[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-117647-en":3,"doc-seo-117647-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":11,"is_downloadable":11,"audit_status":11,"page_count":20,"language":21,"language_code":22,"site_id":23,"html_lang":22,"table_of_contents":24,"faqs":25,"seo_title":26,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},117647,13056703019662,"Evangeline","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/be000253a8e92610077?_k=1778726343310543188",1,"Story & Novel","A Hollywood Shifters’ Christmas - Chapter One","A Hollywood Shifters’ Christmas - Chapter One opens in a cozy cabin on a sloop, where Mindy Maurek and Dennis O’Keefe discuss the pressure of holiday plans. Mindy resists joining Dennis’s friends for a movie premiere, a wedding, and Christmas, citing her complicated past with family and painful childhood traditions. Dennis, shaped by his own unreliability and travel, tries to persuade her while remaining attentive to her feelings. The chapter blends intimate tension with emotional negotiation, ending on a shift toward closeness and renewed commitment.","A Hollywood Shifters’ Christmas  \nBy Zoe Chant  \n© Zoe Chant 2015  \nAll Rights Reserved  \nChapter One  \nMindy Maurek and Dennis O’Keefe lay side by side in their cabin aboard the sloop Robin. After trying all three cabins aboard the yacht, they’d decided on this one because they could cuddle together in bed and watch their wake stretching out to infinity.  \nThe first time they slept there with the stern windows wide open, Dennis, who Mindy knew had a serious travel itch, said,“Watching that endless sea fading away makes me horny.”  \nMindy’s reply—one hundred percent enthusiastic—was,“Everything makes you horny.”  \nNow they lay together, his leg thrown over hers, one of his hands tracing gently from her soft belly up between her breasts to her collarbonesand down again. Her shoulder was tucked under his, her arm pressed into the mattress behind him, her fingers curled up over his hip. She was going to have to move or her arm would start to tingle from circulation cut off, but it felt so good just to lie there snuggled up next to him . . .  \nThen he said,“Have you thought about it?”  \nThunk.  \nThere went her good mood.  \nShe was tempted to say,“Thought about what?” but she knew very well what ‘it’ was.  \nShe sighed.“Dennis, I know you really want to go to your buddy’s movie premier, and be at your other buddy’s wedding, and then spend Christmas together. I think it’s great, and loyal, and awesome. I also don’t want you to think I’m the sort of woman who expects us to be tied together all the time.”  \nHe turned his head, his tigerish golden eyes gleaming in the reflected light from outside.“That means you don’t want to go.”  \nShe let out her breath again—a trickle so it wouldn’t sound like oneof those put-upon sighs that her least favorite stepsister was the World’s Olympic Champion at.“It’s just that I don’t know these people. You grew up with JP and Mick. They are as much your family as, well, your respective families. Even their wives, or soon to be wife, in JP’s case, have known each other forever. I’d be the third wheel that everyone has to be polite around.”  \nHe rose up on his elbow, and looked down into her eyes.“But I want them to become your family, too.”  \nShe grinned as she pulled her arm free, and flexed her hand. Yep, totally fallen asleep. Worth it, though.“You know I don’t do family holidays. Family, I’ve got way, way too many of my own.”  \nDennis nodded slowly, and she knew he was considering her huge mess of legal and genetic entanglements resulting from not only her parents having had multiple divorces, but her grandparents, too, not to mention half and stepbrothers and sisters, and half and step-cousins, aunts and uncles. The only stable marriage in her life had been her great-grandmother ’s, but she had passed away when Mindy was a teen.  \nChristmases had been miserable when she was growing up—way too much money spent on fabulous decorations and food and zillions of presents, as if designer glitz and glitter could smooth over the bickering and feuds and jealousy and betrayals.  \n“Ever since I turned twenty, I’ve chosen a different city to spend December in, somewhere so remote that nobody celebrates Christmas and nobody can find me because there aren’t any cell towers. And the only thing worse than Christmas has been all those horrible weddings. There’s only one stepbrother I’d turn up for, and he’s deep somewhere in the Middle Easton deployment.”  \n“I guess I can understand that,” Dennis said slowly as he gazed out the window, and not at her.“Hell, it’s not like I’ve been Mr. Reliable—half the holiday seasons of the past few years have found me somewhere or other chasing down a story, and when I happen to look at a calendar, oops, it’s February.”  \nHe sent a quick glance at her.“But this should be real easy. The wedding invite says no presents, and that goes for Christmas as well. JP was always rich, Mick and I didn’t have diddly, so we were never going to be able to be equal on that score. If we did give ea","cbCaiuHQXwdzhNqB","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuHQXwdzhNqB","pdf",453113,91,"English","en",105,"# Chapter One","[{\"question\":\"Where do Mindy and Dennis spend time together at the start of the chapter?\",\"answer\":\"They lie side by side in their cabin aboard the sloop Robin, watching the wake stretching out over the sea.\"},{\"question\":\"What conflict arises between Mindy and Dennis about the holiday plans?\",\"answer\":\"Dennis wants to attend events with his friends and spend Christmas together, but Mindy doesn’t want to be drawn into family-style holidays with people she doesn’t know.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does Mindy avoid traditional family holidays?\",\"answer\":\"She describes a childhood shaped by conflict, jealousy, and expensive, stressful celebrations, and she also emphasizes that she already has too many complicated family ties.\"}]","A Hollywood Shifters’ Christmas - Chapter One | PDF",1785677771,140,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":23,"language":22,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"a-hollywood-shifters-christmas-chapter-one","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/a-hollywood-shifters-christmas-chapter-one/117647/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":22,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"Where do Mindy and Dennis spend time together at the start of the chapter?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"They lie side by side in their cabin aboard the sloop Robin, watching the wake stretching out over the sea.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"What conflict arises between Mindy and Dennis about the holiday plans?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"Dennis wants to attend events with his friends and spend Christmas together, but Mindy doesn’t want to be drawn into family-style holidays with people she doesn’t know.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"Why does Mindy avoid traditional family holidays?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"She describes a childhood shaped by conflict, jealousy, and expensive, stressful celebrations, and she also emphasizes that she already has too many complicated family ties.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":23},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,95,99,103,108,113,118,123,128,131,135],{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":100,"show_sort_weight":101,"slug":102},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":104,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":105,"show_sort_weight":106,"slug":107},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":109,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":110,"show_sort_weight":111,"slug":112},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]