A Mom for Christmas (2 page)

The night was full of chilly weather, football players, cheerleaders with more enthusiasm than raw talent, and a small-town good time. As it should be. Oh, there were some parents who took everything way too seriously, yelling at their sons on the field or instructing their daughter to “keep your pom-poms up!” but, overall, Sadira loved it here. Loved her job as a teacher and cheerleading-and-gymnastics coach. And, as uncomfortable as it sometimes was, she was growing to care way too much about the entire Taylor family.

Rebecca, even with her typical teenage rebellion in full blossom, carried a pain so deep, Sadira longed to sooth her as only a mother could. While Jessica and Zoe missed their mother, Rebecca and Dedra had been extremely close. The girl probably felt as betrayed as Sebastian did.

Yeah. Sebastian. There was one subject she’d best stay away from. It would be so easy to fall for the stunning father of three. Not only was he charming, with movie-star good looks and a body to die for, but he was so good to his daughters it made her heart ache. What woman wouldn’t fall for that? Since his wife had left them all nearly a year before, the girls had become increasingly clingy with their father and, surprisingly, with Sadira herself. Probably because she was with them so much in and after school.

Still, she always felt like she was intruding, no matter how much the girls or Sebastian seemed to welcome her presence. The last thing she wanted was to be seen as a replacement mother. Unfortunately, that was exactly what she felt like.

The game went as expected. That is to say, their team lost. But Sadira praised her cheer squad, and they all called out encouragement to the boys on the football team and, ultimately, everyone left with smiles on their faces.

Except Sadira.

She loved school activities, not only because she loved working with teenagers and young kids, but because it got her out of her empty apartment. When no one suggested pizza or ice cream afterwards, she gamely waved as everyone left. Inwardly, Sadira dreaded going home.

“Miss Sadira!” Zoe came running, pigtails flying, her cheeks flushed a cherry red in the chill fall air.

“You better catch up to your dad. He’ll leave you here, and you’d be stuck with me.” She grinned, knowing full well Sebastian Taylor would never leave one of his precious girls behind.

“Like that would be a bad thing.” Zoe grinned broadly. “Thanks for letting me cheer with the big girls.”

“Oh, sweetie! You’re very welcome. I like having you with us. You’re going to be a great cheerleader.”

The child beamed, her toothy grin enough to brighten even the darkest nights. “You want to get pizza with us? Dad said we should ask you since you’re so nice to us.” She glanced over her shoulder as if looking for someone before she continued. “Don’t tell Dad, but he picks out terrible pizza. I like it when you come with us because you know what I like best.”

Sadira laughed. “You little imp! And here I thought you liked my company.” She scooped up the child and tossed her over her shoulder, catching her by the backs of her thighs so Zoe had to brace herself with her hands on Sadira’s back. “I’ll get you for that.”

Thankfully, this gave her a small reprieve from a night alone. Her place was really empty since her mother passed away the previous summer. The Taylor clan was just what she needed to cheer her up.

As she approached the Dadmobile, as the girls affectionately called it, Sadira’s gaze inevitably found Sebastian. His big, muscular frame leaned lazily against the passenger side, arms crossed as he watched her make her way to the van. Why did her breath have to quicken at the sight of him? The possessive gaze did something to her insides that was probably illegal in several states. She was sure the images that predatory stare put in her mind certainly were.

“Do you need to take your car home? We can pick you up there if you like,” he said, still leaning against the door of the minivan. How could a man look sexy standing next to a goddamn minivan?

“You know I don’t drive to games. It’s a short jog, and I love the exercise.”

He sighed, but there was a glint of something in his eyes. Disapproval? Anxiety? “It’s too dangerous for you to walk home after dark. What if someone hit you with a car? Or, worse, tried to grab you?”

Though she knew what he meant, Sadira couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “I’ve never been opposed to being grabbed. If it was by the right man.”

The girls giggled. Sebastian tried to deepen his scowl, but his lips twitched when he did. “Just get in. We’ll take you home after we eat.”

Chattering all the way, the girls kept the conversation lively. At the pizza place, Sebastian did indeed try to order a veggie pizza, threatening anchovies if they made fun of his selection. Sadira vetoed the order, instead getting pepperoni, threatening to stand on the table and sing something horrific by Justin Beiber if
he
complained. Sebastian had thrown his head back and laughed, making all of them giggle.

