Sarah is looking for love
under the covers…
of a good book!

As a small-town librarian, Sarah has her hands full with projects that range from running an in-library day care to planning her best friend’s wedding. Romance is a complication she doesn’t need…until he walks in.

Archivist Matthew is a big-city bear shifter looking forward to a quiet, short-term project in Virtue before heading to his dream job in New York. He didn’t count on Virtue’s vibrant, sexy librarian stealing his heart with a single glance….

Matthew never meant to stay; Sarah never meant to fall. But as they investigate a mystery from Virtue’s past together, neither wants to turn the page on a blossoming summer romance that just might last a lifetime.

Sarah Ekstrom is Virtue’s librarian, she’s instigated many programs to keep the library alive. No matter how hard she tries there doesn’t seem to be enough time to get the archives sorted and up to date. She’s obtained a grant and is now expecting a contract archivist to take up where she’s left off in the archives it’s only a month, but it should make a major dent in the backlog.

Matthew Rojas is a bear shifter and a contract archivist. He’s traveled around the world and has finally been offered his dream job. National Archivist in the big city. This contract in Virtue is his last one before starting that new job. He just doesn’t expect what he finds there.

Early for his first day, Matt finds Sarah closing up the library. It seems there is some sort of emergency that needs her attention. Not wanting to miss anything in this small town, Matt offers to go with her.

This is a favorite scene.

In almost twenty years of moving from job to job, traveling to different places, meeting new people, never once had the beast within him had an opinion like that. Matthew, who suspected his smile had gotten increasingly idiotic the longer he’d been looking at Sarah, felt it go weak. Virtue isn’t home. I’ve got a job in the city starting next month!

His bear, contentedly, said, And yet here we are.

We are not here! Matt felt his inside voice get almost panicky. I mean, we are, but we’re not! Not to stay! It’s a job at the National Archives in the city! It’s my dream job! We are not here!

The bear gave a surprisingly delicate sniff for such a large animal. Jobs are jobs. She is a dream.

That, Matt admitted, was hard to argue with.

Unfortunately, the dream in question was looking at him like he was some kind of nightmare. Honestly, Matthew had expected a more positive reaction. The phone interview for the job had gone well, and he’d shown up early for his first day at work, which usually went over well. Granted, he’d startled her into throwing her pen halfway across the checkout desk, which wasn’t a terrific first impression, but it was probably okay, unless she was the type to hold a grudge.

Her expression, at the moment, suggested she really held a grudge.

“I’m sorry,” Matt said, unsure of where he’d gone wrong, but very much wanting to put it right. He would have wanted to anyway, but it also felt like his bear was pressing itself against the inside of his forehead, as if it could see Sarah more clearly through Matt’s eyes that way. It didn’t work like that, not even a little. That didn’t stop the over-eager bear. “I’m sorry,” Matt said again, gathering his thoughts away from his intrusive animal self. “I like to come early on my first day. Usually someone asks me to shelve books, and I get to be useful for a little while. But I’ve obviously come at a bad time.”

He glanced at her half-written sign, which supported her statement about the library closing early. “Should I come back tomorrow?”

“No!”

Matt startled at her vehemence. “This is Virtue, New York, right? You got an archivist’s grant for the summer to help sort out the town’s historical record?”

Sarah passed a hand over her eyes. “Yes, this is Virtue, and yes, we got the grant, and yes, I suppose you’d better come back tomorrow. I’m sorry. I forgot you were supposed to be here today.”

That had never happened before. Matthew’s eyebrows rose in astonishment, and Sarah the librarian sighed again. “Which is to say, obviously I know you were supposed to arrive today. I just got distracted because there’s an emergency I have to attend to.”

“A library emergency?” Matt asked, both mystified and intrigued.

“No, don’t be silly.” She smiled, though, which Matt thought was quite wonderful. If he could just keep her smiling, he’d be content with his entire life. Her smile even got a little bigger as she added, “The only library emergency around here is the archives. I have an entire room set up for you, and I was going to show you around tonight, but I don’t know how long this is going to last. I guess I could leave you here in the archival room. You’d probably figure out my system fast enough.”

