I have a vision of someone’s kid pulling the sharp bit from their mouth around the campfire, announcing that they’ve found a shark’s tooth in their beans.Please don’t be in the beans.
"If we can find them,” I say, “and put them in milk, Ross can adhere them to my teeth again."
“Really? I thought that only worked with fingers or toes.”
“It works with teeth, too,” I assure him. That is if I ever dare tell him I chipped them.I’d almost rather die. Or start going to a new dentist just to avoid it. My face gets impossibly hotter. My hands get sweatier.
“Regardless, we have to make sure they’re not in the food."
Liam covers a chuckle as he answers. "No doubt."
My whole head is a bonfire right now. No, a dumpster fire like Lucy and Martin would say. It’s a raging dumpster fire of shame. I want to stop looking, rush to my car, and get my phone from the glovebox so I can look at my teeth with the camera app.
I turn to Liam. "How bad is it? Tell me."
Liam tips his head to one side and then the next. He lifts his hand, wraps his fingers gently around my wrist, and lowers my arm because I haven’t pulled my fingertips off the offending gap.
The gentle touch of those manly hands threatens to unravel me. People think the whole electric touch thing exists only in storybooks. I would've thought so, too, had I not experienced it myself with Liam. I almost forgot how magnetic his touch was until this moment.
I stare into his hypnotizing hazel eyes as he inspects my lower teeth with a furrowed brow. Dang, he's handsome. It's a surreal moment, having Liam Wheaton actually standing before me. He's here, and he's single, just like me.
"It's not that bad. Smile," he suggests.
I do, and he smiles back with a grin so gleaming and glorious that my knees knock into the cooking stand with a clatter.
"Your bottom teeth don't show a whole lot when you smile, so that's good. Try saying, Suzy sells seashells by the seashore."
I giggle and shake my head “No.”
We both laugh.
"Don't you want to know if it shows while you talk?"
I shake my head.
"Okay, I won't tell you.” He seems to remember something then. “Crap,” he blurts, hurrying back to the grill. He reaches for the spatula and jams it under one of the burgers. “Better get these things turned over. How about we have the kids come to look for your teeth bits?”
“Teeth bits?” I repeat with a cringe face. I scan the large group of teens seated around a firepit and spot Lucy and Martin there. “That’s probably a good idea. I’ll be right back.”
“Hey, if you see any of my guys over there, tell them to bring me the ax, will you? I’ll get this flip-cap open yet.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Liam
Today has been a good day. I search the starlit sky as I lay on top of my sleeping bag beside the dwindling fire.
I can't stop thinking about a few key moments. One, the shock of coming face-to-face with a more-gorgeous-than-ever Ashley Chen. And the time we spent together while I grilled the burgers and she prepared the beans. My body flashes with heat as I recall what it felt like to wrap my hand around her wrist. So small, so silky, so…her. I could blindly identify that wrist in a lineup; I know it. Along with that scent of hers. Still apple, only now there’s a bit of spice in there, too. She must be using a similar body spray all these years later.
I give in to a chuckle when I replay the whole incident with her chipped teeth. It was horrible, of course. I worried she’d be in pain and maybe even have to leave. Turns out the injuries weren’t close enough to the nerves to cause her any discomfort.
Her daughter Lucy, who looks a lot like her mom, found both of the broken tooth bits in the dirt beneath the grill. Thank heavens. Since I’ve got a group of teenage boys with me, Ibrought a dozen pint-sized bottles of whole milk. I let Cam drain it partway before dropping the small tooth bits into the bottle and marking it with a sharpie.Don’t drink. Ashley’s cute little teeth nubs are in here.
The rest of the evening didn’t quite go the way I’d have liked. Ashley was the shiny new toy who every unspoken-for man gravitated toward. Sure, all of us here are single, but there are a handful of dating couples who occasionally come to the events together. It’s nice since it gives the rest of us hope.
I had plenty of female company myself, which was good since Cam, Parker, and Jack were treating the night like it was a hookup meet for them, too. When they invited Ashley’s daughter Lucy to join them, they told her brother, who’s slightly younger, to join too. That was a relief. I’d hate to see the kid left out.
I hope Callie really shows up tomorrow. She and Link are supposed to be here by noon so they can go tubing with us. I hope that if theydoshow up in time to come, that they’ll enjoy it. And that Cam will, too.
