Page 67 of Embers in Our Past

I flip her the bird and continue to enjoy my latest delightful treat.

“Let’s go and leave them be. You don’t want to be here for this book talk anyhow.” Clay pats his brother on the shoulder. “I looked the title up online. The book is boring as hell.”

Clay walks over to the couch and, without thinking, kisses me goodbye.

The room goes silent, and it’s only then we realize our mistake.

We keep messing around like these lovesick fools, and I’ve enjoyed everything about it. It’s been sort of fun, sneaking around and getting hot and heavy behind closed doors without anyone knowing about it. Everything about our little secret has felt very dirty. I don’t know why. It’s not like what we are doing is forbidden and I’m not pregnant with his child.

My hormones are driving me batty, so any chance we get, we are on top of each other. We are still keeping a low profile until we figure this out between us. At least, that was the plan until Clay just outed us.

“You fucker!” Malloy lets out.

He reaches into his back pocket and pulls a fifty and throws it at Kennedy. “I’ve known you two point five seconds, and I’m already giving you my money. Goddamnit!”

“Yeah, she’s sneaky like that. I told you not to let that pretty face fool you,” River says, glaring at his wife-to-be.

She blows a kiss to her fiancé.

“You’re still betting on us, and you got Malloy in on it?” I punch Malloy in the bicep.

“Damn, Abby. I bruise like a peach!” He rubs his arm. “I’ve got a date tomorrow, so lay off spots where she might see my valuable assets.” He flexes his biceps and waggles his brows, then opens the book and keeps reading.

“To clarify, we are taking it slow,” Clay says.

River is about to interject when Clay continues, “And do not add another bet on how long it takes for us to put a label on this, you assholes.”

River slams his mouth shut and then winks at Kennedy, meaning those two will have a bet going by the end of the night. Then I see a slight nod from Malloy, and I know the three of them already have a fucking plan.

“Get the hell out, Nichols twins!” I point at both of them.

“See what you did!” Clay says to River. “You made her mad, and now I won’t get any.”

“You probably weren’t getting any after you outed your little secret!” he taunts, and Clay gives him the double bird in response.

I roll my eyes, and they finally leave the apartment. Lola gets comfortable at my feet, and Malloy looks up from the book.

“What is Clay talking about ‘boring’? This book is hot as fuck.” He flips the pages to the front and then compares the cover to the table of contents. “What the hell?”

Kennedy and I laugh. The dust jacket is removed to reveal the actual book we are reading. The book Clay thought we were reading looked to be a self-help book, but in reality, we are reading a smutty book. It’s all over social media, and we thought we’d throw the guys off and replace the dust jacket. It worked, and we’ve been carrying it everywhere.

“The scenes are out of control. This is not possible. I mean, how is any man supposed to live up to this in actuality?” he says, opening it again and reading even more.

“I mean, I tried a few things out,” Kennedy admits, her face turning a bright shade of pink.

“Shut up!” I poke her with my foot.

“Well, I was curious. Malloy, this doesn’t leave the room!” She glares at him, and I think, as strong as Malloy might be, he could be scared of Kennedy. She’s got her boardroom face on, so she’s quite intimidating at the moment.

“I swear, I won’t say a word. Also, how do I get admittance into this book club?” he asks.

“Oh, this isn’t a book club,” I say.

“Then make it one,” he says, grabbing one of my cookies, unfortunately, faster than me because I try to slap it out of his hands.

“Don’t steal food from a pregnant woman,” I seethe.

“You have a whole sleeve, Maleficent,” he teases.

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