Free A Mom for Christmas by Marteeka Karland Page A

Rebecca acts funny around him, too.”
    “Funny how?” Sebastian knew his eyes narrowed, but he couldn’t help it. Zoe looked down at her shoes as though she were the one in trouble.
    “She makes kissy faces at him,” Jessica supplied readily. “And they’re all the time going under the bleachers. Miss Sadira caught them last week and told them if she caught either of them under there again, she’d not only rat them out but kick Rebecca off the cheer squad.”
    Okay, this was a little serious. Which was Rebecca’s cue to skip down the steps…wearing yet another pair of jeans the she looked like she’d poured herself into. Thankfully, the sweater fit better.
    With a sigh, Sebastian walked past her, snagging her arm as he went so she had to follow him back to her room. Sure enough, the previous two outfits were in the floor in a corner. This was one time he wouldn’t insist she pick them up.
    Rummaging through her closet, he chose a pair of jeans he knew fit her and tossed them to her. “If you come downstairs wearing anything other than those pants and the top you have on, I’ll be in here with you when you change the next time.”
    As he left her room and shut the door, he knew she made a face at him. Better that than his daughter going out in public dressed like that.
    From behind the door, Rebecca’s angry voice muttered just loud enough for him to hear, “Mom woulda let me wear the skirt.”
    And the fact was, Dedra would have let her wear it. Would’ve encouraged it. She lived her life through their oldest daughter, a source of contention between him and Dedra throughout Rebecca’s life. Dedra hadn’t been a bad mother—they just didn’t share the same ideals about how to raise the girls. She’d have let them do any and everything they wanted. Sebastian wanted to lock them up until they turned forty. Or longer. He tried to settle for them wearing decent-fitting clothing and minimal make-up until they reached eighteen.
    Finally, when Rebecca emerged this time, Sebastian pronounced them ready to go. They all piled into the minivan—the Dadmobile, as Jessica liked to call it—and headed to the football game only fifteen minutes behind schedule.
    When they arrived, Rebecca was five minutes late for the squad’s warm-up. She tried to let Sebastian take the fall—which he would have done just to keep her out of trouble this one time—but Sadira frowned, glancing at Sebastian as if to gauge his reaction to the girl’s story. Giving a shrug and nodding, Sebastian watched the two. He couldn’t hear what Sadira said, but by the look on Rebecca’s face, her coach wasn’t buying it. There seemed to be a heated exchange, but, surprisingly, Rebecca only ducked her head and began running laps around the football field before changing into her uniform.
    Then Sadira approached Sebastian. God, he didn’t need this. Sadira was walking, talking sex on long, toned legs. Before Dedra had left them, Sebastian had been too busy trying to keep their marriage together to notice the sexy, chocolate-skinned beauty. Now, Sadira was the object of many of his nighttime fantasies. And that was just messed up. The girl couldn’t be much older than Rebecca. Certainly not old enough to know what to do with the sexual appetites of a man like him. Now, she approached him in black leggings that hugged her thighs and ass like a second skin. An over-large sweatshirt helped ward off the late-night December air, but she had to be chilly. Would her nipples be stabbing through whatever bra she wore underneath? He imagined it was a black sports bra to match her leggings.
    “She says it’s your fault she was late?”
    Sebastian had to shake his head a little to dislodge the erotic image he had of stripping off that sweatshirt and fastening his mouth over one hard nipple through her bra, flicking his tongue over the peak until she squealed. He cleared his throat, adjusting his coat to cover his growing erection. “Well, she’s