My eyes travel over to where Billy is sitting down next to Bella, probably trying to hit on her, but she politely excuses herself and eyes me like she wants me dead. Yeah… I might have told the banana story to everyone here.
“Ass,” she mumbles on her way by, and I laugh, moving my eyes toward Allie as she leaves Billy and moves to my side.
The second she’s close enough, I pull her to me, and tilt her head back until I can kiss her. I don’t care who sees or who groans, and I ignore the whistling going on.
She grins against my lips before wrapping her hands around my neck. “I love you,” she says softly, and I step in closer, pulling her flush against my body. I’ll never get tired of hearing those words out of her mouth.
“I love you.”
“I’m going to be sick if you two don’t stop,” Maverick groans. “I see enough of this with Kode and Dane.”
“Ignore them,” I tell Allie when she blushes and pulls back. “I do.”
She starts to say something, but then her brow furrows in confusion as she shifts her gaze to something behind me. “What is he doing?”
I turn around to see Rye belly crawling away from Brin’s chair. Her feet are tucked under the chair as she talks animatedly to Tria about something, unaware of her boyfriend’s movement.
He nods toward Kade who tosses him a lighter, and I watch as something sparks when he lights the end of a string—no, not a string; it’s a fuse.
The hell?
He takes off running, and Brin looks behind her as his cackles break free. She starts to say something when suddenly a collection of rapid-fire pops ring out, one right after another.
She screams as tiny sparks fly from the ground—are those firecrackers?
She runs, but the things are tied to a string that is tied to her shoe, so the endless popping and sparks follow her, leaving a trail of smoke in our backyard as she continues screaming and tries uselessly to escape.
Angel and Carrie laugh loudly, turning around in their seats to watch as Brin falls and kicks off her shoe before crawling back up and running again.
Rye’s eyes widen when she grabs the garden hose, and he gasps out an, “Oh shit!” But it’s too late to run, because that thing sprays furiously, slamming him in the chest with a relentless stream that follows him as he tries to run away.
He finally runs toward her, and tackles her at the waist, gently bringing her to the ground on top of him before wrestling away the hose. It’s not freezing or anything out here, but it’s too cold for that shit.
Allie laughs as the two have a wet T-shirt wrestling match, and she turns toward me again. But just as quickly, Maverick’s laughter interrupts our moment, and I see Corbin glaring at him.
“What?” Dale prods Corbin. “Why are you so pissed right now?”
“I’m not. Maverick’s making a bigger deal out of it than necessary. Ruby can’t stay mad at me for long. She never does.”
“What’d you do?” I ask, moving us closer to their conversation.
Corbin glares at me like I’ve offended him, and Maverick laughs harder.
“Ruby finally moves back to Sterling Shore, and she’s here for two days before Corbin pisses her off so bad that she’s ignoring him now. Go figure.”
“How?” Allie asks, clearly intrigued.
He shrugs, not feeling inclined to answer, but Maverick answers for him.
“He triple dared her to break up with her boyfriend. Can we say jealous?”
Allie looks confused, and so does Bella. They don’t know the history.
“If he was so important to her, she would have said no,” Corbin says defensively.
“She can’t!” Maverick says, laughing. “This triple dare war has been going on forever. She’s not going to cave now, and you knew it. Jackass. Just admit you’re in love with her, and I’ll leave you alone.”
Corbin scowls at him. “It was going to be a long-distance relationship. And you know those don’t work out. The guy was a prick anyway. I was doing her a favor.”
“Suurre,” Maverick drawls, taunting him. “Admit it. She’s back, and now you’re going to make me handle the women all on my own while you turn into one of them.”
Maverick lazily gestures to the couples, including Allie and me. Corbin stands and flips Maverick off before leaving, and Maverick continues to laugh at his back.
“I like your friends,” Allie says with a grin, drawing my attention back down to her bright green eyes. “It never gets boring.”
Tuning out everything else, I pull her to me, putting my lips close to her ear, and whisper, “I can think of a number of ways you wouldn’t be bored, and we don’t need my friends around for that.”
She shivers against me, and I grin proudly. I love the effect I have on her.