A Hollywood Shifters' Christmas: BBW Tiger Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant Page A

some kind of bullshit promise to Ellerton (who was behind bars in Germany, from which he wouldn’t be getting out in this lifetime) about getting revenge, then he could stuff it.
    As they headed toward a waiting limo, Dennis’s brain caught up with him at last, and he took Mindy’s hand and slowed their pace so the other two couldn’t hear. “Sorry,” he said. “I should have thought of this before, but where do you want to stay? JP and Jan will offer a guest room. They have a million of them. But I’m so used to staying at my place, which is dinky, old, and has no servants.”
    “What will be the least trouble?”
    “For whom?” he asked, grinning. “If we stay at our place, we strip the bed and wash the dishes, so my dad won’t come home to the mess when his current deployment is over. If we stay with the LaFleurs, then their army of servants will take care of it all when we’re not around.”
    Mindy turned her serious brown eyes to him. “This is unknown territory for me. What would you do if I weren’t here?”
    “Stay at my place. Police my own mess before taking off,” he said promptly.
    “Then let’s do that,” she said. “I do have a washer and dryer at my apartment, and I’m not afraid to use them,” she added dryly.
    “Good,” he, said, and lowered his voice, “I’ll feel less weird about making love to you all night long when we’re not in someone else’s house.”
    She smothered a laugh, then caught up with the others. A short time later, they reached the steakhouse that Dennis and the guys had been eating at since they were kids, one of the best places in the small town.
    JP and Jan were waiting there. Dennis stood back as the others went through the greeting routine, watching carefully. He wanted so badly for Mindy to like the guys, to fit in. To want to make his chosen family her chosen family.
    As they ordered and settled into questions, mostly about tomorrow’s wedding, Dennis observed the others observing Mindy. He reveled in everything his Mork did, from her quiet enthusiasm over the menu to her sympathetic responses as Jan—after a glass of wine—got into some of the logistical nightmares that it seemed were inescapable when running a mayoral wedding.
    The food was excellent, but as everybody finished, it became apparent that Shelley (who had avoided the wine) was not feeling great.
    Dennis noticed that Jan and JP both looked done in, so when Mick offered to take them anywhere in town if they wanted what little nightlife Sanluce offered, Dennis turned to Mindy. “Shall we just go back and turn in early?”
    She smiled. “I was just thinking that that would be perfect. But thanks,” she added to Mick.
    ‘Perfect’ was the word to describe Mindy, Dennis thought as he slid his fingers into hers. It wasn’t just her nice manners, she was really kind inside. The idea of not spending the rest of his life with her made his neck chill. Oh yes, it was time for the most romantic proposal the world had ever seen.
    But as he glanced at his tired friends who had both been hip-deep in hassles before their respective weddings, he thought to himself: And if she says yes, I hope she wants to run away to get married.
    “You’re staying with us, right?” JP asked when they reached the parking lot.
    “Nah, you’ve got enough to deal with,” Dennis said. “We can bunk at my place.”
    Jan turned from him to Mindy. “Are you sure? We have a room all ready.”
    “Thanks,” Mindy said. “We’ll be fine at Dennis’s house.”
    “Okay—see you tomorrow,” Jan said, which set off all the good nights.
    Mick dropped them off at Dennis’s. He reached up above the rain spout for the key, and let them in. The place smelled like leather and pine cleaner and other less identifiable aromas that meant home, and he watched Mindy as she looked around the tiny living room with its shabby early eighties furniture, and beyond into the kitchen whose linoleum floor dated back to the fifties,