Page 41 of Love on Deck

“Fine.” I nudged Lauren, and she looked up at me. She was way too close right now, nestled into my side so perfectly. All it would take was a little leaning for my lips to meet hers.

“I’ve never played,” she admitted.

“Everyone puts up a hand,” Cara said, demonstrating like she was about to give a high-five. “We go around the circle saying things we’ve never done, and you lower a finger if you’ve done that thing. First person to put down all five fingers loses.”

“Girls love this game,” Kevin complained.

“So does Lucas,” Cara quipped.

“I’ll start.” Sydney put her hand up and everyone else followed suit. She looked at Lauren, then me. “Never have I ever kissed Amelia.”

Anger pooled in my belly like a spilled drink. I could have thrown her from the hot tub. I glanced at Kevin, then the water, and lowered one finger.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

LAUREN

It was so quiet I could hear the bubbles in the hot tub. Kevin stared at Jack in confusion, so I followed his line of sight to Jack’s hand to find his pointer finger bending down.

What? Jack had kissed my sister?

“When was this?” Kevin asked, his voice carefully calm.

Amelia gave an uncomfortable laugh. “You knew about this, babe. It was before we started dating. That Alpha Phi party.”

“That’s where we met,” Kevin said.

“Right, but you were with that other girl from your master’s program.” She put her hand on his cheek. “It was so long ago.”

Kevin chuckled awkwardly, giving his head a shake. “Yeah, you’re right. Years.”

“I told you when you asked me out that I’d kissed your friend.”

He nodded. “I guess I didn’t realize it was Jack.” Then he shook himself. “Weird. But okay. This is okay.”

“It wasn’t even good,” Amelia added, sending Jack a saucy smile.

“The worst,” Jack agreed tensely.

Sydney didn’t seem satisfied by the way no one was exploding. “Maybe Lauren needs to kiss Kevin now so we can really compare.”

I caught my soon-to-be brother-in-law’s eye and wrinkled my nose. “Weird. No thanks.”

The feeling was mutual. Obviously. It was a weird thing to suggest.

“Which sister is the better kisser?” Sydney asked archly, leaning forward a little in the water.

I looked at Jack on impulse. He didn’t know the answer. He’d only kissed one of us, but no one else knew that.

Jack’s gaze lowered to my lips. Something flashed in his eyes that looked more like irritation than attraction. Why was Sydney so obnoxious? He met her gaze. “A gentleman never tells.”

“Oh, wrong answer. No girlfriend wants to hear that,” Sydney crowed.

Jack stood, and water fell from his sculpted chest in rivulets. “Anyone want a drink? I’m buying.”

He gathered orders to take back to the bar with him, and Lucas joined him to help carry everything back. When he left, Amelia swam to his seat and sat beside me. “I haven’t seen you much today.”

“We spent two hours getting our nails and facials done this afternoon.”

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