Jingle Hells

“Spirited and fun, …energetic, sharp, and,
much like Amy’s beloved Dove chocolates, utterly delicious.”

~ Joyfully Reviewed

“Adam is every girl’s dream guy made into
flesh.”

~Romance Junkies

“… engaging, original and amusing. I love
Misty Evans’ writing style.”

~ Bitten By Books

“…a magical story full of mayhem and
humor…”

~Michelle Miles, author of
Sex, Lust and
Martinis

“… one supernaturally sexy incantation
from beginning to end.”

~ Long and Short Reviews

The Devil & Venus di Milo

Witches Anonymous

Jingle Hells

Wicked Souls (coming February 2011)

Operation Sheba

I’d Rather Be In Paris

Proof of Life

Soul Survivor (coming June 2011)

White Collar Christmas

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Jingle Hells

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2010 by Misty Evans

Editing by Valerie Hayward

Cover by Mark Fanderclai

This book is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s
imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be
construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead,
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. This book is licensed
for your personal enjoyment only. No portion of this book may be
used or reproduced in any manner without the express written
consent of the author, except in brief quotations embedded in
critical articles and reviews.

To Mark, who has saved my sanity a million
times over the years and also saved me from my fair share of
demons.

Chapter One: On The
First Day Of Christmas

Chapter
Two: No Country For Ignorant Witches

Chapter Three:
Angels and Demons

Chapter
Four:
The Devil’s Plaything

Chapter
Five:
My Nightmare Before
Christmas

Chapter Six:
Winter Wonderland

Chapter Seven:
Virgin Santa

Chapter Eight:
Midnight Rendezvous

Chapter Nine: Beware
The Cat

About The
Author

Chapter One
: On the First Day of
Christmas

My name is Amy Atwood and I slept with the
Devil.

Literally.

Two days before winter solstice, Christmas
lights blinked red and green on the snow-covered sidewalks of my
hometown of Eden. Bing Crosby’s voice assured us he’d be home for
Christmas. The air was brimming with anticipation.

Anticipation and, at least for me, lust.
Deep yearning drove me to stare into the brooding, sexy-as-hell
eyes of the Devil through the plate glass door of my ice cream
shop. His evil energy beckoned to me like the Dove chocolate stored
in the pocket of my orange and black, anti-Christmas apron. Blazing
heat rose in my cheeks and spread through my veins, rich,
tantalizing and blissfully delicious. A tiny wisp of magic unfurled
in my chest, reaching for him.

Lucifer’s magic seized on it. One corner of
his mouth rose in a familiar, cocky grin. “Let me in, witch.”

With every ounce of willpower I could
summon, I shook my head. “I’m not a witch anymore. And we’re
closed.”

“It’s seven o’clock. You don’t close ’til
ten.”

“Witches Anonymous meeting here tonight.” I
flipped the sign on the door and tapped it for good measure. “Now
go away.”

Drawing back my disobedient magic, I forced
my hand to turn the key in the lock. The sound of the deadbolt
snapping into place broke the enchantment Luc had on me. My body
moaned in response. It wasn’t going to rock around the Christmas
tree with him that night.

One thing about the Devil, he’s persistent.
Luc could have shattered the glass or flipped the lock open without
moving a muscle. Instead, as I turned my back on him, he invaded my
personal space in a much less direct but equally strategic way. His
voice now registered in my head, tingling the nerves at the base of
my skull as if he were breathing on my bare neck. I know Adam left
you.

“He didn’t leave…” I stopped myself from
finishing. Adam, my hunky heaven-sent boyfriend, had left me, but
not the way Luc made it sound.

I glanced at Keisha, the shop’s manager and
my best friend, who was leaning against the stainless steel sink
behind the counter. She was there the day I met Luc in Paris, at
the base of the Venus di Milo, and she knew our torrid history
together. Knew how he’d broken my heart. Still, her attention was
riveted on him, her mouth open and her eyes glazed with merry
lust.

Another tingling sensation lifted the hairs
on the back of my neck. He’s not coming back to you.

I whirled around and pinned Luc with the
snake-eye look I practiced in the mirror for just such occasions.
Get out of my head. Get out of my life.

For a single heartbeat he tried to enchant
me again, but I can be as persistent and stubborn as he is. I
braced the wall I’d built around my magic and stood my ground.

His face hardened, his eyes went cold, flat.
My pulse kicked in reflexive fear, but in the next second, he
shimmered out of sight without a sound.

Yep, Christmas was going to be hell this
year.

I took a shaky breath and turned back to
Keisha. “Thanks for all the help.”

A bemused smile curved her lips. She always
enjoyed watching me tangle with Luc. “You held your own,
sweetie.”

Skirting the counter, I went to the sink to
wash my hands. As hot water rushed over my skin, I ignored the way
they shook and pumped an extra dollop of liquid soap into them.
Adam’s image flashed in my mind like a photograph of the last time
I’d seen him. He’d been filled with excitement at the idea of his
trip, while at the same time sad to leave me.

Mentally freezing the image, I took
inventory of all the things I loved about him. His beautiful brown
eyes that smoldered when he was horny and flashed when he was mad.
The sexy dimple on one side of his mouth when he grinned. His
auburn hair, so soft to the touch. An apple, speared with an arrow,
tattooed on his bicep, a constant reminder of who he really
was.

