Page 53 of How Good It Was (Excess All Areas 3)

“Did you mean that?” Her voice was so quiet he barely heard it.

“I did.” He kissed her chastely again for good measure, relieved when she didn’t stop him.

“Can you stop kissing Willow for a sec to discuss why you all found me fucking a melon so funny? I can guarantee I’ve never fucked anything edible,” Alex asked grumpily, and the whole table burst into laughter all over again.

“I don’t know,” Ben said. “There are some body parts that are quite edible.”

Chaya playfully slapped his arm with the back of her hand.

“And there are some places it feels good to be eaten,” Nan said.

“Oh, God, Nan,” Alex said covering his ears. “You’re going to scar me for life.”

“Perhaps you’ll remember that next time you think about bringing the horizontal tango to my dinner table. Now, eat your chicken.”

Luke noticed Willow’s shoulders shudder in laughter. “You okay, flower?”

“I’m great. Absolutely perfect. I love your family.”

As he looked around the table at everyone sitting there, he realised he did too.

“What did I miss?” Chaya said a week later, dropping down onto the end of the long table they’d nabbed for early evening drinks at The Refuge, a beautiful building nearly a hundred and thirty years old. Despite the scrubs and hospital pass she still wore, Chaya was still breathtakingly beautiful.

“Nothing yet. Willow was giving Cerys tips on how she should think about using Shamaze to promote the studio.” Izabel waved the server over. “What do you want to drink?”

Chaya scanned the table. “I’ll have that fruity-looking thing Willow’s drinking.”

Willow laughed. “It’s a virgin cocktail. Join the others in their prosecco. I don’t mind being the only non-drinker.”

“Nah. It’s cool. I’ve had a long day and I’m driving today.”

With drinks ordered and delivered, Cerys leaned in. “Enough about studio videos. Now Chaya is here, I want to hear the good stuff. What is going on with you and Luke? Because I heard you were making out at Nan’s last weekend.” When she’d finished, she signed what Willow assumed was the same thing to Zoe.

“They were.” Chaya took the slice of orange out of her drink. “And Luke watched you all dinner. Are you doing okay?”

“First, he kissed me twice, if you’re being generous about the second.” Willow looked around the table as four pairs of eyes watched her expectantly. She wasn’t used to this. Women friends who cared enough to ask about her. “And, honestly, I don’t know.”

“You like him?” Zoe asked.

“That’s not part of the plan.”

Izabel laughed. “Falling for my brother’s best friend wasn’t in my plans, either. But you know what they say about plans.”

“What do they say about plans, Iz?” Cerys asked.

Izabel waved her hand as if brushing the question away. “I don’t know. Something about the best laid plans always going to shit when a good-looking guy with ink and broad shoulders appears.”

Cerys signed, and Zoe groaned. “Girls. We are better than that.”

“I’m pretty certain I just proved that I am not,” Cerys laughed. “Jase had me at moon boots.”

“Moon boots?” Willow asked.

“Oh, I had these super practical boots for the snow in Detroit. I thought they were kinda cute, but Jase kept telling me they were made for the Apollo moon landing.”

Willow took a sip of her drink. It was fruity. Too sweet. “He doesn’t tell you what you should wear, does he?”

Zoe laughed. “No. But she should tell you he had this little cartoon pair of her boots tattooed on his ribs.”

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