Matt glanced around the library. Most of the lights were off, letting only natural light flood the carpeted floors and well-worn stacks that held innumerable books. If there were any patrons lingering, they were well-hidden.

There were certainly worse fates than being locked along in a library, but he could think of better ones, too. “Could I come with you?”

It sounded ridiculous as soon as he said it. Surely emergencies didn’t require tagalongs. Still, his bear said, Excellent thinking, and Matthew’s mother had always taught him that no one could say yes, if you didn’t ask.

A thoughtful light came into Sarah’s dark eyes. “We could use more people…”

“Have I just offered myself as a new member of the volunteer fire brigade?”

“No.” Sarah got her pen and finished her poster, then looked up with a fierce smile. “Although that can be arranged, if you want. We always need more firefighters.”

Matt, awed, said, “Are you one?”

“Only in a real emergency. All right, let’s go.” She marched out from behind the checkout counter and Matthew almost bit his knuckles. Her 1950s vibe didn’t end with the shirt. She wore high-waisted, high-water blue jeans with big cuffs and a double row of buttons on the flat panel face of them. The only thing missing from her pinup ensemble was a pair of red heels that matched the shirt. Instead she wore sturdy brown leather boots.

Actually, Matt thought, the boots still worked with the pinup vibe. It just made her a bit more Rosie the Riveter instead of Rita Hayworth.

It didn’t matter what kind of emergency she was taking him to. Any woman who made him think dreamily of pinups should be followed to the ends of the earth, if necessary.

His bear said, Yes, contentedly, and urged Matt to fall in behind Sarah as she left the library. He didn’t know if the jeans were custom made—he’d never seen anything like them in a department store, for sure—but they fit her hips and butt and thighs magnificently. He was so busy admiring her that he nearly tripped on the library steps when she stopped and turned to lock the door, and he was certain he was blushing when she looked back at him to ask, “Did you drive?”

“Yes?” Matthew wasn’t sure where the question had come from. Virtue was a small town without a local airport, and flying a summer’s worth of stuff into Syracuse seemed like more trouble than driving it up from Florida, where he’d been most recently working. “Should I not have? Are there hard limits on how many people get to own cars in Virtue?”

Sarah paused with a perplexed, amused look curving her mouth. “No, although I’m trying to get a more robust public transportation system in place. I was trying to ask if you had a car or if you wanted to ride with me.”

“Oh, I’ll ride with you!” Matthew cleared his throat, and, trying to sound less like an over-eager puppy, said, “If that’s all right. You can tell me something about Virtue, and the archival project?”

Over-eager cub. His bear sniffed disdainfully. Bears aren’t puppies.

Oso, Matthew asked, trying not to sound annoyed, would you know what I meant if I said ‘bear puppy’?

His bear sniffed again, as if insulted. It clearly didn’t want to answer, which meant it would, in fact, understand. Okay then, Matthew said. Don’t quibble over the details. Especially when I’m trying to talk to a beautiful woman!

The bear, with a long put-upon sigh, settled down, leaving Matt with the distinct impression that it thought he would do much worse talking to Sarah without its guidance.

Sarah had walked him over to a vintage pickup truck, as red as her shirt, while he’d been arguing with his bear. Matthew almost wanted to call it ‘rattletrap’, but it was in perfect, well-maintained condition. It was just from the 1950s. “I can talk your ear off,” she promised, “but the danger is you might get stuck out on the edge of nowhere with me and a bunch of other rabble-rousers until who-knows-when tonight, if you don’t drive yourself. If you’re okay with that, climb on in.”

Matthew could think of nothing in the world he’d be more okay with. “Sign me up.”
Chant, Zoe. Librarian Bear (Virtue Shifters Book 2). Kindle Locations (150-201). Kindle Edition.

Now the source of the emergency was a Real Estate Development company trying to get a bit ahead of the eminent domain to develop the land. This leads Sarah and Matt on a hunt for documents that have apparently disappeared.

Suspense, intrigue, laughter, romance, and sizzle surround this quest. With Matt’s Bear providing a fun side conversation the whole way.

