Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 9) by Addison Moore Read Free Book Online Page A

industries on the East Coast and does most of his best corporate maneuvers while holding a nine iron in his hands. Dad grimaces, and his teeth glow in the defused late afternoon light. Rex’s mother, Lynette, has insisted they go on “bleaching” dates. They’ve gone on so many of these illuminating expeditions their teeth have a slight bluish cast to them. I’d bet ten bucks they glow neon under a black light.
    “What’s going on?” I pull him further out into the baking afternoon sun as it roasts us one last time for punishment before sinking behind the tree line. For the past two weeks, my father has hinted at some big revelation, one which I’m assuming is about to fall right into our unassuming laps. Ever since that fateful day he and my mother sat us down to let us know they were driving a stake through the heart of our family, I haven’t really been too keen on surprises. “Does this have to do with Kent?” Kent Shipping has been in the family longer than I have.
    “No.” He twists his lips as if he’s enjoying this on some level, those pale green eyes of his glint with delight at the deception. “If I tell you, it won’t be much of a surprise, now, will it?”
    A horrible groan expels from me at the sound of that word, and I spot Rex spying on us from inside. I’ve never met a more annoying gnat of a person—with the exception of Duncan, and perhaps Sabrina.
    “It is Kent,” I whimper mostly to myself. “You want to retire, and you’re going to sell it. You want someone knowledgeable to run it, but you don’t have faith in your children to do so.”
    “Whoa!” He laughs, pulling me into a warm embrace, and my body conforms to his wide girth. I’ve always felt most protected from this cruel world when I’m in my father’s arms. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I promise you, this is the best possible means to an end.”
    “ Snookums !” Lynette’s witch-like cackle of a voice demands we come inside. “Oh, Bradley Poo! It’s time to gather ’round the sofa!”
    “Bradley Poo?” The bile rises to the back of my throat, and I desperately want to vomit.
    “Come on, sweetheart.” Dad drops a sweet kiss to the top of my head. “Give me a chance to spill the beans. Once we’re through, you’ll be walking on sunshine, I promise.”
    We head inside, and Lynette snatches my father from me, dragging him to the front of the television where most every eye is glued. She snaps up the remote and kills the TV, filling the room with a lethal brand of silence.
    Sabrina rocks on her heels, her mouth frozen in some fake square smile that’s giving me the creeps. Trixy looks back at me, most likely because I’m the only sane person in the room—and I am, at least up until the point I start throwing sharp objects at her brother. Trixy, Knox, and Rex—Triple X as I’ve come to collectively call them, all have the same dark thicket of hair, same strange alien-like glowing eyes and comely features. I wish they were from another planet, and that Lynette here was about to announce their need for an abrupt departure. With my luck, she’d snatch my father right along with her, and I’d never see him again.
    “Now that we have your attention”—Lynette drags that last word out just enough to lose it—“we have a little announcement!”
    “Me first! Me first!” Sabrina jumps up and down with her hand in the air, doing her best impersonation of someone who both desperately needs to use the restroom and is dying to blurt out the answer in class. “Duncan and I have a bit of news ourselves.” She pats her lips shut for one brief moment. Lord knows you couldn’t stitch those things shut if you tried. She’d simply rip herself free and keep on yapping, bloodied, shredded mouth and all. Come to think of it, all of that vamp red lipstick she insists on wearing sort of offers up the bloodied lip effect all on its own. My sister is beginning to disgust me on all sorts of levels.
    Rex leans in