Page 90 of Kiss Me Forever

"You’re not writing straight anymore."

I held the paper a bit farther away. "You're right. I think this might be the tequila talking—or, in this case, writing."

"You didn't even have so much," Kimberly said with a shriek of laughter.

"Right, then definitely enough." I giggled and then covered my mouth with my hand. Holy shit, how was I even going to make it home? I realized I was swaying a bit. "Please tell me everyone's in the same state and not just me?"

"It's not just you," Reese said, blinking a few times, shaking her head, and then immediately putting her hand on her forehead. "Crap. I need to lie down."

"I’m way ahead of you," Liz whined. She was lying on one side with her head propped in her hand. "I didn't know why it felt comfortable to lie down like this, but now I do."

"Anyone still think we’re going to be productive tonight?" Kimberly asked.

"Nah, I think we should relax," Reese said. "Besides, our official planner said we have enough activities, right?"

"Yeah, we do," I said. "We really do. I'm going to play around with this a bit and come up with a proposal and email all of you."

"You're thorough," Kimberly exclaimed. "I like you."

Reese frowned. "But do you have time? I know that competition is coming up."

I scrunched my nose. "No, no, no, please don't remind me. This was supposed to be a competition-free day. I'll make time. This will be fun."

"So, tell us the truth. Is our cousin taking care of you, making sure you’re relaxed?"

"Oh, yes, he is," I said, smiling from ear to ear.

"Okay." Reese laughed. "We get it from your smile. We don't need any more details."

"I wasn't going to share any," I said. "It would feel a bit weird. The important question is how are we getting home?"

"You're all welcome to crash here," Reese said. "The couch is a pullout. And someone can sleep in bed with me. And two of you in the guest room."

We all protested at the same time.

"Oh, I get it," Reese cut in. "You all want to go home to your guys."

"I'm staying with you, sister," Kimberly said.

"Yeah, but you always stay with me."

"Way to make me feel special. Besides, isn't your Englishman up now? You could do some sexting. Drunk texting is the best."

"No, I'm way too drunk for that," Reese said. "Besides, I'm not sure if he's up. How are the time zones working, hours forward or back?" She frowned.

I racked my brain and couldn't come up with an answer. Holy shit, I was truly drunk if I couldn't even think about that.

Reese snorted into her glass. "Yeah. I think it should be a general rule. If you're too drunk to realize how time zones work, then you should not engage in sexting. Things might go wrong."

Kendra shrugged. "I can't figure out European time zones even when I'm not drunk."

In the end, we all agreed on texting our guys. It wasn't even that late, just barely past midnight. This had been a very quick party, but it was fun. Since the guys usually kept their phones on silent, we could text them, and if they didn't answer, it meant they were sleeping. To our astonishment, they all replied.

"You know what?" Reese said. "I can imagine all of them staying up with their phones nearby, waiting for any news on whether a stripper's part of the plan or not."

I burst out laughing. "I can see that happening."

All of them agreed to come and pick us up. They were great men. I mean, who did something like that on a Friday night? I could have gone to Luke’s place in an Uber, but if he wanted to pick me up, I wasn’t going to say no.

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