Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 217988 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1090(@200wpm)___ 872(@250wpm)___ 727(@300wpm)
“What?”
“It’s Christmas! Come on! Come have some hot chocolate and open your presents.”
He sat up and reached for his glasses, pulling them on.
She smiled at him. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“What time is it?” he asked.
“You’ve slept in.”
Somehow, he doubted it. He glanced at his phone. “Autumn, it’s six a.m.”
“Yep, you overslept. Let’s go! Time’s a-wasting.”
What was the rush? They had the whole day. He groaned, but she grabbed his hand, tugging at him. “Come on, Brody-bear. Get outta bed.”
“It’s still the middle of the night.” He never got up this early.
Her face appeared in front of him again. Her lower lip dropped out in the saddest pout he’d ever seen.
“Please, Brody-bear. Please.”
With a moan, he sat up again. “Fine. But let me use the bathroom first.”
Sympathy filled her face. “Poor Brody-bear, are you still having pooping problems?”
He turned at the bathroom door to point at her. “I do not have pooping problems.”
“Okay, I’ll go start the coffee. Give you some privacy.”
After using the bathroom, he walked into the kitchen, surprised to find that she wasn’t in there slurping down enough coffee to fuel a small country. Moving into the living room, he came to a sudden stop as he saw the piles and piles of presents under the tree.
“Umm.” He pushed his glasses up his nose.
She picked one up, reading the gift tag. “It’s for me! And it says it’s from Santa!” She turned back to look at him. “Did you do this?”
“Nooo.”
Which meant that someone had snuck these in here. And he had a pretty good idea of who. He waited for her to freak out. He’d have to try and explain what was going on.
Instead, a strange look came over her face. “Uh . . . so . . . you’re probably wondering where these all came from.”
“I . . . you know where these came from?” he asked.
She looked surprisingly guilty.
“You know about the Fox?”
“Who?” She blinked, looking confused.
“There’s someone else who would leave you all these gifts?” he asked. What the hell? Who would do this if it wasn’t the Fox?
Whoever it was, they were dead. Because he was pretty sure that if the Fox didn’t kill them, he would.
“Um, so, there’s something I haven’t told you.” She shot him another guilty look.
“What’s that?”
“I think these are from a friend of mine.”
“A friend?”
“Uh-huh.”
“What sort of friend sneaks into your house and leaves you gifts under the Christmas tree?”
So many gifts he lost track after counting twenty.
This wasn’t normal.
Ding, ding, ding, twenty points for him. Nothing about any of this was normal.
“Well, um, he’s more like a fairy god-daddy than a friend.”
He narrowed his gaze at her. Either she’d attracted the attention of two odd men . . . or she was talking about the Fox without knowing she was talking about the Fox.
His head was starting to hurt. “Is it too early to start on the Baileys?”
She gave him a surprised look. “Ahh, I drank it all. I didn’t think you drank.”
“I don’t. But I feel like I might need some liquor in my veins for this conversation.”
“You do?”
“Autumn, who is the friend that left you these gifts?”
“They’re not all for me,” she said, clearly not wanting to answer him. “Look! There’s one for you.”
“There is?”
“Yeah, are you going to open it?” She handed it over to him. It was small.
He stared down at the gift. “Why would he get me something?”
She gave him a curious look. “You’re saying that like you know who it is. And why did you ask me about a fox?”
“I think we need to have a serious chat.” He waved his hand over the gifts. “I want to know who they came from.”
Her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. Yeah, even he was shocked by his forcefulness.
“Do you have a lot of friends who’d sneak into your house and leave you a ton of presents? We didn’t even know he was here. He could have done anything to you.”
“Oh, he wouldn’t hurt me. I’m sorry, I didn’t even think about how the idea of someone being in the house would freak you out.” She gave him a sympathetic look. As though that had been his major worry! Although, it likely would have been under normal circumstances.
But nothing that involved the Fox could ever be considered normal.
“He’s done this before, so it’s okay.”
He’s done this before . . . so it was okay.
Was she even listening to herself?
“Done this before?” he asked.
She didn’t seem to pick up on the incredulous tone in his voice as she sorted through the gifts.
“Yep, he’ll leave me things that he thinks I might like. And sometimes he fills my fridge. Are you going to open your gift?”
“Sweetie, there is nothing right about what you just told me. He leaves you gifts while you’re sleeping?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I can tell how that sounds. But he’s just looking out for me. He protects me. He’s my Hero.”