s what takes the most time.”
“Okay, set the timer, and I’ll do it.”
She smiled and kissed him. “You’ve never made them before. I’ve made them every year. I can practically do it in my sleep.”
“You might be doing that.”
She laughed, put them in the fridge while he set the timer on the oven, and then they made the casserole together, wrapped the presents they had bought for each other at Mall of America, and went to bed. Back to snuggling, kissing, and making love. Again.