5 Contented Purrs for Zoe!

Wolf shifter and carpenter Jake Rowly left his home town of Virtue straight out of high school and never planned to return. But a broken heart sends him back into the fold, because if there’s one thing Virtue doesn’t have, it’s any chance of romantic complications. Then he meets newcomer Mabs Brannigan, and realizes fate has brought him home again….

All single mother Mabs Brannigan wants is a safe, friendly place to raise her young son. When a distant relative leaves her a falling-down farmhouse in upstate New York, it seems like the chance of a lifetime to start over…until an unethical contractor runs off with her money and she’s left with the devastating truth that she may have to sell the farm that she and her son have already come to love.

Jake needs a place to stay. Mabs needs a carpenter. It seems like a match made in Heaven, but Jake doesn’t want to move too fast with a single mom trying to build a new life…and Mabs can’t imagine a gorgeous, sexy guy like Jake would be interested in anything more than her amazing old house.

But when Mabs’s past comes back to haunt her, and winter traps them together, Jake and Mabs find they’re ready for whatever romance may bring…and that the house holds more secrets than they know!

Mabs Brannigan is a single mom, who by a stroke of good fortune has inherited a home in upstate NY. Well in terms of a place to stay it’s good, however it requires much renovation. Her great aunt Doris seems to have only lived in a couple of rooms in the house and the rest was truly in sad shape. She had planned out everything and now the contractor took off with her money, leaving her little hope of getting things done. Her son Noah is a whirlwind of energy and in order to do the few things she knows she can handle alone; her friend and town librarian Sarah Ekstrom is coming over.

Sarah calls to say she’s bringing an old friend with her and really nothing else.

Jake Rowley left Virtue, never intending to come back. A romance gone bad has him returning where he’s sure he won’t have any romantic complications. He’s going to need a place to stay and Sarah has an idea about that.

Then there’s the realtor that calls offering a lot of money for the property. Mabs isn’t interested, she wants this home for her and Noah and will restore it to its former glory following rules for historic landmarks.

Jake needs a place to stay, and Mabs needs someone to help her renovate. One would say it’s a match made in heaven, but Jake’s wolf is sure Mags is his mate.

This is a favorite scene.

Sarah, though, picked up the thread of conversation as if it hadn’t been interrupted, thanks to a lot of practice at the library-daycare. “The thing is, though, Mabs, Jake’s just back in town and he doesn’t have anywhere to stay, so I was thinking, like, your barn’s pretty solid, right? You could snug up a corner of that and Jake could stay there and work on the house.”

“He can’t stay in my barn. It’s a barn! You can’t stay in my barn!” Mabs’s gaze flickered between Sarah and Jake, finally landing accusingly on Sarah. “Have you been planning this?!”

“I don’t see how I could have been,” Sarah said in the cheerful tone of someone who had been planning this. “I only found out about Chad this morning and then Jake only dropped by the library about half an hour ago to say he was back in town. Who has time to plan?”

“You!” Both Mabs and Jake spoke, then exchanged little grins that made Mabs want to giggle like a schoolgirl. Jake Rowly had a sly, charming grin that could seduce a woman at five paces. Or maybe seven, since that’s about how far away from she was.

“I have not been planning anything,” Sarah said loftily. “I do, however, see an opportunity when it presents itself. You two talk it out. I have a date with a car race.” She exited with less fanfare than Noah had, leaving Mabs and Jake and a whole lot of uncomfortable space between them.

Jake broke it. “I had no idea she was going to do that. Sorry.”

“No, not at all. I didn’t either, obviously. And it’s not that you can’t stay in my barn, it’s just—” Mabs gestured broadly, as if it would explain everything she meant. “It’s just, who goes around inviting people to stay in barns?”

“Apparently Sarah,” Jake said dryly. They both laughed, and suddenly the tension evaporated, leaving Mabs smiling easily at…at the strange man in her house. Maybe she shouldn’t dwell on that.

“Sarah’s always been a fixer-upper,” Jake added. “Even in high school she was always trying to make things work better. She ran our student body single-handedly. I guess I kind of thought she’d be mayor of Virtue by now.”

