A Kiss of Color: A BWWM Interracial Pregnancy Romance (Book 2) by Cristina Grenier Read Free Book Online

hadn’t changed about Emily, it was her willowy, almost waif-like thinness. She would be what, twenty one? Twenty two, now? When she was a child, he’d called her a little twig because she’d weighed approximately as much as a newborn kitten. It didn’t look like much had changed. She was still thin – almost painfully so – though the tentative smile she wore was more than enough to make up for it.
    Ten years.
    It had to be at least ten years since he’d last seen her. “Hi Xavier.” The young woman waved meekly. Without a word, the programmer moved past Brandy to advance on his youngest sister. She came up past his chin, and as he enfolded her in his arms, he found his heart twisting as he realized just how absent he’d been from her life.
    “ Emily .” He exhaled, holding her against him for a long moment before withdrawing to take her in once more. “You’re…you’re…”
    “I’m all grown up.” Her grin was just as adorable as he remembered. “Still at Julliard, though.”
    That, he had never forgotten. His parents wouldn’t let him, or any other affluent family, for that matter, do so. According to them, Emily was one of the leading cello scholars in the country. While Xavier had no problem believing that his sister was talented, he had never actually had the opportunity to hear her play. He’d been too busy proving his parents wrong over the years.
    “You’ll be almost done now, right? Another, what, year?”
    “Half a year. Then I’ll be starting as first chair at the New York Metropolitan.”
    Damn. Not that he’d ever suspected his parents of flat out lying, but he knew they tended to exaggerate about their children when it came to the prestige involved in their chosen profession; or, at least, the profession their parents had chosen for them. But, for Emily to have been accepted as first chair for the famous Metropolitan Orchestra group…that was quite a feat indeed – especially for someone as young as she was. “That’s amazing, Em. I’ll have to get season tickets to come up and see you!”
    “But…you’re in California.” She ventured shyly. “I’ll be three thousand miles away.”
    Xavier put on an expression of mock affront. “Do you think that’s going to stop me from seeing my baby sister?”
    Emily’s grin lit up the office as she threw her arms around him and they embraced for the third time in as many minutes. Standing off to the side, Brandy looked on with a soft laugh. “I knew it would be a good idea to bring her. She’s taking a little break for some preparations for a show later on this summer, and I figured I’d bring her over….while Mom and Dad are out of the country.”
    Their parents were currently in Europe on some grandiose tour of all the major cities that was costing them a fortune. The trip would keep them away from their home in the North East for a good month and a half. Xavier secretly caught his sister’s eye in an inquiry that both of them knew all too well: How much had Emily suffered at the hands of their stifling family?
    It was something, Xavier knew, that they couldn’t talk about in front of the young woman. It would be a conversation for later, when Brandy and he got some time alone to discuss things. For now, it would be a better plan to take off an hour or two and have lunch – to revel in a family that hadn’t been together like this in over a decade.
    “Well, ladies, to thank you for this wonderful surprise, I say we go and get some lunch on me.” Both of his sister’s beamed at his suggestion.
    “Awesome, I’m starving.” Despite Brandy’s near constant state of hunger, she seemed to never lose her svelte, size four figure. A product, he was sure, of her rigorous exercise regime (and a little bit of their mother’s pressure on her to be the perfect socialite), but today, he planned on testing her appetite with one of the best restaurants in town.
    That was, at least, until the cell phone he’d contemplated using