Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 88460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 354(@250wpm)___ 295(@300wpm)
Thank God for my sisters’ kids ’cause I’d never hear the end of it.
I follow Lucy to the living room, and we settle on the leather couch; it creaks softly as we sink into its comfort. She tucks her legs beneath her, facing me with her glass resting on her knee. Lucy raises her hand, and I notice a remote; three seconds later, soft music starts playing.
“Tell me something,” Lucy says, swirling her wine. “What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done in front of someone’s parents?”
I chuckle, leaning back. “Oh, you’re starting with the tough questions, huh?”
“What?” She grins. “You’re the one who said you were an open book.”
I take a long sip of wine, thinking. “All right. There was this one time in high school. I was meeting a girl’s parents for dinner, and the dog wasn’t supposed to be let out because it would run away. But at one point I went to the garage for a soda and the dog ran out and ran away. They spent the entire night looking for him, and it didn’t come back until the next afternoon.”
She gawks at me.
“I wasn’t invited back.” I laugh at the memory. “Man, her dad was pissed.”
Lucy shakes her head, covering her mouth to stifle her laughter. “That’s terrible! Did you help look for it?”
“Of course I did,” I say, grinning. “But let’s be real, I wasn’t exactly their MVP. The dad kept muttering under his breath about me being a dumb jock.”
Lucy tilts her head, giggling. “And you never saw the girl again?”
“Oh, I saw her.” I smirk. “Just not at her house.” Shelby Bauer and I had lots and lots of secret sex after her dad kicked me out of their house for letting their dog loose, mostly in the bed of the pickup truck I drove in high school. “I was a teenager with raging hormones and a grudge against her dad,” I confess. Seemed like the perfect combination.
“Please tell me you never got caught.”
“Not by her parents,” I admit. “But once, we did get interrupted by a park ranger banging on the tailgate with a flashlight.”
Lucy gasps, covering her face with her hands from the secondhand embarrassment. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. We panicked and pretended we were stargazing.”
She bursts out laughing. “Stargazing?”
“I said we were studying constellations,” I say, unable to stop my own laughter. “Shelby went with it, pointing at the sky like she knew what she was talking about.”
Lucy shakes her head, still giggling. “Did it work?”
“Barely. The cop rolled his eyes and said, ‘Next time, study at home.’”
“Oh God, I can’t even imagine.” She nudges my leg with her knee. “I would have been horrified.”
“You asked for embarrassing stories.”
She smirks, setting her glass on the coffee table. “Yup, that’s a good one. But now I’m afraid to take you anywhere with a view of the stars.”
“Relax,” I tease, inching closer. “These days, I stargaze the responsible way.”
“And what’s the responsible way?”
“With wine, a couch, and good company,” I murmur, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear, admiring the view of her.
Her eyes flutter to my lips. “You seem to have it all figured out.”
“Only because you’re making it easy,” I say.
“That was so cheesy,” she whispers.
“Did it work?”
She nods.
Our lips meet, soft and warm, the faint taste of wine mixing between us.
Her hand slides up to my shoulder, fingers curling into my shirt as she pulls me closer. The teasing falls away, replaced by something deeper—something I’ve been wanting to do since the moment I saw her smile at the door.
Chapter 15
Lucy
He tastes so good.
The best kind of dessert . . .
The kind of dessert with a hint of red wine lingering on his lips. I could easily lose myself in the warmth of his mouth, the feel of his hand sliding up my back, pulling me closer like he can’t help himself.
My fingers tangle in his hair, and for a moment, the world outside disappears—no parents watching, no worries about what will happen tomorrow. Just us, the hum of the crickets outside, and the steady rhythm of his breathing against mine.
When we finally break apart, I’m breathless. My lips tingle, and my pulse races like I sprinted a mile. He rests his forehead against mine, both of us catching our breath, and then his fingers brush against my jaw, a soft, almost lazy caress that makes my heart skip.
“Wow,” he murmurs, his voice low. “That was sexy.”
“So sexy,” I whisper back, smiling. I feel lightheaded, like I’ve had more than one glass of wine, but it’s not the alcohol making me feel this way—it’s him.
Tingles!
Shivers!
Guh! All the things!
He leans back, his arm draped around my shoulders, and takes a sip of wine. His gaze flickers to mine, full of warmth and mischief. “Okay, I told you my most embarrassing story. Your turn.”