I accepted the money with a snicker.
“That was mean. Why is everyone being so mean to me lately?” Kappy grumbled.
“Aww, baby.” Piper patted his cheek to comfort him but ruined the effect when she started laughing. “Sorry, your face was just so funny.”
“Traitor,” he mumbled before pushing a kiss to her lips. “You’re sure I can’t stay?” He hugged her head to his chest.
“You’re so needy,” she giggled into him
He pouted his lip out. “I am.”
She rolled her eyes, but I could tell she loved it. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
“You better.” He dipped to whisper something in her ear that made her blush deeply.
Feeling like an intruder, I quickly looked away just to find that JP was watching me watch them. Feeling caught, my own face started blushing hard.
“Well, goodbye, I guess,” I said to JP, but the words felt all wrong. We had no plans to see each other again, and it made me feel kind of desperate to make some. Each second I spent with him made my body want him even more.
Stop it, Ali, I internally yelled at myself. My mind needed to be stronger and louder than my heart this time around. I needed to toughen up and protect myself.
“I like seeing you like this,” he said with a soft smile.
“Like what?”
He shrugged. “Taking bets with Colt, being in cahoots with Piper, making fun of Kappy.”
“Cahoots?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Cahoots,” he confirmed. “And I like these,” he said, tugging on the bottom of my silk pajama shirt.
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s true. Very sexy.” He grinned.
“JP,” I said warily.
“Ahh, sorry.” He hung his head for a second before squinting at me. “You can call your friends sexy, can’t you?”
I snorted. “Do you call Kappy sexy?”
“Yeah, do you?” Kappy came up behind us with a smirk on his face. “Let’s go, Romeo,” he said, pushing JP toward the door. “Bye Ali, and congrats, for real.”
“Thank you, for real.” I gave him a genuine smile.
Kappy dropped a kiss on my cheek before leaving.
JP’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, he’s allowed to kiss you?”
“Yupp,” Kappy answered, then shoved him out the door. “Bye, ladies,” he said before disappearing.
I laughed as I closed the door behind them.
“Finally! I thought they’d never leave!” Lucy said with a sigh, making the rest of us laugh.
About an hour later, we were in the middle of doing facemasks, painting our nails, and watchingJust My Luckwhen Colt came down and plopped on the couch. He immediately placed Mer’s legs on his lap and automatically started massaging her knee. Part of me felt a little pull at my heart. I wondered what it’d be like to have such consistent comfort.
Piper came around the corner dressed in her robe with a terry cloth headband keeping her blonde hair back from her green facemask. “Colt!” she stomped her slipper-covered foot. “No boys allowed. That’s why I kicked Richard to the curb tonight. Shoo.”
