Submission Under the Mistletoe by Yvette Hines Read Free Book Online Page B

mainly
because the man had said he wasn’t in the lifestyle. So, why she’d
even had a sliver of hope he’d be here didn’t make sense.
    She needed to get away. She’d come here tonight
wanting to lose herself in the shadows, but she knew no solace
would be found here for her. Not tonight.
    ~YH~
    Brad kept trying to convince himself to go back to
his hotel. He’d been sitting outside in his car, in the back
parking lot of Strong Blends for thirty minutes. Several people in
groups and couples had gone inside, dressed in black and other dark
colors. Some festively adorned as others had been the night he’d
come with the trio.
    He should have taken Brian up on his offer of
finding a local jazz club and seeing if they could link up with
some available woman. He’d told his brother he was tired, hadn’t
been sleeping well and wanted an early night. The sleeping part was
true, because his mind had been flooded with dreams of the
woman.
    However, it was the first time he’d lied outright to
his twin.
    As soon as Brian’s door had closed down the hall,
he’d gone to the fire exit and taken the stairs back to the lobby
and went directly to the parking garage. He could blame his current
position outside the dungeon on his sister. Alesha making him talk
about the night he met China Doll, but he knew that wasn’t true. No
one else was responsible for where he sat, but himself. He needed
to see her.
    Yes, he wanted to know if she was okay but there was
something else. Something about the petite black woman with big,
soulful, amber eyes and lips thick and wide that stretched into the
most captivating smile. What that something was he didn’t know.
    Realizing he’d probably made a wasted trip all the
way to the outskirts of town, he grabbed at his key still in the
ignition prepared to start it back up.
    The back door opened and as if walking from his
dream China Doll stepped out.
    With the same force of running into a brick wall,
his heart beat hard and slammed into the back of his sternum at the
sight of her. Getting out of his car, he called to her.
    “ China Doll.”
    Four cars away, she appeared not to have heard him
then he saw her stop. She slowly turned and stared at him.
    Space and time had no relevance as their gazes
locked. She blinked a few times, as if clearing her vision but
continued to look at him, unmoving.
    She stood beneath one of the parking shoebox lights;
it seemed to illuminate her like a golden beam from heaven.
    Tonight her hair was in classic waves down to her
shoulders, her bang was cut in the middle of her forehead and
revealed eyebrows arched and blackened. One side of her hair was
held away from her face with an emerald green flower. However even
from this distance it was her lips that drew his gaze. The bold,
vibrant red paint that showcased her thick, cupid bow shaped mouth
made him remember that kiss.
    “ I was hoping to see you here,” he
confessed.
    “ Why?” Her breath became winter
smoke in the air, floating up and dissipating.
    Not moving, he remained by his car, allowing her to
come to him.
    Setting the bag from her shoulder on the roof of the
car, she rounded the hood then continued to walk with purposeful
strides to him.
    “ To make sure you were okay.” He
watched her closing the distance between them.
    She didn’t stop until she was a foot away from him.
“Do I look okay?” Her voice was low, seductive.
    Maybe, I just wanted it to be.
    He realized he was breathing hard, his blood was
pumping in his veins like he’d just run a race. He could see the
cloud of both of their breaths mingling between them.
    Traveling his gaze over her features and down her
coat clad form, he said, “I think you look beautiful. Like a
blazing fire in a winter storm.”
    Shit, when did I become a poet?
    Leaning toward him, she whispered, “Kiss me.”
    Not hesitating. Not reasoning. Brad wrapped his arms
around the small framed woman before him and pulled her to him.
When her body pressed against