Sugarplum: Canine Christmas Read online

  Sugarplum: Canine Christmas

  B. J. McCall

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2010 B. J. McCall

  ISBN: 978-1-60521-515-0

  Formats Available:

  HTML, Adobe PDF, EPub

  MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader

  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  PO Box 1046

  Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Sheri Ross Fogarty

  Cover Artist: Reneé George

  Adult Sexual Content

  This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.

  Legal File Usage -- Your Rights

  Payment of the download fee for this book grants the purchaser the right to download and read this file, and to maintain private backup copies of the file for the purchaser’s personal use ONLY.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this or any copyrighted work is illegal. Authors are paid on a per-purchase basis. Any use of this file beyond the rights stated above constitutes theft of the author’s earnings. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Border Patrol, Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by seizure of computers, up to five years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000 per reported instance.

  Sugarplum: Canine Christmas

  B. J. McCall

  Birthday gifts come in all sorts of packages and Joy Kingston’s is a major surprise.

  Born just after the stroke of midnight, Joy Kingston is a Christmas baby. Just dumped by her boyfriend, Joy is suddenly alone for the holiday. Deciding to shake things up for her thirtieth birthday, Joy turns to her two best friends, Karin and Michelle, for help. She wants a man for her birthday, a sexy hunk wearing only a purple bow around his neck.

  Police officer Jake McCabe is Karin’s stepbrother and he’s had a thing for Joy for years. When Karin and Michelle tell Jake about Joy’s unusual birthday request, he volunteers for the job. Jake knows what he wants and he’s willing to wear a purple bow to get it.

  But is Joy prepared for a werewolf who packs heat and wants her for his mate?

  Chapter One

  “How’s Phil?”

  Joy Kingston took a sip of her latte. Joy and her best friends, Karin Taylor and Michelle Ames, were taking a break from Christmas shopping at the mall coffee house. “He dumped me.”

  Karin’s blue eyes widened. “He what?”

  Michelle gasped. “He didn’t?”

  “He did. He called last night. It’s over.”

  “A week before Christmas!” Karin shook her head. “That’s cruel.”

  “Bastard!” Michelle hadn’t cared much for Phil.

  Joy wasn’t sure which was more upsetting, admitting another relationship had failed or Phil’s parting words. Joy decided it was the latter. “He said now that he’s decided to take a permanent position in Boston, a long distance relationship is impractical.”

  “Impractical?” Karin’s eyes narrowed. “That’s what he said?”

  “Ever the accountant,” Michelle chimed in, shoving a lock of honey-blonde hair out of her eyes.

  Karin reached out and placed her hand over Joy’s. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay.” Joy knew Phil wasn’t the one and breaking up was for the best. “I cared for Phil, but I wasn’t crazy-in-love with him.”

  “The new year is right around the corner. You’ll find a new man to be crazy-in-love with,” Michelle said.

  Heartbroken she wasn’t, but the big three-O birthday was Christmas day and she was still single. Michelle was married to a wonderful man and Karin was engaged, wedding in June.

  Joy was letting a number get to her. So what if she was thirty and single? She’d live, but she didn’t want to be alone, not for her thirtieth birthday.

  Karin leaned forward and whispered, “Now that you and Phil are split, tell me how was he in bed?”

  “Exactly like you’d expect an accountant to be, predictable, repetitive and methodical. His underwear has numbers on them.”

  Karin snorted, almost blowing the latte cream out her nose. “Maybe losing him wasn’t such a bad thing?”

  “You think?” Michelle said.

  “Okay, Phil wasn’t Mr. Forever, but my birthday celebration in Boston isn’t going to happen and I’m stuck with a non-refundable plane ticket.”

  “Oh nooo! The big one,” Karin said.

  “Yeah. I’m going to be thirty in six days.” Joy saw the panic in her friends’ faces. They were both going away for Christmas, Michelle to her in-laws in Texas and Karin to her future in-laws in Florida. Joy’s parents were on a cruise. Her older twin brothers were in the military and stationed overseas. Since she had no sisters, Joy had bonded with Michelle and Karin at the age of twelve. They’d been her best friends ever since. “Don’t worry. I’ll survive.”

  “We can’t leave you alone,” Michelle said. “Not on your big birthday.”

  Karin shook her head. “We’ve always been together for the holiday. It’s not right.”

  Joy’s mother and friends had always wrapped her birthday presents in flowery paper with bright purple ribbons and her Christmas presents in paper with snowmen and reindeers. Her habit was to unwrap her Christmas presents in the morning and her birthday presents later in the day. Over the years their efforts had made her birthday special while most of her relatives, including her father and her brothers, chose to lump her presents together.

  “Don’t even think about changing your plans.” Joy knew she’d reached a moment in her life that demanded action. “Maybe it’s time I did something outrageous for my birthday. Something wild.”

  “Wild?” Michelle looked at Karin. “Did she say wild?” Michelle shook her head. “Joy, you’re not the wild type.”

  Now Joy was more determined to do something outrageous. “Whatever you’ve purchased for my birthday, take it back. I want something that will destroy the memory of Phil forever.”

