The McCree's Star Spangled 4th by J.C. Isabella Read Free Book Online Page A

went to the pantry and grabbed the treat jar.
Four more dogs came running. I tossed each of them a biscuit.
Stinker was nowhere to be found. He usually slept with
Chase.
    I kept out one of the biscuits and went
back upstairs, thinking I’d get out my laptop and play a game or
something. But first I stopped outside Chase’s door and cracked it
open. Stinker was at the foot of his bed. His head popped up when I
waved the treat. He gave a soft bark and I tossed it to
him.
    “ Briar?” Chase asked, half
asleep.
    I knew he’d wake up, but I also knew
Stinker would feel left out if I didn’t bring him one. “Go back to
sleep.”
    “ Something
wrong?”
    “ No, I just gave Stinker a
treat.” I started to shut the door. While I was up, I’d paint my
finger nails and toenails for the 4th. I’d found a polish with red,
white and blue glitter last time I was in town with
Millie.
    “ Hold it,” he sat up, but
didn’t turn on the light. “Why are you giving the dogs treats so
late?”
    “ It was Gunner’s fault. He
made those sad, oh poor me, eyes and I couldn’t resist.” I sighed,
leaning against the door and sipped my drink. “I was also
thirsty.”
    “ You got a sugary drink to
help you sleep?” He held out his hand and gestured for the glass.
“Shut the door.”
    “ We can talk in the
morning.” I pushed it closed and walked toward the bed. Chase took
the glass from me and set it on the nightstand.
    “ Maybe I don’t want to
talk,” he chuckled and pulled me onto the bed with him, kissing me.
“You taste like lemons.”
    I smiled, kissing him back and winding
my arms around his neck. “What do you want to do?”
    “ I want to listen to you
talk, Briar baby.” He laid back, taking me with him and pulling the
covers over us.
    “ It can wait,” I said,
resting my head on his chest and listening to his steady heartbeat.
“Why don’t you kiss me some more?”
    “ If it could have waited you
wouldn’t have brought Stinker a treat. You knew he’d wake me
up.”
    Damn, he was right. “I’m just
nervous.”
    “ Is this about my mom
coming?” he knew I was anxious. I’d told him earlier in the day,
but hadn’t elaborated as to why I was so worried about her
visit.
    “ She’s very…opinionated.” I
was trying for some tact. It was his mother after all.
    “ She’s not going to give you
a hard time if I have anything to say about it.” He hugged me, his
hands rubbing up and down my back. Darn him, my eyelids were
starting to droop. He was going to put me to sleep. “Don’t
worry.”
    “ She thinks I’m making the
same mistake she did.”
    “ Do you think she is right?”
his voice was quieter, deeper in my ear.
    “ No,” I didn’t. “I’m worried
she’ll make me second guess my choice.”
    He grunted, and then surprised me by
attacking me with kisses everywhere. My cheeks, forehead, chin, and
eyelids. He even tickled me until I started giggling. I shoved at
him, but he was trying to make me laugh, and it was working. I was
gasping by the time he was finished.
    “ We gotta sleep now,” he
kissed me on the lips this time. “Stay here with me?”
    I rested my head on his pillow and
curled into his side, “Only if you promise not to tickle me
again.”
    “ I won’t tickle you for the
rest of the night,” he laughed. “At least, not
intentionally.”
    “ What, are you a sleep
tickler?”
    “ Maybe…”
    After talking to him, and getting out
what was bothering me, I didn’t have anything to keep me up
worrying. It was also hard not to sleep with him right next to me.
He was warm and comforting. Stinker managed to wedge between our
legs at some point, but he only made me feel cozier.
    I woke out of a dead sleep when I felt
Chase leave the bed, followed by Stinker. They were moving around
the room. He had his boots on, and I heard stinker padding next to
him as he headed for the door.
    I rubbed my eyes and sat up. His clock
said five. In the morning. God, it was early. Normally I