Free Meet Me Under The Mistletoe (O'Rourke Family 5) by Julianna Morris

hastily. “I’ll be right up.”
    Finally coming to her senses, Shannon bolted upright and yanked her clothing into place. Her first thought was escape, but Alex put a hand on her arm as she scrambled to her feet.
    “You stay, too,” he said. “We have to talk.”

Chapter Six
    W hat a mess .
    Shannon sat on the floor, blindly assembling the toy train she’d brought, and tried to understand why she’d let Alex kiss her like that.
    Because you wanted to kiss him, that’s why, you idiot, her conscience taunted, and she rolled her eyes. Kissing Alex was a lost cause. He’d made it clear he wasn’t getting married again, and she was tired of being single and pretending to like it.
    The O’Rourkes were marrying kind of people.
    Even Neil had accepted the truth, and sooner or later her youngest brother and three sisters would find their soul mates, as well. The brides would toss their bouquets and they’d go on their honeymoons and start their families. She was happy for them, but it was hard feeling left behind.
    She wanted to believe she had a soul mate, too, but she’d stubbed her romantic toes too many times to havemuch hope of finding someone to love her as she was, domestic limitations and all.
    Face grim, Alex walked down the staircase and sat on the bottom step. He didn’t say anything and Shannon tried to calm her queasiness. Was he angry, blaming her for that brief moment when the needs of his body had outweighed the caution in his mind?
    Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders. “Aren’t you glad we got that out of our systems?” Her voice cracked a couple of times, but it was the best quip she could devise in her current state of mind.
    “Did we?”
    Her eyes narrowed.
    If Alex said something chauvinistic or crude, she was going to kick him. “At least you could pretend.”
    He sighed. “I’m not good at pretending, Shannon. I spent my childhood in a marital war zone, followed by divorced-parent hell, never knowing when the screaming was going to start. I got lucky with Kim, but I don’t expect to get lucky a second time. That’s just one of the reasons I’m not getting married again.”
    “I don’t remember asking you to marry me.”
    “I can’t have an affair, either. It’s nothing against you, but I have to think about Jeremy.”
    Shannon glared. The male half of the human race was so arrogant, she didn’t know why women bothered with them. “That’s fine, because I also didn’t ask you for an affair. Have you forgotten I was leaving when you stopped me? Besides, it was just a kiss.”
    “I’m not so sure.” Alex let out a low curse. “This isn’t going to work. I can’t let Jeremy start hoping for something that isn’t going to happen.”
    “What isn’t going to work? We’re agreed we aren’t getting married, and we aren’t having an affair. So I wouldn’t worry about Jeremy getting his hopes up about anything.”
    “You heard him that first night.” He gave her a moody look. “If Shannon was my new mommy, we could eat pizza whenever we wanted .”
    Shannon sighed. Even she knew children said things they didn’t understand. “That was just wishful thinking. It surprised me, but he would have said the same thing to a ninety-five-year-old grandmother who suggested pizza for dinner.”
    A faint smile pulled at Alex’s mouth. “Ninety-five?”
    “Yes. You don’t actually think Jeremy knows why people get married, do you? He’s too young for that.”
    “I should hope he doesn’t,” Alex said fervently. He had a sudden vision of trying to explain the birds and bees to Jeremy in a few years. It was enough to turn him gray. With his luck, his precocious little boy would start noticing girls by the time he was five.
    Shannon chuckled and he looked at her. “What’s so funny?”
    “You look as if you’re contemplating a snake-infested swamp.”
    “Worse, I was imagining having to explain sex to my son. It’s pure luck that I’m not explaining it right