Page 45 of Black Bay Enforcer
“If anyone cares,” Leo chimed in, “I vote for Pictionary.”
“Okay, so ten votes against Pictionary?” Perrin asked with a smirk.
“Har har.”
“Host’s choice,” Grady reminded them. “You can pick when we do this at your place.”
Leo’s smile turned decidedly wicked as he rubbed his hands together. “When I host, expect naked Twister and a vat of baby oil.”
Ignoring Leo, Jayla suggested, “We should be on teams.”
Shit. Eleven people. How would they split that? Kong didn’t want Erik to think he was the odd man out who had upset the balance and leave. Could he scrounge up another person? Almost everyone else was on shift tonight or away on a mission.
“I vote for guys against the girls,” Lynx chimed in.
Katherine rubbed his back. Softly she asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m great!” His grin was wide but a bit forced and judging by the look on Katherine’s face, he wasn’t fooling her one bit.
“There’s more girls than guys,” someone pointed out, but Kong wasn’t paying attention, too busy racking his brain for a solution.
Leo let out a scoffing sound. “Let ‘em have an extra player. They’ll need the advantage if they hope to win against us.”
That set the ladies off, all of them but Katherine snarking at Leo, but it was decided, taking the stress off Kong’s shoulders to find another player. Now they just needed to know what game.
He looked at Katherine. “So what do you want to play?”
“How about Trivia Pursuit?”
What a great night! After everyone said their goodbyes and headed off to their own apartments with promises that they’d be doing this again next week – just not at Leo’s place – Katherine began putting away the game pieces. Nothing else needed to be cleaned up. Everyone had pretty much picked up after themselves.
Katherine wasn’t sure what had Kong so tense earlier, but he’d quickly relaxed once the game had begun. They were such a wonderful group. And smart. Holy crap! Katherine had been impressed. Unlike her, none of the categories stumped them, with someone shouting the answer almost as soon as the question was asked. There was also lots of teasing, and joking around, and their competitive natures had definitely come out to play – things had gotten pretty loud quite a few times – and Katherine had almost thought they’d have to break up a brawlbetween Leo and Perrin at one point, but all in all, she couldn’t wait to do this again.
“Katherine?”
Smiling, she looked up from what she was doing and then straightened up fully. Kong looked tense again. “What is it? What’s the matter?”
His cheeks puffed out before he released a slow breath and he rubbed his hand over his hair. “I thought maybe we could…” He trailed off, shifting his weight from foot to foot. “Maybe you might want to…”
She wasn’t used to seeing him so hesitant. Stepping closer, Katherine touched his forearm. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
Kong cleared his throat. “Do you want to move in with me?”
Her eyes widened as her chest swelled with hope. Kong wanted to live together! She almost did a happy dance.Yes. Yes. Yes. No, wait.Pump the brakes, she cautioned herself before she let her heart take over and completely override her common sense. Her brain needed a say in this too. “Isn’t it too soon?”
He frowned. “Are there timetables to these sorts of things?”
She supposed not.
“I like having you here. I think you like being here.”
Katherine nodded as the butterflies in her belly held a rave with glitter bombs and rainbows. She did like being here with him. So much. She liked spending time with him, talking to him, and listening to his stories. She liked falling asleep with his arms around her and loved that his face was the first thing she saw when she woke in the morning. But… “It’s not crazy?”
Kong pulled her into his arms. “Maybe it is. But let’s be crazy together.”
He kissed her and any thoughts as to whether moving in together was premature or insane fled her head. She wanted this. She wanted Kong and not just for the short term.
His hands cupped her backside, and with a boost, her feet were off the floor, her skirt hiked up, and her legs wrapped around his waist.
