Page 69 of Teasing

Jamie opens the orange juice and drinks right from the bottle.

Eww. Remind me to never drink the juice here again.

“Morning.”Ryker stops as he walks into the kitchen and looks at all of us.“Nice shirt, Em.”

My face flames, but a smile creeps in too. It is a nice shirt. One I plan to keep.

Ryker’s smile is devilish when he flashes it at Mav.

I love the relationship these three have.

The way they go at each other.

Okay . . . I can do this.

“Thanks. Anybody want breakfast?”I ask and look around to see what ingredients I’ve got left this week. Hmmm. It’s not looking good. Door Dash it is.

“Pretty sure Mav’s already had his breakfast,” Jamie laughs, and Mav punches his shoulder.

“More like dessert,” I murmur, then realize how loud that actually was. Even Ryker is smiling. Guess he read my lips.

Maverick wraps his arm back around my waist and lifts me from my feet as he pulls me into him with a smirk I want to kiss right off his lips. “Oh, I had dessert all right. What... three—no, four times.”

“We get it,”Ryker tells him and pops both hearing aids out.“Nobody needs to know that shit.”

“You sure you’re ready for this, Em? Because we’re a package deal,”Jamie warns me, and I’m shocked by his wording.

“You are not part of the package,”Maverick grumbles.

“We are,”Ryker agrees, and I couldn’t stop my laugh if you paid me a million dollars to shut up.

“The only package she’s handling will be yours. Don’t worry, man,”Jamie taunts, and I wrap my arms around Mav, holding him back as I laugh.

Once he seems to have calmed down, I drop my arms.“I guess it’s a good thing I don’t scare easily.”

“About that.”Jamie reaches for the mug until Maverick growls. See? Cujo.

“We’re gonna need you not to scare easily tomorrow night,”he tells me as he gets his own mug and sits it next to the coffee pot.

“What the hell are you talking about?”Mav asks as he waits for me to fill Jamie’s mug, then takes it for himself. Jamie looks like he’s about to say something, then decides he’s better off just getting another mug. I guess the third time’s a charm.

This time, he fills it himself and steps back.“We’re having a party tomorrow night.”

“No. We’re. Not.”Mav’s voice leaves little room for argument.“No parties at my house, dickhead.”

“It’s just the usual crew. Lilah and Killian. Noah. Maddox. Rome. Dillan. And now Emmie and Camden,”Jamie pushes back.

Ryker slides in next to me.“They’re going to argue. Maverick’s going to give in because they’re his best friends, and Jamie’s going to gloat that he got to throw a party because he’s an asshole who likes to win. Better get used to it. This is their norm.”

I look between the three of them, then smile back at Ryker.“Sounds like fun.”

Ryker looks down at my bare legs. “You might need pants.”

Maverick

“Iwasn’t expecting to see you today, son.” Dad closes his laptop and leans back in his office chair.

“Working hard or hardly working?” I ask as I let myself in.

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