Submission Under the Mistletoe Read Online Free PDF Page A

can.”
    “ I’ll call, Mom. Have fun, kiss
Dad for me.”
    Her mother blew her a kiss before hanging up.
    Setting her cell phone back into her purse,
Gabriella started her car and backed out of the post office parking
spot. Talking to her mom and hearing about wonderful news of her
siblings always made her feel lonely. Not because she didn’t have a
lot of friends and associates to hang out with, she just missed
that closeness of family. She lived in Charlotte, where she’d gone
to college because of her lifestyle.
    Since she didn’t have someone that she was committed
to and frequently changed Dom’s every few months, she would hate
for one of those Doms she would eventual walk away from be a friend
of her parents or a member of their family church. Things would be
awkward and she didn’t want that for them.
    So, she’d deal with the bouts of depression that
occasionally came on her, as she always did.
    ~YH~
    “ Hey, guys, what took you so
long?” Alesha was in the kitchen when Brad and his brother showed
up at the house. Their sister was scooping cookies off of a sheet
and placing them onto a rack on the island.
    “ Nothing much. Just woke up a
little late.” Brad rounded the counter and kissed his sister on the
cheek.
    “ Mister sleepy head over there
didn’t awake until almost noon.” Brian placed a kiss on Alesha’s
other cheek. “Then drug us way out Bum-fuck-Eygpt Charlotte for
coffee.”
    Shit .
Brad didn’t need Brian rehashing their wasted morning
trip.
    Frowning, Alesha began balling up more cookies from
a large bowl and placing them on the sheet she’d just emptied.
“What? There’s coffee here. I could have cooked you two
breakfast.”
    “ You have enough mouths to feed
with that Bear of a guy you have.” Brad tried to keep the
conversation benign.
    “ Master Ursus can put it away.”
She smiled. “But we still have plenty.”
    “ That’s my thought.”Brian stole a
cookie off the rack.
    Alesha smacked his hand. “You’re cookies are in that
tin on the counter.”
    “ Who are all these for?” Brad
asked seeing several tins around the island loaded with a variety
of cookies.
    “ The shelter. I’m going to drop
these off while I’m in town.” She put the raw cookies into the
oven.
    He and his brother snatched two more cookies from
the rack.
    “ You all are looking to meet your
makers if you touch another damn cookie.” Alesha turned from the
high oven with her hands on her hips.
    “ Hey, Brian had two.” Brad pointed
at his twin as he shoved the cookie into his mouth.
    “ And you’re still going to get one
of my feet in your ass if you take another one.” She warned waving
one of her boot covered feet in the air at Brad.
    “ Hey, prego women shouldn’t curse.
The baby has ears.” Brian admonished.
    “ No uterus, no comment.” She
pointed a finger at Brian. “When a pregnant woman has two thieving
brothers like you two, she can do whatever the hell she
wants.”
    Brad laughed and gave her thumbs up. It felt like
Christmas when they were younger. Alesha and her cookies were
famous around town and all their parent’s friends would request
orders of them. While he, his brother and their friends would
harass her and still from her batches.
    “ The men will be out in a second
they have to get some blue print to the contractor for a job we
will be starting up after the New Year so I can approve the
materials orders later.” Alesha picked up several tins and handed
them to Brian. “Put these carefully in that box on the
table.”
    “ You get me that icing tube and
sprinkles from that pantry.” She directed him.
    While he was in the large pantry on the side of the
kitchen, pulling out what his sister needed he heard her ask, “What
coffee shop did you all find?”
    Damn, that myth about a woman becoming forgetful
when she was with child did not apply to Alesha. His sister always
was smart with a good memory and today there was no change in her
mind.
    Rushing out of the