“I don’t think she has time, with running the library and the not-officially-a-daycare and helping out with Meals-On-Wheels and overseeing the allotment gardens and…” Mabs trailed off. “I see what you mean.” She fell silent a moment, then cleared her throat. “What you said…would you want to?”

“What, fix up this place?” Jake’s blue gaze rose to the kitchen ceiling, which Mabs bet he could touch easily. She needed a chair to get to the top shelf of the dang cupboards, and they were only two shelves high. “Yeah,” Jake said with a touch of longing that Mabs frankly wished was directed at her. “I could do wonders with this old house. Somebody should, anyway. Do you know anything about its construction?”

His gaze returned to Mabs with the power of a static shock. Her breath caught and she straightened a little, like electricity really had run through her. “Um. No? Not really? I know it’s from about the mid-1800s, but that’s about it?”

Jake shook his head and actually offered her his hand, like they’d known each other forever. What was even stranger was that she took it like it was natural. His grip was comfortable, his hand strong and calloused from work. Mabs had never liked super soft hands anyway. There were so many places on her body where the roughness of a callous could add a little extra…hrrr.

God, what was she thinking? Well obviously she knew exactly what she was thinking, but it was, as she liked to tell Noah about some of his more outlandish ideas, wildly inappropriate.

Jake smiled and drew her out of her own house, leading her past Noah and Sarah on the porch, and down the steps. Mabs had to look at her feet to make sure they were still on the ground, because somehow, holding Jake Rowly’s work-strong hand made her feel like she was floating.

When they got out to the yard, he turned her to face the house, and then, as if he’d suddenly realized what he was doing, let go of her hand. “Sorry, that was…”

“No, it’s fine, I could have kicked you instead of taking your hand.” It took all of Mabs’s attention to not put a hand over her face. She sounded like an eight year old. “What did you want to show me?”

His smile appeared again, no longer sly, but genuine and sweet as he lifted his hands toward the house and began pointing. “So from the door over to the left, basically your kitchen, the room behind it, and the rooms above? That was probably the original house. They called it a double-cell, double-pile.”

“Catchy,” Mabs muttered, and Jake grinned.

“Isn’t it, though? So back then, where your hallway is, that was the front.”

Mabs said, “But this is the front,” and winced. Now she sounded like an idiot. She was a waitress, for heaven’s sake. She was good at talking to people, even about things she didn’t care about, and she did care about the house.

But Jake was still grinning like she wasn’t an idiot, so maybe it was okay. “Right, this is the front now. But when it started, back probably around 1790—you could look it up in the local records—it was the side.”

“Oh. Wow. I never thought of looking it up in the records. I’ve never lived anywhere old enough to have local records, I don’t think.”

“Most of us haven’t, but this place, everybody knows it.”

“‘The Old Brannigan Place,’ yeah. People in Virtue are always excited to hear there’s someone living here again.” Mabs smiled at the truth of that. It was one of the reasons she simply didn’t want to give the place up.
Chant, Zoe. Timber Wolf (Virtue Shifters Book 1) Kindle Locations (267-310). Kindle Edition.

There are plenty of ups and downs in this book as Jake and Mabs explore a relationship and renovate.

More annoyance from the realtor and to top it off Noah’s father shows up with threats even though he has had nothing to do with Mabs or Noah from the beginning.

I love the way this story plays out. The town of Virtue is welcoming in a very different way than most small towns.

I am already reading the next book in the series.

5 Contented Purrs for Zoe!

Being cool as a cat
is harder than it looks
when unexpected love strikes!

Single dad and bobcat shifter Mason has moved to Virtue to raise his toddler in the safety of a shifter community. But minor catastrophe strikes when his daughter escapes to play in the woods, and the last thing Mason expects when she’s found is to meet his mate. His bobcat insists it’s meow or never, but Mason isn’t ready for the complication of a new relationship.

Veterinary student Chrissy has always known about Virtue’s shifters, and even dreamed of finding fated love of her own, but that didn’t prepare her for a lost bobcat kitten who turns into an adorable little girl. She can hardly believe it’s fur real, but Mason really does seem purrfect.

