KALI
An explosion of brightness lit up Eli’s falling jaw.
Blushing, Eislyn untangled her hand from Eli’s to rub the redness away, as though she could wipe off the color like a sponge could de-grease a pan.
Still buried in Zion’s ass, Gedeon unglued himself from his back, rising to his full height, his mouth set in a firm line.
Refusing to move, Zion grinned, calling out a bout of giggles from within me?—
Fine, truth be told, I cracked up. My core ached as I squeezed him still lodged in my butt, my chest brushing against his.
I couldn’t see the scene from Eislyn’s and Eli’s point of view, but the picture had to be good: Zion sandwiched between us, my legs wrapped around his midriff and his pants twined around his ankles. Add in Gedeon with his pants unzipped…
No wonder our friends were gawking at us without uttering a single word.
Gedeon fixed me with a glare, but it roused me further, and soon my pants mixed with my cackles. Shaking, Zion smothered his amusement in my neck.
With a sigh, Gedeon straightened. “What is it?” He didn’t ask—he ordered to report.
“I’m not having breakfast at that table again,” Eli blurted out. “Ever.” He scratched the side of his head, his blond locks shifting around his shoulders. “You know what—we better never eat here again in general. We can bring the plates to our room. Or to the dining room. Or anywhere where they haven’t—” He paused. “The dining room is still safe, right? Please tell me it is.”
Zion chuckled against my throat, and shock contorted Eli’s features.
“I think we should give them a minute.” Eislyn blew her chocolate bangs off her forehead, but the strands immediately returned to their original location. “We’ll wait for you outside.”
Taking Eli’s wrist, she dragged the stupefied man out of the kitchen. Once they’d vanished in the hallway, Gedeon pulled out of Zion, and the latter’s groan rippled through me.
“One hour. That’s all I ask for. One hour without someone demanding my attention,” Gedeon grumbled as he zipped up his pants. “But no.” He secured the button. “First, it’s Jayla demanding her favor for my apparent confetti debt. Then, it’s these two barging in for gods know what.” Finished fastening his belt, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Would it kill someone to give me sixty minutes of peace?”
I rolled my lips. Zion trembled in my arms as he tried and failed to contain his laughter. My own boiled, bubbled, steamed, and my chest verged on shattering?—
“Don’t you dare say anything.” Gedeon gave me a death stare. “Go back to our room and wait for me in the shower.Both of you,” he emphasized as he marched out of the kitchen.
I met Zion’s gaze. “He’s so bossy.”
As he rose on his forearms, the twinkle in his expression spoke of peril. “I know how we can rile him up even more.”
“But…” I clutched his waist, his flesh feverish. “He’ll punish us.”
I knew in my bones Gedeon would cast his judgment in the most torturous form possible. Yes, it would definitely be fun, but…
“We shouldn’t push him.” I stroked up and down Zion’s sides. “Not tonight. Yesterday, Conall and Aanya… Then today, his migraine, Ezra, and now whatever reason Eli and Eislyn have come looking for him…it’s too much. He’s going to implode trying to deal with everything.”
A flicker of seriousness made Zion’s grin falter. “I know.” With a grumble, he slipped out of me.
Emptiness raged in me as I watched him struggle to pull his underwear and pants over his knees. Because doing both at the same time evidently made sense to him.
Hopping off the table, I crouched down to help him, the mischievousness in his smile making me lightheaded.
But then a sudden realization cooled me.
The lights were on. Anyone wandering the streets could see into the kitchen. Catch me helping wrangle denim up Zion’s legs. Ogle my bare ass as my t-shirt sat above my hips, exposing my bottom half to any curious passersby.
Awareness drenched me like a torrent of freezing water, and I yanked the fabric down to my upper thighs, covering as much as possible.
At least the t-shirt I’d stolen from Gedeon’s closet was long enough to cover my bottom. Shreds of my panties hung on my waist, the crotch split into two parts.
Rummaging in the ceiling-high cabinets for anything resembling a broom of any kind, I said, “I need to clean the mess in the hallway.” First, I had to get rid of the ceramic shards of what’d been my cup once and then mop up the tea surely turning the hallway into a lake.
