Page 19

Chapter Nineteen

Bash

“I’m going to check on her,” Mara says.

I shake my head. “Don’t. She just has a sensitive stomach. She’ll be fine.”

She frowns. “Yeah, but shouldn’t we at least ask her if she needs anything?”

Dex gives her a look. “She’s not dying or anything.”

Carter opens the limo’s mini fridge. “You guys, Bash won’t get charged for all of this unless we drink it. Who wants champagne?”

Suki raises an enthusiastic hand. “The girls are with my parents for the weekend. I don’t even need a glass. You can just pour it directly in my mouth.”

He smirks. “Same thing you said this morning, babe. I’ll fill your mouth up anytime you want.”

Mara reaches for the mini fridge, covering her eyes with a hand. “Whatever I pull out, Dex and I will drink it all.”

“I’m sorry, what?” he says.

She pulls out a small bottle of whiskey and everyone cheers. Everyone except Dex, who groans.

“I don’t drink whiskey,” he says.

“You do tonight!”

Mara opens the bottle and tips it to her lips, taking two swallows and then cringing hard. “Oh my God. It’s like liquid fire.”

She and Dex pass the bottle back and forth while everyone else tips their head back for Carter to pour champagne into their mouths. Even I drink some. Might as well since I’ll get charged out the ass for it.

“Let’s play a game,” Harry says. “Have you ever had sex in a public place? Everyone has to answer.”

“Yes,” Mara says.

“No,” Suki says.

“No,” Carter says.

“Sadly, no,” Dex says.

I consider. “Not really.”

“I have,” Harry says, looking sheepish.

Aden arches his brows. “Really? Mr. Adventurous over here. I haven’t.”

“Mara, what was the public place?” Dex asks.

“A grocery store.”

Everyone gapes at her except Suki, who must have already known.

“You had sex at a grocery store?” Harry asks, incredulous.

“I was fucking a guy who stocked shelves at night. They were open twenty-four hours. He bent me over in the bread aisle.”

Carter opens a tiny bottle of scotch from the minibar and downs it.

“That’s fucking awful,” he says, shaking his head. “Better have another one.”

We continue our game, and it’s my turn to come up with a question when Lainey opens the door to the limo and gets in.

“I’m so sorry, you guys,” she says.

“Don’t be,” Suki says, waving a hand. “We’re having a great time. It’s Bash’s turn to come up with the next Have You Ever question.”

I put an arm around Lainey, exchanging a quick look with her to make sure she’s okay. She gives me a small smile.

“Okay, it’s not a have you ever , but what’s your most embarrassing puking or shitting incident?”

Dex lifts up the bottle of whiskey in his hand. “I shit myself during a law school final.”

“No!” Lainey says.

“I did. The professor told us we couldn’t leave during the final or we’d fail the class. And it was property law, such a hard fucking class.”

Mara groans. “The rule against perpetuities almost killed me.”

“Wait, though.” Carter scrunches his forehead. “Did he let you leave after you shit your pants?”

“He did.” Dex shrugs. “I stayed in the bathroom until the class was over and my professor knocked on the door and told me I’d passed. I wasn’t even halfway finished with it.”

Carter laughs and takes another swig of the scotch as the car starts moving again. “Our goalie Isaac passes out when he’s pooping.”

“Stop it,” Mara says.

“Yeah, he’s hit his head on the way down before. One of our teammates dragged him out of the stall with his pants around his ankles and we had to make sure he was still alive.”

“Defecation syncope,” Aden says. “Straining during bowel movements causes a drop in blood pressure for some people and they can pass out.”

“How do you know that?” Harry asks.

“I was premed, but I dropped out.”

“Right.” Harry nods. “You told me that.”

“I threw up on a nun once,” Aden says.

There’s a moment of silence and then Mara cackles. “We’re going to need the full story on that one.”

“I went to Catholic school, and I told Sister Agnes Marie I was going to be sick. She didn’t believe me.” He shrugs.

“I got caught pooping in the woods once,” Suki blurts.

Carter gives her a look that’s half-amused, half-impressed. “Who caught you?”

She rolls her eyes. “Some judgmental, middle-aged hag. My family had rented a cabin for the week, and there was only one bathroom. One of my brothers was in there one morning and I had to go. He wouldn’t get out, so I went into the woods and did what I had to do.

This couple on a walking trail saw me and the wife lectured me about burying poop in the woods. ”

Lainey looks tired, but her expression is relaxed. I hope she’s realizing she’s not alone. We don’t all have IBS, but we can identify with her.

“I clogged the toilet at the office where I was doing a summer internship in high school,” I say. “It was the front office of a minor league hockey team. I had to go ask the office manager, Linda, for a plunger.”

Everyone laughs. Dex looks like he’s trying to twerk while sitting. The whiskey is hitting.

The limo driver stops in front of Harry’s house, a neat Craftsman style on the edge of the city.

“Great night, you guys. Thanks for everything,” Harry says.

The girls all hug him and Aden, and the guys shake hands with them.

“Aden, come to our next fondue night!” Suki says.

“I’d love to.”

When they get out of the car, the driver asks where we’re going next.

Dex burps and laughs. “Mara, I think I need to stay with you tonight.”

Mara gives the driver her address and he starts driving. I whisper in Lainey’s ear, my arm still around her shoulders.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m good,” she says softly. “You?”

“Great.” I kiss the side of her head.

I’m maybe a foot from her breasts. They’re basically milky round sirens calling out to me.

Touch us, Bash. Suck our nipples. Watch us bounce.

I force my gaze away. Not tonight. Lainey needs to chill.

Carter and Suki definitely won’t be chilling. They’re making out nearby, and he’s right on the edge of pulling her into his lap.

