Holidays With the Walker Brothers (16 page)

♂♀♂

Ethan

“Dinner
was amazing as always, Mom,” Ethan told his mother, wrapping an arm around her
shoulder as the rest of the family made their way into the living room.

Lorrie
touched his cheek and smiled up at him, making Ethan feel as though he were ten
years old again. He loved his mother. Loved her for all the support she’d
offered him through the years. Although he’d never been one to share the
secrets he kept locked away, he knew his parents wouldn’t look down on him.
Didn’t make it any easier for him to open up to anyone, but it certainly helped
to keep him in one piece.

“Who
goes first?” Sawyer asked as he pushed by Ethan, making his way over to the
Christmas tree.

Ethan
pulled away from his mother, letting her slip over near his father and take her
place on the arm of his chair.

Everyone
was there. All of his brothers and his parents, including many of their friends
and new additions to the family. Kylie’s parents, Joe and Melissa, V’s mother,
Regina, as well as Zoey’s father, Carl, had all joined them for dinner and were
now getting settled with the others. And just as with most family events,
friends had come in droves, including Greyson, Beau, and even Blake.

That
was one thing about his mother… Lorrie wanted her family together. If she had
her say, there’d be even more, including all of the distant cousins from across
the great state of Texas. And if she had to build a bigger house to
accommodate, he didn’t doubt that she would.

Of
course no Walker family meal would be complete without a little added drama,
and tonight was no exception. Their cousin Jaxson had stopped by with some
compelling news and decided to stay for dinner. Ethan hadn’t paid much
attention to the story he told either. Because truthfully, he didn’t care. But
he did noticed that his father had been particularly interested in what Jaxson
had to say.

Tonight,
Ethan had been busy trying to keep Blake at arm’s length because he had only
invited him so that he could keep Beau as far away as possible. No one said the
plan was a good one. So, it was only fair that Ethan’s entire evening had been
spent trying to focus on the conversation going on around him and failing
because he’d been too distracted by Beau and the memory from yesterday.

“Take
a seat, boy.” Curtis’ gruff voice broke into his thoughts, and Ethan glanced
over to see his father staring back at him. Without argument, he eased through
the sea of bodies covering every available surface and took his place on the
edge of the fireplace hearth beside Sawyer.

All
of the gifts had been placed beneath the tree, no matter how small they were,
and they were being distributed by Kaleb and Beau at the moment. Considering
the size of the family gathering, they’d opted for a secret Santa exchange,
which meant they each were able to purchase one gift for the person whose name
they drew a couple of weeks ago.

It
was the only gift Ethan had actually purchased for Christmas. Well, unless the
one for his parents that he chipped in for with his brothers counted. Then the
count would be at two. As for their gift exchange with their parents, that
would happen later in the evening, once everyone else had gone home.

Ethan
glanced up to see Beau standing in front of him, his huge, hulking body
blocking everyone else from his vision, leaving him with nothing more than the
sexy giant of a man to look at. It took a minute to realize that Beau was
holding out a gift for him to take. He tentatively reached forward, trying to
divert his eyes but unable to look away from Beau’s mesmerizing gaze. When his
hand brushed against Beau’s, a warm trickle of heat shot up his arm.

God,
he was in so much trouble here.

♂♀

Kaleb

Once
all of the gifts were handed out, Kaleb took his place beside Zoey on the
couch, pulling her against him and holding her close. They couldn’t have asked
for a better Christmas than this one. The meal was excellent, the conversation
fun, and the atmosphere festive. Not necessarily something they weren’t used
to, but this was one of the first gatherings where they’d had so much mixed
company.

Kaleb
loved it. Every single minute.

That
morning he’d woken up to his wife in his arms, a huge smile on her face as she
rested a small gift on his chest. When he had insisted that he be allowed to
get hers, she had refused him, rather insisting that he open hers first. So he
did.

After
peeling off the glittery paper, he found a small silver frame with the sonogram
picture of their little boy. The caption engraved on the bottom of the frame
read “Daddy’s Little Boy”. To his absolute shock, Kaleb had teared up as he
held his wife and looked at the perfect black and white image of their baby boy
who would be joining them in just a few short weeks.

This
was his life, and it was still so hard to believe. He had married his best
friend, the love of his life. And that morning he realized the truly amazing
journey they were on together. After forcing her to stay in bed, he jumped up,
fully naked and ran downstairs to grab the lone present hidden under the tree.
When he returned, Zoey was sitting there waiting for him. The fact that she’d
been uncovered from the waist up had nearly distracted him from his goal, but
somehow he’d forged ahead.

After
climbing back in the bed, getting himself situated with her against his side,
Kaleb had handed her the present. And to prove how alike they were, he watched
for Zoey’s reaction when she opened the gift he had found not too long ago. It
was a similar frame, sterling silver and engraved with their names on the
bottom along with their wedding date. The look on her face was priceless, and
when tears came to her eyes, Kaleb had pulled her down on the bed with him and
slid deep inside her warm, welcoming body. They made love for what seemed like
hours, enjoying nothing more than the mere fact that they were able to enjoy
such a fantastic day together.

And
here they were, hours later, still side by side, enjoying time with their
families and friends. Kaleb shifted his eyes around the room, watching his
brothers as they interacted with those around them. Travis was on the opposite
couch, Kylie tucked up against his side with Gage sandwiching her in on the
other side. They were smiling, all three of them and Kaleb found himself
smiling at them. It was nice to see Travis so damned happy.

