The Bite Before Christmas Read Online Free Page A

the heat stays in here,” he admitted, setting the poker back on its holder.
    â€œI’ll do it,” she offered and moved off at once.
    Teddy let her go, thinking she would find the bathroom that way so she didn’t have to ask when she needed to use it. With her safely out of the room, he moved back to the boxes to continue sorting the contents. He almost sighed aloud when he found the can of coffee. Of course, the coffee pot wouldn’t work without electricity, but maybe if he boiled some water in a pot over the fire and then used the drip filter and coffee pot, he could come up with a halfway decent brew. A cup of coffee sounded damned fine at that moment. It might help clear his thoughts some, too, he decided and set the can aside to start searching the cupboards for a suitable pot.
    Katricia took her time closing bedroom doors, peering curiously into each room as she went. It was partially out of curiosity and partially to give Teddy some breathing room. She didn’t need to read his mind to know that he wasn’t comfortable with her. She supposed she’d come on too strong too fast, but hadn’t been able to help herself. The very fact that he might be her life mate made her want to test it. She wasn’t hungry yet, but then the only food around was in cans and boxes. There was nothing really to tempt her palate. Which meant the easiest way to know for sure was to kiss Teddy and see if she experienced the shared pleasure she’d heard so much about.
    Unfortunately, it was looking like that might be a hard objective to achieve. Teddy didn’t appear to be comfortable with what he thought was their age difference. That seemed obvious to her from the way he’d quickly removed his hat and scarf and then turned as if presenting some monstrosity to her. This was going to take some patience, which had never been Katricia’s strong suit. She was already struggling with the urge to simply walk straight back out into the kitchen and jump the man’s bones. The only thing stopping her was the worry that she might give the poor guy a heart attack or something. That would be just her luck—kill her life mate with a heart attack before she could woo and turn him.
    Grimacing at the thought, Katricia continued checking out the rooms. She found the one with Teddy’s suitcase in it and smiled faintly, thinking it was the room she would have picked, too. It was the last on the left, with the window overlooking the driveway where he could easily look out to see who was approaching should anyone come up the drive.
    It was a good defensive position, and his cop was showing in the choice, she thought with a smile and then pulled the door closed and moved back up the hall. Her eyes widened slightly when she found Teddy kneeling by the fireplace, situating a couple of pots at the edge of the fire.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” she asked curiously, moving up behind him to peer over his shoulder, but moving back a bit when she sensed him stiffening.
    â€œExperimenting,” he said gruffly, straightening and moving around her to get back into the kitchen. “Boiling water to make drip coffee and heating chicken soup. It’s not the usual breakfast fare, I know, but beggars can’t be choosers.”
    â€œClever,” Katricia murmured, watching from the fireplace as he moved into the kitchen and began to measure coffee into a filter.
    â€œHardly clever,” Teddy said with amusement as he set his coffee fixings aside and continued rifling through the box. “More like desperate. I’m useless without my java.”
    â€œJava?” Katricia asked, warming her hands at the fire.
    â€œCoffee,” he explained and then said, “Since you’re over there, keep an eye on the soup for me, will you?”
    â€œSure,” Katricia said, watching him cross to the table to redon his hat and scarf.
    â€œI’m going to go see if I can get my truck door