“The waves look good today,” she says when we get closer to Talia’s and see the Pacific stretching out in front of us.
“They sure do.” Allie grins and nudges my elbow. “Might be time for an early morning surf session.”
Svetlana overhears her daughter. “Those poor boys.” Looking back at me, she says, “I really hope your brothers and cousins go easy on them. That water is dangerous.”
“And freezing,” Allie says.
“When have my brothers ever gone easy on anyone?” I ask them.
“Well at least they can’t kill them,” Allie says in a very sad attempt to comfort me. “We can’t start a war with the Melnikov family. That would be insane.”
“No one’s going to war,” Svetlana says. She stares back at the violent, swirling water. “I’m sure they’ll be careful.”
Allie shoots me a disbelieving look. “More like Sitka and I will be crashing the party so we can make sure no one drowns.”
Her mom grins back at us. “That’s probably the safest bet. You two can keep them in line, or at least try.”
Wallace runs out to greet us when we hit their driveway, and I drop to one knee so I can hug on him without spilling the food. He wags his tail and licks my face before running off again. Excitement and nerves hit me when Talia opens the door and waves us all inside. I hug my cousin and then immediately search the room for the one person I’m desperate to see. I’m prepared for a lot of things—the possibility that he’s not here, that I might see him walking into the room and immediately blow our cover—every scenario that runs through my head is one I’m on the lookout for, but none of those scenarios involved Damien sitting on the couch with a very happy Lyra in his arms.
Allie gives me a discreet nudge when my feet stay rooted to the hardwood floor. Damien’s dark eyes are watching me, and there’s a definite smirk playing at his lips. Even Lyra’s happy squeal isn’t enough to make me break eye contact.
“Jesus,” Allie mutters. “Sexual tension alert,” she warns. “Like inferno level. Move your ass,” she whispers, hissing it right into my ear before anyone else can notice.
Ev must notice something, because he walks over and stands in front of us, blocking me from view of the others.
“Help,” Allie whispers to him.
I finally snap out of it and look up at the two of them. “I’m not that bad.”
They both raise a brow like they’d choreographed it beforehand.
“I’m not,” I insist, keeping my voice low.
“I’ll hold them off for a few minutes, but seriously, Sitka, you might as well be announcing it with a bullhorn.” She gives me a wink before grabbing the bag of food I’m still holding andcarrying it into the kitchen to run interference while I get my shit together.
I look up at Ev. “Was it that noticeable?”
He’s kind enough to not laugh, but I can tell he wants to. Before he walks off, he leans in close and says, “Don’t feel too bad. Damien has more practice hiding things, but even I can see it written all over his face.”
When he walks off to join the others, I hurry over to where Damien is waiting with Lyra. She squeals when she sees me and waves her arms while letting out a long string of gibberish.
“I’m just as excited to see you,” he says, making me smile. “It’s just not socially acceptable for me to show it like she does.”
I lean in and kiss Lyra’s chubby cheek, and Damien takes advantage of my closeness to brush his lips along my temple, that one small touch making my heart stutter.
“I missed you,” he whispers.
“I missed you too,” I tell him.
Before he can say anything else, Svetlana and Talia walk back in, both of them headed straight towards us. Damien hands Lyra to her mom when she tries to lunge out of his arms, and while they’re busy loving on her, I feel the soft drag of his fingers along the small of my back before he takes a step to stand next to Ev.
I slowly let out the breath I’d been holding. Today is going to be a very long day. I try my best to pay attention and act normal, but if it wasn’t for Allie and Ev, I’d be fucked. They keep the conversation going and the attention off me, and when we sit down to eat, Allie makes sure to squeeze in next to me. I give her a look, but she just shares a smile with Ev. They’re obviously working together on this one. Damien ends up sitting across from me instead of right next to me, and I’m not so sure this is all that better because I can’t seem to pull my eyes off him for longer than a few minutes at a time.
When I feel his foot nudge mine, I hide my smile behind another mouthful of food and kick my shoes off so I can put my feet on his legs. In seconds, he’s reaching a hand under the table to grab onto my ankle. I brace my other foot on the floor and discreetly pull my chair up a bit, cursing my short legs and wishing they were long like Allie’s.
The corner of his mouth lifts as he squeezes my ankle and then brushes his thumb along my skin. He keeps his hand on me while he finishes eating, dragging his fingers along my skin, snaking them as far up my pants as he can get before lightly sliding them back down. It’s intoxicating, and when Talia asks me if I’m staying at Allie’s again, it takes me a second to answer.
I laugh and point to the chocolate cake in front of me. “Sorry, this is so good. I kind of spaced out for a sec.”
