Beastly & Bookish (A Winter Bliss Romance)

by Catrina Bell

Is there anything better than two weeks off with nothing to do except read books? The answer is, most definitely, no.

There was no shortage of trouble my brothers and I got into over the winter school breaks. Skinny dipping in Teapot Lake. Jumping over campfires without our clothes catching. Sneaking extra food samples from the holiday market vendors.

We all have fire powers, though. I could have lit that cigarette for her. The fact she did it herself means not only is our negotiation still active, but she’s also keeping her cards close.

I can’t show how exhausted this makes me, so I lean forward on the counter, keeping my fists tight and gaze steady. If she senses weakness, she’ll drive me all the harder.

thought she was pretty when I was a teenager, but the woman before me is something else. She shakes out her hair, and the red strands blaze around her, lit fierce and breathtaking in the afternoon sun. Her pale skin is a healthy pink all over. Snowflakes stick to her shoulders and eyelashes like sprinkles on a cupcake.

She really doesn’t remember me. This girl was my best friend until I moved away. My first crush. We shared every secret, but now she has no idea who I am.

“It belongs to the library.” I glare. “Better not go missing.” She could report it lost, pay the list price, and resell it for higher. The old demoness smirks

at me with a cocked eyebrow. Yeah, I know how you work, lady.

He unsettled me. He was so striking with his big shoulders, long fall of black hair, and delicate eyeglasses. Swoon. And the way his intense stare felt like a caress. Double swoon.

“Thank you so much! Double thanks!” I beam at her, mouth watering. $10 is a sure sight better than Miss Ethel’s tip, but I brush the thankless thought away. Every dollar helps and there’s no time to catch up on reading like the holidays. My best fundraising days are ahead of me.

let myself look him over. I’ve always loved a distinctive nose, and his has a charming bump at the bridge. It’s not every day this town gets a burly, bespectacled demon wearing perfectly tailored clothes. I mean, he’s practically dressed to seduce a librarian. Who can blame me for ogling a bit?

It’s simultaneously horrifying and fascinating to watch the mind of my favorite person twist itself up in a hundred new ways. And somehow, he finds the most interesting paths back home.

Sure, she has red hair, and I have red skin, but that’s about all we share. First, she’s a girl. Second, she’s a human. Then, there’s the talking. She talks a lot and to everyone. Young, old, fae, shifter, or demon, nobody makes her nervous. Noelle is always flitting around like a firefly. Every person or stray out-of-place book is another leaf to hop to.

See? Nothing in common. Total opposites. Why would she want to hang out with me? I’d rather hide out. Do my own thing.

“Oh.” Noelle says. Her mouth forms a perfect little circle and stays stuck like that. I know she's not the same girl from when I was a kid, but her eyes are, right down to the way she blinks super-fast when she’s surprised. “It’s . . . it’s you.”

He exhales and softens, strong arms hugging me back. His palms coast up and down my back, and gosh, it feels so good. So right. I inhale his clean, piney scent and stop myself from rubbing my cheek against his chest like a cat.

“It’s so good to see you again. I didn’t recognize you at first. You’re very, ahem, different,” I say, clearing my throat. He looks nervous. Okay, stop ogling him, geez. Be cool. "How are you? What’ve you been up to? How is your family?"

He shakes it with an amused half-smile, and my heart pitter-patters at the contact. Oh dear heavens, his grip is solid. His hands are huge and veiny. My gaze travels slowly up his hairy forearms to his chest, then his face. And he’s staring at me. And we’re both saying nothing again.

“Jaromar Elond Perchaz,” I poke his chest to the beat of each name and push closer. “You are the gentle giant! The smart kid with glasses! The magic spark character that makes a book worth reading!”

“I won’t have you talk about yourself like that!” “Or what?” he asks, voice darker. Intimate. “Or I’ll . . . I'll . . . I’ll show you!” And I kiss him. I grab two fistfuls of his white shirt and yank him down to my mouth. Oh.

How cozy and safe it is to be held by him. Each warm exhale is like a drug, dragging me deeper into this weightless haze.

I made my point that he’s not ugly by attacking him with my mouth. Great job, Noelle. That should do it. It seemed an effective strategy until he pulled back when I touched his scars.

I kissed my childhood crush! It doesn’t feel real. For the umpteenth time since she left, I rub my lips together. The taste of her fruity gloss still lingers, and it’s the sweetest kind of torture. I want more of her, however I can get it.

Her voice goes a mile a minute. I forgot how fun it is to just listen to her ramble. Her brain twists and turns in the most interesting directions.

If loving someone with memory issues has taught me anything, it’s to accept now for what it is, a gift. I want to soak up my time with Rom while I can and treasure every moment like it could be our last. Because soon enough, it will be.

“What does she want that building for?” I’m utterly lost. “I know she’s got a fundraiser, but there’s no way she’s expanding the library to the neighboring building.”

This is what a library can do — celebrate everything all at once. It’s a place where treasures are kept on display, never hoarded and always shared. Anyone can pick a book up off the shelf and expand their mind or find a cozy place to reread an old favorite.