The
man truly was a different person these days. He beamed with pride when he
talked about the two loves of his life. His shift in mood was definitely
welcome, especially as they put the finishing touches on Alluring Indulgence.
Travis was certainly much easier to work with. It was about damn time Travis
found the happiness that he deserved and based on the way Kylie and Gage stared
at him with nothing but love on their faces proved that they’d all three found
what they’d been searching for.

But,
on the other hand… Kaleb glanced over at Ethan who was sitting on the edge of
the fireplace hearth, his head down, hands clasped between his spread legs.
Although Ethan appeared to have cleaned up for the occasion, he looked tired.
But true to form, Ethan had been his usual loner self all afternoon, limiting
how much he spoke and that included the conversations he shared with Blake. His
friend
.

Yeah,
right.

Kaleb
couldn’t help but wonder when Ethan was going to finally let them in. He loved
his brother with everything that he was, and it hurt to know that Ethan kept a
substantial part of himself concealed, although the rest of them knew what was
going on. They’d always known. But Ethan refused to admit it for whatever
reason.

But,
that was the thing about Christmas. Miracles did happen, and Kaleb could only
hope his brother would find his miracle soon.

♂♀

Zane

“Nobody
ever said who goes first,” Zane reminded the room, watching as everyone toyed
with the gift in their hand, but their attention was more on the conversations
going on around them. Not that he minded, but he was ready to get on with it.

“Relax,”
V whispered against his ear, her breath teasing him. He knew she did it on
purpose too.

“I
am relaxed,” he answered, keeping his voice low. “But if you’d like to help me
out, I know of a place where I can get you naked and screaming my name in just
under three minutes. That’ll help release an entirely different sort of
tension.”

“You
better behave.” V swatted his thigh as she laughed.

“Fine.
Have it your way.” He grinned and then linked his fingers with hers.

Complete.
That’s what he was.

Even
more so now than when he woke up that morning. After hours and hours of
searching the internet and walking mindless miles through store after store,
Zane hadn’t been able to figure out what to get V for Christmas. That was until
he talked to his father.

Armed
with the advice his father had bestowed upon him, Zane went to a jewelry store
in the mall and purchased a simple heart shaped charm on a thin platinum chain.
After all, V wasn’t much into jewelry, but as soon as he saw the heart, he
thought of her. There were a couple of diamond chips on one edge of the heart,
but nothing extravagant. From there, he’d had the charm engraved to say “Mine
Forever.”

Based
on V’s enthusiastic reaction that morning, she had loved it. Which had been
almost the best present he could’ve asked for. At least he had thought so. But
that was before she handed him a slender envelope with his name scrawled across
the front.

After
opening the glued edge, he watched her carefully as he pulled the card out, a
small piece of tissue paper falling out along with it. When he looked down, he
nearly lost his breath.

A
wedding invitation.

Their
wedding
invitation.

After
all this time, V had never confirmed a date with him, but the invitation had
all of the details listed out, including the date. And according to her, they’d
be getting married less than a month after Zoey’s and Kaleb’s son was born.

Right
then and there, she’d made his world spin out of control. He hadn’t thought he
could love her more than he already did, but to know that there was a date set
and a wedding in the works, he hadn’t been able to control himself.

Squeezing
her hand, Zane glanced over at V. He smiled. There was no need to tell her why
he was so happy. She knew. He knew she did. Because they were connected. Two
hearts that beat as one.

“I
love you,” he said, just because he wanted to tell her.

♂

Sawyer

Happy
go lucky had a time and a place and Sawyer knew he was supposed to be the one
to keep everyone smiling and laughing on days like this. But based on what he
saw as he looked around the room, his witty antics weren’t needed. He wasn’t
sure if he’d ever seen a group of people smile quite this much.

The
twins were bickering back and forth over Jessie, laughing and joking as they
did while she stared at them both like they were crazy. The subtle glances she
shot in Braydon’s direction weren’t missed either. Not by him, and probably not
by Braydon or Brendon. Sawyer wondered what was going on there, but it wasn’t
his place to ask.

From
his perspective, they appeared to be acting normal, keeping up a front, but he
could see a storm brewing underneath. He knew his brothers well enough to see
that there was tension between them. And whatever it was, it was huge.
Something was about to change in the twins’ world, and he had a feeling that
Jessie was going to be at the center of the epic shift.

Sawyer
wasn’t sure he’d want to be anywhere within a twenty mile radius when that
happened.

His
attention was diverted when he saw movement out of the corner of his eyes.
There on the couch, Kaleb and Zoey were looking at one another like they were
the only two people in the room. And perhaps in their minds they were. Their
love for one another was so obvious, it radiated outward from where they sat.
Sawyer couldn’t help but wonder what that sort of love felt like. On top of
that, he couldn’t imagine he would ever even remotely come close to feeling
that way about someone.

Sure,
he had a good idea that there was one woman who could make him look like a
complete and total sap and not give a damn who saw, but… well, he just didn’t
know if he’d met her yet. And quite frankly, maybe he just wasn’t ready to let
go of his wild and crazy ways.

Either
way, this year, Sawyer would have to settle for enjoying what his brothers had
found, living vicariously through them. And truthfully, this was all he
actually needed. To be here, with all of the people he cared about, was what
made Christmas so special. A day when nothing else mattered but the love of
family and friends.

“You
all right?” Greyson interrupted his thoughts.

“Yup.
You?” Sawyer turned to look at his friend who had dropped down on his haunches
beside where Sawyer was sitting on the fireplace hearth.