Page 28 of Undeniably Perfect

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “Mom and Dad have a thing for hanky-panky in the laundry room. Sorry, KJ should have warned you.”

Di giggles. “Yeah, uh, Mom and Dad are like embarrassingly affectionate. They also have this thing where they love doing it in places where they know they will get caught. There isn’t a single person in this house who hasn’t walked in on them at some point. Some of us more than others. Le sigh. The scars of childhood run deep.”

“Did they see you?” Lanie asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t think so.”

She grins. “Well, then, your secret is safe with us.” She raises her glass, and we clink our drinks together.

“Guys, I’m sort of mortified. What if they saw me?” I whisper.

“What if who saw you?” Kent’s voice booms from behind me. I feel the color that was dissipating creep right back up my neck.

Di and Lanie lose it and start laughing hysterically. Tears stream down their faces and my inner child wants to punch them.

“Uh, no one,” I mumble as I chug my beer so that I can’t say anything incriminating.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and a squeeze. Then Kent chuckles.

He leans down and I feel his hot breath on my ear. “Welcome to the Moore family,” he whispers as he laughs.

Fuck. My. Life. He knows. And I also really like his hand on me. I push that thought aside because now is not the time to explore that strange emotion.

“Where’s C-Dog?” Kent says as he stands back up behind me.

Di manages to wipe the tears from her face and shrugs.

“Incoming!” a voice yells from the yard.

I’m not sure what occurs in the next two seconds but I’m suddenly on the ground with Kent over me and a football in his hand.

I look up to find a very pissed-off Kent.

“What the fuck, C-Dog! You could have hurt someone,” he growls. His free hand is still on my belly keeping me down.

“Kent…I’m OK,” I murmur.

He looks down at me. I see a range of emotions flash across his face before he removes his hand and stands up, offering me his hand. I take it, and he pulls me up like I weigh absolutely nothing.

“Sorry about that. C-Dog is a good kid. He just is a…kid,” Kent says. I look around and see a young man bounding up the steps toward us. He looks from me to Kent in confusion and also a little guilt.

“Uh, sorry about that,” he mutters to me before reaching out to shake my hand while giving me a sheepish grin. “I’m Clark, by the way.”

As he pulls back, Kent grabs him and twists him into a headlock while ruffling his hair.

“Ken doll, stop it!” Clark yells as he tries to get out of his brother’s grasp.

“You deserve it. Trying to pummel our guests with footballs,” Kent grumbles but his smile gives away that he isn’t actually mad.

“Boys, behave,” Mrs. Moore scolds from the family room. I look over at her, my face turning red yet again. She looks perfectly put together and quite frankly I’m shocked.

I look back at Di and Lanie. “She’s well-practiced at the art of public nookie. Never has a hair out of place afterward. It’s a god damn mystery, but you gotta give her props for her mad hook-up skills,” Di says with a shrug as she finishes her drink. “You want another?” she asks as she walks over to the cooler. I shake my head, deciding that I need to keep my senses about me while I’m here.

Chapter Fourteen

The party is winding down. The neighbors have left and now it’s just me and the Moores. Half of us are in the kitchen grazing on the leftover food and the other half have settled into the oversized sectional in the family room to watch a baseball game.

“OK, explain this game to me,” I say as I look at the television screen.

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