Mason needs to take it slow. Chrissy hasn’t yet wrapped up veterinary school. On the surface, it seems impawssible, but as they spend time kitten around, Chrissy and Mason realize they’re already building holiday traditions of their own, and that together, they’re going to have a very meowy Christmas.

Christy Sloan is on her way home to Virtue when she spots a baby bobcat frolicking in the snow. She stopped to watch because let’s face it babies are cute regardless of the species. It’s when she realizes there’s no adult bobcat around, she decides to take action. Letting the kitten make the choice she sets up a safe latch cage with part of a peanut butter sandwich as bait. She gets quite the surprise back at her father’s vet clinic when she takes the blanket off the cage.

Mason Rutlidge is a single parent who’s moved to Virtue because it’s a shifter safe zone. His daughter is quite feisty and excitable, which leads to her shifting at appropriate times. He definition of public are not quite what her dad means. This time however she’s just snuck away from her babysitter a non-shifter.

He’s relieved when he gets the call from Christy’s father that his daughter Sandy is safe, unharmed and at the clinic. He doesn’t however expect fate to spring a surprise on him that leaves him speechless.

This is a favorite scene.

There was a brief pause before her father said, “I’ll find out,” and hung up, leaving Chrissy to gaze down at the sleeping little girl with quiet astonishment.

She had always known about Virtue’s shifters, obviously. You couldn’t—in Chrissy’s opinion, anyway—be the veterinarian’s daughter and not know about them. Not if you wanted to be a vet yourself, at least. Chrissy wasn’t actually sure if her brothers did know about the local shifter population, because it wasn’t the kind of question you went around asking, not even of family. She’d understood that from a young age, when she’d still been so little that her ‘job’ at the clinic was sitting in the reception area, reassuring nervous animals, and, just as often, their nervous owners.

She still remembered the day that Donna Arnesen’s parents had come in with uncertain expressions and a small, fluffy owlet in their arms. The poor little creature had broken its wing, and Dr. Sloan had a reputation for working well with wild animals. Mr. & Mrs. Arnesen had let Chrissy draw a very careful picture of a healed-up, flying owl on the cast.

Two days later, six-year-old Donna herself had come to school with the exact same cast, with Chrissy’s drawing on it and all. From then on, Chrissy had understood Virtue wasn’t just a nice little town. Virtue was magic. Bit by bit she’d come to learn about its secret history, mostly from Donna, who was still her best friend. She’d learned about how Virtue’s shifters had settled there, making a safe haven for themselves and their fated mates.

That was the most magical thing of all, in Chrissy’s opinion. People who could shift into animals were obviously mind-bogglingly incredible, but instantly knowing they’d found their one true love? That sounded like a dream come true. Dating was hard and people were much less predictable than animals. Effortlessly finding the right person would be so much easier than struggling through awkward questions and terrible first dates, never mind the awful moments when it was clear chemistry just didn’t, couldn’t, and wouldn’t ever exist.

Getting a toddler out of a cage meant for a cat was not, as it turned out, particularly easy. Chrissy worked on squirming the little girl out without waking her up, which involved trying to gently lift an arm up so she could tug her free. The exit was large enough, but getting her own hands inside to rearrange the girl was harder, and the little girl woke up in giggles. “Tickwy!”

Chrissy wrinkled her nose, but smiled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to tickle you. I don’t suppose you could turn into a kitty for a second and just walk out of there?”

The child had enormous hazel-gold eyes and a momentarily uncertain expression. “I not posed to do dat in fwont of peepw.”

A giggle of Chrissy’s own burst out. “I bet not, but do you remember me from the field? You were already a kitty then, so I already know you can shift. I won’t tell anybody.” She crossed her heart. “Promise.”

She received two contemplative blinks in response before the girl apparently decided that her logic was sound. She shifted into the bobcat kitten Chrissy had met in the field, walked out of the cage, jumped to the floor, and turned back into a little girl. “Whewe’s my dada?”

