Carnal Christmas-epub Read Free

him to be healthy, dammit! He had a pretty good head start on her in this game of life and she’d already lost too many loved ones because they wouldn’t take care of themselves or let anyone else take care of them.
    “Okay, pity party over,” she said, jumping up from the stool. “Time to frost the cookies.”
    The buttercream frosting she’d whipped up earlier was in the refrigerator, but she still needed to make the red, green and black. She’d been rushing around all week trying to get the house ready for Mandy and Hake’s first visit, and it felt critical that everything—including the cookies—be absolutely perfect. Which was silly because they’d both always liked and accepted her for herself, and they probably wouldn’t care if the house and her cooking were no more perfect than she was, but still...
    Once she’d made the colors, she filled a disposable plastic pastry bag with white frosting and began piping little white ruffles on the gingerbread men’s arms and legs.
    The fairly mindless activity wasn’t enough to keep her mind from straying to Mandy and Hake, and the coming weekend. She and Mandy had talked a lot on Skype lately, and Mandy seemed…different somehow. More intense, more interested, more…something. AJ couldn’t put her finger on it, but whatever it was, it made her stomach jump with nerves and excitement. It felt like something big was on its way, like the approach of Christmas had felt when she was a kid, only bigger.
    But she refused to speculate about what it might mean, because that would be one surefire way to set herself up for disappointment. She knew what she wanted to happen, and it involved the five of them spending a lot more time together than they did now—which couldn’t happen with Mandy and Hake living two states away in South Dakota.
    “Stop thinking about it,” she chided herself.
    Easier said than done when they were on their way here and would soon be touring the house. She was seriously considering turning on the radio as a distraction when her phone chirped its text tone from the counter by the sink.
    “Thank God,” she muttered, setting down the pastry bag and brushing her hands on her jeans. Nobody texted her but Mandy—Joe and Brent still refused to give up their flip phones and move into the twenty-first century, so they always called.
    AJ picked up the phone with trepidation. It was surprising not to have heard from Mandy earlier. Had they gotten a late start this morning? Was the weather holding them up? What if they’d decided not to come…?
    Taking a deep breath, she swiped the screen and then just about dropped the phone.
    Safe word?
    She blinked at it, her heart tripping into a faster rhythm. Okay, that wasn’t exactly what she’d been expecting. Was that why Mandy seemed different? Were she and Hake planning some mind-blowing scene for her? If so, what? And who was doing the topping? God, the possibilities were endless, since she was the only one of the five of them who was a total submissive.
    Punching in her password, she typed Red. Where are you?
    She’d never had to use the safe word before. Never even come close. Did they really think she was going to need it?
    Why wasn’t Mandy answering?
    Too anxious and excited now to focus on decorating, she quickly put lids on the bowls and put the pastry bag into a plastic zipper bag, then stuffed it all into the fridge. After she’d wrapped up all the cookies and dumped her utensils into the dishwater, she went into the half-bath behind the kitchen to get cleaned up. She couldn’t decide if Mandy and Hake would be here soon or if they just wanted to do a little advance fucking with her head, and the fact that Mandy hadn’t answered wasn’t any kind of clue.
    Where was Joe? And Brent? She could call and ask them, but if they were in on it, they probably wouldn’t be any more forthcoming.
    As she washed her hands, AJ checked the mirror for unsightly frosting smears and didn’t see any.