Page 129 of Skins Game

Kingston curled around her, his naked body warm and strong, and Nicole gasped as she held onto him, still floating and spinning.

His lips pressed her forehead, her temples. “You’re everything to me. You’re my whole world.”

She clung to him. “You’re mine, too. I will be your little doll in a house and fill it with babies if that’s what you want. Just—this—wow.”

His voice was quiet near her ear in the dark. “My parents and Stephan told me they loved me before they got in the car. I stayed home alone while they went to church, because I had a cold and didn’t want to go.”

Nicole slithered her arms up and around his neck, holding him. “I love you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

“I didn’t know why they didn’t come home. The next morning, I went over to a friend’s house. His mother fed me breakfast and learned what had happened from the police. Istayed with them until they found my uncle, who picked me up the next weekend. Two weeks later, I was at Le Rosey.”

She tightened her arms, trying to make up for his whole life. “Oh, Kingston.”

His arms wrapped around her, tucking her head under his chin. “That was the last time someone told me they loved me.”

“Oh, Kingston,” she said, trying to love and hold him hard enough.

“I barely remember them,” he said. “I keep going over memories—my mom holding me when I had strep throat one time, my dad and Stephen throwing a football with me—trying to keep them, but even those are fading like they’re just memories of the real memories.”

Nicole entwined her legs with him. “I’m your family now. We all are. We’ll make new memories, and I love you.”

His arms seized her more tightly, holding her, and she held him back, never letting go.

He whispered, “We’re in Las Vegas. Marry menow. Right now.”

She pulled back to look at him, finger-combing his hair away from his face. “You’re a part of my family now, and my parents would beso madif we eloped. Nope, we’re getting married for real, with our family and my friends and your friends and my cousins and everyone around us, not some Vegas quickie wedding with no one else around.”

Nicole started straight into his blue eyes. “You have a family now. Get used to it.”

52

Un-Ionized II

KINGSTON MOORE

On the Wednesday before Christmas, Kingston stood at a makeshift podium of three stacked cardboard boxes with a clipboard taped to the top because he wasn’t going to spend anymore of Sidewinder’s or Last Chance’s money on a single-use grandstand.

“Okay, settle down, settle down. The sooner we talk about this, the sooner we can eat lunch.”

Couriers holding pizza boxes filed in through the front door at the other end of the lobby, stacking scores of hot boxes on the receptionist’s desk.

Nicole Lamb was in the front row, her right ankle crossed over her left and her left hand crossed over her right, his big engagement ring prominent on her ring finger. She was smiling at him, which sent a flush through his entire body.

Sidewinder’s seventy-some employees were looking at each other, nervous about what he was going to say but slightly reassured by the presence of pizza that it wouldn’t be too bad.

Bad news is usually disseminated from management to employees late on Friday afternoons, so the rabble won’t havetime to discuss it before they go home. Good news traditionally hit on Monday mornings.

“Okay,” Kingston said as the chatter died down. “From how you guys have been ripping me for the last month, word of the bet seems to have leaked to the general population.”

Laughter. A lot of laughter. Kingston smiled even though he was cringing inside.

“We won’t know the outcome of the wager until January first, when I will be sending an email as soon I know anything, but I do know a lot about Sidewinder’s state of affairs. Sidewinder golf has gone from sucking money like the La Brea tar pits sucked baby dinosaurs down to their deaths to now being extremely profitable.”

A smattering of applause.

He glanced at Nicole for strength and then proceeded. “And as we don’t know the wager’s outcome, Sidewinder’s ultimate future is still up in the air. But we know exactly how much money is in our accounts, which means I can feel confident declaring a New Year’s bonus.”

Nicole was grinning. She’d known what was coming.