Read Winter's Wonder: Pine Point, Book 2 for Free Online

again. “But I thought…” He wiped his hands on his ass—an awfully nice ass too, hugged perfectly by those jeans. “Thought you could use a little holiday spirit.”
    Becca finished the sinfully sweet cocoa and dropped the cup in the trash can. “Thank you.” It felt like she should do more than that, so she held out her hand. “Really. I appreciate it.”
    He looked at her hand, then back up at her face. Heat rushed into her cheeks. What? What are you looking at? “I washed,” she said after a minute.
    He laughed. “Sorry.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed. “I just…” He didn’t finish.
    “What?”
    From the kennel behind them, doors opened and closed, and the barks and whines and yelps escalated to a high-fevered pitch. Julito and Kevin must have arrived with food.
    Zane said something else, but she could barely hear him over the din. She took a step closer, and so did he, so when he bent and repeated the words, his breath came hot in her ear, and she almost dissolved at the sensation.
    “I wondered if you wanted to get dinner sometime.”

Chapter Six
    “Wait a minute,” Ella said. She stared into the bathroom mirror, mascara wand in hand. “You’re going to dinner with who ?”
    “Zane Andrews.” Becca stood in the doorway and waited for her sister’s reaction. It didn’t take long to come. Ella dropped the mascara and turned, her mouth a wide O.
    “You are not .”
    “I am.” She walked into her bedroom, peeling off her Pine Point Paws sweatshirt.
    Ella followed her with a screech and planted both hands on the doorframe. “Do you mind telling me how exactly that happened?”
    Becca still wasn’t entirely sure. “He came by the shelter yesterday and asked me.”
    Ella looked as if she didn’t believe her. She narrowed her eyes. “What else?”
    “What do you mean? Nothing else. He asked me, I said yes—” after about a minute of stunned silence, anyway, “—and he’s picking me up at seven.” She looked at the clock in her bedroom. “Oh, shit. He’s picking me up at seven .” She dashed into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
    “Hey, I wasn’t done in there,” Ella said. But Becca dropped the rest of her clothes and jumped under the spray.
    “Sorry!” she called as she lathered up.
    When she emerged ten minutes later, Ella stood in the bathroom, arms crossed, makeup half-done, scowling.
    “Sorry,” Becca said again. She wrapped the towel around herself and inched past her sister, back into the bedroom, where she stood in front of her open closet. “Now, what am I supposed to wear?” she asked Tucker, the gerbil. He blinked at her, wriggled his whiskers and nosed his food dish. “Yes, you’re very helpful. Thanks.”
    “Something sexy,” Ella called from the bathroom.
    Leave it to her sister to have supersonic hearing. “I’m going to have to raid your closet again for that,” she called back.
    “Yes, you are,” Ella said. She reappeared in the hall, hair sprayed into place and makeup fully applied. “Come on.”
    “I’m not going for slutty, just saying,” Becca said as they walked into Ella’s room.
    Ella rolled her eyes. “Big difference between slutty and sexy.” She went through her drawers, clicking her tongue until she pulled out a filmy green shirt with buttons down the front. “Here. Put a camisole underneath and a tight pair of jeans, and you’re good to go.”
    Becca held the shirt up to the light. Totally see-through. “It’s like zero degrees outside.”
    Ella looked at her like she’d grown an extra head. “So what? Are you eating outside? No. Last time I checked, they had heat in restaurants. Now put it on.”
    An hour later, Becca sat across from Zane at Marc’s Grille, one of the most upscale restaurants in town, and tried to remember how to breathe. He wore a black button-down shirt and dark jeans, a leather jacket over both and hair that fell into his eyes. Large hands. Large build. Large everything, arms and shoulders