Page 77 of Stumped

Glaring at my phone, I nod. “I’d end that relationship before I end ours.”

“Good boy,” she whispers and turns my head, her mouth colliding with mine. The air is charged, my body on fire as she climbs into my lap, knees pressing against my sides. A guttural moan escapes me as her tongue sweeps over my bottom lip and I squeeze her ass, pressing her roughly against me. Knowing she wants me and doesn’t care what the world has to say is what I need to focus on. And I pour every ounce of my appreciation into the kiss.

Until a throat clears.

I lean around her and find Tamara standing in the doorway with a smug grin. Vera flips her off, but doesn’t leave my lap.

“First of all, that wasreallyhot. Secondly, this house is insane. Third, the chef put tea and ethakka appam?2 out on the veranda, in case either of you are into that sort of thing,” Tamara says. “Also, the guys are gathering things for beach cricket.”

“I love you, but please leave,” Vera tells her cousin, who cackles and closes the door when she leaves.

“So glad we invited her.”

She whines and climbs off my lap. “I wanted to have beach house sex.”

Laughing, I stand and hold my hands out. “If I can find the appropriate gag, I’ll make it happen.”

Snarling, she lunges and I’m still laughing as Vera wraps herself around me, hands sliding over my ass. I kiss her forehead and smooth down her hair. Dhruv wants me to givethisup? Give her up? How did the assholes in her past not know exactly how good they had it?

An hour later—teaand ethakka appam have been consumed—we’re setting up on the beach when the women join us. My heart stalls when I see Vera. She’s wearing high-waisted flared maroon shorts and what looks like the top half of a bikini hugs her breasts. A thick band of gorgeous golden brown skin between the top and waistband draws my attention. Her thick wavy hair is fluttering in the wind and not a single speck of makeup can be seen.

She’s drop-dead beautiful.

“For the record,” Tamara adjusts her sunhat with a flirty smirk, “I’m only here to ogle the hot professional athletes.”

Vera snorts and walks over, sand kicking up around her bare feet and runs her hands up my chest to hook around my neck. Shirtless in board shorts, I feel the heat of her touch against every inch of my skin.

“If you wanna avoid this chaos, I’m up for it.”

“Doyouwant to escape, superstar?”

My hands ghost over her hips and around to her ass. “We’d have the house all to ourselves,” I whisper.

“Maybe after I destroy everyone in cricket.”

I don’t have time to change her mind, because she walks away with a swing in her step. My eyes drink in the criss-cross straps over her back and down to her thick thighs and legs as she ties her hair up.Hate to watch her leave, but love to watch her walk awaywas said for a moment exactly like this.

“Good thing we’re on the beach, because all that drool is making a mess.” I snap my mouth shut to glance over at a grinning Tamara. “You should tell her you’re in love with her.”

I shake my head and do the same with my shoulders and head to the pitch. Which is a loose term for what we’ve created with thick ropes. There isn’t a lot of space, so we’re working with what we have. We’ve been playing beach cricket long enough that after using driftwood, we got proper bats made with lighter material and invested in a large number of fluorescent yellow tennis balls. The pitch is barely half the size of a standard one with a single set of wickets. We use red and blue flags as markers for runs and boundary shots, but nobody gets anything more than a four anyway.

“The rules are simple,” Bash says. “No high boundary shots, if the ball goes beyond the red marker you get four runs. Since running on the beach is difficult, we won’t hold it against you if you don’t. However, if the ball crosses the blue marker, it’s one run. Don’t try to get crafty with your batting. This is for fun. And yes, the winning team gets a prize.”

“What’s the prize?” Vera asks, swinging the bat as she stands beside Samar. During tea, they formed an alliance to take us down and I’m only a little worried.

Bash frowns and says, “Bragging rights.”

“Fuck no, I want aprize.”

Bash looks at me and I shrug. “Tickets to our next game?”

“That’s not a prize,” she counters with an eye roll and gestures at me. “Perks of dating one of you, I always have access to tickets. I want bragging rights, obviously. Like I will talk about this on social media for the rest of my life. But something more because I’m totally kicking your ass.”

Bash’s eyes widen as he stares at her and glances at me in surprise. I chuckle and walk over to where she’s getting into position at the crease. Since there’s only room for one batter, Samar is standing to the side, waiting for his turn.

“Really digging for a prize, huh?”

She grins. “Thought it’d be fun to make Bash sweat a little.”

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