  “I don’t like where this is going,” Karin said.

  “I want a man for my birthday. I want sex. Not ordinary Phil sex, but passionate, curling-my-toes sex.”

  Michelle choked on her chai tea. “You want us to hire a male hooker? You’re a legal assistant, isn’t hiring sexual services against the law?”

  “Not a hooker, a volunteer. Finding a man who likes sex shouldn’t be that difficult. You don’t want me to spend my big birthday alone, right?”

  Her friends nodded.

  “So find me a man.” Excitement shot through Joy. Her blood was singing. Phil was history and the one guy she wanted… That wasn’t ever going to happen. Thinking about Jake McCabe just made her heart hurt. It was time to take a walk on the wild side. “I want a guy wearing a big purple Happy Birthday bow around his neck at exactly midnight. I want him for twenty-four hours, and get me someone imaginative and untamed.”

  Chapter Two

  Dressed in his black uniform, Jake McCabe was enjoying a cup of coffee before leaving for work. At the sound of the doorbell, Jake set down the cup and went to answer the door. His stepsister Karin and her friend Michelle stood on the doorstep. “Hi.”

  Purses slung over their shoulders, the two women walked into the living room.

  “What’s up?” Jake asked,
curious about the unexpected visit. He shut the door. “Would you like coffee?”

  “No, thanks,” Michelle said, her gaze sweeping over his uniform. “Don’t you look cute?”

  She’d said the same thing about his scout uniform and the vampire cape he’d worn well past Halloween when he was ten years old and she was thirteen, but that was a long time ago. The city let him carry a gun and arrest bad guys, but Michelle, Joy and Karin still treated him like a little brother.

  “Jake, we need your help,” Karin said.

  Jake glanced at his watch. He was facing a double shift and had to leave in twenty minutes. “Sure, what’s going on?”

  “It’s about Joy’s birthday.”

  At the mention of Joy, Jake’s insides tightened. “She’s going to Boston, right?”

  “She and the accountant broke up,” Michelle said.

  Jake grinned. “She dumped Phil?”

  “Don’t look so happy,” Karin said. “He dumped her and with the Boston trip cancelled, she’ll be alone for her birthday.”

  A thrill shot through Jake. Perhaps for once he’d have Joy all to himself. Maybe he’d get the opportunity to dispel the image of little brother once and for all. “I have three days off at Christmas, my reward for working double shifts. I’ll make sure she has a great birthday.”

  “Joy has made a special request,” Karin said.

  “No problem,” Jake said. No matter what Joy wanted for her birthday, he’d make it happen.

  “We were thinking you might have a friend,” Karin said. “Maybe that cute detective we ran into last week?”

  There it was again, the notion that he was still a kid. Joy, Karin and Michelle were only three years older than him, but in their minds he was still the little brother. Jake’s blood began to boil. Detective Boyle was forty and divorced, twice. “You’d prefer Joy spends her birthday with a stranger instead of me?”

  “You can’t help with Joy’s special request,” Karin said.

  “Why not?”

  “She wants sex,” Karin said.

  Jake glared at his stepsister. “Sex?” Jake’s blood burned, searing through his veins. “You did say sex?”

  “Maybe we should sit down,” Michelle said.

  Jake turned and focused on Michelle. “Maybe you should explain.”

  “Joy wants a man for her birthday,” Karin said.

  “Someone that’s imaginative and untamed,” Michelle explained.

  “And she wants him at midnight.”

  “For twenty-four hours.”

  “Wearing a purple Happy Birthday bow.”

  Jake listened to the women’s rapid-fire explanation of Joy’s special request. He held up his hands. “Stop.”

  Karin and Michelle fell silent.

  “You’re not setting Joy up with a stranger to have sex,” he said in his sternest cop voice. “That’s not going to happen. Understood?”

  Karin nodded. Michelle folded her arms across her chest.

  “I’ll take care of Joy’s birthday request.”

  “You can’t,” Karin said.

  “Why not? I’m not Joy’s brother. Maybe our age difference was significant when I was twelve, but not now. I’m twenty-seven, remember? Joy requested untamed, didn’t she?”

  “She wants wild,” Michelle said. “But werewolf wild?”

  “This is weird,” Karin said.

  “I may be a werewolf, but Joy will be safe with me. Safer than she’d be with any human male. If she decides to back out of this crazy idea, I’ll let her. I’ll take care of her.”

  “What happens if she wants to go through with it?” Michelle asked.

  “I’ll make sure I remain in human form.”

  Michelle’s eyes widened. Jake knew she was remembering him in wolven form. He rarely transformed in the city, exercising his wolf behavior only during visits to the pack.

  After Jake’s mother’s death, his father had left the pack, eventually meeting and marrying Karin’s mother. Wolves mate for life and Jake’s father would never take another alpha mate. Instead of being alone, Jake’s father had taken a human wife. Jake had been raised in a happy environment.

  “Do either of you think I’d hurt Joy?”

  Karin spoke up. “We know you love Joy as much as we do.”

