9. Kelli

9

KELLI

“ Oh my God , look at this—it’s so cute!” Kelli looked delightedly down at the lighted footpath that led away from the town and toward their cabin. The lights were red and green and gold and when she stepped on one lighted square it went dark and the one ahead of it lit up.

“ Yeah , fucking perfect,” Klaus growled but he didn’t complain when Kelli slipped her hand into his and began leading him down the magical path.

The path led them through a few twists and turns with ice sculptures of Christmas characters on either side. There was a sculpture of Rudolf and another of Santa with a big bag of toys over one shoulder. Kelli also saw Santa’s workshop, an angel choir, and some happy elves building toys.

Just as they rounded a corner and passed a sculpture of Frosty the Snowman , the Christmas cabin at last appeared.

It was absolutely adorable—there was no other word for it, Kelli thought. It looked like something out of a fairytale about Christmas . A little wooden cottage with a thatched roof met her eyes. The front door was shaped like a Christmas tree and the golden knob looked like an ornament. There were also two real trees on either side of the door, fully decorated and lit. A warm glow was coming through the front windows and the faint smell of cinnamon and apples floated towards them, coming from the crack under the front door.

“ Look at this—it’s perfect,” Kelli breathed.

“ Yeah —maybe too perfect,” Klaus muttered. “ I don’t know, sunshine— I don’t trust it.”

“ What are you talking about? We haven’t even gone in yet.”

Kelli dropped his hand and went up the three steps that led to the neat front porch. She was just about to put her hand on the knob when a soft, feminine voice spoke to her out of nowhere.

“ Welcome to your romantic Christmas Cabin here at the Christmas village,” it said.

“ Oh , uh…” Kelli looked around but she didn’t see any shimmering golden sparkles in the air. “ Are you a person?” she asked at last. “ I mean, are you one of the Questarian scientists?”

“ I am the voice of your cabin,” the voice replied. “ While you stay here I will do everything in my power to ensure you have the most romantic experience possible.”

“ Oh , well thank you,” Kelli said, nodding. She looked back at Klaus , who was still standing on the curving, lighted path. “ Come on up—the house has an AI ,” she told him.

“ Fuck ,” he muttered. “ So the fucking thing is alive?”

“ I am not alive,” the voice answered, clearly hearing his voice. “ I am simply programmed to optimize your romantic experience.”

“ Thank you,” Kelli said politely. “ We’re ready to go in now.” As she spoke, she put her hand on the doorknob and turned it—or at least she tried to turn it. But the knob wouldn’t turn—not even a fraction of an inch. “ Er …why won’t it open?” she muttered.

“ Here , let me try.” Klaus wrapped his long fingers around the knob and twisted it…but again, nothing happened. He grunted. “ Damn thing’s stuck. Or locked.”

“ Excuse me, cabin?” Kelli said loudly. “ We can’t get your front door open.”

“ In order to open my door, please observe the Christmas tradition,” the soft female voice admonished them.

“ Christmas tradition? What the fuck is it talking about?” Klaus asked frowning.

“ I don’t kn—” Kelli started to say, but then a soft glimmering caught her eye.

Looking up above their heads, she saw that a sprig of spiky green leaves and red berries had appeared. It was just hovering in midair, not touching anything.

“ Oh look—mistletoe!” she pointed at it, which caused Klaus to look up too.

He frowned.

“ What the fuck is mistletoe?”

“ That’s the ‘ Christmas tradition’ the cabin is talking about,” Kelli explained. “ On Christmas , it’s an Earth custom to kiss under the mistletoe—it’s supposed to bring good luck.”

“ You are correct,” the cabin’s voice said. “ Please observe the tradition in order to open my front door.”

“ So we have to kiss to get in?” Klaus sounded so suspicious that Kelli was kind of offended.

“ So what if we do?” she demanded, putting one hand on her hip. “ Would kissing me be the worst thing in the world?”

“ I never said that!” he protested. “ Don’t go putting words in my mouth, sunshine.”

“ Never mind words—you’d better start putting your mouth on mine if we want to get in and look around.” Kelli pointed to her lips. “ Or are you afraid to kiss me?” she added, raising an eyebrow.

If she was being honest, she was kind of enjoying this. She’d fantasized about kissing her Protector before and her heart was pounding with excitement.

Klaus seemed to take her words as a challenge.

“ Why would I be afraid?” he growled. “ Come here—one Christmas kiss coming up.”

He bent down but Kelli still had to stand on her tiptoes to reach him. She put her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.

