And let’s be real.
I’m still totally stripping for him and ridinghispipe tonight.
“Would that have happened at your high school prom?” I ask him.
He studies my face as I lean against the food table, grinning at him, and he slowly starts to smile back. “Yeah, there was this kid in my class who would’ve instigated something like that.”
“Did his name rhyme with Pooper Mock?”
He blinks once, and then he busts up. He starts to speak, but he has a case of the man-giggles, and it’s clearly causing him issues.
I lick my finger, touch it to my own ass, and make a sizzling noise. “Nailed it. This girl is onfire.”
He’s still laughing as he stalks across his living room. “Let’s take this party outside. I have this life goal of talking a sexy woman into skinny dipping with me in my own pool.”
A full-body shiver of anticipation slinks across my skin and every part of me silently chorusesyes, please.
And suddenly The Chipmunks are screaming Christmas songs all around us.
I jump, hit my hip on the table, and send a plate of crackers sliding against the plastic table runner.
Cooper’s face twists, and then I hear it.
Knocking.
“Hide,” he hisses in my ear.
“That’s not—”
“Hide,” he reiterates before I can finish asking why I need to hide from my security team.
The front door swings open, and I leap into action, diving for the nearest hiding spot I can find, which is, unfortunately, under the food table.
It’s what I’ve got. The hall’s too far away.
But as I fling myself against the wall, hidden by the tablecloth, I hear something that tells me he was correct.
That’s not my staff leading the way inside.
That’s a bleating farm animal.
16
Cooper
There’sa time for a man to atone for his sins, and while I’m happy to pay up, I’m gonna give my brother hell for deciding that now is my time.
I catch Sue, Grady’s pet goat, in the middle of my living room, grab it by its one horn, and drag it out the door. On the porch, I come face-to-face with my grandfather, who’s decked out like a grim reaper pirate.
All in black, with an eye patch, a black pirate hat, and his parrot sitting on his shoulder wearing a black cape too. Everything’s dark beyond my lone porch light, the weather sticky and warm, and none of this is good.
Especially the part where he’snotmy brother, which means Grady’s around here somewhere else, tying up Waverly’s security.
“Hey, Pop. Good to see you. Where’s Grady?”
Pop’s eyes twinkle, but it’s not nearly as endearing as Waverly’s eyes twinkling, which they haven’t been doing nearly enough tonight because I’m a massive fuck-up.
Probably could’ve googledWaverly Sweet Promand found out that’s how her ex-douche proposed.