“Let’s order pizza and watch Housewives ,” Dex says to Mara.

“After I puke,” she says.

I groan, wondering how much the limo company will charge me for puke cleanup. “Are you gonna puke?”

“Eh.” Her shoulders slump. “When I get home.”

“Maybe we should open the sunroof thing and you could stand up and get some air on your face,” Dex suggests.

She shakes her head. “We’ll be home soon. I can make it.”

Lainey empties the contents of her purse onto the seat. “You can puke in here if you need to. I don’t like this bag much anyway.”

Mara smiles weakly. “Thanks. Whose idea was it to drink whiskey?”

She sips on water until we pull up in front of her apartment building ten minutes later.

“You need help getting in?” I ask her.

Dex jumps out of the car first. “Nah, I’ve got her. This ain’t our first rodeo.”

Mara doesn’t get out of the car. It’s more of a flow. She just bursts out of it, landing on her hands and knees and immediately puking on the sidewalk.

“I’m fine!” She puts a palm out. “Carry on. Thanks for a great night.”

“You’re such a professional,” Suki calls out. “Love you! Go crawl in bed.”

Dex gets her on her feet and they head for the front door of her building, her head slumped on his shoulder as he supports her weight with an arm around her back.

“You might be getting lucky tonight, Mr. Stanton,” Suki tells Carter.

“I’m lucky every day I’m married to you.”

“Aw, babe, you’re making me reconsider swallowing.”

Lainey is shaking with silent laughter next to me. I shake my head.

It’s a relief to finally drop them off a few minutes later.

“Think they’ll make it inside before they start going at it?” I ask Lainey.

“I’m like fifty-fifty on that.”

She’s so damn beautiful. Her eyes are the shade of emeralds and her smile is enough to turn a shitty day into a great one. I just look at her for a few seconds, knowing I want to see her face every day, whether she’s laughing or crying. Furious or overjoyed.

“Tonight was perfect,” she whispers. “Other than...you know, the gas station bathroom stop.”

I cup her cheek. “It was perfect. I don’t want a woman with a cast iron stomach. I want you.”

She puts a hand on my knee. “I want you, too. I don’t think I ever stopped wanting you.”

“It’s not happening tonight.”

Her expression falls. “I think I could?—”

“Nope. We’re getting our pajamas on and watching TV in bed.”

She bites her lower lip, and I wonder what she’s thinking about. Waking up together? That’s what I’m thinking about.

“There was a study that found people’s eye blinking patterns synchronize with scene changes when they watch TV in bed. Isn’t that crazy?”

A grin spreads across my face. “I love you, Lainey. You’re not like anyone else. There’s only one perfect Delaney Morris in this world, and I’m so in love with you. I’m sorry it took me so long to chase after you the way you deserve.”

A bright-pink flush covers her cheeks. “What if the sex is disappointing?”

I laugh heartily at that. “It won’t be. I’m fully expecting you to stop me in the middle to tell me about a recent study done on sex hormones.”

She laughs. “I could wait until after, unless I was bored out of my mind.”

I slide an arm around her back and the other behind her knees, pulling her onto my lap. “You won’t be.”

She rests her forehead against mine, her lips an inch from my mouth as she speaks softly.

“I like that you’re sweet and attentive. I love it. You made me feel special tonight. But when we’re in bed, I want your primal side.”

I was hard from the moment I put her on my lap, but now my balls tighten to an ache. She just ruined my plans to make love to her gently, and I’m fucking beside myself with excitement.

“You sure about that?” I squeeze her ass and she lets out a little moan. “You might get more than you bargained for.”

Her exhale brushes across my lips, warm and sensual. “I’ve been reading dirty romance novels since I was fourteen. I don’t want it soft and sweet. I want to be used by you. I want you to...” Her voice trails off and every muscle in my body tightens as I wait for her to continue.

“What? Tell me what you want, Lane. Please.”

“I want you to tell me I’m a good girl while you’re coming on me,” she whispers. “Make me be dirty for you and then tell me how much you like it.”

I groan and kiss her jawline, then her neck, murmuring against her skin. “You want to be my dirty girl?”

“Yes.”

“No one else ever gets to see that side of you. That’s only for me.”

She gasps softly. “Yes. I’ve never told anyone else what I want.”

I hold her close, my heart hammering against my rib cage. “I want to know all of it. And I want to give you anything you want from me. Of me. I never want you to look at another man and wish for anything.”

She sinks her nails into my shoulder as I kiss her neck. “Will I be the only woman you wish for, though?”

“You already are,” I say softly in her ear. “You know me in ways no one else does. You love me for who I am, even though I’m not as brilliant and funny as you are.”

She hums as the car slows to a stop. “Yes, you are. And I do love you, Bash. So much.”

We’re at my house. That has to be why the car isn’t moving. But I don’t want to get out. I’ve never had such an intimate exchange with anyone, and I don’t want it to end.

She moves off my lap, packing her things back into her purse.

I help, passing her a pack of gum and a lipstick. “That was nice of you to offer Mara your bag to puke in.”

“I’m glad she didn’t need it.”

We get out of the car and I walk over to the driver, passing him a cash tip. “Thanks, man.”

“Thank you, sir.” He waves and drives away. Lainey and I walk to my garage door keypad.

“A shower and pajamas sounds nice,” she says.

“Wear the ones with cats in cowboy hats.”

She laughs. “Those aren’t sexy at all. Don’t you want to know what you’re missing?”

I kiss her. “They’re sexy on you. And good things come to those who wait.”

She leads the way into the house, my gaze locked onto her ass. The things I’m going to do to that ass. I want her body so badly I’m practically shaking,

Soon. Very soon.