Embattled Christmas Read Free Page B

there’s something I need to be doing sometimes I just need to be told. I don’t always know.” He grinned up at her. “Maybe she’ll tell Santa at the party.”
    Laughing, Lora crossed to his side and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. “Maybe. You are doing perfectly. Just remember that nothing is ever quick enough for a child.”
    He grinned up at her and wrapped his arms around her hips, tugging her off balance to fall on the bed over top of him. “Hello, beautiful.”
    Lora grinned down at him and swung a leg over his hips. “Hello, handsome.”
    Chad levered his head up for a kiss and Lora happily obliged him.
    *
    Zeke swiped the bar rag over the heavy oak bar and glanced up as Ember walked toward him. The sway in her hips drew his gaze like a magnet and it was all he could do to keep from snagging her hand and dragging her to the back office. They’d gotten caught last week when Charlotte had ducked her head into the office looking for Ember. The new waitress had looked at them with her eyes wide and hand over her mouth then hurriedly backed out of the room. Ember had cursed and buried her face against his chest, but Zeke could only laugh. It was exhilarating being caught like that. Brought back flashes of a younger, more carefree, less injured time.
    He ran his hands over his chin. The last surgery had healed over and it was the smoothest it had ever been. They’d released the scar that had drawn the edge of his lip up so that it now lay flatter and more natural. And the scars on his forehead were as smooth as they would ever be, his doctor had told him. Zeke was okay with that now. Ember made him secure in himself.
    Zeke watched as she withdrew a pen from her sexy little Santa apron to take an order. She was so freakin’ cute.
    On her way to the kitchen she reached out and pinched his butt. Chuckling, he waved a finger at her. “Better w-watch that, woman. You’ll end up on the naughty list.”
    She laughed and disappeared through the swinging doors.
    Zeke thanked his stars every day that Chad had talked him into going to the Frog Dog all those months ago. And he thanked his stars that Ember had a heart bigger than the sky itself that allowed her to see him , not just the shell he had been left with after Afghanistan.
    A group of rowdy guys came in the door, laughing and joking around. They’d obviously just come from another bar. One tall young guy, lean, dark haired, seemed to be herding the group. At least they had a DD.
    They settled onto a group of bar stools in front of him. One young blond looked up at Zeke in shock when he asked for their order. “Dude, your face is seriously fucked up.”
    If Zeke hadn’t heard a variation of that almost nightly for the past several months it might have hurt his feelings. “Yep. What about it?”
    He gave himself points for not stuttering on that.
    The blond shook his head but continued to stare. Zeke took the rest of the group’s drink orders then came back to the blond, staring at him expectantly.
    The young kid must have had a flash of sobriety because he ordered a beer and turned away.
    “Sorry about that,” the tall kid with dark hair told him. “Hamilton isn’t the brightest bulb in the box, even without beer.”
    Zeke shrugged his heavy shoulders. “No big deal.”
    He set the kid’s Coke in front of him. When he reached for his wallet Zeke waved him off. “DDs get unl-limited pop. Bar rules.”
    Grinning, the guy took a swig of the cola. “Thanks!”
    Zeke moved down the bar to the other customers, but he wasn’t surprised when Blondie waved him down again. The kid had the daddy-gives-me-money look, entitled and pretentious. Zeke doubted anybody had ever told him no on anything. The other two guys that were with him laughed at something he said, pounding him on the back. The DD leaned over him, obviously trying to shush the drunk up, but he got shoved away.
    “So dude, how did your face get so fucked up? And why haven’t you fixed