For the first time in several weeks, Sadira noticed the normal strain on Rebecca’s face was gone. She was truly enjoying her time with her younger sisters and father. It made Sadira want to weep for the girl. This was how she should be all the time, not grieving for a mother who obviously didn’t want her. If Sadira ever got five minutes alone with Dedra, the woman would regret the day she’d abandoned her family.

“I call sleepover!” Zoe yelled. “Blanket fort and brownies!”

“Oh, man,” Rebecca said, sitting up straighter and looking not so superior and I’m-queen-of-all-I-survey as she normally tried to pull off. “Sadira’s brownies—no nuts—and
Nightmare on Elm
Street
! Totally cool!”

“That’s it exactly!” Jessica said excitedly. “Sleepover! Sleepover!”

Zoe’s eyes got big and round. “Not scary movies!” She turned to Sadira. “I don’t like scary movies!”

When had they planned all this? She had been lost in her own musings, but surely she hadn’t agreed to anything without even glancing at Sebastian.

“Wait.” Sebastian held up a hand. “What?”

“It’s Friday,” Jessica said slowly, as if taking to someone of less-than-adequate intellect. “Sleepovers are
always
on Friday nights.”

“I get that.” Sebastian pinched his nose between his thumb and finger, a pained expression on his face telling Sadira she wasn’t the only one having trouble following the conversation shift. “But when did you work this out with Sadira? And what part of this conversation thread led to the decree that there would be a sleepover?”

Zoe nibbled her lip, looking at Jessica. Obviously the two had conspired together, springing the event on everyone. At once, Rebecca’s face fell and she picked up her drink to hide her disappointment. Sadira caught Sebastian’s gaze, looking to Rebecca and back with a knowing look. Immediately, Sebastian sat up straighter, his expression going stark for a brief moment.

“We just thought it would be a good idea,” Zoe finally said, hanging her head.

“Of course it is,” Sadira said, snagging the Parmesan cheese to sprinkle liberally over her pizza. “Only question is where to have it.” She raised her eyebrows at Sebastian.

“Well…” He rolled his eyes. “It’s not like your apartment will hold all five of us. Besides, my back won’t take sleeping on the floor.”

“Weenie!” Zoe called out, her whole face lighting up once more. “We can have it at our house!”

Sebastian sighed heavily, as if the whole thing was a huge chore when, in reality, Sadira knew it was an act for Zoe and Jessica’s benefit. They loved it when he pretended to be put out. The fact was, Sebastian would do anything to put that smile back on Rebecca’s face, and Sadira knew it. “Fine. I guess I’m being invaded by even more girls tonight. I need to adopt a boy just to try to even out the score because I’m so outnumbered it’s not even funny.”

“Not to worry,” Sadira chimed in. “I have a tiara and pink nail polish just for you. We can pretend you’re my best girlfriend…Sabrina.”

The girls burst out laughing, and Sebastian groaned. He caught her gaze across the table and winked. That one little gesture sent butterflies dancing in Sadira’s belly. How in the world could one man affect her so easily? It didn’t help that she dearly loved his girls. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up falling head over heels for the handsome father of three, as well.

Sebastian knew he was in trouble the second the movie started
.
Nightmare BeforeChristma
s
Great. The second it started, Sadira started scaring the girls. She quickly got Zoe recruited to help and the two of them proceeded to terrorize Jessica and Rebecca, though everyone ruined the effect with all the peals of laughter. Soon, all of them were buried into his sides during the “scary parts.” Zoe wrapped her arms and legs around him while Jessica and Rebecca both jockeyed for position on one side of him. When Sadira had given him a satisfied smile, as if she’d done it all on purpose, he’d snagged her arm and pulled her into the other side. With a giggle and a sigh, she’d snuggled into him. It struck Sebastian then that this was what families did. Even when he and Dedra hadn’t had issues, they’d never sat together like this and watched scary movies.

Once the scary show was over, Sadira put in a cheery family show, declaring one horror movie was enough. All three girls groaned and protested—even Zoe—but with more popcorn and Sadira’s brownies, they settled in again. By the time the second movie was over, it was well past midnight and the girls were all fast asleep, including Rebecca.

