Page 42 of XOXO, Valentina

Kennedy followed on her heels. “I got here as quickly as I could. What did I miss? Gabi jumped somebody’s bones?” She rubbed her hands together in excitement. “Tell us everything.”

“Let’s take this upstairs,” Thatcher said. “I need to get back to my carpet war.”

Mia and Kennedy helped themselves to cups of wine and we went back to Thatcher’s hideous bedroom.

“Holy garden of shamrocks,” Mia said, glancing around the room.

“It’s not so bad.” Kennedy planted her hands on her hips and surveyed the room. She’d come straight from teaching yoga class and was positively radiating good vibes. “The chandelier is cool.”

“The wallpaper makes me want to puke,” Mia said.

“It’s coming down. Don’t worry.” Thatcher bent over the upturned piece of carpet. “Everybody grab hold.”

“Yeah!” Kennedy shouted, exuding a little too much energy.

“Was it Aaron?” Lacey asked, grabbing some turf.

“Who’s Aaron?” Thatcher and Kennedy asked in unison.

“The bartender at Hawthorne’s,” Mia said. “The hot one with the biceps.”

Thatcher scoffed. “Everyone has biceps.”

Mia pursed her lips. “Not like Aaron’s.”

We tugged together, pulling up most of the carpet and a lot of dust. Underneath the carpet was a thick layer of glue and stained particle board. Thatcher sneezed. Mia coughed. Daisy growled at the dust balls floating in the air.

“It wasn’t Aaron,” I said.

“Oh no, not Mr. Morales?” Lacey asked. “You were supposed to be staying away from him.”

“The teacher?” asked Mia. “Gross.”

My pulse quickened. “It wasn’t gross.” I bit the inside of my cheek. “It was… magical.” I sank to the ground, feeling light-headed. “It was incredible.”

“How incredible?” Lacey passed around the bag of chips. “Tell us everything.”

“I thought I would just have a bite to eat with him and maybe kiss him again.”

“Again?” Kennedy asked.

“We may have kissed once before.”

Mia’s brows rose. “May have?”

I flushed, remembering the hot lip-lock in the booth at Goodfella’s. “We definitely kissed.”

Mia crunched a chip. “Then what happened?”

“We didn’t make it to breakfast.” My pulse raced again as I remembered Joey pinning me against the hard wood of the door. “We barely made it inside the door.”

“Whoa.” Kennedy grabbed a chip. “Hardcore.”

A smile fought its way across my lips. “We eventually made it to the bedroom.”

“You did it twice?” Thatcher’s eyebrows shot up toward his hairline.

Even Lacey was impressed, which was saying a lot, considering she and Beckett were doing it like bunnies every chance they got.

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