A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,22
days to find out.
“Do you have any decorations at home?” he asked Annie as she swung the car out of the Christmas tree farm gates. “Your tree is great, but it’ll be nicer with a star on top.”
Annie shook her head. “No. I’ve never had a Christmas tree of my own before, so I’ve never really bothered. I’d prefer something simple, though – just some fairy lights and a star. Nothing too fiddly.”
“So you’re a minimalist,” Beau laughed. “Well, I can respect that. Let me know if I can talk you into some tinsel or something, though.”
To his surprise, Annie joined in with his laughter. “I’m not opposed to a little bit of bling, I suppose,” she said. “I’d just like to be able to see the tree underneath it all!”
“Hey, it’s your tree,” Beau replied. “We can decorate it any way you like. My tastes are maybe a little too over the top – but maybe that comes from letting my tastes be dictated by my nieces and nephews. I’ve lost all sight of anything that leaves even a little bit of the tree visible.”
“You have a pretty big family, then?” Annie asked, as she took the turn back into town. “It sounds… really nice.”
Beau nodded, though something in his chest twisted at the slight note of wistfulness in Annie’s voice. He’d sensed the same kind of sadness in her back at the farm, and it’d made him hesitate to ask her about her own family. Perhaps she had some painful memories. All his instincts were telling him to comfort her, to tell her that his family was hers now too, but he knew it would probably be better to take it slow and let Annie tell him about herself at her own pace.
“Yeah,” he said. “Two sisters, with three kids apiece. Two girls and four boys, and all of them are handfuls by themselves, never mind when they all get in the same room. I only get to see them a few times a year and I don’t know how they handle them the rest of the time. They’re always getting into everything, running around, being absolute little terrors. I taught the older ones how to ice skate one year, and let me tell you – it’s lucky they’re so cute.”
Annie laughed softly. “So you’re like… the cool uncle then?”
“Cool might be pushing it a bit, but I like to think I’ve built up some cachet with them over the years,” Beau said, thinking fondly of his nieces and nephews – who had always made him wish he had children of his own.
“I always kind of wished I knew how to skate,” Annie said after a short pause.
“You never learned?”
Annie shook her head, the same look of sadness passing across her face. “I… no, I didn’t. I guess I… well, the places I grew up weren’t really cold enough for it, most of the time. It’s only since I moved here that I’ve been somewhere with this much snow and ice.”
“Maybe it’s about time you did learn then,” Beau said, twisting in his seat to look at her. “I have some experience as a teacher, as you know.”
Annie glanced at him. “Oh – I think it’s way too late for me to learn.”
“It’s never too late,” Beau said, hearing the warmth in his own voice. “I promise – okay, maybe you won’t be going for Olympic gold, but I can at least help you get the basics down.”
He watched as a short internal struggle seemed to pass across Annie’s face. She opened her mouth – but then she nodded firmly.
“All right. I’m in.” She flashed him a smile, before flipping on the car’s turn signal. “I know a place. Let’s go.”
Beau couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face – not that he’d wanted to. It’d been difficult to keep from smiling goofily every time he looked at Annie. She was everything he’d ever dreamed his mate would be. Her beauty, her smile – shy though it may be – her humor, the way the goodness of her heart shone out in every movement she made, every brilliant green mote in her eyes… all of it seemed to sing to his very soul.
Not to mention other parts of him.
Beau had always known that part of finding your mate was the powerful physical aspect of it. He’d thought Annie was beautiful from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her. But now…
He looked at her, her tongue tucked