6 Mountain Brothers for Christmas

“That’s not fair,” he said. “You know we don’t have time to do anything.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh. “I have to get upstairs and shower before the kids wake up. We only have about an hour before they storm down here and demand breakfast.”

“I know,” he groaned. “You know I love them, but they aren’t going to make this easy.”

I laughed and shoved him away gently. He rolled over onto his back and watched me climb out of bed. I moved slowly, taking my time to find my clothes and throw them back on. Sean’s eyes never left my body. When I was finally fully dressed, he sighed and sat up. I walked over to him and bent down to place a kiss on his lips. He grabbed me suddenly and pulled me back into the bed. I squealed and then quickly covered my mouth so no one would hear.

“You can’t do that,” I said, laughing. “They’ll hear us.”

“What if I don’t care?” he asked.

“You do,” I said seriously. “I have to get upstairs. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Fine.” He groaned again and let me go. Before he could change his mind, I hurried out of his room and tiptoed down the hallway.

I held my breath the entire way to my room, and when I slipped inside, I closed the door with relief. The last thing we needed was for Tommy or Sarah to catch wind of the fact that I was sleeping with their dad. Sean and I didn’t yet know what our relationship was, and until we did, we couldn’t share it with the kids.

I jumped into the shower and quickly washed up, tying my hair up in a wet bun when I was finished. I got dressed in the first thing I could find and hurried back downstairs. To my surprise, no one was up yet so I decided to go outside and call Janie. She wasn’t going to believe what happened.

Quietly, I stepped out ont

o the back patio and pulled my cellphone from my pocket. I dialed Janie’s number and waited while it rang.

“Hello?” she asked, her voice groggy.

“Are you still sleeping?” I asked, surprised.

“It’s my day off,” she said with a yawn. “What’s up?”

“Oh, not much. Seems like it’s going to be a nice day. I was thinking about maybe doing some shopping later. Maybe make some spaghetti for dinner, have sex with Sean again. I don’t know. What’s up with you?”

Janie was quiet for a moment. “Wait, what did you just say?”

“What?” I teased. “I’m thinking about going shopping?”

“You know damn well what I meant!” she said, her voice rising.

I laughed “Oh, that.”

“Yes, that! When the hell did that even become a possibility?” she asked.

I sighed into the phone. “I don’t know. We’ve been skirting around the issue for a couple weeks. I think it’s actually why he fired me the first time: he was attracted to me and thought it wasn’t cool. Also, he saw Tanner whispering in my ear that night, and he thought he was my boyfriend. Can you imagine?”

“Ewwwwww!” Janie said and I laughed.

“Yeah,” I said, still laughing. I couldn’t seem to get my giddy joy under control. “It’s been great. It was kind of awkward at first, a lot of tension. But then Sean’s best friend came down for a visit. He’s here now. He basically told Sean to stop being an idiot and go for it. So, we did. We went for it.”

“Are you happy?” Janie asked, her voice serious. “You feel okay about it all?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I feel amazing.”

“Yup, that’s what good sex does to you,” Janie said.

We spent the next few minutes talking about the details of my night. Janie insisted upon knowing everything.

“I really have to go,” I said after five minutes of her nonstop questions. “The kids will be up any minute.”

“Ugh!” she said. “Just a few more minutes. This is just as big a deal for me as it is for you, you know.”