Page 38 of Home For Christmas

I jumped when strong arms wrapped around me. It only took me a second to realize they were Greg’s arms. I didn’t even have to see his tattoos; I could tell just by the firmness of his body behind mine. “Of course he will.” Greg’s tone brooked no argument, and I found myself nodding automatically. The agreement earned me a tender kiss. “Morning, sexy.”

Derek’s nose crinkled up. “You guys are sickeningly cute together.”

“Eat your breakfast and leave your brother alone.”

“You’re no fun,” Derek huffed at Colt.

“Eat,” Colt growled, pointing to the plate of waffles, and Derek quickly focused on his breakfast.

“Morning.” I finally greeted Greg, leaning back into his embrace and letting him hug me just a little tighter.

“So, snowmen this morning before anything else?”

“That’s what Derek says.” I shrugged. “So I guess so?”

“Then we better eat up. It smells like apple pie. Give it ten more minutes, and you may actually have Harrison awake. He was mumbling something about pie when I left the room but was still mostly asleep.”

Colt slid a large bowl of oatmeal toward Greg. “I’ve had some practice waking Harrison up over the years. Oatmeal is a great start.”

Sure enough, Harrison was shuffling down the steps not even ten minutes later. His hair was sticking up and he looked like he needed to sleep another eight hours, but he was in the kitchen and heading directly for the coffeepot, ignoring Greg, me, and everyone else.

“I see how we rank,” I teased as Harrison poured a giant cup from the pot and leaned against the counter with a sigh.

“It’s too early for humanity. Why are all you assholes up already?”

“Daddy decided to make oatmeal and it smells like apple pie,” Derek said as he ate his waffle.

“Where are Ty and Dec?” Harrison asked as he blinked sleep from his eyes.

“Sleeping,” Greg answered between bites.

“Ty will have your heads if you go play in the snow without him,” Colt said as he put dishes into the dishwasher.

I sat there and watched the goings-on for a few minutes, partially in shock that this was my life. Before Greg and Harrison came into it, next to no one visited. Now it was filled with people who were comfortable enough to make breakfast and use the dishwasher without a second thought.

“You fuckers are loud,” Ty grouched, bringing me out of my thoughts.

I turned around to see him wearing a pair of very short cotton shorts and a tank top. The bottoms had candy canes all over them and the top had a naughty-looking elf. “Did I hear something about snowmen?” Ty asked as he shuffled toward the coffeepot.

“Derek wants to go get the kids and play in the snow,” I supplied. My oatmeal was almost gone and I was getting antsy to shower. I never left the bedroom without a shower and now I was trying to convince myself I didn’t smell repulsive.

Ty’s eyes lit up. “Snowmen! I bet Mom still has that box of snowmen accessories in the closet.”

I’d completely forgotten about the box until that moment, but I remembered the last big snowstorm we’d had when I was still in high school. Derek, Ty, and Harrison had appeared in the kitchen while I was eating breakfast. I was supposed to work, and the three had been absolutely incensed. It was one of the only times I’d ever heard Derek put his foot down with our dad. He’d flatly told him that the animals would live without me for a few hours—we had more important things to do. They’d gone to the closet, grabbed a huge box, and pulled me outside as soon as I’d been dressed. We’d spent the entire day in the snow, only taking breaks for food. I couldn’t tell you what we’d actually done out there, but the memory of walking in the house frozen and sore from laughing was still with me.

“Earth to Jasper,” Derek said with laughter in his voice. From the sound of it, he’d been trying to get my attention for a while.

“Sorry, got lost in thought.”

Derek nodded. “You don’t say? You were a million miles away. We were wondering what else needs to be done by tomorrow night.”

I looked around in confusion. “What’s tomorrow night?”

“Christmas Eve.” Ty’s eye roll told me he thought I was being deliberately obtuse.

“No shit, Sherlock. But why do things have to be done tomorrow?”

Harrison chuckled and pressed a kiss to the side of my head as he pushed another cup of coffee my way. “Drink up, Jas. I don’t think you slept enough. They are trying to figure out what needs to be done for the wedding before dinner tomorrow night. They’re all worried about setting up on Christmas Day.”

---