Free Hunted Holiday: A Vampire Romance by Mandy M. Roth Page A

slayer, and the few enforcers with her, had been grossly outnumbered when they’d been ambushed. She’d nearly gotten her ass handed to her once or twice during it all, but had come out on top. Several baddies had escaped and the CBPI was on it. If any of the perps resurfaced, the enforcers would be notified.
    “I’m good. Sore, but good,” said Dani, though she was a bit worse off than she cared to admit. “But I’m still drawing the line on Super Santa.”
    “Holiday mood killer,” mumbled Mimi.
    Dani was about to comment when the hairs on the back of her neck prickled, wanting to stand on end but resisting. Her slayer side was more sensitive to certain types of supernaturals. That happened with a lot of slayers. Dani’s easy-to-sense supernaturals were vampires.
    A smile wanted to form on her face when she put together which vampire in particular was watching her. The only one she’d ever had the hots for. The one who just happened to be her boss. She resisted, doing her best to act as if she didn’t sense him there, his gaze on her from afar.
    Do not look over at his house. Do not , she repeated to herself.
    Cornell Sutton, member of one of the ruling vampire families and one of the heads of her division of CBPI. More specifically, he was her direct boss and just happened to be a hunk. Tall, sinewy, with ink-black hair that hung just past his chiseled jaw line and eyes so dark it was often hard to tell when his demon rode his body. Like most vampires, he was on the pale side, but he worked it.
    Man, oh man, did he work it.
    Dani’s entire body tightened with thoughts of Cornell. He always smelled like cinnamon and baked goods to her. Every vampire had a natural scent. His reminded her of apple pie, which was her one weakness. She’d once asked Mimi if she too smelled baked goods around Cornell, but Mimi had stared at her like she was nuts.
    Didn’t matter. The guy smelled yummy enough to eat.
    Too bad he was her boss and a stick-in-the-mud. He was a by-the-book kind of guy. Always harping on her about the rules and regulations. About her duties. About her wild ways.
    Mostly, she tuned him out, disliking authority figures and following orders. She thought she’d one-upped him with her streak of defiance, but then, two years ago, he’d done the unimaginable.
    The jerk had bought the property next to Dani’s house as well as the next two properties beyond that, had the previous homes on the lots demolished, and then had commissioned the building of a giant, gothic-feeling mansion with matching grounds. The place did not fit into the suburban area one bit. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but he’d done it all the same. It had been completed six months prior, and for those long six months Dani had found herself living next door to her boss. He was probably watching her because he had plans to scold her for her juvenile behavior.
    Yep, a total stick-in-the-mud.  
    A hot one.  
    But a stick all the same.
    She shook her head at her friend. “Mimi, I’m drawing the line there. I think three Santas are plenty already. I’m not sure we need a giant one on top of the others. Last time I checked, there was only one Santa Claus. There were also only eight tiny reindeer.” She made quotes with her mitten-covered fingers and then attempted to push her long blonde hair back up and under her stocking cap without much in the way of success. She simply had too much hair to tame. “Catch the tiny and only eight part?”
    Grinning, Mimi shrugged. “Hey, those were on sale and my brother won’t let me decorate our grounds, so you get to deal with me, like it or not.”
    Sale for Mimi probably still meant she’d overpaid for everything, not to mention that she didn’t really understand buying in moderation. Dani didn’t even want to guess at what went into the current haul.  
    Dani touched her chin, pondering. “Have you ever wondered why it’s eight reindeer and not, say, twelve or even twenty? I mean, look at