Free Winter Eve by Lia Davis Page A

to the kitchen and took out the ingredients for dinner. He’d been craving Christmas cookies for the past month—and given in to those cravings more often than not—so he decided on fresh salmon, rice, and yellow squash for dinner. He needed to eat healthy so he could indulge in some sugar cookies later. He didn’t know what it was, but he needed sugar cookies, daily. He loved them best when they were soft and had a thick icing layer on them. Just thinking about them made his stomach growl and his teeth ache. He knew his brother, Jackson, a dentist, would absolutely kill him if he knew how many cookies he had ingested over the past month. But, he couldn’t help it. He craved the suckers.
    He quickly got the rice going, sliced the squash so it could steam, and heated some olive oil in a pan for the salmon. He seasoned the filet then put it on the heat, but, even as he did, visions of cookies danced in his head. Yep, he was officially going crazy. The salmon crackled and popped as the fatty tissue hit the hot oil in the skillet. The aroma of lemon and dill filled the air, and he groaned. Nope, didn’t smell good enough to him. He wanted those damn cookies.
    “I’m a fucking adult. I can eat a cookie before dinner if I want to.” Sure, keep telling yourself that .
    Knowing if his mother had been alive, she would have scolded him, he tiptoed to the airtight container and took out one cookie. Come on, one little frosted cookie wouldn’t hurt. He hesitated, and then he grabbed a second cookie in case the first didn’t take the edge off. He bit down into the sugary goodness and groaned.
    Hell, yeah, this is better than sex .
    He choked on the last bit of cookie and grabbed his beer to wash it down. Fuck, he needed to get laid if a cookie was better than sex. How long had it been? He tried to think about it and sighed. Damn, he was turning into the cat lady. The one that resembled the little old lady who stayed indoors all day with a shawl around her shoulders and a cat on her lap. He just needed the fucking cat.
    The salmon popped again, and he rushed to the stove. Thankfully, he hadn’t burned his dinner. Though, if he did, he could just eat more cookies.
    No. No, that wouldn’t work.
    He turned off the heat and plated his dinner, and then he moved to the bar at the end of his kitchen isle and ate. With each bite, he turned the same question over in his mind: what the hell he was doing with his life? He was thirty-four years old and bored. He used to be the life of the party and celebrate the holidays like no other. Now he just did it for others. He didn’t enjoy Christmas as much, either. Not since that night and that weird dream.
    The doorbell rang, and he shook off his thoughts. Justin shuffled to the door and opened the it. He raised a brow when he saw who was on the other side. 
    “What are you two doing here?” he asked as his brothers, Tyler and Brayden, walked through the door, inviting themselves in.
    Tyler took off his hat and raised his brow. He still wore his sheriff’s uniform, even after a too-long day at work. His short black hair looked like it needed a cut, and his blue eyes were exhausted. “Is that any way to greet your brothers?”
    Justin let out a sigh and took the six-pack of beer from Brayden. “At least you brought me something. But, really, I have enough beer as it is.”
    Brayden smiled, his face brightening. He ran a hand that still had car grease under its fingernails through his too-long hair and shook his head. “We always bring presents. It’s the holiday season, after all. And, plus, this beer is for me and Ty; you can drink your own with that attitude.”
    Justin just shook his head and closed the door behind them as his brothers shook off the snow on their shoulders and walked toward the kitchen.
    “Yum, cookies,” Tyler said as Justin walked in behind them. He clenched his fists and held his tongue so as not to say anything. What the hell was wrong with him? It wasn’t as