It Came Upon a Midnight Dream Read Online Free PDF Page A

Stutter much? I ended up sounding like a moron and desperate to boot. Gah .
    “Good to know.” If I wasn’t mistaken, his voice had dropped a good octave or two. Become deep. Far huskier than it had been moments ago. “Funny you should ask about a white tiger,” he finished.
    “Why is that?” Surely I wasn’t the only one to ever ask about a white tiger. They were rare, but not unheard of. The magician guys had even owned one.
    “Well normally we only carry animals we actually house here in the zoo. But even though no one owns up to ordering it, a large white stuffed tiger came in on the last shipment. And now, here you are...requesting one.”
    “That is strange.” Oh, I could have told him about strange. But, hello, I wasn’t about to belt out how I’d been getting jiggy with a white tiger shifter in my dreams.
    Oh, and by the way, you look just like him. Yeah, uh, no.
    “So what’s your name?”
    “Zhara. You?” Before he answered, loudspeakers announced the zoo’s closure in ten minutes.
    “Ah, guess that’s my cue to buy the tiger and get out of your hair,” I announced, disappointed out chat would have to end. I’d wanted to test my theory that he knew about my dreams. I caught him looking at me in the mirror. He hadn’t known I could see him, and I recognized a flicker of something in his expression. My gut screamed he knew me.
    “Be right back.” Well, shit. He’d never given me his name. Damn. Within a minute he returned from the back of the store with the giant tiger he’d mentioned. “And here Dax is.”
    “Dax?”
    “Yeah. Since no one claimed ordering him, my boss named him Dax. After me.” He rolled his eyes before turning and heading for the register.
    Damn, the dude even had a sexy-ass name.
    My mind went blank as to what to say to potentially trip him up and get him to admit he was the man from my dreams.
    Hell, even thinking such sounded ape-shit crazy.
    I chickened out. I paid for the stuffed tiger and made a beeline for the door.
    “Stay warm. They say we’re going to get a white Christmas this year,” Dax stated, following me, no doubt to lock up behind me.
    I turned to thank him once again for the tiger, when his scent hit me. One very distinct and recognizable one. I must have shut my eyes for a moment and inhaled visibly, for when I opened them again, Dax looked ready to pounce.
    His laid-back, souvenir shopkeeper demeanor was gone. His nostrils were flared as if he too had scented the air. I caught the odd, oblong appearance of his pupils right before he pulled the shades that sat on his head down over his eyes.
    “You better get going. They start herding up the visitors about five minutes till. You don’t want to have to ride with old Charlie in his golf cart. Poor old guy has bowel problems.”
    I got his hint, and I’d gotten my answer. I didn’t have all the answers yet, but this guy wasn’t just some worker at a zoo. He was also the dude I’d dreamt so much about.
    Now I just needed to figure out what to do with this information.

Chapter Six
     
     
    After dropping off the passes and tiger to Lily, the grateful woman from the adopt a family program, I headed for Lawrey’s. I’d ordered their roast beef dinner platter which came so large I’d be able to nibble on it tonight and still have a decent-sized meal tomorrow as well. I passed all the shops, so colorfully lit, and the families out strolling for one last evening before their big morning.
    Man, but I envied the companionship most took for granted. The special someone to share a holiday with. I didn’t give a shit about gifts. I wanted someone to wake up next to and share my hopes and dreams with.
    I made it home as the sky unleashed its heavy bounty.
    The snow came down thick and appeared to be sticking. Good thing most everything would be shut down the next day or so for the holiday. If the storm continued, I suspected we’d all be snowed in a few days. At least I had enough canned goods to