  “I do love her,” he said, wondering if Karin understood that his feelings had transcended friendship a couple of years ago. He’d kissed Joy at Michelle’s wedding reception. Tipsy on champagne, they’d come together in an unguarded moment. The kiss had been passionate and unforgettable. If Joy’s new boyfriend hadn’t interrupted, Jake might have made the leap from friend to lover that night.

  But Joy hadn’t acknowledged the kiss and Jake had watched in frustration as she became Phil’s lover.

  Jake glanced at his watch. “I’ve got to go. Tell Joy everything is set. I’ll give you the details tomorrow.” Jake locked gazes with Karin and Michelle. “I’ll make sure Joy has a wild, wonderful birthday.”

  Chapter Three

  At four in the afternoon on Christmas Eve a package arrived at Joy’s doorstep, brought by special messenger, a man in a black suit driving a gleaming black luxury sedan.

  “Miss Joy Kingston?” He handed Joy a gaily wrapped package and tipped his hat. “I’ll pick you up at nine tonight.”

  This was it. Karin and Michelle were coming through for her.

  Joy gripped the package. “Nine. I’ll be ready.”

  After shutting the door, Joy plucked the card tucked beneath the lavender bow. The birthday card signed by Karin and Michelle had a personalized note, wishing her a wild encounter. With butterflies in her stomach, Joy tore off the colorful wrapping paper and opened the box. A key and a gift card for Sala’s, her favorite clothing store, were nestled in purple velvet.

  Joy grabbed her cell phone and dialed Karin.

  “Did you get the box?” Karin asked.

  Joy’s breath hitched. “I can’t believe you did it. What’s with the car and driver?”

  “We didn’t think you should be driving. You know you can back out.”

  Joy thought of the phone call she’d received from Phil. Given the background noise, he must have been at an office party. He’d called to make sure she wasn’t missing him too much. “I’m going. What should I wear?” Joy considered wearing her new dress, the one she’d planned to wear in Boston, but after Phil’s phone call, she’d rather wear last year’s holiday outfit.

  “You have the gift card. Go to Sala’s and pick up your gift. I’ve got to go, have fun.”

  Joy called Michelle. “I got the package. I’m going through with it.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. Thanks for the gift card.”

  “Go to Sala’s and pick up your gift.”

  Karin had told her the same thing. “Did you guys buy me a dress for tonight?”

  “You won’t know for sure unless you go to Sala’s. Go now before the store closes. Be careful and call me the minute you’re headed for home. Or before.”

  “I’ll be fine and thanks. I love you guys.” Joy disconnected, tossed her cell in her purse and headed for a favorite clothing store downtown.

  The moment she walked into the shop, Joy spotted the white fur coat. She walked up to the mannequin and stroked the long sleeve. The owner of the shop, a middle-aged woman with long black hair, joined Joy. “It feels like real fur, but it’s synthetic.”

  “It does feel like fur,” Joy said. “I love the color.”

  “It’s the only one I have,” the shop owner said, taking the coat off the mannequin. “Try it on.”

  The coat fit perfectly and the fur felt like heaven against her cheek.

  “It will be perfect for tonight.”

  Had Karin and Michelle purchased the coat? “Tonight?”

  “You are Joy Kingston?”

  Joy’s heart fluttered. “Yes.”

  The woman removed an envelope out of her jacket pocket and handed it to Joy. “I’ve been exp
ecting you.”

  The woman walked away and Joy opened the sealed envelope. The paper inside was purple with silver writing. You need wear nothing else. The fur will keep you warm.

  Joy felt the flush of heat on her cheeks. She looked at the shop owner who stood behind the counter. “My friends bought the coat?”

  “It’s paid for, if that’s what you’re asking. Shall I wrap it up?”

  Joy shook her head and left the shop wearing the coat. At home, she read the note again. You need wear nothing else. Was she expected to go naked to her wild encounter?

  She tried calling Karin and Michelle, but neither of her friends answered their cell phones. Joy looked at the time. She had two hours before her ride arrived.

  * * *

  Joy sipped champagne as the luxury sedan climbed the mountain highway. The driver rarely spoke, leaving Joy to enjoy the champagne and canapés provided for the three-hour drive. Soft romantic music added a touch of elegance.

  The sedan slowed before a house and Joy’s heart began racing. In anticipation of the night to come, she rubbed her naked thighs together. She was keyed up and wet. Wearing nothing beneath the fur coat had brought an excitement she had never experienced until tonight.

  The sedan stopped in the driveway before a secluded two-story house. The porch light was on and light was visible through the blinds.

  The door opened and the driver held out his gloved hand. Joy stepped out into the snap of a winter night. She shivered against the cold air on her bare legs. The driver escorted her to the front door. “The key, Miss.”

  Joy dug the key out of the pocket of the fur coat and handed it to the driver. He opened the door. “Happy Birthday, Miss.”

  Joy stepped into the warmth of the house and the driver shut the door, leaving her alone. Uncertain of what to expect, she stood in the living room. The room was cozy with a sofa, two overstuffed chairs and a merrily burning fireplace. On the coffee table between the sofa and chair was an ice bucket with a bottle of champagne and two flutes. Joy’s insides clenched. The scene was set for seduction, her seduction.