EXCERPT!
Sebastian knew he was in
trouble the second the movie started. Nightmare
Before Christmas
Great. The second it started, Sadira started scaring the girls. She quickly got
Zoe recruited to help and the two of them proceeded to terrorize Jessica and
Rebecca, though everyone ruined the effect with all the peals of laughter.
Soon, all of them were buried into his sides during the “scary parts.” Zoe
wrapped her arms and legs around him while Jessica and Rebecca both jockeyed
for position on one side of him. When Sadira had given him a satisfied smile,
as if she’d done it all on purpose, he’d snagged her arm and pulled her into
the other side. With a giggle and a sigh, she’d snuggled into him. It struck
Sebastian then that this was what families did. Even when he and Dedra hadn’t
had issues, they’d never sat together like this and watched scary movies.
Once the scary show was
over, Sadira put in a cheery family show, declaring one horror movie was
enough. All three girls groaned and protested—even Zoe—but with more popcorn
and Sadira’s brownies, they settled in again. By the time the second movie was
over, it was well past midnight and the girls were all fast asleep, including
Rebecca.
Sebastian had managed to
keep Sadira beside him during the second movie, his arm resting on the back of
the sofa behind her. This was what he wanted. What he’d always wanted. In that
moment, his path became clear. Sadira was his. Theirs. Some way,
somehow, he was going to convince her she belonged with them.
“It’s late,” he said,
rubbing her shoulder, urging her closer to him. Sadira allowed the contact,
giving a contented sigh as she snuggled against him. With the girls safely
asleep and oblivious to the adults in the house, it seemed Sadira enjoyed the
closeness as well.
“Yeah. Told you I should
have taken my car.”
He chuckled. “Now, why
would I have done that when it got you here, trapped in my home with the wicked
king of the castle?”
She stiffened, but her
hands clutched at his shirt. “What did you say?”
“You heard me,” he said,
leaning down to nip her ear gently. It was the first overtly sexual gesture
he’d made to her. How would she respond?
“‘Bastian?”
Sweet Jesus, she just had
to drawl his name with all that sensuality he’d observed when she just walked
across the room. Hearing it in her voice as she shortened his name to an
intimate form shot straight through him like an erotic punch. Straight to his groin.
“You know you can’t say my
name like that, in that tone of voice and not expect me to kiss you.”
“Darn it,” she said,
sounding more like a purr than regret. “But I supposed if you must…”
She met him halfway,
touching her lips to his delicately. The contact seemed to send an electrical
current surging through Sebastian, need slamming into him harder than it had in
living memory. She smelled like heaven. All warm honeysuckle and woman.
After several long
seconds, Sadira pulled back, relaxing against him once again. “So, what do we
do now? I hadn’t really expected something like this to happen, but I’m not
looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
The joy inside him was
equaled only by budding hope. Could he finally find the mother his girls needed
as well as the woman he needed? Could he make her happy?
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