Alpha's Christmas Flame: A BBW Paranormal Romance E-Book

AJ Tipton

• Herausgeber: AJ Tipton
• Kategorie: Fantasy und Science-Fiction
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

A sexy fireman broken from his last rescue. A beautiful bear shifter hiding from her family’s fame. When magical secrets are discovered, will their love stand strong after the smoke clears?Dean Michaelson loved being a firefighter until he was injured on duty. When his new job as a fire inspector takes him to the ice hotel where Donna works, he fears he's stumbled upon a nuclear deathtrap. Suspecting the lusciously curvy manager, Donna, is hiding the truth, Dean has no choice but to investigate on his own, unaware he is entering an underworld of danger and magic. Will the attraction building between Dean and Donna be extinguished before it has a chance to spark?The brilliant bear shifter Donna Mechka is a billionaire in hiding, working the desk at a magical ice hotel. She wants to throw aside the reputation of her wealthy family and find somebody who loves her for her mind, not her money. When a human ex-firefighter, Dean, walks into her hotel on Christmas Eve, it seems she might have found the man of her dreams. But when Dean's investigations bring him closer to discovering the hotel's magical secrets, Donna must decide which is more important: protecting the hotel, or her budding love.Alpha’s Christmas Flame is a holiday, paranormal romance novella in the “Bear Shifter Billionaire” series, a set of stand-alone stories that sizzle and satisfy. If you like brave pixies, smoldering strip poker, and holiday heat, then you’ll love this breathtaking book. Buy Alpha’s Christmas Flame to feel the heat today!

Leseprobe

Alpha’s Christmas Flame

A BBW Paranormal Romance

AJ Tipton

Illustrated byPadrón

This year, Dean hated Christmas.

It was Christmas Eve and Dean stood in the lobby of the luxury ice hotel pulling at his tie. The Windsor knot choked him badly enough, he was sure the strip of fabric was out to get him. Dean tried to school his frown into a pleasant, professional expression, but wasn’t sure if he succeeded. He reminded himself it wasn’t the receptionist’s fault that this year’s holiday season felt like a never-ending nightmare.

Be nice. Be courteous. Do the job. Dean repeated the words in his head over and over.

The entire Wondernasium Ice Hotel lobby was decked out in holiday decorations—potential fire hazards—everywhere he looked. He didn’t see any other guests in the lobby, just a flurry of uniformed staff scurrying around hanging last-minute decorative touches.

The pretty receptionist was typing so furiously on the computer, she hadn’t even looked up at him.

“Hi.” He cleared his throat loudly. Dean was a big guy, over six feet and still built with a fireman’s body even after the accident had him stuck behind a desk for the last year. Usually people didn’t overlook him. He tried again, placing a hand on the desk. “I’m Dean Michaelson and I’m from the Bureau of Fire Prevention. I’m here to run the annual inspection of your fire and emergency safety precautions.”

She kept typing.

This is what I’ve been reduced to, Dean thought. An overlooked desk jockey.He’d always felt sorry for the guys who couldn’t hack it in the field and were condemned to doing building inspections. Now—because of last year’s damned Christmas—he was forced to do the exact same thing.

Dean shifted his weight, but the receptionist’s—the nametag on her lapel read “Donna “—fingers continued to fly across her keyboard. The computer beeped and she winced before glancing at him.

When she finally registered his presence, her eyes widened, then lingered on his face and shoulders for a second. Her fingers never stopped moving.

“Welcome to the Wondernasium Ice Hotel. Did you say you were checking into the honeymoon suite?” Donna asked.

“No, I—”

There was a crash from behind him and Dean turned automatically. A bellhop with a strangely-shaped hat was pushing a large dolly of packages towards a door marked “Pool”. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Donna frantically wave her hands at the bellhop, but when Dean turned back to her desk, she casually leaned on one arm with a too-innocent expression on her face. He could hear the bellhop scurrying away in the opposite direction.

“Are you checking in for the holidays?” She smiled at him and Dean found himself smiling back. For a second, he wished he was actually checking in so that he could keep that smile on her face.

