Page 22 of Bear for the Holidays

“Oh, these are good,” he rumbled with satisfaction, and she grinned, nodding.

“These are the ones that just came out of the oven. The others are probably cold now. We can stash them for later.”

“Hm.”

Speculatively, Nik touched one of the earlier cookies with a finger. Cool, mostly, and he nodded at Deanna.

“Open up the cupboard to your right. Middle shelf.”

Puzzled, Deanna did as he asked, and then she grinned as she pulled down the bag of pricey chocolate bars.

“Oh, you have good taste. Your dad buys the same chocolate bars for himself and your mom.”

“I inherited her expensive tastes. Here, pass me two of those, I’ve got an idea.”

“You going to tell me what that is?”

“Would you like to be surprised?”

“Actually, yes. Here you go.”

As Deanna watched, he broke the bars into little pieces on the cutting board. She smiled when he pressed a small bit to her lips, and all right, he very nearly forgot all about what he was doing when she nipped his fingers lightly before drawing back with a grin.

“Do you like Christmas cookies?” he asked, because he needed to think about something other than her sharp little teeth on his fingers.

“I do. I like the sugar ones with the really neat icing paintings, and these little ladyfinger ones your dad makes with the chocolate dip–wait, is that what we’re doing? We’re making fancy Christmas cookies?”

He gave her a rueful look as he popped the chocolate pieces into a bowl and put them into the microwave.

“I feel like if you know my dad’s baking, you know what actual fancy Christmas cookies are like.”

“A fancy cookie is one that I didn’t buy at a gas station,” she retorted. “This sounds really good.”

She watched from her perch as he dipped half of each cooled cookie into the melted chocolate. Her peanut butter cookies were sturdy and held the chocolate well, and he set each one back on the foil-covered cookie sheet to set.

“Here, you still have some granulated sugar,” she said.

With a spoon, she dusted the dark chocolate with white sugar, and he had to admit when they were done, they did look very festive.

“Oh they’re gorgeous,” she said, and he grinned, scrubbing out the empty chocolate bowl.

“Again, you’ve seen Dad’s.”

“These are still gorgeous, and I hate that I’m actually going to do the right thing and let them set properly before we eat them because, ugh. They look so good.”

After the dishes were done and the cookies stashed or left to set, they slipped into the bedroom to check on Your Highness. She mewled a greeting as they came in, and Nik was delighted to see two wet-rag little kittens nestled next to her belly.

“Oh, wow,” Deanna whispered, kneeling next to the drawer. “They’re so ugly.”

“I think they’re beautiful,” Nik protested, sitting down next to her. “They’re brand new to the world.”

“Well, sure, if you want to get all poetic about it. I mean, eventually their ears will perk up and their eyes will open in the next few days. They’ll be cute then. Right now, they’re new and wet and kind of look like goblins.”

“You know that newborn babies are pretty ugly too, right?”

“Sure I do. Really wrinkly and red and kind of smushed. There’s this picture of Pearl as a toddler holding me when I was a newborn, and wow, I look like a messed-up gummy bear.”

“Our babies will be beautiful even when they are wrinkly and red and smushed,” he said stoutly, and he was rewarded with a bright smile.

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