Sebastian had managed to keep Sadira beside him during the second movie, his arm resting on the back of the sofa behind her. This was what he wanted. What he’d always wanted. In that moment, his path became clear. Sadira was his.
Theirs
. Some way, somehow, he was going to convince her she belonged with them.

“It’s late,” he said, rubbing her shoulder, urging her closer to him. Sadira allowed the contact, giving a contented sigh as she snuggled against him. With the girls safely asleep and oblivious to the adults in the house, it seemed Sadira enjoyed the closeness as well.

“Yeah. Told you I should have taken my car.”

He chuckled. “Now, why would I have done that when it got you here, trapped in my home with the wicked king of the castle?”

She stiffened, but her hands clutched at his shirt. “What did you say?”

“You heard me,” he said, leaning down to nip her ear gently. It was the first overtly sexual gesture he’d made to her. How would she respond?

“‘Bastian?”

Sweet Jesus, she just had to drawl his name with all that sensuality he’d observed when she just walked across the room. Hearing it in her voice as she shortened his name to an intimate form shot straight through him like an erotic punch. Straight to his groin.

“You know you can’t say my name like that, in that tone of voice and not expect me to kiss you.”

“Darn it,” she said, sounding more like a purr than regret. “But I supposed if you must…”

She met him halfway, touching her lips to his delicately. The contact seemed to send an electrical current surging through Sebastian, need slamming into him harder than it had in living memory. She smelled like heaven. All warm honeysuckle and woman.

After several long seconds, Sadira pulled back, relaxing against him once again. “So, what do we do now? I hadn’t really expected something like this to happen, but I’m not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”

The joy inside him was equaled only by budding hope. Could he finally find the mother his girls needed as well as the woman he needed? Could he make her happy?

“Stay with me tonight,” he whispered. “The girls are going to my parents’ house tomorrow. We can sort everything out then.”

“You seem pretty sure about this.”

“I am.”

“Why didn’t you do something about it before now?”

“How? I felt enough like a pervert as it was. Lusting after a woman so much younger than me.”

“I’m not that much younger. Sure, you’ve got a teenage daughter, but I’m betting you’re not much older than thirty-six or -seven.”

Sebastian chuckled. “OK. You got me there. Thirty-six. But I know you’re still in your twenties. So… Pervert.”

Sadira nuzzled his neck teasingly. “I’m twenty-seven. Besides, it’s only perverted if the woman in question doesn’t make the first move. I believe
I
kissed
you
.”

“That you did. But I’m betting we could do a much more thorough job of it if we put our minds to it.” God knew he wanted to. Taking her mouth until she was whimpering and squirming in his arms with need was foremost on his agenda. How the hell he was supposed to wait until the next day was beyond him, but anything else simply wasn’t an option.

“Hmm…” she said, flashing him a coy look under her lashes before snuggling back into his side.

“Look at me, Sadira.” Sebastian knew his tone was a little harsh, but he was skating the razor’s edge between acting honorably with her while his girls were in the house and throwing caution to the wind, locking them both in his bedroom, and taking her until they were both too exhausted to care if they got caught. When she met his gaze boldly, need making her eyes sparkle, he cupped her face gently. “Tell me you want this. That you want me.”

“I do,” she whispered. “So much I ache with it.”

“What would you expect from me? You know my girls come first. They’re the only reason we’re still sitting here and not fornicating in my bed until we’re both condemned to hell.”

She smiled, giggling at his words, but answered him seriously. “I want all of you, ‘Bastian. I know the girls come with the package, but I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t love them already.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And me?”

Sadira shrugged. “I’ve been trying not to. Unfortunately, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. My only concern is Dedra. I don’t want to be the rebound for any of you. I could never keep my heart uninvolved enough to survive it if you decided you didn’t want me. And I certainly don’t want the girls thinking I’m trying to replace their mother.”

“First of all, you wouldn’t be replacing Dedra. You’re already three times the mother to those girls that Dedra ever was. Second, no one expects you to be their mother. Only to love and help them as much as you already do. And third…” He caressed her cheek, placing another light kiss to the corner of her mouth. “How is me being everything you ever wanted in a man a bad thing?”