Page 55 of Kiss the Girl
Brooke glowered at her. “I do not lose all the time.”
Grace glanced over at me. “Doesn’t she, though?”
I pretended to think about it. “She won one game of Scrabble, one time. Maybe we should give her a break from losing?”
“I won Trivial Pursuit,” she objected.
“I have no memory of that,” I said. “You remember that happening, Grace?”
“I don’t. Sounds like alternative facts to me.”
“Y’all suck,” Brooke whined.
“So what’s the movie?” Grace asked, unmoved.
“What Happens in Vegas,” Brooke said.
Grace stared at her.
“What? It’s a good movie. Cameron Diaz. Ashton Kutcher. It’s funny.” But Brooke acted way too innocent as she fumbled with the TV remote.
“You’re having us watch a movie about a couple who is pretending to be in a relationship but then falls in love for real?” Grace asked. “Do I have that right?”
“It’s a good movie,” Brooke repeated.
“How do we feel about this, Noah?”
“Sounds dumb,” I said. “Let’s watch a sports movie about underdogs who win. Or a war movie. With bombs. Lots of bombs.”
“Maybe some sci-fi,” Grace said. “Like with aliens. And explosions. Lots of explosions.”
“You guys can always do a movie night and watch those together on your own time,” Brooke said sweetly. “My house, my movie. Shut up and watch.”
“Is your middle name ‘the worst’?” Grace asked.
Brooke ignored her and started the movie, then turned off all the lights and settled into her armchair.
I leaned over to Grace. “So, heckle?” I whispered.
“Definitely heckle.”
We did, mercilessly. It was the most fun I’d had since the last time I’d hung out with Grace. Around the midpoint, I got interested in spite of myself and forgot to heckle, stretching my feet out on the coffee table. I liked that Brooke was the kind of host who made me feel totally comfortable doing that. And maybe Grace did too, because she settled back into the couch and stretched her legs out, but when her feet didn’t reach, she settled them on top of mine. The backs of her ankles fit the top of my shin like we’d been carved in those places exactly to fit each other.
Maybe I was spending too much time woodworking on this booth project?
But it felt right. It just did. And when I shifted them up to rest on my thighs where they fit just as well, she didn’t mind. And when I wrapped my hand around one of her ankles to see how small it was in my palm, she scooted down a little further, like she liked the way it felt when I touched her.
When I feathered my thumb lightly over that ankle, she drew in a sharp breath and went still. I paused to see what she would do. When she didn’t move, I kept it up, liking how soft her skin felt against the pad of my thumb.
But when the movie ended and we got up to help Brooke clean up the snacks, Grace made a point of keeping Brooke between us at all times.
“You excited for Ian to come home?” Grace asked.
“Can’t wait,” Brooke said. “Two weeks! He’ll only be here for two days, but still. I haven’t seen him in two months. I can’t wait for training to be over. Hey, you should come over for Thanksgiving at Gran’s, Noah. She’d love to meet Paige and Evie.”
“Thanks, but we’ve got plans.”
“What are you doing?”
