Page 74 of We Are Yours

He chuckled along my mouth, vibrating my lips. My stomach fluttered, and my heart raced.

In one breath, he implied again, “I’ll kebab you later.”

Now it was my turn to laugh out loud. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

“No.”

“Oh, come on! You know I don’t like surprises.”

“All the more reason to torture you.”

“I think you have that area pretty much nailed.”

He tried to grip my thigh to tickle me, but I intercepted his hand at the last second.

“Did you see that, Julius Knightly? I have catlike reflexes.” I wiggled my eyebrows.

He grinned wickedly, side-eyeing me. My gaze followed his movement, and he used it to his advantage, squeezing my inner thigh harder.

“No!” I thrashed around. I hated being tickled.

“What was that?” he mocked, squeezing tighter.

I squealed, laughing. “Please!” I begged.

“You want my mercy?”

“Yes!”

“Then repeat after me.”

“I can’t! Stop tickling me first!”

He did, leaving his death grip on me for good measure.

“I, Isla.”

“Are we getting married?”

He clutched on like a vise.

“Okay! Okay!”

He paused his attack, continuing, “Will do everything Julius asks today.”

“It’s not your birthday.”

For his big eighteenth, we celebrated with Roland. I made him a red velvet cake, and he invited a few friends over. It was nice. Julius took the whole weekend off from work, and all three of us binged Ozark in the living room. We ate an obscene amount of junk food and pizza, utterly addicted to the show. Relating to it way too much.

“I only get what I want on my birthday?”

I sassed, “It depends on what you want.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “What if I want you?”

It was the perfect reply and exactly what I craved.

I caved, repeating, “I, Isla, will do everything Julius asks today.”