Copyright © 2023 by Linzi Basset, Lily Blue, Demelza Carlton, C.D. Gorri, Zoey Indiana, Jessalyn Jameson, J. Jameson, Skye MacKinnon, TB Mann, Pepper McGraw, Mia Williams, Anika Willmanns.

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  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Covers and formatting by Peryton Covers.

  Published by Peryton Press.

  perytonpress.com

  Contents

  Foreword

  Her Mountain Lords

  Skye MacKinnon

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  About the Author

  Her Alien Baker

  Demelza Carlton

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  The Baker’s Dozen

  Jessalyn Jameson

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About the Author

  Her Bubbly Santa

  Zoey Indiana

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Their Steamy Plumber

  TB Mann & Lily Blue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter5

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  About The Authors

  His Carrot Her Muffin

  C.D. Gorri

  Prologue - Morena

  Chapter One- Morena

  Chapter Two- Morena

  Chapter Three- Morena

  Chapter Four- Jeremy

  Chapter Five- Jeremy

  Chapter Six- Jeremy

  Chapter Seven- Morena

  Chapter Eight- Morena

  Chapter Nine- Jeremy

  Chapter Ten- Morena

  Chapter Eleven- Morena

  Chapter Twelve- Morena

  Epilogue- Jeremy & Morena

  About the Author

  Her Dark Obsession

  Pepper McGraw

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Author’s Note

  About the Author

  Her Gingerbread Daddy

  Linzi Basset

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  About Linzi Basset

  A Very Sprouty Business

  Anika Willmanns

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  About the Author

  Mistletoe and Macarons

  Mia Williams

  Mistletoe and Macarons

  About the Author

  The Butcher’s Daughter

  J. Jameson

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  About the Author

  Afterword

  The Charity

  Foreword

  Dear Romance Readers,

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  Thank you for purchasing Eat Your Heart Out - Holiday Edition! The authors of these weird and wonderful romance stories are grateful for your support, especially as it means they can donate the royalties to Book Aid International. This charity provides books to refugee camps, remote schools, hospitals and prisons around the world. As authors, we know that books can change lives and hope that this anthology can do its small part in sparking a love of reading.

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  If you're new to Eat Your Heart Out, this is a fun-filled annual charity anthology where each author is assigned a food or drink item and has to write a story about it. You'll find a variety of stories within the pages, including paranormal romance, contemporary romance, and sci-fi romance.

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  You'll find a genre tag at the beginning of each story, and while many of them are part of a series, you can read each of the stories on their own. In the past, we also had a heat rating for each story, but this winter, all authors were in a spicy mood, so prepare for hot, steamy stories that will warm you in the colder months.

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  If you want to check out previous books and stories included in previous editions of Eat Your Heart out, you can find them here:

  books2read.com/rl/eatyourheartout

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  Join the conversation on social media using #eatyourheartout and tell us if you enjoy the book!

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  Happy Reading, and make sure you have your reading snacks available!

  * * *

  The Eat Your Heart Out Authors

  Her Mountain Lords

  Skye MacKinnon

  Contemporary Fantasy Romance (m/f/m)

  When she wakes up in a cave with two invisible men, mountain rescue volunteer Claire thinks she has suffered a head injury. But the two Guardians need her help to lift a curse and time is running out...

  Chapter One

  The pager went off just when I was about to drift off to sleep. Typical. I jumped out of bed, adrenaline racing through my body, erasing all traces of tiredness. I was changed into my hiking clothes and on the way to the station in what felt like seconds.

  Snow had started falling sometime after I'd come home from work; thick, fluffy flakes that had already covered the ground an inch or two deep. They looked like they were here to stay. Down here, everyone would be excited to have a White Christmas. But it wasn't the weather to climb mountains in. Visibility would be crap. I hoped this would be an easy rescue, if there was such a thing. I had an early start tomorrow, and besides, it was freezing, dark and snowing. About the worst conditions to be outside in, let alone climb hills.

  Half the team was already assembled at the wee church that had been converted to Cairngorms Mountain Rescue HQ, some looking like they'd already been asleep, others brimming with energy, eager to go.

  Karl, a bearded giant of a man who had become team leader last year when my gramps had retired from active duty, banged his fist on a table, instantly quieting the room.

  "I know it's three days to Christmas, so I appreciate you all coming out during this busy time. We have a missing person on or near Ben Macdui," he announced. "Hamish Harris is his name. His wife called the police half an hour ago, reporting that he hasn't come home. He sent a picture from the summit in the early afternoon, but they've been unsuccessful in establishing contact with him, so we've been tasked to go out and search. Three teams. Claire, Simon, George, Jack, you're team one…"

  Ten minutes later, I was being shaken like a daiquiri in the MRT jeep. If I hadn't already been fully awake by now, the bumpy ride along a forest track would have done it. While Jack next to me was looking at maps, planning the best route for our ascent, I was fiddling with our radios, making sure they were all fully charged and set to the right frequency. Everyone in the team had a task, which meant we drove in silence while everyone prepared themselves both mentally and physically. This was the first missing person of the winter season and the tension was palpable.

  The silence continued even as we unloaded the jeep, helping each other put on our heavy packs filled with survival equipment for both us and the casualty. All of us had been part of the MRT for years, and it showed. We were ready to set off in record time, just as the snowfall thinned a little. As much as I loved snow, I wished for it to stop entirely.

  "Ben Macdui," Jack muttered, peering into the darkness. "Do you know the stories?"

  I grabbed my poles and poked the snow in front of me. It had become deeper already. "Doesn't everyone?"

