Kiss Across Chaos (Kiss Across Time #10) - Tracy Cooper-Posey
Chapter One
It was a perfect day, up until Brody opened his mouth. Jesse found it twice as hard to deal with because it was Brody who said it.
Jesse stood in front of the big picture window of Brody’s, Taylor’s and Veris’ luxury log house in the Canadian Rockies when Brody uttered his simple, awful observation. She was there because Alannah had picked Jesse up from her last housesitting assignment on Long Island three days ago. For two nights, Jesse had slept on the sofa in Alannah’s L.A. apartment. She’d spend tonight there as well. Tomorrow, Alannah would jump her to Arlington, her next housesitting job. Because Jesse had been in Alannah’s apartment when Taylor, Alannah’s mother, phoned about Thanksgiving, Taylor had insisted Jesse come to their house for the day, too.
Four years ago, Jesse might have made an excuse to get out of it. She’d been fresh out of the Marines and still finding her way and was stupid into the bargain. Since then, she had got to know everyone in the family a damn sight better, so when Taylor invited her to the family dinner table, Jesse didn’t hesitate.
So Alannah and she tucked a pecan pie and big, fresh organic avocados they’d picked up from the Grand Central Market into a carry bag, then jumped to the house on the side of a mountain where Veris, Brody and Taylor currently lived.
It had been fifty degrees in Los Angeles when they left. Here, the outdoor thermometer by the big picture window overlooking the mountains and the town of Canmore sprawling along the valley, showed it was minus fifteen. Jesse blinked at that, then remembered to convert to Fahrenheit. Five degrees. It was still damned cold. A foot of snow showed beyond the window, smoothing out the bumps and lumps in the landscape, turning it into a white rolling plain.
But it was lovely and warm inside. The house being full of people didn’t bother her, either. A fire crackled and popped in the giant stone fireplace at the end of the big front room. The smell of roasting turkey perfumed the air.
Jesse’s stomach growled.
“And welcome to you, too,” Taylor said as she got to her feet and came over to hug her. Taylor was one of the Blood, so she had heard the rumble from across the room. So had everyone else in the room, most likely. There was little true privacy when you were in the company of vampires.
“It’s been a while since I had a turkey dinner,” Jesse admitted.
“Still eating hand to mouth, then, Jesse?” Rafe asked from the depth of the armchair he was sprawled in.
“Still my self-appointed life coach, then, Rafe?” she shot back.
He just grinned. So did everyone else. Brody came over and hugged her, too. Veris didn’t, but he never did, and Jesse didn’t mind. He nodded at her from his perch on the window seat, next to Rafe’s chair. Alex and Sydney—Queen Morrigan, although she was wearing jeans, so she was just Sydney right now—were sitting together on the sofa, with Remi taking up the third cushion. London and Neven were on two dining chairs, pulled up close to the fire. London sipped something that steamed gently and smelled divine.
The three people on the second sofa—Nial, Sebastian and Winter—were from a different timeline, but they were frequent visitors here. Jesse was still trying to figure out Nial, though. He made the hair on the back of her neck lift far too frequently, and her hand reach for the Glock that no longer lived on her hip. But he never looked at the other two with anything but warm regard, and Winter and Sebastian were deeply attached to him. That had to count for something, Jesse supposed. She lifted her hand and waved at them.
Winter raised her glass of whatever in acknowledgement. Sebastian winked.
From the floor above, Jesse heard giggles and chatter, light feet bouncing and moving about. All the younger kids would be up there on the big landing space where the chairs, lounges and bookshelves encouraged reading. They were not reading, though.
“So who is cooking?” Jesse asked, looking around the big room.
“Marit is in the kitchen, bathing in the heat from the stove,” Brody said. He grinned, his dark eyes dancing. “It’s summer in Australia. Her blood is thinned.”
Jesse glanced at Veris. He could hear what Brody said, even from across the room, and even though Brody hadn’t raised his voice, but he didn’t react. He and Marit had found a mutually agreeable position