Noelle’s back is to me as she reads a book to the dozen or more kids sitting cross-legged on the threadbare circular rug. Most of them are demonkind, which twists my heart in the best way. I guess not every demon family is as single-minded as my parents were in enforcing a business-only education, not that I can fault them for it. They were doing their best.

This library is important. It can’t fail. The town needs it too much. What the library needs, what Noelle needs, is support to grow stronger, not a place she has to shrink to fit.

“Brilliant. I owe you big time,” he says into the receiver as he looks at me. “But do me a favor and prioritize contractors who can do the jobs as a package deal. Even if the bid is a little higher for one contractor over four, it may be worth it to make my friend’s management of the projects easier.”

And it took an avalanche to force the issue. Two whole days with Rom in the cutest little cabin. Maybe more. There’s no way I’m not going to jump his bones. It’s just inevitable at this point, and he seems determined to play it cool. Be sweet.

with women, not so much. She kissed me first, and it was the avalanche that had us making out a second time. I mean, we could have died. It was just adrenaline, surely. I set the teacups aside and carefully clean the small mesh infuser.

Down, boy. I practically growl at the half chub I’ve been sporting since seeing her strip down to some tiny shorts and that thin, belly-baring top. It’s impossible not to be affected, not to want to run my hands all over her. The woman is built like a roller coaster, and I want a ride.

Compartmentalization is key to a healthy work-life balance. Ever since I was a kid and pressured to excel in all the business classes at our private school I found no real joy in, I learned to focus. Do the work as efficiently as possible, because when it’s done, it’s done.

She’s otherworldly, all voluptuous curves and gleaming skin and wild red hair that catches the limited light and always, ever since the first time I saw her, reminds me of one thing.

How I wish I could take off these soggy clothes, and be closer to the heat, closer to her.

I hold her tighter, even though my heart aches. Maybe she didn’t feel the same. Even if she had a crush then or some attraction to me now, it’s not the same way I feel about her, like this is it.

“You can call it puppy love or whatever, but I wouldn’t have said I liked you too. That would’ve been a lie. It was more than that. You were my first true friend and . . . I loved you, Noelle.”

“You’re my dream girl.” I make her look up. Those golden honey eyes undo me. “That’s what I would have told you then. You still are.”

That’s it. I meet her the rest of the way. My mouth is ravenous and insistent, licking at the seam of her lips until she sighs and lets me in. Nothing exists except for her. Everything around and between us is wet and hot and impossibly slick. I want to slow down time, stretch the moment just a bit longer. The shape of this woman in my arms, the feel of her, is like no one else before. Noelle wasn’t my first kiss, but I’ll be damned if she’s not my last.

“Your taste,” he growls out between licks, piercing me with his intense gaze. My beautiful demon. The colors swirl like a firestorm, and I melt every time, sticky heat flooding my core. “Sweet as honey. I’ll never have enough.”

“Mmmmm. Breakfast of champions.” He licks his lips with a proud smirk. His chest heaves as he looms over me, naked in the daylight and completely unaware of how glorious he looks. “You ready for some pancakes, goddess?”

do need to wrestle with rather than run away from. “You grew up here,” he says gently. “So you know this town is mostly demons, and demons aren’t too keen on donations with no minimum. You know what the implicit boundaries of the deal are? No minimum means zero, not even a penny. No minimum means a dollar or two if they’re feeling generous.”

It’s you, I want to say. My biggest dream would be him living in Winter Bliss with me. He dreams about business, but I dream about people. And I want him. The crazy thought must be some intoxicating mix of happy hormones and the magic of the holidays talking. It’s only been a few days.

“You seriously give away free books in all your coffee shops?” I’ve seen the little lending libraries people set up in their front yards and a couple places that have a bookshelf or two and have always loved the idea. It’s pure chaotic goodness. “Doesn’t seem very good for business.”

Personally? I’m at war with myself. All signs point to her liking me. Like really liking me. Every time I casually bring up the next few days when we’ll be in town together, she’s receptive to me spending time with her. She’s the one who offered for me to stay with her, after all.

“You’re desperate for this, aren’t you?” My cock slides between her thighs, working her swollen pussy lips back and forth. She likes my boss voice, as she calls it. “Look how wet I make you. I think you’ll miss being my pretty little pet, hmm? All mine.”

The sun sets, filtering its warm pink light across my messy living room. As of this morning, we were three strangers thrust together by fate and a shared natural disaster. But here we are eating junk food, oversharing, and laughing like we’ve known each other for years. Friendship has a way of taking you by surprise that way.

I shake my head. He replaced that years ago. “The radiator’s doing good. This is for some touch ups. Paint, light fixtures, and some furniture. The fundraiser did so well, we can even bring on a new part-time librarian.”

I just signed a stellar new lease with my landlord; stabilized rent at the same rate I’m paying now for a new five-year agreement. I also get the first right of refusal on a mortgage if they choose to sell the building. All structural repairs will be completed by the end of March on their dime as they work to get everything up to code before the building’s first historic property inspection.