Page 67 of Finding A Way Back Home

Smirking, I plucked a tiny shaker of peppermint sprinkles from the pile of candy and handed it to her. I chuckled when she narrowed her eyes.

“Oh, you are good.”

“Don’t forget it,” I jabbed back as she popped the lid and gave a few generous shakes over her cup, speckling all that fluffy white in tiny red crystals, like a terrifying glitter explosion. As if I hadn’t noticed her love for diabetes in a cup. Sliding slick cards between my fingers, I shuffled the deck and dealt, card for card, between our two piles. A long, dramatic slurp interrupted the subtle slap of them hitting the table and I looked up right as she lowered her mug with a deeply satisfied expression on her face.

“Aren’t you going to drink some?”

“Yeah, in a sec. I sampled my bodyweight in it as I got the ratio right. Actually called my mom to make sure I had the recipe down.”

“I knew I recognized that flavor. God, she was always the keeper of the good cocoa.”

“The baton has been passed.”

“Don’t get too cocky. Hers is better.”

I brought my hands to my chest, tossing my head back dramatically. “You wound me, Rhodes.”

“You’ll live,” she said with a giggle as I set the last card in place. A vaguely warm, very damp finger poked my nose, and I jerked back, narrowing my eyes on a satisfied feline smirk. Wiping the melty whipped cream off my face, I popped my finger into my mouth, shaking my head as she stifled a laugh.

“Easy, Pix. Don’t start a fight you can’t win.”

“For your ego’s sake, I’ll let you keep believing that.”

“You’re incorrigible.”

“Why, thank you.” She took a long sip from her mug, giving me another satisfied full body wiggle and looking all too pleased with herself as I shook my head. With a dull clunk, she set her drink down and snatched up her stack of cards, turning to face me head on and clearing the couch of all things fuzzy. “You’re going down, Allen.”

“Maybe later. Play me first.”

“Ha-hah, so funny,” she said with an eye roll before an equally dramatic deadpan. “Now, play.” We both started setting cards down in rapid succession, but that didn’t stop her from adding, “If I remember the rules correctly, the loser buys the winner's dinner?”

“Is that so?” I pushed back as our cards tap, tap, tapped onto the growing stack between us. “Thought we were just playing for bragging rights.”

The smirk that lifted her cheeks was nothing shy of maniacal. “Consider it an added incentive to win.”

I jerked my eyes back to the growing deck as we continued to tap, tap, tap cards into place. “You trying to distract me, Pix? Cause it won’t work.”

“I’m insulted, Brod. Just stating the rules of the game, but if you’re feeling nervous…?” the end of her sentence trailed up and off, but I refused to look up at what was an inevitable Cheshire smile.

“Please,” I scoffed, shaking my head as I watched our cards hit the middle pile. Ace, eight, six. “Steady as a rock, baby.”

“We’ll see about that,” she said slyly as I set mine down. After watching to make sure it wasn’t a jack, she leaned back, casually setting aside her half of the deck and stripping my hoodie off her body in the next motion. The extended lines of her abdomen were on full display as she tossed it across the back of the couch like a lazy basketball shot, smiling coyly as I let my eyes scrape over her frame. I palmed my jaw, admiring all that skin and the way the red bra boosted her tits up in the most inviting fucking way. She wasn’t just gorgeous, she was confident in her body, and that was a deadly combination.

“Like I said. Steady as a rock.” But I couldn’t help but wet my lips, wishing my tongue could run over those sexy lines of muscle instead. Slide up the center of her generous cleavage. Tap, tap, tap.

“Hard as one too, by the looks of it.”

I held onto my next card, locking eyes with her as my smile grew. There was no need to confirm her claim. My dick was at full attention. Painfully so. It took very little effort for her to get it to stand up these days. “Keep running that mouth, and I’m going to give it something hard to do.”

“If that’s your idea of a threat, you’ve got some work cut out for you.”

“You say threat. I say promise.”

“Big words, big man.”

Chuckling, I shook my head, subtly tossing my card on the pile but holding her stare. “Nice try, baby,” I muttered as I set my palm over the jack. Her eyes flared as she lunged forward and then yelped, clapping her hands together in a loud smack and throwing her head back.

“Dammit!”

---