Up the Chimney by Vonnie Davis

Author:Vonnie Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: christmas, detective, new york, scandal, holiday romance, manwhore

CHAPTER NINE

Ciera gingerly rolled over, hinged her eyelids open, and groaned when she stretched her stiff muscles. She sat on the edge of the bed and took inventory of her pain. Good news: Her earlobes didn’t hurt. Bad news: She only had two earlobes which meant the rest of her body ached—big time.

This was what happened to a woman’s body when her sexual activity went from zero to eighty in point nine kisses, she’d shoveled icy snow for two hours, and cried for damn near as long. What she needed was a ten-gallon bucket of Ben Gay and a wide paint brush.

Instead, she bundled into her robe and slippers before schlepping to her kitchen. Gabby followed, meowing in hopes of some treats. She glanced at the small Christmas tree on a table in front of her picture window and decided not to turn on its twinkling lights. Her holiday spirit was a little dim today. She did pick up the five decorative bulbs Gabby had knocked off and rehung them. Meanwhile the cat paced back and forth in front of the cabinet that held her bag of treats. Three were her required amount to keep body and fur together.

Ciera glanced at the clock. It was late afternoon. Reaching for her remote, she turned on the little TV setting at the end of her breakfast bar. She’d listen to the weather channel while she made a crockpot of chili.

Once that was done, she cooked her favorite comfort meal. Sipping a glass of Riesling, she ate a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. For dessert, she opened a chocolate bar.

She had about seven hours before she’d need to return to work. Of all times to be generous and offer to cover for a worker on another shift. Still, Juanita was a friend and she needed to spend every moment she could with her soldier son. Staying busy would keep her mind off her mistakes with Mason. And with the meteorologist spreading fear and panic with her predictions of a second, more severe wave of snow hitting tonight, emergency calls would rise.

She walked to her back door and opened it. Snowflakes as large as quarters were already falling. No use to grumble. There was nothing she could do but prepare for the impending storm. She rinsed out Gabby’s water dispenser and filled it with fresh. She topped off her dry food dispenser that would hold her for up to six days.

Ciera packed a carryon in case she couldn’t get home when her shift ended. To be safe, she threw in enough clothes for a few days. Remembering a blizzard last year that kept her at the station for three days, she removed her sleeping bag from a closet along with a pillow and two extra blankets in case someone else needed them. All her items were piled next to her front door.

She turned on her oven and baked two dozen cornbread muffins to eat with the chili. She found four cans of tuna in her pantry and boiled eggs to make tuna salad for sandwiches.

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