Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107803 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Before he could question me any further, my father was getting everyone’s attention.
“Vivianne and I want to thank everyone who’s joined us for Christmas Day. We’re so blessed to have our family and friends with us. Now—this is when the fun begins!”
Our mother, standing beside Dad, clapped her hands in excitement.
“I love how excited Mom gets when she knows we’re playing games.”
I nodded. “I know.”
Dad went on. “Since it’s Christmas, we’re going to play some reindeer games.”
“What do you think they have planned this year?” Gatlin asked, as we all made our way into the family room.
“Lord only knows.”
We walked in and found different areas set up with what I assumed were the games. There was a long table with red Solo cups placed upside down in two straight parallel lines, each one with a ball sitting on top.
“Oh God,” Gatlin mumbled. “I’m having PTSD from last night.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilibeth, Ensley, and Emeline walk in. Emeline covered her mouth and looked as if she were laughing. Ensley reached over and hit her on the back of the head, while Lilibeth looked around the room. When her gaze met mine, she blushed and tried to leave the room. Ensley said something and pulled her back to her side.
“Okay, listen up, and I’ll explain the first game. It’ll be boys against girls.”
“How long is Mom going to refer to us as ‘boys’?” Gatlin sighed.
“The first game is the red Solo cup game. Once we say go, you have to reach for the cup with one hand, toss the ball up and catch it in the cup. If you miss, you have to put the cup back down, place the ball on it and try again. First one to the end wins.”
“That’s easy enough,” I said, with a cocky smile in my mother’s direction.
“Why, thank you for volunteering to go first, Caden.”
Rubbing my hands together, I walked toward the table. “Who’s going to go up against me?”
“I will!”
I turned to see little Katie with her hand up as high as it could go.
I smiled. “A worthy opponent, I see. And the only one brave enough to take me on.”
We moved toward the end of the table, where my mother stood. When I glanced up, I saw Lilibeth smiling. I winked, and her cheeks turned pink. Fuck, if she wasn’t the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. The way my body reacted to her comment about the brownies had caught me off guard, but in a good way. I was thankful my brother had shown up when he had.
I dragged my gaze off of her and focused on Katie.
“You ready for this?” I asked, in my most serious voice.
“I was born ready!” she replied. The room erupted into laughter.
“Are you both ready?” Mom called out with a huge smile.
“Ready!” Katie cried with a fist pump. It took everything I had not to laugh. She was a little firecracker, reminding me of a younger Emeline.
“Get set! Go!”
Katie took off like she had mini jets on her hands. I thought I’d have to go slow, give her a fighting chance, but I’d clearly underestimated my competition—and she took full advantage.
“Shit!” I mumbled, when she swiftly jumped ahead.
“Watch your language, Caden Wilde!” Mom warned.
I quickly caught up to Katie, then one of my balls fell off the table. It took me a hot second to find it, and by the time I got going again, Katie was already at the end of her side, jumping for joy. The clear winner.
“Katie is our winner!” my mother cried, as cheers erupted.
Gatlin hit me on the back and slowly shook his head. “You got beat by a six-year-old, dude.”
Rolling my eyes, I retorted, “You play against her. She’s fast.”
A few more couples played the game before it was time for Lilibeth. She was paired up with Gatlin.
“Are you ready to get your butt beat?” she asked my brother.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he replied, and Lilibeth laughed.
They got ready, and before my mother blew the obnoxious whistle she’d somehow found between rounds twenty minutes ago, my brother pointed to Lilibeth and winked.
“Ready, sweetheart?”
She held out her hand and flexed it a few times. “I’m more than ready, cowboy.”
It took everything I had not to walk over and smack my brother. I was annoyed he was flirting with Lilibeth, and I knew I had no right to be. I was the one who wasn’t interested in anything more, so it wasn’t fair that I wanted to strangle my own brother for teasing her.
I watched as they stayed neck and neck throughout their game, with every single female cheering on Lilibeth, while the guys yelled for Gatlin to pick up the speed.
“This is harder than it looks!” Gatlin shouted back, losing his concentration and dropping a ball. “Fucking hell!”