  "What stories?" Simon piped from behind me. He was a banker from London who'd moved to Scotland a few years ago.
He still stuck out like a sore thumb, no matter how much he tried to be part of the community. Despite his perfectly manicured fingernails and designer specs, he was an excellent mountaineer. Never judge a man by his fingernails.

  "We’ll tell you on the way,” Jack said with glee. I knew already that he was about to embellish the old legends with gory details to scare the ex-banker.

  I lifted my radio to my lips. “Team one to base, we’re setting off now.”

  “Roger, team one. Good luck.”

  I wiped the snowflakes off my glasses. We’d need all the luck we could get.

  The higher we climbed, the worse the conditions got. The wind was howling ominously, lending a soundtrack to the flurry of snowflakes. The track was invisible beneath the snow, so we only made slow progress, using our poles to test the ground in front of us for sudden drops and slippery stones. We walked in a line, shoulders hunched, hoods drawn deep, taking turns shouting the missing man’s name. The storm’s noise made it impossible to talk, so Jack didn’t even try to tell his stories.

  I peered into the darkness, hope blossoming every time my torchlight fell across a vaguely human shape, only to be disappointed when it turned out to be rocks. We’d not heard anything from the other teams. Because nobody knew what route the man had taken, our three teams were covering different ascents, hoping he had already made his way down from the summit. In these conditions, there was little chance of us reaching the top of Ben Macdui. Even on good days, it took almost a full day for ascent and descent. At night and with snow hiding treacherous crevasses…it seemed impossible.

  We switched positions a few times, taking turns in leading our small group through the darkness. Our headlamps reflected off the snow, creating eerie streaks of light that seemed to be torn apart by falling snow.

  I was at the back of the group when I heard it. A man’s voice, shouting, barely indistinguishable from the howl of the wind as it cut across rocks. I stopped in my tracks, pointing my torch at the direction of the sound.

  “Guys, stop!” I called, but didn’t dare turn back to the others. If the casualty was out there, he needed to see my light to guide him to us. If he could walk.

  “Hello? Hamish? Can you see us?” I shouted as loud as I could, then pushed back my hood to listen.

  Nothing. Had I imagined it? Had it been just the storm? I slowly counted to ten in my head, giving him the chance to call out once more.

  There, the crunching sound of footsteps on snow. Someone was walking towards me. I squinted, trying to see through the thick curtain of snowflakes. It was impossible to see further than a few feet.

  “Hello? Mountain Rescue! We’re here to help!”

  I took a few steps in the direction of the sound. The footsteps seemed to get closer.

  “Guys, can you see anything?” I asked, turning to my teammates – who weren’t there. It took a moment for the truth to sink in. They hadn’t heard me when I’d told them to stop. They’d continued on and because I’d been at the back, they hadn’t noticed that I’d not followed. Fuck. I should have double-checked that they had indeed heard me.

  At least I still had my radio. As soon as I found the guy, I could let them know that way.

  Crunch. Crunch. It was strange how close the footsteps sounded, yet I still couldn’t see anyone. Maybe the towering rocks created an echo effect. But I was sure the man was out there. This wasn’t the sound of snow falling or an animal running from my torch’s light. The crunching was unmistakably someone walking through deep snow. But where was he?

  With one last look in the direction of where my teammates had disappeared, I continued walking towards the sound. My glasses could have done with little windscreen wipers. Snow was everywhere; on my face, on my backpack, on the locks of hair that had freed themselves from my quickly tied bun. For now, I barely felt the cold. Adrenaline was keeping it at bay, but I knew that as soon as we found the casualty, I would be freezing and in need of not just a hot shower, but preferably a large hot chocolate.

  “Hellooooooo? Where are you?!”

  My foot hit something slippery. Time slowed down. It was as if I was watching myself from a distance, yet I couldn’t do anything about it. I fell backwards, the weight of the rucksack pulling me down, and then I was tumbling, rolling down a slope I hadn’t even known was there. Bone hit stone. Snow exploded into the air around me. And then a rock hit the back of my head and everything dissolved into darkness darker than the night.

  Chapter Two

  Waking up was like dredging through a sea of sludge, swimming my way to consciousness.

  The first thing I noticed was that I didn’t feel cold. I remembered slipping, then falling, then hurting. Nothing after that. My back ached a little, but somehow, I felt like there should be more pain. Had the others found me and taken me back down the mountain? Was I in hospital? Had they located the missing man?

  “She is waking up.” A deep, unfamiliar voice.

  “Get away from her. You shouldn’t be here.”

  Another man I didn’t recognise. Nurses? Doctors?

  I reached deep to find the energy to open my eyes. Everything was blurry. Where were my glasses?

  “Gently, take your time. You might have a concussion.”

  I ignored the voice and pushed myself up into a vaguely sitting position to look around.

  I wasn’t in a hospital. I wasn’t even in a building. Even with my blurry, shortsighted vision, I could see that I was in a cave. A fire burned to my left, which explained why I wasn’t cold anymore. The flickering flames made the ceiling glitter strangely. Quartz, maybe, or stalactites, but without my glasses, I couldn’t tell. I should have taken the time to put in my contacts before heading to HQ. Without my specs, I was lost.

  The cave was surprisingly large. I hadn’t even known there were caves on Ben Macdui. The side opposite the happily crackling fire was decked in shadows, too dark to tell if there was an exit or a further extension of the cave.

  But strangest of all – there were no men. I rubbed my eyes. I’d clearly heard their voices. They’d sounded like they’d been right next to me. But there hadn’t been footsteps moving away from me since. They should be here. Yet I seemed to be alone.