“I didn’t want to say that.”
“It’s fine.” I laughed and hooked my arm through his, genuinely happy he was here this weekend. We walked over to the table, and my parents stood up while Chett chatted away with someone on the phone. “We all call her that,” I whispered in his ear before we sat down.
“Really?” He looked at me in surprise.
“And by all, I mean Alice and me.” I grinned as he laughed.
“What are you two laughing at?” Xander approached us with a frown.
“None of your business,” I said smartly and then winked at Henry, who laughed again.
“Hmph.” Xander’s throat made a noise, but he didn’t say anything.
“I’ll sit next to you.” Henry sat in the chair next to me, and I smiled happily.
“I guess I’ll take the other seat,” Xander said and plopped down next to me on the other side.
“But Alice was going to sit there.”
“Well, she’s not, is she?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Whatever.” I looked past him, up at Gabby, who was staring at us with daggers in her eyes. “I thought you’d want to sit with your fiancée. There isn’t a chair to your right,” I said stiffly.
“Well, you thought wrong, didn’t you?”
“So, did you sleep well?” I turned back to Henry and decided to ignore Xander.
I wasn’t going to let him rile me up at breakfast in front of everyone. I knew my parents would not be happy if they heard me calling him names.
“Yes, pretty good, thanks.” Henry nodded back. “What about you?”
“Yeah, I felt … argh.” I jumped as I felt a hand on my leg.
I looked over at Xander, but he was busy talking to my father across the table. I reached under the table and grabbed his hand and tried to remove it from my thigh, but it wasn’t budging; if anything, it was moving higher up on my thigh.
Why, oh why, had I let Alice talk me into wearing a skirt this morning?
“Stop it,” I hissed at Xander, but he didn’t pay any attention to me.
“You okay, Liv?” Henry asked.
I nodded. How could I tell him that his brother’s fingers were running up and down the inside of my leg and I was starting to feel turned on?
“Yeah, so I heard you’re single?” I said and then realized everyone was looking at me, as the table had gone quiet.
“Way to be obvious, Liv.” Gabby shook her head at me.
“Obvious about what?” I looked at her with my best death glare.
“That you’re interested.” She shook her head. “Mom and Dad really should have sent you to deportment classes; maybe then you’d have some class.”
“You’re talking to me about class?” I laughed and looked at Alice. “You, the girl who used to sneak out to meet Tommy, the guy from the car wash, on Friday nights so you could have sex in the back of rich people’s cars?”
“Liv,” my mother admonished as her face went red, “that’s enough.”
“She started it,” I protested.
“Liv”—Aiden gave me a look—“enough.”