She’d expected just a peck on the mouth, but it seemed that her taunting words had made Klaus feel he had something to prove. With a low growl, he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss, sending shivers of desire running through her whole body.

Kelli moaned softly and opened her lips, inviting him in. The big Kindred took her invitation and soon she was tasting him—a wild, deep flavor that was tinged deliciously with a ghost of the hot chocolate they’d both been drinking earlier.

Suddenly her heart was pounding even harder and her nipples felt tight. God , who knew that she and her grumpy Protector would have so much chemistry? Kelli couldn’t remember having a kiss this exciting since…well, since ever . Her ex, Mitch , hadn’t been a very good kisser at all. And because she’d been married so long, she hadn’t kissed anyone else since college.

Just as she was really getting into it and threading her hands through Klaus’s thick, black hair, which she had always fantasized about, there was an audible click and the cabin spoke again.

“ Romantic kiss detected— I am now open for your enjoyment,” it announced.

They pulled apart and Kelli took a step back, panting.

“ Oh , uh…” She wasn’t sure what to say but when she looked up at Klaus , his golden eyes were blazing.

“ How was that for a kiss, sunshine?” he growled.

“ It was good— really good ,” Kelli admitted. “ I …um…”

“ Come on,” he said, cutting through her confusion. “ Let’s go have a look inside so we can get back to the ship.”

“ You promised we’d stay unless there was anything weird,” Kelli protested, following him into the cabin.

“ And you don’t think kissing to get the door open counts?” He threw an incredulous look over one broad shoulder.

“ Let’s just look around and then we can discuss it,” Kelli suggested.

She couldn’t understand why he was so eager to leave. The way he’d been kissing her, she would have thought he wanted to take her straight to bed—and she wouldn’t have tried to stop him! Who knew her grumpy Protector was such an incredibly passionate kisser?

She followed him into the cabin, ready to argue some more, but what she saw made her stop.

The Christmas Cabin was adorably cozy.

The front door led into a living room area that had a fireplace on one wall and a big, overstuffed couch with a red and white checked throw across its back. Sitting across from the couch was a sleek entertainment screen that was presently playing images of candy canes and Christmas candies.

The floor was hardwood but there were several rugs that looked hand-braided on the floor to add warmth and there was a large, real Christmas tree in the corner decorated in red and green and gold with a beautiful glowing star perched at its tip.

“ Just look at this place!” Kelli spun in a circle and inhaled deeply. “ And breathe it in!”

The scent of the Christmas tree’s pine needles mixed with the scent of apples and cinnamon and possibly sugar cookies, which was drifting from the back of the cabin, was mouthwatering and nostalgic a the same time.

“ It’s all just so Christmassy ,” Kelli sighed happily.

Klaus gave her a bemused look.

“ You really love this holiday, don’t you?”

“ What are you talking about? Of course I love it— Christmas is the best . “ Come on—let’s go see the rest of the cabin!”

Kelli grabbed him by the hand and tugged him further into the cozy interior. But before she had gone two feet, the voice of the cabin spoke again.

“ To optimize your Christmas Cabin experience, please fill out this checklist of Romantic Christmas Scenarios you wish to include,” it said. “ Please note that all selections are final and cannot be reversed so choose carefully.” And then, to Kelli’s surprise, a glowing list appeared in the air right in front of her.

“ Hey , what in the Seven Hells is that?” Klaus asked, frowning as he looked over her shoulder. “ What are ‘romantic scenarios anyway?”

“ You know—like tropes you find in a romance book or a romantic movie,” Kelli explained distractedly. She was too busy reading the list written in glowing letters. After each line there was a box, which she assumed she could check if she wanted to include that particular scenario.

The list read like this:

Kissing Under the Mistletoe

Lights Go Out —(candles and firelight only.)

Forced Proximity (only one bed)

Snowed In (at least for the night.)

Touching Required (nothing works without help)

Maximum Romance !

The first part of the list was fairly self-explanatory to Kelli —she was an avid romance reader—but the last two entries were somewhat confusing. What did “ Touching Required ” mean?

“ I don’t understand any of these,” Klaus growled in her ear. “ What the fuck is ‘ Maximum Romance ?’”

As he spoke, he reached over Kelli’s shoulder and tapped the box beside the last entry on the list. A glowing checkmark appeared in the box…and then all the other boxes beside the other entries suddenly lit up with checkmarks as well.

Then , as abruptly as it had appeared, the list vanished and everything went dark.