Page 98 of Just Me

Gwen appeared with a cooler and when she opened it, I peered inside.

“What are they?” I asked.

Saffron looked almost sinister.“Swordfish funnel cakes.”

“What are we going to do with them?”

Gwen chuckled as she closed up the lid. “We're going to attack.”

She looked down at me and smiled as understanding dawned.

“The guys.” I said.

“Yep.”

“Why?” I asked.

That was met with two blank stares. “Why not?” Saffron asked, with genuine confusion.

“But isn't the owner your friend? Won't he be upset that we're making such a mess and with those?” My nose wrinkled from the smell, though it was not nearly as bad as the name suggested.

“Yeah, a good friend, so he won't mind. Besides, we've gotten really quick at cleaning up after these forays.”

How do you reply to that? “Okay.”

“Thatta girl.” Gwen said.

“You guys ready?” Saffron asked.

“Yep.”

We moved in through the kitchen and when we walked out into the bar, we were still not visible to Bastian and the others. Saffron looked giddy, excitement turning her cheeks all rosy. I was all for bonding moments with Saffron, but she was just a bit left of center. The fact that I found the trait endearing and not disturbing probably meant something.

Saffron pressed the funnel cake into my palm and the weight of it surprised me. I couldn't imagine eating one, really didn't understand how something so gross could ever have been thought up, but now was not the time to ponder it.

We walked further into the bar and stopped just outside the pool room. It only took a moment for Bastian's head to lift. I kept my hands behind my back as I strolled into the room, Gwen right behind me. Bastian moved from his spot at the table toward me as a smile spread over his face.

“Heybeautiful.”

“HiBastian.”I held his gaze a moment before I took in the other men. Understanding swept across Logan's face right before he turned his attention to someone just behind me.

Saffron screamed, “Now!” I lost sight of Bastian briefly in the shower of funnel cakes and I laughed at the look on his face when he came back into view. He had had no idea what was going on, so he didn't react fast enough to block the funnel cake that nailed him right on the nose, or the two others that followed just after the first. His eyes narrowed and I gulped before I turned and fled. I made it out of the bar and about two hundred yards from it before Bastian's strong arms came around me and lifted me right off the ground. He pulled me back against him and sucked on the skin of my neck, right at the curve where it met the shoulder. “You shouldn't have done that.”

“It was Saffron's idea.”

His lips brushed over my ear, capturing my lobe in his teeth, before his tongue licked the small point of pain. My bones melted.

“You nailed me with a funnel cake.”

“I did—several times in fact.”There were still some remnants of the cakes in his hair.

His voice sounded so soft and sexy.“And how should I punish you for that?”

Desire burned through me at his tone. He must have sensed the change in me when he dropped me to the ground and turned me into him, his mouth fusing to mine as he trapped me up against a tree. His hands pulled through my hair as he tilted my head and kissed me so thoroughly that there was not a single spot in my mouth he didn't explore.

“Lark! You okay?” Saffron called, no doubt because she had brought me here and wanted to make sure I was with Bastian before she left.

Bastian pulled his mouth from mine, but his eyes had turned so dark and filled with so many sinfully delicious promises that I felt myself getting lightheaded.

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