Page 85 of Meet Me at Midnight

“Enough to consider cannibalism.”

Both she and Neil laugh, and Avery shouts from the living room, “Eat Beau first!”

I can barely keep myself from turning the color of a tomato when Beau replies, “Fine by me,” and tosses a look of pure debauchery toward me over his shoulder.

I hold my breath, waiting for anyone to question Beau’s devious words, but everyone just brushes it off as normal. Probably because there’re only two people in this house who are aware of the secret relationship Beau and I have been engaging in for the past month.

Everyone else is still clueless.But that’s not by their choice. It’s by yours.

Guilt and shame and a whole bunch of other emotions I don’t want to feel right now stab at my gut, but I swallow hard against them and force a smile to my lips when Diane starts laughing over the squabbling about what to watch on the television that comes from Beau and Avery in the living room.

“These kids, June,” she says with an amused shake of her head. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with them if they can’t stop bickering before we sit down to eat.”

“I’ll go sort them out.”

She leans forward and kisses me on the cheek. “Thanks, hun.”

I cross the open space to the living room and plop down on one of the chairs that’s perpendicular to the couch, avoiding Beau’s eyes. I know if I meet them, they’ll be filled with sex and scandal and all sorts of trouble.

“What the hell took you so long to get in here?” Avery asks, wrestling for the remote with one hand while Beau holds it with one of his.

“I had to pee,” I lie easily, internally sighing at how naturally being deceitful has started to become. I’m starting to fear that if I don’t set myself free with the truth soon, I’m not going to know who I am anymore.

“Again? You just went before we left the condo. Do you have a UTI?” She glances back to her parents, quieting her voice just slightly. “You know if you’re having sex with someone, you should always pee right after you’re done, right?”

“I don’t have a UTI, Avery.” I sigh, but I don’t mention that I pee right after every time her brother and I bang.

“Irritable bowel?” she questions, and Beau laughs out loud.

I don’t hesitate to snag a pillow from the chair beside mine and lodge it at his head.

He returns the favor, and before we know it, the three of us are in a full-blown pillow fight. Which, if you’ve seen the Bankses’ big-ass, cozy sectional, you’d know there’s a hell of a lot of pillow ammunition.

“I thought you were going to calm things down, June!” Diane shouts from the kitchen. I blow my hair out of my face, breathing hard, and Beau pulls me into a headlock while Avery wrestles to free me.

It’s just like old times—except, it isn’t.

“Come on, you hooligans!” Neil calls. “Come eat before you destroy my house.”

Beau holds on to me but loosens his arm on my neck, pulling my back to his front instead. Avery tosses her pillow downand heads for the dining room table, and I work to even my breathing as Beau whispers directly into the shell of my ear.

“I can’t fucking wait to wrestle you later. Though, I’m going to make damn sure we’re wearing a lot fewer clothes.”

“Beau,”I breathe back, my chest tightening around how long we’re taking to join everyone.

But he’s cool, calm, and collected, offering a little smirk in my direction and a secret squeeze of my ass with his hand. “Sit beside me, Juni.”

He lets go of me, and I rush to the dining room, taking a seat on the side of the table with two empty chairs. Avery laughs at me as I sit down across from her, eating a piece of asparagus like it’s a French fry.

“Your hair’s a mess.”

I try to brush it out of my face, but before Beau sits down, he reaches in from behind me and pulls the full length of it behind my back. My eyes cut up to him quickly and then to Diane, Avery, and Neil, but they’re all preoccupied by their own thing. He winks.

One of the catering staff puts a plate full of food in front of me, and I smile up gratefully as Beau takes the seat beside mine, immediately reaching out and touching my thigh under the tablecloth.

My nerves stand on end, sizzling with the mix of guilt and excitement. I never thought I’d be the type of woman to enjoy clandestine sneaking and hidden touches. And I definitely don’tknow what it says about me or how to make sense of why it feels so damn electrifying.

But it wouldn’t take a genius to deduce why it’s got me all flustered. I’ve been into Beau since the moment I was old enough to notice boys in the first place. This isn’t some extramarital affair—this is my ultimate fantasy come to life.

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