Holidays are Hell

Once they'd reached her home the touching took on a different tone. Nick started out just trying to be caring by running her bath while she collected a robe and towel, but then his efforts to help her get the ruined dress off saw them lip-locked. This time there were no sudden bursts of laughter or talking to force them apart and they ended up making love right there on the bath mat. A memorable first time to be sure.

A memorable second time followed when he joined her in the bath.

They were out and drying off when the phone rang. Pulling on her robe, Jill left the towel for Nick and rushed out to the end of the hall to answer the phone.

"Jill? Are you all right? I got your message when we got back. It was followed by a bunch of hang-ups I worried might be you."

"Yes, the hang-ups were me too," Jill admitted with a little sigh, glancing over her shoulder to see Nick walking up the hall to join her with only the towel wrapped around his waist. She smiled softly and relaxed back against his chest as he stepped up to wrap his arms around her from behind.

"What's happened?" Kyle asked worriedly. "You sounded pretty upset in the message."

Jill opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again as all she had to tell him rolled through her mind. This was going to be a long conversation and Jill simply wasn't up to that right now. All she wanted was to collapse into bed and sleep in Nick's arms… and… she decided she could. John Heathcliffe was safely locked up for at least seventy-two hours. Tomorrow morning she would get up bright and early and go over to her brother's house and tell him everything. For now it would wait.

"Jill?" Kyle asked. "What's happened? What were you calling to tell me?"

She opened her mouth, but again paused, this time because Nick had started to nibble at her neck even as his hands slid around to tug her robe open so his hands could run freely over her body.

"I called to tell you…" Jill paused on a soft gasp as Nick's hands closed over her breasts, then finished breathily, "Mr. Handsome Shoes isn't gay."

"Mr. Handsome Shoes?" Nick asked with amusement, pinching her nipples lightly for punishment.

"You were calling to tell me Mr. Handsome Shoes isn't gay?" Kyle asked with disbelief and Jill heard Claire squeal in the background and then cry, "He finally asked her out, didn't he?"

Rather than answer either question, Jill laughed and pushed Nick's hands away, saying, "I'm coming by tomorrow for breakfast."

"Nice of you to invite yourself," Kyle said dryly.

"Trust me, you owe me," Jill responded just as dryly, fending off Nick's roaming hands as she added, "I might be bringing Nick if he wants to come, and believe me you owe him too. We have quite a bit to tell you."

"I heard that," Claire cried, obviously having picked up another phone in the house. "You can't say something like that and then just leave us in suspense. What do you have to tell us?"

"Tomorrow," Jill said firmly and hung up.

"Hmm… Mr. Handsome Shoes," Nick murmured as she turned in his arms and slid her own around his neck "No wonder your brother thought I was gay if you've been calling me that."

"I didn't," she assured him, pressing her body close to his. "Claire did."

He grinned. "You talked about me to Claire, did you?"

"And you talked about me to your family," she pointed out, reaching down to undo the towel around his waist.

"Yes. Maybe we should have done a little more talking with each other."

Jill laughed at the claim and began to press kisses to his chest. "Talking is all we did buddy. It's the other things we should have done more of."

"Oh? Such as?" he teased.

Smiling, Jill pulled away and caught his hand as she began to back her way down the hall. "Come with me and I'll show you."

Smiling, Kyle allowed her to lead him into the bedroom, murmuring, "Somehow, I think this is going to be the best Christmas ever."

About the Author

LYNSAY SANDS is the national bestselling author of the Argeneau vampire series as well as more than fifteen historical novels and anthologies known for their humorous edge.

For more information, go to www.lynsaysands.net.

Six Marjorie M. Liu

To my parents,

with love

Chapter 1

It was an accident that the Foreign Minister's wife was found—her body had been hidden quite carefully, in several different locations—but the fortuitous combination of the harsh Beijing winter and several hungry dogs made her discovery quite immediate, without time for decay, and once the forsaid. "But we found ensic team had finished analyzing the woman's remains it was only a matter of time before the military became involved.

Which explained how, on the eve of Spring Festival, with the thunder of fireworks shaking the streets, Six found herself in a murky massage parlor in the heart of Shanghai, her hands covered in oil as she pounded the brown filthy feet of a man in a wrinkled black suit.