Chrissy smiled. “He’s on the way. I’m Chrissy. Do you want to tell me your name?”

“Sandy.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Sandy. Are you hungry? I probably have some snacks around here.”

“Yes pease!”

The apple and cheese Chrissy got from her bag was clearly not the kind of snack Sandy was hoping for, but she sat in the spinning receptionist’s chair and ate them with enthusiasm anyway. Chrissy guessed hunger made the best sauce.

A panicked knock at the door sent Chrissy to it, expecting to find a worried parent. Instead a tearful teenager fell through the door, cried, “Sandy!” in bone-shaking relief, and collapsed into Chrissy’s arms, sobbing. “I just went to the bathroom! She was in the house, I swear. We were all bundled up to go outside and play, and I had to pee and ran to the bathroom but I didn’t know she was tall enough to open the door and I couldn’t find any footprints and there were bobcat tracks and I was afraid she’d been eaten—!”

Sandy yelled, “It’s otay, I gots an appwe!” and, as Chrissy turned toward her, held the fruit up with triumph. Then she yelled, “Dada!” and fell out of her chair to rush toward the door. Chrissy, feeling like she was on some kind of fast-spinning carnival ride, turned back the other way, following Sandy with her gaze, then lifting her eyes to see the worried, relieved face of the most absurdly handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on.

He was tall, broad-shouldered, and lightly bearded in a woodsman kind of way, which up until this very moment had never been particularly Chrissy’s thing. It was suddenly very strongly, completely, and thoroughly her thing. He had the tanned look of a white guy who spent a lot of time outdoors, and who currently wore an unzipped winter jacket over a t-shirt and jeans that clung to his thighs in positively scandalous ways. His boots were big enough to make Chrissy decide very hastily that he must have big…feet, too….

She felt a blush—or something—start somewhere around her bellybutton, and heat rushed through her entire self before some tiny part of her brain that still functioned reminded her that if he had a two-year-old, there was probably another woman in the picture already.

She had never gone from so hopeful to so crushed so quickly. And that was ridiculous. Especially since the idea here was to return a lost child to her parents, not for Chrissy to suddenly lust over a hot young DILF. Sandy’s father bent to scoop her up and cradled her into a fierce but gentle hug, his head bent over hers a moment before he lifted his gaze to meet Chrissy’s.

His eyes, like Sandy’s, were an astonishing hazel gold, and his whole soul seemed to be in them as he said, “Thank you.”
Chant, Zoe. A Very Meowy Christmas (Virtue Shifters Book 6) Kindle Locations (95-146). Kindle Edition.

As fate continues to throw these two together, Mason needs to go slow. He’s not quite ready for a relationship and he has Sandy to think of as well.

This book is so much fun, as Sandy puts these adults into some crazy situations. I laughed so hard at her antics and the adults trying really hard to negate the aftereffects.

This is now another Christmas favorite.

5 Contented Purrs for Zoe!

Zoe Chant loves writing paranormal romance. Over a cup of tea (or something stronger) she whips up sexy tales of hunky heroes and adventurous heroines to tantalize and satisfy her readers. Sizzling hot romance, no cliffhangers!

Love otter be easier….

Otter shifter and piano player Abe is usually pretty suave, but that was before the otterly amazing new choir director turned out to be his fated mate! His otter is so excited that Abe himself can’t get a word in edgewise. How can he impress his mate if he can’t even talk to her?

Blaire thought her new job as a choir director in Virtue would be a breeze, but the old piano player took one look at her and quit, and the new one can’t even meet her eyes! Which is just too bad, because he’s probably the most handsome man Blaire has ever seen. Why, if Abe could only make eye contact, Blaire might even be prepared to consider him a potential significant otter!

But rehearsals for the choir concert mean at least they’re together, and it’s not long before they realize they have a whole lotter more than music in common. From ice skating to hot springs, the winter holiday activities in town bring them closer and closer…right up to one last surprise that reveals itself at the Christmas concert!

Blaire Hobart was sure she was losing her job as the new choir director after her pianist quits. However, she didn’t get a call, note or summons from the town council before the next choir practice. There was someone playing the piano when she walked into the church. Maybe she hadn’t lost her job after all.

