Losing Gabriel by Lurlene McDaniel Read Free Book Online Page B

laugh. She leaned across the console and kissed his cheek. “I’m lucky to have someone like you.”
    His heart swelled. She was like a little girl sometimes, with quicksilver moods that flashed from sulky to sunny, from sexy to innocent. She could let go with a stream of swearing to rival guys in the locker room or curl up in his arms like a kitten. She fascinated him. Not only because she was hot—so hot she made his blood sizzle—but also because she was an enigma, a puzzle he wanted to solve.
    Before turning onto the main road, he grinned at her. “A chocolate shake for a kiss. Fair trade.”
    Sloan rewarded him with a nibble on his earlobe that sent shivers through him and a kiss that seared his mouth. She broke the kiss and laughed deep in her throat. He shoved the car into gear and peeled out, laying rubber away from the trailer park entrance.

CHAPTER 10

    S loan spent every free minute at Dawson’s house during the holiday break. One night the three of them decorated a fresh evergreen tree that Franklin centered in the front window of the living room, where it could be seen by everyone walking or driving past. Holiday music played through the whole-house audio speakers, and a fire crackled in the room’s brick fireplace, mixing the smoky scent of burning wood with the woodsy smell of the evergreen. They drank warm apple cider, munched on cookies, and wrapped the tree with endless strands of twinkle lights, yards of garlands, and an amazing assortment of colorful decorations.
    The evening was like one out of a storybook, far different from the Christmases of Sloan’s childhood, when Santa Claus was gift delivery from a social service organization or charity church group. Her mother knew how to work the system, so Sloan always got presents, but rarely what she wanted. “You just act grateful no matter what,” La Donna would tell her. The gifts were plentiful before Sloan aged out of cuteness. As she grew, the presents morphed from pretty dolls, toys, games, and puzzles to clothes that never quite fit.
    “Hey, here’s an ornament I made for Mom in first grade.” Dawson held up a circle with his school photo glued inside it. Gold paint flaked onto the rug.
    Sloan studied the image of the dark-haired boy with the gap-toothed smile. “You haven’t changed a bit.”
    “I’m taller.” He grinned and dipped in for a kiss.
    “These were Kathy’s favorites.” Franklin opened an old egg carton, where gorgeous crystal snowflakes nestled in white tissue paper. Almost reverently he took each one out and looped their cords around the highest branches, and Sloan swore she saw his eyes glisten with a sheen of moisture.
    After Franklin went upstairs, she cuddled with Dawson in front of the fire under an old quilt. He kissed her, savoring the taste of apple and cinnamon on her breath. “So tell me, Sloan Quentin, if you could have anything for Christmas, what would you want?” He’d already bought her gifts, using up three weeks’ allowance. She was worth it.
    “I want to
be
someone.”
    He was expecting a flirty comeback like she usually gave when he teased with her, so her answer baffled him. He rose up on an elbow to search her face and saw that she was serious. Whoa. “You
are
someone. You’re my girl.”
    She regretted her answer. Somebody like Dawson, who had the best things in life, would never understand the hunger inside her, how it drove her, and she had no words to explain it to him. So she smiled and darted him a kiss. “Then how about the Crown Jewels?”
    He saw her gaze flit away, and he knew she had shut him out.

    She had little money and stressed over what to buy Dawson for Christmas but finally hit on an idea. She called Bobby, and during a long, cold afternoon in his garage, she recorded a mix of ballads and folk tunes, with Bobby on guitar. He downloaded the recordings to his laptop and took it home to balance the vocals and add layers of additional chords. Days later he appeared at the