A Hamilton Family Christmas - Donna Kauffman Page 0,33

roughness in her own voice as well.

“Not if he was dead he wouldn’t.”

She smiled even as she gently pinched his waist. “Not funny.”

“Neither is a howling dog at o’dark-thirty.”

“I think it’s later than that, but outside isn’t looking so good.”

“All the more reason we shouldn’t have dogs.”

“We don’t have dogs. Lionel has dogs. And I need to go take them outside.”

Trevor clamped his arm down more firmly around her waist and pulled her more snugly into the very warm and wonderful body heat he was also wrapping around her. “You need to stay here and keep the real world from intruding.”

That sounded like a great idea. Jack howled even more mournfully, which made her groan. “Keep that thought. I’ll be right back.”

What she was, however, was on her back. For a sleepy, drowsy guy, he moved remarkably fast when he wanted to. Something to make note of, she thought, then smiled at the idea that keeping track of his habits might be something she needed to be doing at all. It was the morning after…and there had been no crash landing yet.

In fact, this felt pretty remarkably…normal. And nice. And…something she’d like to keep doing. With him. For a very long time.

Jack’s howl took on a particularly plaintive tone, and Emma found herself thinking that Trevor had a point about owning dogs. But then, the only thing keeping her warm at night, up until the last one anyway, was her grandmother’s frayed quilt. So she could be excused for not being overly enthusiastic about her stubby-legged charge since it meant leaving Trevor’s delectable warmth, and what felt like a…growing interest in keeping her tucked away for at least a little while longer this morning.

“I love dogs, I love dogs, I love dogs,” she repeated under her breath as she very reluctantly disengaged herself from Trevor’s arms.

“Then I love big backyards with well-built fences and self-serve doggy doors,” Trevor said, rolling over to cover the spot she’d just vacated with his amazingly stunning body and burying his face in her pillow.

She had to curl her fingers into her palms until the bite of her nails proved that yes, in fact, she really was awake. And that remarkably fine ass she was staring at, had, just recently, been cupped into the curve of her body. Really. She didn’t get this lucky. Except she just had. And, if she played her cards right, was about to get lucky again. And maybe again.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

He turned just enough to cock one eye open to look at her. “You’re staring.”

“Sue me,” she said. “You have a world-class backside, and I get to have my hands all over it again. So, I’m going to stare. You’ll have to get used to it from me. Promise me you won’t move and I’ll be the fastest little dog-walker in Virginia.”

“As long as those hands are warm when you get back, you have a deal.”

But a moment later, before she could scramble around and find her clothes, shivering in the morning cold—still no electricity apparently—Trevor was dragging himself into an upright sitting position and raking his hand through his hair. He did rumpled, morning-after beard stubble really well, too. “Wait a second, and I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to do that. Enjoy the warm bed. It’s freezing out here. We should probably rebuild the fire. I think the dogs will be okay in the house while it’s light outside, but if we keep the fire going in the parlor, too, I’m betting they’ll just stay up here where it’s warmer. I can put Cicero in his smaller, portable cage and move him in there, too. He shouldn’t be anywhere drafty.”

“Which is why I’m going to go with you and help.”

“Trevor—”

“Emma,” he said, only it was quite adorable and she had to admit, she rather liked hearing him say her name, in any tone.

“Would it help if I said my willingness to help you was entirely selfish in motivation?”

“A great deal. I guilt very easily.”

He grinned at that. “I am not a greedy man when it comes to money or possessions, however, it’s becoming apparent I am going to be a very greedy man when it comes to you.”

She smiled. “I’m listening.”

“So, if I help with critter control and fire patrol, then that means I get you back here sooner rather than later.”

“What about your search?” She put the question out there quite deliberately. The real world was going to come back, and she didn’t think she could bear