The door slammed shut and Dez finally felt safe.

Sissy Mae shook her head as she quickly handed her brother's clothes to him. "I think they got some other lions. I heard it." Once dressed, Smitty gave Sissy a big, brotherly bear hug.

"That's not our problem. And good job, little sister."

The girl glowed with pride at her brother's words. Or it just looked like she glowed because Dez couldn't fucking breathe!

"Still dying!"

Mace finally released her, and she took in big gulps of air. He swung her around to face him. "That's it! No more helping strange children you don't know."

Dez pulled away from him, her breath coming in ragged gasps, the adrenaline finally leaving her body. "Are you insane? I'm a cop. If a kid comes to me, I'm gonna help 'em. So get that fuckin' thought outta ya head."

Mace took a deep breath as his gold eyes drilled holes into her. After a moment, "Fine. But next time make sure they don't have fangs."

Dez grinned. "That I can do."

Chapter Twelve.

D ez opened her eyes. Then closed them again. Never again would she drink anything referred to as "Uncle Willy's 'shine." Her head throbbed. She had no idea where she was...or whose arms were currently wrapped around her.

The body behind her snuggled closer and purred. In that instant, her head cleared and she knew Mace held her. She smiled. What a night. In all her years as a Marine and a cop, she never went through anything like that before. And the fact that she survived...well, she felt pretty impressed with herself. But the night didn't end there.

Once away from the club, they took Shaw to a Midtown hospital. Apparently owned and operated by shifters, it was the only place that could truly care for the badly wounded man...or...whatever. The Pack and Mace were all ready to drop Shaw off at the emergency room and be done with him, but Dez couldn't do that, and for some unknown reason Sissy wouldn't allow it.

"We just can't leave him," Dez had argued. Not after his little heroic turn in the bowels of the Chapel. Of course, her sudden sentiment garnered an annoyed sniff from Mace and blank stares from the Pack. But eventually they saw her side of things. So they sat around the waiting room, chatting, eating, and...well...waiting. She even got her wrist x-rayed and bandaged. Only a sprain. No major damage.

Dez found herself liking Smitty and Sissy Mae's Pack more and more as she got to know them. They were sweet and charming as only Southerners knew how. And they seemed to tolerate Mace well enough. Even after he roared at Smitty when he found Dez scratching his happy spot.

Eventually Mace's cousin, Elise, blew into the waiting room. It turned out she would be the only Llewellyn Pride female there that cold, rainy night. Sissy Mae and Smitty seemed dumbfounded by the lack of caring from the other females, but Mace wasn't surprised at all. Eventually the doctor told them that Shaw would survive. Elise disappeared after that, and the rest of them headed back to the Pack's uptown hotel.

That's about the time the drinking started. She really shouldn't drink. Dez knew better. Hence the Marine tattoo on her ass she had removed a few years back. Of course, now that area had a big ol' lion bite in it.

At least this time around, Mace made sure she didn't do anything too painfully stupid. He simply didn't let anyone near her.

Now it was the morning after. She still had on her bustier. Her body still ached from the beating it took the night before. Her wrist freakin' screamed "cut me off" at her. But she had Mace. She really couldn't ask for a better Christmas present than that. Hell, who could?

She sighed and snuggled closer to him. One of his hands gently caressed her stomach over the leather top while he snored. As she thought how sweet it was that he touched her even in his sleep, his hand slowly moved lower. Dez raised an eyebrow. Tricky cat.

She grabbed his hand with both of hers to stop its lowering course. That's when his other hand began moving. She grabbed both his hands in hers, but he kept going lower while she kept pulling him back up. That's when the uncontrollable giggling started. Christ, she was too old for giggling.

They tried to be quiet since they were on the floor with Smitty's Pack in his main suite-with that kind of drinking, one rarely made it back to her own bed. Then Mace pushed her onto her back, him on top. He pinned her arms over her head and leaned into her.

"Don't you dare, Mace Llewellyn," she whispered fiercely.

"Don't dare what, baby?"

"Get off me, Mace."

"No way. Gotcha where I want you."

"I'll scream."

"They'll just think you're having a good time."

Dez growled. "I'll scream 'walk.'"

That's when they knew the wolves were wide-awake. They all burst out laughing.

"Jesus Christ, Mace. Would you let the girl go?"

Sissy Mae pulled open the hotel curtains. Afternoon light flooded the room, and everyone groaned except Mace. He still focused on Dez, his eyes narrowed. She'd got him and they both knew it.

Sissy Mae tsk-tsk'd him. "Honestly, you cats have no sense of what's proper. Mauling a nice girl like that."

"You're kidding, right, Lassie?"

"Why you rude, son of a-"

"Now, Sissy Mae," her brother warned as he dragged his big, long body into one of the leather chairs. "Don't go gettin' all angry at Mace. You know the boy has never been in love before." Smitty looked right at his friend with challenge in his dark brown eyes. "Now have ya, hoss?"

He would kill him. Slam him down and rip him open from bowel to throat. Yeah. He loved Dez, but he didn't want to tell Dez that yet. Not when she physically flinched every time he got near the subject.

Damn, you call a man's sister Lassie and they get all defensive.

He looked at Dez. Yup. There it was. In those beautiful gray eyes. Panic. The only time the woman panicked. Anytime it involved him and his feelings for her.

Sissy Mae pushed him off Dez. He rolled away from her, his legs stretched out, his upper body raised on his elbows. Sissy helped Dez to her feet.

"Come on, darlin'. Let's order breakfast."

