Page 62 of Undercover Savior

“That tickles,” I said, giggling when he ran his tongue from my shoulder to beneath my ear.

“Are you hungry?”

“Starved.”

“Let’s eat the food my boss so kindly stocked for us.”

After finishingthe meal we prepared from the things Typhon had arranged to be delivered, we cleaned up, then sat in the living room, in front of the fireplace.

“It doesn’t seem right to flip a switch and a roaring fire suddenly appears.”

I chuckled. “I’d hardly call that roaring.”

“Right. I’m not sure it even wards off the chill.”

“We can keep each other warm,” I said, snuggling closer.

David put his arms around me, but his body felt tense. “I like that idea.”

“What’s bothering you? Apart from the obvious.”

“At some point, we need to address what’s on the microSD card.”

I nodded. “Can we wait until morning?”

I felt David nod too. “Of course. I’d rather wait longer, but there is some urgency in determining why Weber wants you dead.” He squeezed tighter. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up right before we return to bed.”

“Let’s talk about something else to get our minds off it.”

“Brilliant plan. What about Christmas? What are some of your favorite memories?”

I had far more unpleasant ones of the holiday than otherwise, but I thought back to the last Christmas I remembered being fun. “My favorite was when your family still lived in Ballater.”

“Yes, that was an enchanting time.”

“Do you recall what we did?” I gazed up at him.

“I hadn’t, but now that you mention it, I remember my father arranged for a sleigh ride on the grounds of Balmoral Castle, didn’t he?”

“It was magical.” If I closed my eyes, I could see it as though it was yesterday. “The royal family was there, not that we saw them. It was still exciting to think the Queen was in residence.”

“My mum and I met her once. Lovely woman.”

“We had hot chocolate with marshmallows your mum made.”

“It was more likely Mrs. Drummond who arranged for us to have them, along with the Christmas meal we shared.”

I laughed. “My mum was a dreadful cook, and I’ll confess to not being any better. Having your parents host the meal was probably the last decent one we had.”

“You did well enough tonight.”

“All that was required was reheating. I’m quite adept at that.”

“What about Christmases after that one?”

“They weren’t much fun, honestly. My parents weren’t social, except with yours, and as an only child, the day was quite lonely. Every day was. What about you? I imagine the holidays at Ashcroft Castle were brilliant.”

“They were, but only because Con’s and Tag’s families spent the holidays with us. We actually rotated between our place, Blackmoor, and Glenshadow. The problem with that was on off years, Gus wasn’t with us.”

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