“We have plenty of rooms available,” she continued. “I’ve been told staying in one of our ice caves is like spending the holidays with Santa himself.” She winked. “And I can’t imagine a cute fireman like yourself is alone for the holidays.”

“I was a fireman,” he said, emphasizing the past tense. “How did you know?”

She eyed him up and down again, seeming to take in every inch of him. He couldn’t help but pause a moment to appreciate her brilliantly blue eyes, adorable short hair that just brushed the edge of her jaw, and her amazing curves.

She smiled and he felt a lightness in his chest he hadn’t felt in a long time. “You have some distinctive callouses on your palms from carrying your gear, there’s the way your eyes linger on the candles and other flammables, and...” Her face flushed pink. “Your overall...” She gestured at his entire body. “Build.”

Her eyes lingered on his chest and shoulders again and Dean found himself standing a little straighter and flexing.

“I’m good at reading people.” She cleared her throat and sat up straighter, grabbing a pen from a nearby cup. “One thing I can’t tell from your rippling biceps is how many days you’re planning on staying here.”

“Sadly, I’m sure a place like this is out of my price range. I’m here to work,” he said, failing to ignore the slight flush of pride at her “rippling biceps” comment. “I’m here to run a fire and safety systems inspection. I need to talk to somebody about what precautions are in place, take a look around the hotel, check out your electrical room. Stuff like that.” Her blue eyes widened in alarm. “The manager should have been notified I was coming.”

“Oh gods, that was today?” She ran her fingers through her hair, gripping it tight so it pulled along the edges of her face. The phone next to her rang and she whipped it off the cradle.

“Wondernasium Ice Hotel, all ice all the time. How can I help you?”

Dean couldn’t hear the words from the other end of the line, but the tone of Furious Customer was recognizable even from a few feet away. Donna’s smile never wavered, but a few hard lines popped up along the sides of her mouth.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, ma’am, I’ll send someone to deal with the mermaid in your bathtub shortly. There must have been a slight mix up with the rooms. May I put you on hold for a second?”

Mermaid? Dean wracked his brain for what that could possibly be slang for. Only twenty-seven years old and I’m already out of touch with the lingo.

Donna set down the phone and looked up at him. “Hi. Sorry about that. I’m Donna Mechka.” She reached across the desk to quickly shake his hand. Her skin was so soft that Dean longed to stroke the back of her knuckles with his fingers, but he forced himself to let go. “The manager and the owner are away on vacation together. I’m just filling in for a few days.” The phone buzzed. “If you can wait just one second.” She pressed a button on the phone and said, “Jimmy, will you please tell Attina we prepped room 109 for her and to kindly stay out of other guests’ bathtubs?”

“I can see you’re busy and I don’t need to take up too much of your time. I just need to access the—” Dean whispered to Donna, who still had the phone at her ear.

Donna’s face looked dramatically contrite and she mouthed, “Sorry, just one more sec.”

She pressed another button and spoke in a prim, professional voice. “Thank you so much for holding, please let me know if there’s anything else I can do to make your stay more pleasant.” She nodded at the phone, seemed to realize she was nodding, and then said out loud, “Yes, absolutely. We can certainly help with that. Apologies for the mix up.” She pressed the button to hang up, then pressed one of the speed-dial numbers. “Jimmy? Nevermind getting the mermaid out. She was invited. Have Lola from the bar send up a bottle of champagne and some complimentary seaweed-stuffed chocolates. Ms. Jameson was just upset that the mini-bar wasn’t stocked with underwater-friendly snacks.” She hung up.

Donna turned to Dean. “Sorry about that, three of our housekeepers are out with the flu and our best bellhop just quit to join a motorcycle club. We’re a little swamped around here.”

“So what’s this about a mermaid in one of your rooms?” Dean said, chuckling a little at the image. “Is there a sci-fi convention here this weekend? With all those people in costumes?”

Donna studied him for a long moment. “You’re new, aren’t you?”

“I am. Jenkins usually does this round, but he has the flu,” Dean said.