Page 24 of For the Night

Still too damn beautiful for my comfort.

I held a hand over my eyes to shield them from the sun. Lane, Shay, and Nora were busy at a table that was packed with something. At first, I thought it was regular rollaboard luggage, but the cases were open to reveal plastic organizers with countless little compartments. Had someone bought an entire crafts supply store?

As one pop song morphed into another, I started trailing up the lawn and zeroed in on the breakfast setup on the deck. And not on Nora. Not on Nora at all.

Goddamn her.

Last night, my resolve had shattered faster than KC’s eardrums when Noa got excited.

The worst part was, I shouldn’t be leading the girl on if I couldn’t offer what she wanted.

Her damn smile, though. I couldn’t see exactly what she, Lane, and Shay were doing over there, but whatever it was, they wore matching smiles that spoke of a good morning. They chatted in between moments of sheer concentration. The closer I got, the more I could see, and were those beads? They were putting something on what looked like thread or wire, at least.

“Morning, Mistress Penelope!” Kit yelled from the pool.

“Good morning, Ma’am!” Noa waved happily. “Kit and I set your breakfast order on the upper corner of the table so no one would steal it, ’cause we’re always good boys!”

Crap. Those little shits always made me crack a smile.

“That’s sweet of you, boys,” I answered.

Lucian lowered his paper and nodded hello. Like Greer, Lucian had requests about the TPE event. I was sure Dean did too. Eager bastards.

Reese crammed half a croissant into his mouth and jerked his chin for me to come over to his lounger.

“How do you maintain those abs with freaking croissants?” I had to ask. Because if I looked at white bread, I gained three pounds.

He brushed some croissant flakes off his chest. “Hon, you maintain your brain with croissants. The abs get broccoli.”

I snorted softly and sat down on the edge of his lounger.

He nodded toward the deck. “You missed the funniest thing earlier. So King and Anthony showed up with their Little, right? And Camden brought a whole fuckin’ Michaels with him.” As he spoke, I glanced across the pool to where Lane, Shay, and Nora were busy. “First half hour, it was Noa, Kit, Gael, and Camden messin’ around to make Easter presents for their Owners. And those three—Shay, Lane, and Nora…? They were all, uh, craftin’s for kids and Littles. But look at ’em now.”

I grinned. That was precious. The Littles were nowhere to be seen around the crafts table.

I glanced back at Reese. “You and River were cute before, but you’ve leveled up since Shay claimed your asses.”

“I know, right?” He leaned back and folded an arm behind his head. “I’m so fucking cute I don’t know what to do with myself sometimes.”

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. Reese was full of charming lines that I was going to send directly to a certain account on our forum. It’d opened up the other day, and I had a feeling it was going to be the next big buzz in terms of who was behind it.

“You got a little cute yourself last night,” Reese noted. “Hard to resist the new girl, huh? Been a while since I saw you flirt.”

Fuck. “Don’t get me started.” I rose to my feet again, needing that coffee. ASAP.

Besides, flirt was a strong word. I’d just…soaked up Nora’s attention like some deprived bitch, and then I’d thrown myself at her.

I looked over at her, and Lane and Shay glanced our way at the same time.

“Are you talking about us?” Shay hollered.

“Never you fuckin’ mind!” Reese hollered back.

“They’re talking about us,” Lane concluded.

Shay furrowed his brow. “For the record, everyone can do this.” He held up whatever he was working on.

“Yeah,” Lane agreed. “We’re primal and badass?—”

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