Page 56 of Make it Real
“No fair, your arms are ten feet long.”
He chuckled. “That’s what you get for being fun-sized.”
Pushing my chair back, I stood and angled myself in front of him to block his next trade. Lindatsked, unhappy with the change, but I didn’t care. They’d been edging me out of trades all night. Jed and I elbowed each other out of the way, tussling over cards as we struggled for dominance. I shrieked with laughter, knowing I looked a right fool, but I needed some vindication here.
We’d both come down to one card, passing frantically with each of the grannies only to pass it right to the next when it wasn’t the one we wanted. Any second now, one of us would win the game, and I couldn’t get this close and still come up empty. Rita made to slip him a single card, but I took it instead, crowing when I saw I finally had a complete hand. I slapped my palm on the bell in the middle of the table, declaring myself the winner.
“Well,” Carmen said, laying her cards down. “That’s one way to win.”
“Y’all drove me to this.”
Rita smirked as she gave me a once-over. “I think you drove yourself.”
I looked down, and my brain caught up to the fact that in my eagerness to cut off Jed’s access to the cards, I’d wormed my way onto his lap. One of his hands held his useless cards, the other rested on my hip, my butt squarely parked on his thigh. He hadn’t complained, and by the way his chest at my back kept shaking, pretty sure he was laughing over it. Still…maybe just a teensy bit more forward than I’d intended to be.
“I think it’s time for a break, girls, what do you say?” Gran corralled the others with a significant look, and in another second, they’d gathered in the kitchen, leaving us somewhat on our own.
“Sorry.” I twisted around to see Jed’s face better. “I might have gotten a little carried away.”
“No apologies necessary. I like it when you get carried away.”
His gaze felt way too heavy, and I started to think I might not have been the only one reliving our kiss the other night. Sitting in his lap like this, our faces inches apart, it wouldn’t take much to get carried away again right now.
Well. Except for the little problem of the four elderly women in the next room who watched our every move. They might as well have whipped out binoculars and started taking notes, for all their eager glances our way.
“I thought you saidtheywere competitive.”
His mouth tipped up, and my eyes traced his lips. I wanted to kiss off that smirk. That’d teach him. Maybe Gran and the others still needed some convincing.
“I lost five rounds with grace. That was my limit.”
He lightly squeezed my side. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m on a winning streak.”
“Which will be in about five minutes at the rate they’re going.”
“They’re just trying to make me feel welcome. Honestly, I’m surprised my comfort isn’t a higher priority for my girlfriend.”
I frowned at him but couldn’t maintain it very well when he grinned up at me like this. “Comfort and ego aren’t the same thing.”
“I’ve been thinking you don’t prioritize my ego the way you should.”
This man’s eyes positively sparkled.
“I feel like that would be a full-time job.”
His fingers twitched on my waist. “There are generous perks.”
I think my whole body sighed. I’d been dreaming up all sorts of fringe benefits since our just-for-show, totally not-real kiss.
“How generous?” My voice had gone low like some kind of vixen, partially so the grans wouldn’t overhear me being so brazen, but mostly because he made mefeellike a vixen. Like I was desirable and fascinating and he couldn’t get enough of me. Maybe it was all part of the Thoughtful Boyfriend Package, but I wanted to soak up this exhilarating feeling as long as it lasted.
Jed’s gaze turned so heated, everything in his vicinity should have gone up in flames.
“First—”
“Are you two going to get something to eat, or are you going to fool around all night?”
Ugh, these women. They shoved me in a man’s direction, then interrupted us when we were getting to the good part. I tried to telegraph ten different apologies with my eyes, but Jed didn’t seem all that bothered by Linda’s interruption.
