A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,33

quickly. Okay, so he turned into a half-horse, half-eagle creature. But had he always been that way? Was his whole family like this, or just some of them? How had they gotten this way? Was it a curse – or should that be a blessing, since Beau didn’t seem to be too upset about his other form? Why was it that –

As if sensing the questions that were swirling through her mind at a mile a minute, Beau held up his hands, nodding.

“I’ll answer anything you ask,” he said. “And there’s some things I think I need to tell you about too. But first…”

Annie blinked up at him. “What?”

“I think we should go get our soup. It’ll be getting cold where we left it on the table – hopefully someone hasn’t cleared it away.”

“Oh my God, the soup!” Annie yelped, turning. “I really wanted that!”

“Then let’s go get it – and if it’s gone, I’ll get you some more,” Beau said. He smiled, taking a few steps through the snow before turning back to her, holding out his hand toward her.

It seemed like it had been a purely instinctive gesture on his part to help her over the snowy, uneven ground.

But Annie only needed a second before she reached out her own hand to take it.

Chapter 8

The next little while was a blur in Annie’s memory.

The soup was still sitting on their bench, thankfully, but it had gotten pretty cold. She could vaguely remember saying something about how they could get some lids for it and go heat it up at her place if Beau liked, and thinking to herself that the conversation they were about to have was one she’d much rather have in private.

She didn’t know how she was going to react to any of the things Beau had to tell her. She didn’t know what she even thought of the things she already knew. She’d just discovered that mythical creatures apparently roamed the earth, taking on the forms of impossibly hot men.

Is there a way I’m supposed to react to that information? Annie thought as she pulled up in her driveway, not remembering a single thing about the trip from the lake to her home. Maybe I can Google it. ‘Boyfriend is hippogriff what do’.

Annie felt her heart stutter in her chest as she realized she’d just automatically referred to Beau as her boyfriend.

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves, she thought, glancing across at him as she shut off her car’s engine. It wasn’t too long ago you thought he was pranking you and were about to walk off and leave him.

She hadn’t actually wanted to do that, though. Everything in her had been screaming at her to stay.

I hope it was the right decision.

“I’m sorry – it’s not fancy,” Annie said as she opened her car door. She just hoped she hadn’t left any dirty laundry lying around where it was plainly visible. She didn’t think of herself as a messy person, but when you lived alone it was easy to just forget about these things.

“It’s your home,” Beau said, his smile soft. “It doesn’t need to be fancy, if you like it here.”

Annie did like her little apartment. It was only small, but it was only in a group of four, and her neighbors were quiet.

But most importantly, it was hers. She’d never really had a space to call her own before she came here, she thought as she unlocked the door, trying to surreptitiously peep inside to make sure the place was decently clean before Beau could set foot inside.

True, she hardly had any stuff, and her decorating extended to a couple of houseplants and some cheap fairy lights she’d strung along the window frame.

But everything in it was hers.

Okay, she thought, glancing around. No panties on the floor. No laundry on the couch. No giant mess of dishes in the sink. It’s safe!

“So,” Beau said, as she leaned down to unlace her boots. “Where do you want this?”

“This?” Annie asked, looking up – only to see Beau holding not only a bag containing their containers of soup and the boxes of cookies and pie he’d bought, but the Christmas tree he’d sawed down for her too. It was small enough that he could carry it under one arm, and Annie had to admit that with everything else that’d happened, she’d completely forgotten about its existence.

“Uh – let me take that off you –”

“If you could take the soup that’d be good, but