Secret Santa Surprise: Book 29 in the Kindred Tales Series - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,22

handsome and attractive, but both of them were so young. What if she let herself get involved with them and they got tired of her, just like Steve had? Oh sure, she knew that the Kindred weren’t supposed to do divorce, but the idea of fidelity and true love for life sounded just too good to be true.

Also, the idea of being with two guys at once—especially such big guys—really was pretty intimidating. How would that work, exactly? She wasn’t a virgin like Sonja, but she was still reasonably tight and she’d heard that pretty much all Kindred warriors were hung like horses. So how would she take on two of them at once?

You’re getting ahead of yourself, she told herself firmly as she saw Sonja to the door and watched her friend walk down the long metal corridor that led back to her own suite. Just wait until the Christmas party and see how things go. Surely you’ll get more of an idea if Strong and Clear are seriously interested and then you can decide what to do.

She hoped.

8

“Are you almost ready to go? The party starts in an hour.” Clear frowned at his twin. Strong was still in his Med Center scrubs and while the dark maroon color did look good on him, they were supposed to be wearing their uniforms to the party.

“Just need to finish these reports,” Strong said distractedly. “Maybe you should go without me, Brother.”

“What?” Clear exclaimed. “You said you would come! Don’t you want to see Melanie again?”

“Of course I do.” Strong looked up and frowned. “But the question is, does she want to see me again. And I very much fear the answer is ‘no.’”

“What makes you say that?” Clear demanded. “I thought the two of you got along just fine.”

“No, you thought I scared her. And on thinking the matter over, I’m pretty sure I did.” Strong sighed. “I don’t know what got into me, pushing her like that. She’s just so fucking gorgeous that I couldn’t help wanting her.”

“Which is precisely why you need to come tonight,” Clear said firmly. “To get a second chance at meeting her. That way you can show her how non-threatening and gentlemanly you can be.”

“You’re better at that than I am,” Strong growled. “Even around females we aren’t interested in. But Melanie…” He shook his head. “I’ve just never met a female who moves me like she does. It’s like she’s got this gravitational pull and the minute I met her, I was sucked into her orbit.”

“Then come and see her again tonight,” Clear pleaded. “Please, Brother—you know I’m not complete without you. If we’re going to have any chance at all of winning her heart, I need you by my side! I can’t do this alone.”

“Well…” Strong sighed and shook his head. “I still think she’s far out of our league, as the humans say, but all right—I’ll come.”

“Do you promise?” Clear asked, frowning.

Strong nodded. “Promise, Brother. I’m almost done with these reports and then I’ll jump in the shower and put on my best dress uniform.”

“All right then.” Clear nodded, satisfied. His twin could be incredibly stubborn and hard to persuade but once he gave his word to do something, he would do it.

“You go on ahead,” Strong told him. “Oh, did you get the Secretive Santa gift for Melanie?”

“I’ve got it right here.” Clear held up a plain white cardboard box. “Do you want to see what it is?”

“Sure.” Strong shrugged. “Show me what you got.”

“Behold!” Clear pulled the lid off the box to display the contents. “It’s perfect—don’t you think?”

Strong frowned.

“An oven mitt? You got her an oven mitt?”

“Not just any oven mitt!” Clear protested. “This is a flexible silconian alloy that’s tested to withstand up to five thousand degrees of heat! It’s perfect—don’t you think? If Melanie had been wearing something like this when I came to teach her how to use her wave, she never would have gotten a hole burned in her hand. The mitt would have protected her.”

“And then I wouldn’t have met her and made a fool of myself by being too aggressive,” Strong growled.

“Will you let that go?” Clear said, exasperated. “Melanie is a wonderful, kind female. I’m sure if you just back things off a little bit tonight, she’ll give you another chance.”

“I still say the two of us have very little chance with a lovely, mature Elite,” Strong growled. “So I don’t want you to be upset when she’s coolly polite and