Bake This! (A 300 Moons Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

they’d stretch, laid end-to-end, saddened at the thought that no one else would see any intrinsic humor in determining the circumference of a pie.
    Her alarm went off at six and she dragged herself out from under the quilt. She felt as if she hadn’t slept at all. Her thoughts of pies had given way to haunting dreams of wandering the woods, searching for Will Harkness.
    She rubbed her arms to chase away the goose bumps - more from the chilly air than the content of her dreams. She’d been warned that the attic room was cold, but she was surprised by the delicate lacework of frost lining the old window panes.
    She bathed quickly in the old clawfoot tub, wondering at how long it had been since she’d had a bath instead of a shower.
    Afterward, she slid on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and her favorite pair of boots. She snuck down the stairs and was going through the kitchen to get to the back door when she found Will, sipping a cup of coffee.
    “Good morning,” he said with a smile.
    “Hey, good morning,” she replied.
    “Long time no see,” he joked lazily.
    Tess smiled.
    “I fixed you a cup,” he said, gesturing to the island, where a large mug of coffee waited for her.
    “Thanks,” she said, relieved. She’d planned to go straight to the barn to get started, but it would be good to have some caffeine first.
    “There’s milk in the fridge. Did you sleep okay?” Will asked.
    “Yes, thanks,” Tess replied, opening the fridge and grabbing the milk.
    “Liar,” he said.
    She looked up at him, but he was smiling.
    He couldn’t know about her dreams, could he?
    “I used to sleep up there,” he said. “It’s freezing, isn’t it?”
    She grinned.
    “Yeah, it’s so cold. I keep having these dreams…” she trailed off. She did not want to talk to him about her dreams.
    “Yeah, you’re even cold in your sleep, right?”
    She nodded.
    “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’ve got just what you need to keep you warm all night.”
    Tess fought to keep from doing a spit-take with her latest sip of coffee.
    Keep me warm all night?
    She didn’t doubt that for a minute, but it was still rather unexpected.
    “I’ll dig out the old electric blanket for you,” he told her.
    Oh.
    “Shifters run hot, but humans have to take better care of themselves. Mom used to keep an electric blanket up there someplace in case the cousins came.”
    “Thanks,” she said with a grin she hoped didn’t look as dumb as it felt.
    They drank their coffee for a few minutes in silence.
    Tess found herself looking out the window at the pink sun struggling to rise behind the snow-covered sycamores. It was peaceful here, though without the shelter of the mountains around her, it felt a little exposed.
    “Ready?” Will asked after he had put their mugs in the dishwasher.
    “Yes,” Tess said, filled with the confidence of a woman with keen mind and a bellyful of coffee.
    They grabbed their jackets, put them on and went out the backdoor.
    “Snow soon,” Will said.
    “How do you know?” Tess asked, shivering already in the cold air.
    “I don’t know,” he replied thoughtfully. “I can taste it I guess.”
    Oh god, of course. He was a shifter. Animals sometimes just knew about the weather, didn’t they?
    Funny. There had been shifters back in Copper Creek, but since Tess and her sisters didn’t interact with them often, Tess had never really thought much about what it would be like to live as a person with an animal side. Or an animal with a person side.
    She studied Will out of the corner of her eye. He certainly had an animal magnetism. And there was something about the way he moved, silently in spite of his immense size, that hinted at the wolf beneath the surface.
    The wind picked up a bit, and by the time they reached the barn, Tess was chilled to the bones and actually looking forward to some time in front of a hot oven.
    Will opened the heavy door and they stepped inside.
    The rich scent enveloped them before the