Abraham Fenn, was asked or rather told by his great aunt to take over as the pianist for the choir. He wasn’t expecting the choir director to be so beautiful and sweet. He certainly didn’t expect her to be his mate either.

This is going to be a problem because his otter is going crazy in circles of excitement causing Abe not to be able to concentrate on talking at all.

This is a favorite scene.

Nothing could throw off his stride.

Not until Blaire Hobart walked down the aisle toward him, causing his otter to shriek, MATE!!!! before diving deep inside his mind and quivering with such anticipation that it bordered on terror.

Abe said, What?! in the depths of his own head, but his otter was a jittery ball of excited jelly and couldn’t form so much as another word.

It wasn’t like Abe hadn’t heard it correctly anyway. It wasn’t as if the woman coming down the aisle toward him like a bride in Uggs and a puffy jacket wasn’t obviously the most spectacularly beautiful, intelligent, witty, kind, generous, delightful human being he’d ever laid eyes on. Even if his otter hadn’t screamed Mate! inside his head, Abe felt like he would have known that this woman was the person he was meant to be with forever.

And with that knowledge, his confidence deserted him entirely. He could barely even look at her. His otter was so excited and nervous that Abe struggled not to shift right there in the church. He mumbled something about why it was him and not Aunt Ruby there, and Blaire responded with charming understanding.

Then she was right there in front of him and wanted to shake hands like a normal human being, so he did, of course. Her hands were strong, but so soft, except for the callouses from playing stringed instruments.

His damned otter shrieked I bet she gives good scritches!!! and Abe dropped her hand like it was on fire.

He was forced to look up then, to get a really good look at her, and caught the brief expression of confusion on her face. Probably men didn’t usually act like meeting her was a torment.

Probably nobody with eyes usually acted like meeting her was a torment. She was tall and slim, like a distance runner or an upright bass player, and her eyes were dark liquid brown. Her features were sharp: sharp jaw, sharp nose, even her eyebrows had a distinct point to them that Abe instantly adored.Her lips weren’t sharp, though: they were soft and full and kissable—

Kiss her! squealed his otter, and Abe knew an expression of horror went right across his face.

Blaire said something polite about it being nice to meet him, and then he was rescued, thank goodness, by the choir kids thundering into the church. They started a game of tag as they ran up and down the aisles and the rows between the pews, and under their noise Abe said, What is wrong with you?! to his otter.

She’s so pretty, the otter replied, starry-eyed. So tall and strong and slim, like a fast fish in the water!

Oh yes. That was what women wanted. To be compared to cold-blooded slimy fish. Blaire pulled her winter hat off, revealing a fantastic, straight-cut, jaw-length bob of dark brown hair. Static lifted some of the strands out of place and she absently smoothed them with one palm, making her a flawless vision once again.

To Abe’s surprise, she didn’t try to stop the kids from running through the church. She just slipped her winter coat off and folded it on a pew. She was dressed casually in tall winter boots, jeans, and a cream-colored sweater knitted in an Aran pattern, and looked incredibly sleek—

Like a fish!!!! his otter yelled. Abe clenched his teeth shut, as if the animal could somehow force him to say that aloud.

Not a fish! A professional used to dealing with kids!

Like a fish, the otter insisted. Fast in the water for a chase and then when we have caught her—

The otter obviously hit a mental block at that point, because its thoughts took a distinct turn toward the idea of mating, except it had no interest in mating with a fish. Otters ate fishes, and there was nothing in an otter’s vocabulary or concept of sex that involved ‘eating’ in a non-food innuendo.

No matter. The otter rallied. Sleek and strong and slim and fast like an otter! it declared, and by that time Abe was in no condition to try to argue with it. Keeping himself from blurting out its running commentary was suddenly a full-time job.

The otter wasn’t wrong, though. Blaire Hobart was sleek and strong and slim and, with her smooth brown hair and deep brown eyes, seemed more otter-like in her human form than Abe himself did.