My Adam was the original Adam, God’s
experiment with humanity that didn’t quite work out. Adam was back
on Earth for a redo, and lucky for me, this time around, I got to
take Eve’s place.

And what a pleasurable place it was.

The heavy sigh that escaped my mouth was
drowned out by the splashing water.

“So is Adam coming back?” Keisha said,
trying to sound casual.

I motioned her out of the way as I reached
for the paper towels. “He wanted to see the world again, track down
the original Eden. Takes time, you know, to find the ancient site
where God made him from His own image.”

Keisha patted my shoulder. Her silver
bangles jingled. “Not everyone gets a second chance at redemption.
He’ll be back when he’s got his head straightened out.”

She grabbed a sponge out of the bucket of
bleach water we kept nearby and went to wipe down tables. “Hey,
there’s Liddy.”

I glanced at the door and, sure enough, my
friend and fellow Witches Anonymous member stood looking in at me.
She gave a tiny wave with a mittened hand. Her orange tabby cat
leaned against her legs.

If it weren’t for her, I’d never have made
it through my first WA meeting. Unlocking the door, I let her in,
along with a blast of cold air. “Hey, Liddy. Ready for our
meeting?”

She waved at Keisha as she stomped her snowy
boots on the parlor’s mat. “I thought we could go caroling
afterward.”

As Liddy’s cat picked her way around the
clumps of snow on the floor, I kept the door open a crack and tried
to scoot her back toward it. “No caroling for me, and no cats in my
shop.” I shook a finger at the cat. “Sorry, Hathor. Health
department rules.”

“Caroling?” Keisha echoed, tossing the
sponge back toward the bucket. “Can we do ‘Grandma Got Run Over By
a Reindeer?’”

Who knew a voodoo priestess would love
Christmas? “No, thanks,” I said.

Liddy pulled her knit hat off her head. The
dreadlocks Keisha had given her the day before swung free. Tiny
crackles of energy did, too, jumping from one braid to another.
That energy had saved Adam’s life back at Halloween, and while
Liddy tried to suppress her natural witchy ability, I found it
oddly comforting. “Come on. Where’s your Christmas spirit,
Amy?”

“Christmas isn’t my thing.” I motioned at
the cat again. “Out with the cat.”

“Hathor’s my familiar.”

“You’re not a witch anymore. You gave up
magic, remember?”

More crackles of energy sparked around her
hair. “Just because I gave up practicing doesn’t mean I have to
give up my cat.” She glanced down at Hathor and then at the door.
“Oh look, another cat.”

Sure enough, rubbing its head against the
glass was a beautiful calico whose markings were of the deepest
black and russet against pure white. A single white smudge rested
above its right eye, and it looked like it was wearing white boots
on its two front paws from the snow.

Wherever Liddy went, cats were sure to
follow. She opened the door wide and let the thing in.

As her familiar sniffed the new cat, Liddy
reached down to pet it, and the calico arched and met her hand.
“Awww,” she cooed. “Did you come to be Amy’s new friend?”

The cat mewed in response, its gold-green
eyes reflecting the ice cream parlor’s lights. “She’s gorgeous, but
no cats,” I reiterated, feeling a chill run over my skin.

“You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch,” Keisha
said, coming over to pet the cats.

Liddy hefted the calico up in her arms. It
nudged her under the chin with the top of its head. “She’s hungry,
and it’s Christmas.”

The gold-green eyes opened a fraction wider,
pleading with me as effectively as Liddy. Unable to resist, I moved
my friend and her armful of cat aside, and hung my head as I closed
the door.

“All right, all right.” I grabbed a Meeting
Here Tonight sign from a nearby table and hung it in the window.
“Take her and Hathor to the back, but just until the meeting’s
over. Then they both go home with you, okay?”

Liddy smiled and the energy bolts ceased.
“You’re a good person, Amy.”

She always saw the best in people, even in
me, which I was pretty sure I didn’t deserve. But Keisha, a better
judge of my personality, patted me on the shoulder and nodded in
agreement, and I suddenly questioned my negative self-perception.
Was I really turning into a good person?

The magic inside my chest unfurled into a
claw. Nope, not a good person. Especially when facing the holidays
as a reformed witch whose boyfriend was traipsing the Middle East
in search of his roots.

As a group of WA members appeared outside, I
made sure Liddy was on her way to the back with the cats before
opening the door. The calico watched me over her shoulder, lids
drooping as if she’d just found cat heaven.

You better stick with Liddy, I mentally told
the cat, because you’re not staying here with me.

I could have sworn she grinned.

Chapter Two
: No Country for Ignorant
Witches

A Witches Anonymous meeting is a cross
between Twitter and the dentist’s chair. There’s a lot of
meaningless social banter, but eventually, someone has to go under
the drill.

Since I was playing hostess, I hoped for a
free pass from the chair.

Liddy stood at the glass case and scanned
the dozen or so flavors, trying to make up her mind. “There’re too
many choices. I don’t know what to have.”

I opened my side of the freezer case, rolled
up a big scoop of bubblegum ice cream and stuck it in a waffle
cone. The favorite of all kids everywhere. “How about the
usual?”