Page 24 of Desperate Actions

I want to seehim.

Shit.

Now I’m wet, my thighs pressing together as I wiggle where I stand.

“What’s up? Got a jam?”

Jade’s voice snaps me back to reality, her grin sly as she watches me shift uncomfortably.

I snort, rolling my eyes. “No, I do not have a jam,Mom.”

“Oh? Then why you shaking your ass like that? You fishing or something?” Jade continues, undisturbed by my snark.

Busted.

“Um, maybe because Sammy boy is making a meal of her with those hazel eyes of his,” Coral chimes in, and now I’m equal parts mortified and hopeful.

He is not.

“He is not!” I protest weakly, but I know I sound ridiculous.

Coral shrugs. “Look, I don’t see the big deal. Just go over there and say, ‘Listen up, Samuel, I’m looking to punch my V card this weekend, you up for it?’ And if he says no, fuck it—or not,” she pauses.

“Oh my God! Lee-Lee is here!”

Jade’s shriek cuts through the conversation, and I turn to see our late arrival actually got here a day early.

Leanna Volkov. Affectionately called Lee-Lee.

My favorite of all my honorary cousins.

She’s beautiful, sharp as hell, and Michaela’s little sister, so after she hugs the entire damn group, she beelines for me.

She doesn’t waste time.

“Okay. What’s going on?”

I tell her everything.

Which, in reality, is nothing.

A few lingering stares.

A few moments where it felt like the ground shifted.

But it’s enough for her to grin like the wolf she is.

All the Volkovs are wolves. And that means Sammy is, too.

“This is good,” she muses. “He’s finally seeing you as an adult.”

I blink. “How do you figure?”

She smirks, leaning in like we’re conspiring against the universe itself.

“For one thing? Every time you turn around, his eyes go straight to your ass.”

We burst into laughter, giddy with the secret thrill of it all.

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