The Santa Mug Read Online Free Page A

he said to the empty room as he started up the stairs.

5
     
    Darren woke from a sound sleep under the combined weight of two small bodies jumping on him.
    “Uncle Max, Uncle Max! Wake up!” Kara and Kia, six-year-old twins, froze in surprise when Darren poked his head out from beneath his blanket. “You’re not Uncle Max.” One of the girls crossed her arms accusingly.
    “Hey! I’m over here.” Max sat up and straightened the T-shirt he was wearing. “Come give me a snuggle.”
    One of the pair squealed and sprinted across the space to throw herself into Max’s arms. The other remained sitting with arms crossed, her face creased with a child’s irritation. “Who are you?” she demanded.
    Darren pulled himself up. He shivered slightly as the cool air hit his bare chest. “My name is Darren. What’s yours?”
    “Kia,” the little girl said. “That’s my sister,” pointing to the other girl who was shrieking with laughter as Max tickled her.
    “Nice to meet you, Kia.”
    “You have hair on your chest like Daddy. Mommy says she is going to mow him one of these days.” Kia paused, looking critically at Darren’s chest. “I don’t think yours is ready to cut yet.”
    Darren pulled his blanket up a little higher, unable to think of a single thing to say.
    Max laughed. “She’s right you know. Not a very likely looking crop you got there.”
    Darren glared at him. “Gee, thanks.”
    “Kia, come here, baby, and give me my hug. Then you and Kara can tell Mommy and Daddy we’ll be right down, okay?”
    Kia got off Darren’s bed and gave Max a perfunctory hug, still eying Darren over her shoulder. Max finally got her full attention by blowing raspberries on her neck. She shrieked as only a six-year-old girl can and tried to push away. “Uncle Max, that’s gross!” she said, scrubbing at her neck.
    “You bet, and there’s plenty more where that came from if you two don’t scoot and let us get dressed. Now, scram!” Max made as if to do it again, and both girls screamed. They ran for the door and slammed it shut behind them.
    “What in the hell was that?” Darren demanded, his head still reeling with the onslaught.
    “Thundering horde, remember? Those are Mark and Carla’s girls.”
    Darren shook his head. “They don’t exactly act alike, do they?”
    “No,” Max agreed. “Kia has always been the leader of the pair. In fact—”
    A sharp rap on the door interrupted him. “Are you decent in there?” A musically feminine voice called through the door.
    Max started to say “Yes,” but Darren overrode him.
    “No! We’re humping like bunnies!”
    A startled gasp and quickly muffled giggles sounded from the other side of the door.
    Darren got out of bed and pulled on jeans and a clean T-shirt. He looked at Max, who sat staring at him. “What? I wanted enough time to get my damned pants on before anyone else came blasting through that door.”
    Max burst out laughing. “You’ve done it now. I think that was my sister, Carrie, and unless I miss my guess, her oldest daughter, Monica.” Max shook his head. “She’s fourteen.”
    “Oh shit. I’m sorry, Max.”
    Max laughed. “Doesn’t matter to me. Just know that by the time we hit the bottom of the stairs, the whole house will have heard. Monica isn’t exactly discreet.”
    Darren shook his head. “I used to regret being an only child, but not anymore.”
    “Come on,” Max said as he, too, donned jeans and a shirt. “Let’s go down and face the firing squad together.”
     
    *  *  *
     “ Maxie !” A man roughly the size of a Cincinnati linebacker grabbed Max and yanked him off his feet, swinging him around and laughing. “Where have you been, you little shit? I’ve missed you at these shindigs.” He set Max on his feet and planted a solid kiss on the top of his head.
    “Jeez, Elliot. Warn a guy first, will ya? If I’d have eaten already, you’d be wearing it right now.” Max scowled up at him, then his face broke