“Sorry! It slipped-ed,” she says.
“This isnota precious memory,” I grumble, cringing as what feels like Bella’s tongue drags across the top of my head. “Bella! Are you licking me? Stop licking me!”
“I’m not!” Bella shouts.
“You are, too,” Ava shouts back.
“Okay!” Bella admits, still at top volume. “But just a little bit, and a little bit is okay.”
Ava giggles so hard she nearly stumbles off the curb. “It’s not a little bit. It’s a lot. It’s so much, and it’s so gross! It’s so gross, and I can’t… Stop… Laughing.”
“I’m glad my suffering is amusing to you, Miss Dragon,” I say, unable to help laughing with her. Her happiness isinfectious. “I thinkyoushould carry the pineapple costume next time.”
“I’m too little,” Ava says, clutching at the neck of her costume as she continues to giggle so hard she can barely breathe. “Because the costume has… It has Bellainsideit.”
And for some reason, that makes us all lose it.
We have to shift to the side of the sidewalk, out of the stream of people surging toward the parade route, to pull our ever-loving shit together.
We laugh and laugh, then try to stop laughing, only to start up again the second Bella says, “You people are too silly right now. You need to learn to be serious, or you’re going to hurt yourselfs!”
Clover braces an arm on the brick wall beside us, gasping and giggling as she agrees, “You’re so right, Bella. You are so, so right.” She presses a hand to her stomach, exhaling in a rush. “Stop! We have to stop, or I’m definitely going to get the hiccups. And I hate the hiccups.”
I suck in a longer inhale. “You’re right. The hiccups are the worst. And if we don’t get moving, we won’t get a good spot.”
“Oh no!” Bella cries.
Clover waves a breezy hand. “Don’t worry, baby, we’re going to be fine. We’ll just walk fast. We’re all in good shape, we can walk fast.”
“You sure?” I ask, as we set off, Clover setting a brisk pace with her cane. “How’s your leg feeling today?”
“Good,” she says, glancing up at me, a wicked glint in her eye. “Great, considering how…athletic I was being last night.”
Damn, last night…
She was so ridiculously athletic last night. Reverse cowgirl may be my new favorite position of all time…
Nope, must not think about reverse cowgirl,I remind myself.Must not think about Clover naked in any position, oryou’re going to grab that ass. And then the girls will wonder why the hell you’re grabbing their nanny’s ass, and you’ll have a lot of complicated explaining to do.
As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Clover shoots me a wink and reaches for the fleur-de-lis charm on the zipper of her jumpsuit, tugging it up an inch.
Holy shit, that jumpsuit…
She made it herself, it fits like a glove, and I am…undone by the way it hugs her curves. By how much I want to take care of the zipper that runs from her neck to her belly with my teeth.
“Should I zip up more?” she murmurs for my ears only.
I shake my head. “Never.”
“Unzip it a bit, then?” she asks, arching a brow. “Iama little warm from all this fast walking.”
I choke out a laugh and mutter, “Are you trying to kill me?”
She grins. “No, just torture you a bit. A teensy, tiny little bit.”
“Between you torturing me and Ava laughing at me and Bella licking me, I’m not sure I’ll make it through the day,” I tease as we near the parade route, spotting some of the girls’ friends from school.
“Oh, yes, you will,” Clover says as the girls run to greet two princesses and a baby brother dressed as a pea. Once they’re out of earshot, she adds with a wink, “And don’t worry, I’ll lick you later and make it all better.”
