Page 76 of The Last Kind of Kiss
“So you don’t want to kiss me right now?” I breathe, relishing in satisfaction when a moan builds in his throat, and I feel his hips adjust accordingly underneath me. He keeps his hands splayed behind him, exerting more control than I think I’ve ever seen.
“So fucking badly, angel,” he whimpers, striking a chord of lust deep within me. “But I won’t be able to stop myself if I do.”
I can feel Gage and Cali staring at us—probably repenting for our sakes while we act out an amateur porno right in front of them—and a whistle disrupts the mindless chatter around us. I break away from the sizzling tension, trying to keep my cool while Bristol’s gone red enough to revoke his man card.
“You four wanna stop screwing each other and get this game started?” Hayes calls from the couch.
Kit gasps and covers baby Eda’s ears with his gargantuan hands. “Hayes! Not in front of the kid!”
“Right. Sorry. Do you four wanna stop…sucking face…and get this game started?”
“That’s even worse!”
“She’s five months old! She can’t understand English!”
Faye—dwarfed in a shirt decorated with spit-up and liquidized peas—looks like she’s one braincell away from losing her sanity completely. “My bedtime is eight thirty, and it’s already nine. Either someone starts the game now or I’m going home,” she growls.
Fulton—whom I’ve only met a few times before and is by far the quietest person on their team—laughs nervously, immediately springing into action. “I’ll go first! Yeah. No worries at all. Everyone here…has a date. Which makes me like the eleventh wheel, but that’s okay! That’s fine. I’m good. This is great. Yep. Let me just…scoot on over here.”
I feel for the guy. I can’t imagine it’s easy seeing all your teammates in a relationship. Fulton’s a great guy—polite, respectful, shy. There’s no doubt in my mind that his time will come eventually.
Fulton shuffles over to the skyscraper of Jenga blocks, analyzes the best move by circling around the tower, then pokes his tongue against his cheek in concentration. He eventually hunkers down to pull one from the middle, making everyone hold their breath as he wheedles it from its spot. When he raises it up in victory, everyone claps softly to refrain from upsetting baby Eda. She’s pretty much oblivious to everything that’s going on, though. Kit cradles her butt with one arm, holding her upright while she sucks and grabs at his fingers. He’s such a girl dad.
“Alright, this says…” Fulton trails off, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, and he whips around to face Gage. “This says to remove an article of clothing of your choosing?”
Gage shrugs. “I got the Sweet and Spicy version.”
“What am I supposed to remove? I’m only wearing a shirt, pants, and underwear!”
“Please keep your underwear on,” Casen says.
Casen’s another one of Bristol’s teammates, and he has thisgruff look about him like he’s some weathered lumberjack with a deep, traumatic backstory that nobody except his wife knows about. I’m guessing. Or he’s a lighthearted guy who comes from a well-mannered family. Josie, his wife, has been with him since high school. I don’t know much about their love story, but they’re always in good spirits whenever I see them.
“Ooh, are we voting? I call shirt. Show us those washboard abs!” Gage wolf whistles, making Cali shake her head.
I’m not sure if this is a constant state for Fulton, but he looks perpetually nervous. Like he’s smuggling coke up his ass and has just been asked to step through an airport body scanner.
“Pants!” Hayes chimes in. “I’ve seen him crush a watermelon with those quads.”
“I definitely didn’t wear enough deodorant for this,” Fulton mumbles under his breath.
Bristol chuckles as he pulls off one of his—yes,good-smelling—socks, tossing it in Fulton’s direction. “Don’t worry, Ful. You can bow out of this one. Just use my sock.”
Fulton’s shoulders sag with relief. “Thanks, Bristol.”
“Anyone can opt out whenever they want. Nothing should happen without their consent,” Casen reminds the group, receiving a collective nod from every participant.
Fulton places his Jenga block back on top with little hesitance, and when he sits down, Kit rises to a stance, carrying baby Eda with him. He holds her out to a row of blocks closer to the top, andawws permeate the room as she grabs at essentially nothing, causing Kit to help pop out one of the blocks for her. With a few adorable motor failures, she finally hooks her little fingers around it, yanking it out with enough caution to keep the tower intact.
Kit bounces her on his hip, pride beaming across the newly pronounced wrinkles on his face from late nights and early mornings. “Good job, Eds.” His voice goes all high-pitched anddoting, and we’re talking about the same guy who, in his playboy days, was allegedly with half the alphabet.
Everyone’s growing up. Aeris and Hayes are engaged, Josie and Casen have been married for one year, Kit and Faye have a baby. My twenties are moving a lot quicker than I expected.
Kit flips the brick over and immediately smiles. “Tell us your favorite thing about the person sitting to the left of you.”
The whole circle looks to Faye, who’s struck speechless and stares at her small family with so much love that it’s tangible. It’s a look that says she’s found her purpose in life; a look that says she’s at peace; a look that I’m constantly striving for myself.
“What do you have to say about Mommy?” Kit asks baby Eda, handing her back the block. All she does is burble out a string of nonsensical gibberish, kicking her feet happily and grabbing fruitlessly at her new toy.