"Don't you mean lunch, little sister?" Smitty asked as he stretched and yawned.

Mace waited until the women went back to Sissy's room, then he glared at his friend. "Well, thank you very much!"

"Don't roar at me, boy. You called my baby sister Lassie. Only I can get away with that. Besides...you do love her. You fuckin' reek of it."

Mace dropped back to the floor. "I know," he moaned.

"Jesus, Mace. My momma was right. You are more wolf than cat. Attaching yourself to one person and all."

"Cats attach themselves to one person." He raised his head to glare at Smitty. "We just don't let them know."

Smitty chuckled. "Guess I blew that, huh?"

"God, Sissy Mae. What the fuck am I going to do?"

"You New Yorkers sure do cuss a lot."

"I didn't used to, but Mace keeps bringing out the angry Bronx girl in me."

"You know what you're going to do, Dez? You're going to love him and go about your day." Sissy Mae gently unwrapped Dez's sprained wrist.

"This was supposed to be a fling-wasn't it?"

"Well, if you were a barhook on one of the bases that would be possible. But you're the great Desiree MacDermot. Mace's true ladylove. If you ask me-"

"And I didn't."

"But if you did, I'd say that boy's been waitin' on you his whole life."

"You're kind of a romantic, aren't ya?"

Sissy Mae smiled. "I'm not romantic at all, darlin'. I'm a realist. And a good one. I know what I see when it's right in front of me. And your entire body vibrates around that man."

Mace had no idea what went down between Sissy Mae and Dez but suddenly Dez wouldn't look at him. They ate brunch and Dez talked to Sissy Mae the entire time. They watched A Christmas Story, and Dez leaned up against his side but still wouldn't look at him.

Eventually he couldn't take it anymore. He slid his hand down the back of her pants.

Dez made a little squeak sound and began to rub her eyes with her knuckles.

"Everything all right, darlin'?" Sissy asked with all the subtlety of...well, a dog. "Need anything?"

"No. I'm fine." Except that Dez's voice went up an octave. Which sounded strange with the gravelly rasp she usually came out with.

When Sissy went back to watching television, Dez slammed her elbow in Mace's gut, but he did no more than grunt.

She leaned against his ear. "Get your hand out of my pants."

Mace shook his head and gently rubbed one of her cheeks with his unsheathed claw. She jammed her elbow in his gut again. "Cut it out."

"Make me."

The couple ducked as the wolves began chucking paper goods at them.

Sissy smiled at her friends. "You two better go. Before it turns into a catfight."

Good. Exactly what Mace wanted. He pulled his hand out of Dez's pants and yanked the woman to her feet. He barely gave her enough time to grab her jacket before he snatched her out of the hotel room toward the elevators. Sissy Mae yelling something about after-Christmas shopping, the last thing he heard before the doors closed.

Dez watched Mace pull his big, undamaged body out of the taxi. Her breath caught, her breasts tightened, and visions of things the nuns definitely would never approve of ran through her head. She turned away and began walking toward the house while Mace paid the taxi driver. Maybe for once she would have a good holiday. At least she'd actually get some holiday nooky for a change. The way Mace stared at her in the cab-she was damn positive she'd get some holiday nooky. Maybe they could have some more fun on her stairs.

Dez walked up her porch and unlocked the security door. She went to open the front door when Mace came up behind her. He kissed her neck, his arm wrapping tight around her waist, pulling her close into his warm body.

When he purred in her ear, she thought she might pass out.

"We're supposed to see your family at five o'clock."

"It's already four-thirty. My parents live in Queens. We'll call 'em and tell 'em I had to work or something. We'll just lie our asses off."

He put his hand in her hair and pulled her head back. "Good plan. Because all I want to do right now is take you upstairs and fuck you blind."

Dez laughed, but stopped when he didn't.

"Uh...I actually need my eyesight."

"Don't worry. It'll be temporary."

He kissed her, and Dez realized that Sissy Mae was once again right. Dez's whole body vibrated at his touch. Especially when he unzipped her jacket and his big hand slid over one of her leather-clad breasts. He squeezed it, his big fingertips running along the exposed skin above the leather.

She didn't know how much more she could handle before she came right on her porch. So lost in Mace she didn't even hear her front door open.

"We wondered when you'd get here."

Dez snapped up straight at the sound of her father's voice, her head slamming into Mace's.

"Ow!"

"Daddy!"

Dez looked at her father. No. The man wasn't pleased. She tried to pull away from Mace, but he gripped her tighter. Her jacket covered up his hand, but her father was hardly stupid. He knew Mace had her by the tits and that he wasn't letting her go.

"Having fun with my daughter there, boy?"

"As a matter of fact-"

Before he could finish that particular statement, Dez slammed her elbow in his gut.

She probably hurt her elbow more than his gut, but it surprised him, giving her the chance she needed to pull out of the death grip he had on her tits.

Dez gave her father a warm hug.

He hugged her back. "Merry Christmas, sunshine."

"You too, Daddy." She stepped back from him. "Why are you here?" She couldn't believe for a second her father would miss Christmas dinner with his grandkids. Even for her.

"When your mother couldn't track you two down, she thought you might try to lie your way out of it." Dez flinched. Damn. She couldn't get anything past her mother. The woman always knew what her daughter was up to. Always. "So she decided to move the whole thing here."

Dez blinked. "Move what here?"

He stepped back and one of her nieces ran up to her. "Aunt Dez, Aunt Dez!"

Dez swallowed the panic that welled in her throat. Oh, this was bad. "Hey, Lucy. How's my girl?"