Page 71 of Easy Reunion

Chapter 29

Rierson

Later that night, I have to spit the Chinese we ordered into my napkin, I’m laughing so hard at Kelsey’s play-by-play of what happened in the elevator with Eli. “Oh, God. I wish I’d known.” I’m howling. “You completely desecrated him.”

“It wasn’t like he didn’t get a few punches of his own in there,” she mutters.

Reaching over, I grab my phone. Scrolling through the contacts, I find Eli’s number. I press Send and put the call on speaker. “What do you want? Haven’t I taken enough abuse on your behalf today?” Eli answers grumbling.

I don’t say a word. I start laughing.

Eli sighs. “Fuck you, Ry. And remember, that meeting is actually tomorrow,” he says before he hangs up the phone.

I’m still laughing when I toss the phone back onto the table.

Kelsey’s frowning down into her steamed vegetables. “Men are really just little boys with bigger penises, aren’t they?”

Lisa, who Kelsey asked to stay and join us for dinner, has been trying to hold in her laughter. She finally can’t contain it, and her own flows out. “If I’d known this would have happened…”

“Yes? What would you have done?” Kelsey uses her chopsticks to stick a bite of chicken in her mouth. She chews carefully, something I notice she does with every taste, then swallows.

“I’d have talked you up more. You’re about to become a legend, Kelsey,” Lisa declares.

Kelsey, meanwhile, puts down her carton of Chinese and buries her face in her hands. “It was mortifying.”

“It was quite simply the bravest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” I tell her softly.

Her head flies up. “Really?” The same power that’s arced between us that lay dormant for fifteen years flutters in the air. The ions are almost tangible.

Lisa stands. “And this is where I bow out.” Scooping up her carton, she stabs her chopsticks inside before tossing it onto the counter. “You’ll set the alarm?”

I nod, not dragging my eyes from Kelsey’s face. “Good night, Lisa.”

“Night, Ry. Night, Kelsey.”

“Night, Lisa. I’ll see you later in the morning,” Kelsey says in her soft voice.

The lights in the hallway go out as Lisa turns them off one by one. Kelsey’s beautiful eyes are only left illuminated by overhead pendants in the kitchen where we’re both still seated staring at one another. Putting my carton of Mongolian beef down, I stand and walk around the island. Kelsey follows my every movement, yet her breath still catches when I trap her between my arms. “I missed you today.” I lean down to nuzzle just behind her ear, and she lets out a long, slow moan.

Suddenly a voice yells from the hallway. “We had an agreement, big brother! No sex in common areas of the house!”

“But it’s my damn house,” I mutter like an adolescent boy.

Kelsey giggles before pushing me back slightly. “That reminds me. I have something for you. I need to run out to my car.”

My eyes narrow as she ducks under my arms and heads toward the back door. I asked her earlier to park next to the garage after I gave her the extra remote to open the back gate. I want to know that Kelsey is as protected as Lisa—no, I need that.

“Do you need help?” I question as I start to follow her.

“No,” she calls back. “Wait for me right where you are!” The back door slams behind her.

Right. Like that’s going to happen. I watch out the window. Kelsey is reaching into the trunk of her BMW, carefully lifting an awkward rectangle from the back while she has a bag swung over her shoulder. She steps back under the weight of both.

I fly out the back door. “Don’t argue. Hand it over,” I demand.

Glaring at me, she says, “You suck at surprises.”

I fall back a step. “This is for me?” At her sharp nod, I right myself and lift the massive rectangular wrapped package out of her arms. “Then I’ll carry it.”