Page 93 of Ardently Yours

Charlotte seems to agree. “You got lucky!” she hollers in a heckling tone.

Bronnie makes a yapping motion with her hand and saunters back to the end of our line with a grin on her face.

Henry steps up, carefully lines up his shot, and tosses his bag. It lands six inches shy of the board. He narrows his eyes, chewshis lip, then nods, and moves behind Charlotte with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Gabriel goes next.

“You can do it, Gabriel!” Bronnie cheers.

Gabriel barely makes it on the board. The beanbag hangs over the side and Bronnie shakes her head mournfully. “That point’s not sticking.”

Charlotte takes another turn and shouts, “Swish!” when her bag goes through the hole once more.

I reach for my purple beanbag.

Charlotte plasters herself against my back. I freeze. “What are you doing?”

She runs her fingers over my shoulders. “I’m helping you with your form.”

Her breasts press against me, and I turn to look at her with incredulous eyes. “I’m supposed to throw with you touching me?”

She lifts an eyebrow. “Are you asking me to stop?”

Fuck, no. I am not.

I push back against her a little just to hear her breathless giggle.

“I can handle your help.” I toss my beanbag.

She pats my ass where the kids can’t see just as I release the bag, and my shot flails wide.

I turn on her in mock-accusation. “Charlotte.”

She gives me an innocent look. “You’ll get it in the hole next time.”

And then it’s on.

When Bronnie takes her turn, I pick her up and stretch her over the line. She screams, “Swish!”

Henry puts his hands on his hips. “That’s cheating!”

“Fair play. No one got hurt. No one touched the bag with their hands after Bronnie released it,” Charlotte says.

She whispers something to Henry. He runs his hand over his chin and contemplates her words with an approving nod.

His next shot makes it onto the board.

Bronnie giggles. “Boo! I’m knocking that off when I go!”

Charlotte takes a turn, and I slide up behind her, placing my hands on her hips. Just as she lifts her arm, I lean down to nuzzle her ear. “Put your back into it, sweetheart.”

Her bag lands on the edge of the board, inadvertently tipping Gabriel’s beanbag onto the grass.

She bites her lip and bats her eyelashes. “Oops.”

When it’s my turn, she gives Henry a boost onto my back. He hangs on with his legs as she holds him steady. Then Henry covers my eyes with a cackle of laughter.

“I see how it is,” I say.

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