Page 91 of Maid For Each Other

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Because we’re reasonable adults. We’ll just each have veto power. If you demand I lick the concrete, I will veto that. But if it’s reasonable, I will grant you your wish. But you won’t win, by the way.”

“Crank up that Furtado and get started, Mariano, while I think about what I want from you.”

I hit the gas and she belted out the words, and I was obsessed with the way she was using a piece of paper to score the event, marking off a point when she missed something.

I chose “22”by Taylor Swift for my first song, mostly because what song was easier to sing along to than that? And I didn’t givea shit about anything other than winning that prize; I sang my ass off.

But I quickly discovered that even if I lost, it was a win because Abi was having a great time. She cackled while I sang, which was the greatest sound in the world and I was kind of becoming addicted to it, leading to me going even harder the next time it was my turn.

She sang Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, Maisie Peters, and Gracie Abrams, while I hit my stride with Metallica, Aidan Bissett, and Post Malone.

Abi was fantastic, by the way.

She sang full-out and was absolutely better than I was, far more performative and creative with her song choices.

But I was playing the odds, only selecting songs I knew I could nail.

Which meant I was the winner.

Abi sat in the car and tallied up the points when we got to the hotel while I took our bags out of the trunk, and when she finally came around to the back, she gave me a shy grin that I wanted to eat.

“So what do you want your prize to be?” she asked, squinting up at me in the bright sun. “And remember I have veto power.”

“Oh, I remember,” I said.

“So…?” she asked, and the way she subconsciously licked her bottom lip, I swear to God she knew. “What do you think you deserve?”

God, she was pretty. I looked down into her eyes and felt like asking for every fucking thing. But I said, “I want to kiss you.”

She swallowed, but then her lips kicked up into the cocky-ass grin that I was starting to think was her brave face when she didn’t really know what else to do. “You’ve already kissed memultiple times, so does this mean it was so amazing that you need more?”

I was pretty sure she thought she had the upper hand by being mouthy like that, but she’d backed me into a corner where I had no choice but to be completely honest. I put my thumb on her bottom lip, my gaze stuck on the mouth that I couldn’t stop thinking about, and I said, “That is absolutely what it means. So now the ball’s in your court, Mariano. Are you going to veto?”

I was surprised when she went on her tiptoes, set her hands on my cheeks, and said, “That was going to be my prize if I won, too.”

She pulled my head down to hers, and that was it. I guided her body against the car and devoured her mouth, exploring every corner while slowly dying every time I felt the flex of her fingers or the catch of her breath. It was hot and wild, frantic and hungry, the kind of kiss that would be accompanied by falling clothing if we were anywhere but a hotel parking lot.

I couldn’t process time or anything else around us; every one of my senses homed in on the feel of her body against mine. It wasn’t until I felt her pull away that my consciousness returned.

“So,” she said, blinking up at me like she’d been lost, too. “Do you feel like a winner?”

I knew I was hiding nothing when a dipshit smile took over my face and I said around a laugh, “Hell fucking yes. Let’s go check in.”

31

One Bed

Abi

So it had finally happened to me in real life.

I stood there in the doorway as Declan carried our bags into the hotel room—the hotel room with only one bed.

Elaine had booked all the rooms for the birthday party, and being a progressive sort of mother, she must’ve assumed that Declan and I would be staying in the same room.

Which made sense, of course.

But I didn’t know what he was thinking at that moment, and I also didn’t know how to bring it up. As much as I’d been sometimes honest with him about things and we’d handled everything so far together, I didn’t know how to navigate this.

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