Page 71 of The Exception

Her forehead fell to his shoulder in defeat, and he had to agree. Their timing sucked.

“It’s fine,” he said. “We’ll go be social for a few, and wait for them to go to bed. It can’t be that long.”

Twenty-seven

“And then Adam said ‘how much you wanna bet Emma will bust out ‘Baby Got Back’ for karaoke if I buy her another shot?’” Dylan slapped his knee and tossed some microwave popcorn in his mouth. “She didn’t do it.”

They’d been listening to The Dylan Show for the last fifteen minutes while Emma heated up snacks and served them like she was hosting a drunken tea party. Sonya thought she was going to scream from the frustration of it all. Just when she’d finally decided to go for it, she was cock-blocked by the entirety of her friend group.

She waved off a peanut butter cookie for the fifth time, and Emma finally collapsed onto the couch, resting her feet in Sonya’s lap.

Trav perched on the arm beside Sonya, his thigh brushing against her every time he moved.

When they’d come up from the dock to greet everyone, baby monitor in hand and a story about needing some fresh air, she was sure her friends would be tucking into bed any minute. Cat had already put on pajamas and Josh kept finding reasons to touch her. He clearly wanted the night to end too, but Dylan and Dani weren’t about that eight hours of sleep lifestyle.

When Dani turned on the stereo and poured herself another drink, Sonya’s fingernails nearly punctured the couch cushion.

Trav must have been feeling daring, or just as desperate, because his fingers brushed the skin on the back of her neck making her shiver and reminding her of all of the other places she wanted to be touched.

That’s it.

She stood abruptly, pushing Emma’s feet to the floor and nearly knocking her off the couch. “I’m going to bed.”

“What? We just got back?” Dani waved a hand at her to sit back down, but Sonya was already halfway to the stairs.

“Thanks so much for babysitting, Sonya,” Josh called after her.

She gave him a salute on her way up. “No problem. Night. See you in the morning. Bye.” She took off in a sprint, hoping Trav caught thegimme five, then get up herelook she sent him.

* * *

What seemed like years later, Sonya heard a quiet knock on her bedroom door. She jumped up to open it.

“What took you so long?” She grabbed a fistful of Trav’s t-shirt, tugging him into her bedroom like the hallway was on fire. His room was two doors down, Dani and Dylan between them, and she wasn’t going to get interrupted or caught by either of them.

“Where I come from, it’s no man left behind,” he said.

His mouth was back on hers, smiling as he parted her lips and let himself in. They stumbled toward the bed, nearly tripping over the various outfits she’d tried on and discarded before heading down to that dock. Who was she kidding, thinking it wasn’t going to end up like this? God, she wanted to climb him. She’d never been like this before.

She pulled away and pushed up the hem of his t-shirt, exposing that stomach she’d been dreaming about. Literally.

Trav reached between them to unbuckle his belt. “Dylan got this bartending book out,” he said, kicking off his shoes as he walked her backward toward the bed. “And then Emma decided to bake another batch of cookies. Finally, Josh picked Cat up fireman-style and told them all that whoever woke Lucia up was sleeping at the bottom of the lake. I used the diversion to escape.”

It would have amused her, picturing Trav’s face while her friends continued to be themselves, except they’d stolen at least fifteen minutes of the time she could have had her hands on his body.

She touched him now, tracing the line of hair that disappeared into his jeans. “I gave you too much credit.” She pulled away to lift her tank top over her head. “I thought you could extract yourself better than that, soldier.”

“Oh no,” he said. “None of that competitiveness tonight.” He lifted her off her feet like he had on their run, and dropped her on the bed. “You’re going to admit that you beat your own record time running up here like that because neither of us has any chill.”

“You’re right.”

A smile broke out on his face as he crawled his way over the mattress. “I’m what?”

“Ugh, you’re right. Kiss me.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He kissed her hard, practically stealing her breath, and it only made her more desperate for him.

He paused to pull his shirt over his head and a pair of dog tags fell free, dangling in front of her face. She reached up to touch them. “You weren’t wearing these before. On the boat.”

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