Page 22 of Claiming the Shifter's Heart

He nodded, and ten minutes later, they found the perfect Douglas Fir. The only problem was cutting it down.

“I can do that for you,” a familiar voice said behind her.

Della’s eyes opened wide as she turned to find Kris standing in jeans and a flannel, holding his Santa suit, which was on a hanger inside a plastic garment bag, in one hand.

“Are you Santa?!” Sean asked the big man, his head tilted back so he could gaze at Kris.

“Sometimes, Bud. Here, can you make sure your Mom and sister stay behind this line here so I can cut this down safely for you?” Kris knelt as he spoke to Sean, drawing a line in the snow with his finger.

“Yes! I can do that!” Sean said exuberantly, pushing Della and Janie back behind the line.

“Hold this for me?” Kris asked, handing her the Santa suit.

“What are you doing?” she whisper-screamed the question.

“Cutting down your tree. Thanks, Sweet Girl,” he added when she took the hanger from him with numb fingers.

Della watched in complete and utter shock as Kris got down on the cold, hard ground and started cutting down a tree for her family. And the big man didn’t stop there.

Of course, he didn’t.

The big hairy Wolf insisted he carry it too!

“I could do that,” she muttered as Sean pulled Janie ahead of them.

Baby Janie was sitting in her wagon, buckled in place. It was the kind that fit two children, but her boy would rather pull the thing than sit in it.

“Sean, be careful,” Della called out.

“He’s a strong boy,” Kris said, and she swore she heard a note of pride in his voice as he watched her son and daughter move ahead of them.

Della’s heart squeezed, and she wondered if it was possible to pass out after hearing one seemingly nice compliment about her son?

God, was she being foolish?

Hope was contagious, and right now, it was spreading like wildfire through her veins as she watched Sean turn back and shout something at Kris who answered her son readily, and jogged over, tree in hand, to help the boy lift the wagon over a small snowy bump in the road.

Kris listened to everything her boy said about the snow and the tree with an appropriate amount of attention. He replied to her child’s curious little questions with honesty and patience, both of which her Crow could easily discern.

Kristoff was just a really good man. She’d seen him be kind to the children who visited him when he was taking pictures with them in his Santa costume.

But what did that mean for them? Was she special or was he simply polite to everyone? And was she a moron for even thinking about this?

Adults had sex all the time, right? She shouldn’t read too much into what had happened last night, or the things he’d said to her earlier that morning.

“I. Would. Do. Anything. For. You.”

His words echoed in her brain and her battered heart sputtered, desperate to believe in something. Desperate to believe in him.

Shit.

She had to be smarter this time around. Della could not afford to get involved. Her kids came first, and there was nothing more important.

Was she wrong for wanting to believe him?

“You alright?” he asked, stopping beside her, head canted as he looked at her with his stunning bottle-green eyes.

“Yep. Everything is fine,” she replied with a tight smile.

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