Except she was clearly no-nonsense as she walked up to the altar, and at the moment, Abe felt like he was pure nonsense. There were choir galleries in the chancel on both sides of the altar, but the two rows of raised platforms in them had been moved into full view, so the kids would be on display when they performed. Abe’s piano was off to one side, half-hidden behind the platforms. Blaire went over to it and played a few notes, then sat down and began to play in earnest.

Not a holiday tune, though. To Abe’s barely-contained laughter, she started playing the latest hit from a British pop star, an incredibly catchy tune that even he’d listened to dozens of times in a row. The kids, although entirely involved in their game of tag, couldn’t stop themselves from singing when the chorus kicked in, and a few of them approached the piano as she launched into the second verse.

By the time she’d gone through the chorus again, most of the kids were gathered around the piano, singing their hearts out. One little boy of six or seven sidled right up to Blaire and raised his eyebrows invitingly at a line about conversations with a stranger.

Abe’s otter gasped in dramatic disbelief. Is the little boy flirting with our mate?

He’s trying to, Abe replied, amused. And he’s doing a better job than I’ve been doing so far! You have to stop distracting me!

I am not a distraction! I am your soul. If she cannot live with me, she cannot live with us at all. This last was delivered with such theatrical conviction that Abe laughed, a sound he had to smother with both hands so he didn’t interrupt the last go-around of the chorus.

“You guys were amazing.” Blaire sounded genuinely impressed as she stood up from the piano and gave the kids a round of applause. “If you can sing pop music that well, these Christmas songs are going to be a breeze!”

“Are we gonna go on America’s Next Stars?” asked the little boy who’d sidled up to her.

She raised her eyebrows, looking down at him seriously. “Noah, right? They don’t usually have choirs on those shows, Noah, but once in a while, they do. I’m not gonna lie to you. Getting there would be a huge amount of work, the kind of thing that would probably take years. So I guess whether there’s a chance of it or not would depend on how hard you all wanted to work, and whether you agreed it was the kind of goal you were all interested in.”

Ooooohhh, the otter breathed, star-struck. She’s so good with kittens.

A quick smile touched Abe’s mouth. Otter babies were often called kittens, but he hadn’t ever really thought to apply the term to human children. It was kind of cute. Another child, older, but also perhaps more practical at heart than Noah seemed to be, said, “Maybe we should do the Christmas concert first.”

Blaire grinned at the girl. “That’s a good idea, Kelly. Kelly? Kelly.” She smiled again as the girl nodded. “One thing at a time. I mean, maaaaayyybeeee you’ll all hate singing in the choir so much that you’d rather throw up all your candy canes into your shoes and then wear them!”

Abe’s otter recoiled, staring at Blaire in horror as the kids all squealed, “Ewwww!” happily.

She is not good with kittens after all, the otter reported in confused dismay. She wants them to wear regurgitated food! That is disgusting!

She’s joking. It’s okay, buddy. Maybe the otter now thought Blaire was so gross that it wouldn’t flail like an excited kid when it looked at her, so Abe could talk to her like a functional adult human being instead of a squeaky idiot, which is where he’d started.

Blaire was now herding the kids onto the choir stands, where they were eager to go and show her how they were good enough to win competitions, or at least to not barf in their shoes and wear them. She cast Abe a quick look, and he took himself back to the piano, feeling like maybe he could do this.

Oooooh, the otter said. Her eyes are so pretty….

Maybe he couldn’t do it, after all.
Chant, Zoe. A Christmas Like No Otter (Virtue Shifters Book 4) Kindle Locations (103-169). Kindle Edition.

I laughed so hard all through this book, that otter, OMG! He’s just hysterical.

Blaire is taken with Abe and she does give him a chance. Their dates are fun filled and Christmassy. Even after his big reveal, and I do mean big. She’s on board to get to know him better.

One of my favorite Christmas books this year.

5 Contented Purrs for Zoe!

Zoe Chant loves writing paranormal romance. Over a cup of tea (or something stronger) she whips up sexy tales of hunky heroes and adventurous heroines to tantalize and satisfy her readers. Sizzling hot romance, no cliffhangers!