Page 42 of Stay With Me (She's With Me 2)

“We’re fine,” Mason replies, helping Erin up. “Her knee just missed my precious jewels. That would not have been okay.”

“Aw, really? I was aiming for them.” Erin smirks, and Mason gives her a playful shove.

“Can I go next?” I ask hopefully. “Unless Vee wants to go?”

“Why don’t we both go?” Vee suggests.

In the short time we’ve gotten to know her, it’s clear she’s a pretty wild one. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s drunk at the moment, but I’m not judging. It’s her winter break, too, and she can spend it however she wants as long as she’s not driving. She’s a pretty loud person, someone who commands the attention of the room, but hands down one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met when she’s not making googly eyes at Aiden.

“How would that work?” Lilly asks, slightly less drunk than her friend.

“It’ll be a competition. Oli and Erin will toss me, and Julian and Chase can toss Amelia beside me at the same time. You have to throw her at the Kessler campaign sign on the boards, and the first girl to pass the cola advertisement on the boards wins!”

I look at the boys to gauge their opinion, and clearly their competitive side has already switched on. They’re ready to win.

“I’m game if you guys are,” Oliver says to the boys, a friendly challenge in his voice.

“Oh, you are so on,” Annalisa replies, a fire in her eyes.

“Is it okay with you, Amelia?” Aiden asks, eyeing my taped up finger.

I look over at Erin, Oli, and Vee, who are already talking strategy.

“Let’s win this thing.” I smile and skate over to my team.

Obviously, Lilly would not be strong enough to catch Vee as she whips toward her, so it somehow ends up being Mason who will catch her, and Aiden who will catch me. I’m definitely not complaining about the new arrangement, since it means Aiden putting his hands all over me, and no one in their right mind would complain about that.

From outside the rink Lilly and Annalisa are refereeing. It’s just a friendly little competition, but clearly everyone here is interested in winning.

“Remember, you have to let go of your girl by the campaign sign!” Lilly reminds us as we get ready to start. “In three, two, one, go!”

Julian and Chase skate forward and pull me along with all they’ve got, the wind against my face feeling refreshing and freeing. I laugh, having way too much fun with this compared to the seriousness on Annalisa’s face when she told us we better win.

We reach the campaign sign and they let go of my arms, throwing me clear across the rink. Vee is right beside me, having just been thrown herself, and we laugh as the boys cheer for us to pass the finish line.

I’m going so fast and laughing so hard I have no idea who passes the finish board first, but suddenly I crash into Aiden, who manages to keep us from falling until the last second, when his roller skates cause him to lose his balance.

I already heard the crash, laughs, and swears from when Mason and Vee hit the ground, and I’m sure we were just as amusing as they were falling. We fall, and Aiden twists so that I land on top of him. Despite his body being 99 percent pure muscle, it only hurts a little bit, probably lessened by the fact that I’m having so much fun.

Lying on the floor with his hands around my waist, we look at each other and can’t contain our laughter. I feel like a child who wants to clap her hands and chant, Again, again!

Our laughter dies down when the butterflies in my chest make an appearance, like they do whenever I’m this close to Aiden. His gray eyes flicker to my lips, and like granting an unspoken wish, he lifts his head to kiss me. Like every time our lips touch, the fire that ignites within me spreads, and everything else melts away. He kisses me slowly and deeply, like there is nowhere else in the world he needs to go, nothing else that matters. He pulls away, frankly entirely too early for my liking, and looks at me with a smirk, a spark alight in his eyes.

“Told you I’d save it for later.”

I laugh and push myself off of him, helping him up in the process, but not before cat

ching the look on Mason’s face as he watches us. A look that manages to leave me feeling cold despite the fact that I’m sweating from all the exerted energy.

The rest of the time goes by in a blur, and I don’t remember ever laughing so hard, even as I’m busy trying to ignore Vee making eyes at Aiden and avoiding making eye contact with Mason. By the time we’re ready to leave, we’ve invited our new friends to come back to the house with us to hang out, but they all say no. Erin, however, gives Mason her number, and promises to come by later. I’m not a mind reader, but even I know what that means, at least if the suggestive way she runs her hand down his chest and the sultry look she gives him is anything to go by. He smiles and promises he’ll see her later, then catches me looking and hastily shoves his phone back in his pocket and stares down at the floor.

“Ready to go? I’m thinking we pick up sushi for dinner,” Aiden says as he comes back from returning our roller skates.

“Sounds good to me,” I tell him, taking his offered hand and walking out into the fresh air together, the rest of our friends trailing behind us.

13

We’ve only been here for three days and we’re already getting sick of only eating various types of barbequed meat for lunch and dinner. Since tomorrow is Christmas Day and the guys have been so good about taking turns being grill master, Annalisa, Charlotte, and I have shooed them out of the kitchen, where we’re making our “family” dinner. Tomorrow will be a traditional, big Christmas lunch—Julian even managed to get a whole turkey from the market and googled stuffing recipes—but we’re still making a big Christmas Eve dinner.

---