Bare Skin (Skin Deep 5)

Emma pulled the screen door open and walked in, handing me a heavy, brown paper sack as she passed me. “It’s the middle of summer and the air is on. Don’t you know better, ass? How many times did Mom tell you to shut the door, that she wasn’t cooling the outside?”

He rolled his eyes and moved his lips like he was mocking her. Typical.

I peered into the bag, nodding a distracted hello at Luke as he came in, too, making sure to close the front door behind him. Two green boxes stared back at me. “Jesus, you brought two fifths of Apple Crown? Are you trying to get alcohol poisoning?”

She just smirked and pointed to the door right as the doorbell rang. “Get that, will ya?”

I blinked at her, shaking my head, but still moved to open the door, only to find Allie and Jackson on the other side, with Chloe and Brandon coming up the steps. They all filed into the house, Brandon holding a stack of pizzas and Chloe carrying a couple of overstuffed grocery sacks, while Allie held two twelve packs of Cherry 7up. Jackson had a case of beer.

I shut the door behind them, and glanced over at Calland who just shrugged helplessly at me.

“Are we having a party?” I asked.

“Nah,” Allie said, shrugging. “Just a get together. Leah and Ian already had plans, or they’d be here, too. But, we all managed to get babysitters for the night, and we were gonna go out to the bar, but then Emma remembered that Kade was going for his first whole weekend with T.J., so we brought the bar to you.” She paused. “You better love me for it, too, because I can’t drink and you bitches are having the good shit tonight!”

“Oooh…liquid cocaine?” Chloe asked, stepping over to peer into the bag I was still holding.

“Nope. Apple Crown and Cherry 7up,” Emma said, smacking her lips together and licking them lasciviously.

“Even better,” Chloe quipped, taking the bag from me.

“Well, alrighty then,” I replied, surrendering the booze to her. I didn’t know what else to say. I was blinking, trying to hold back the tears threatening. I swear, I’d never been a cry baby before I came here, but they were all constantly surprising me with their loving thoughtfulness, this being no exception.

Calland came to stand beside me, draping his arm over my shoulders and pulling me into his side. “This work for you?” he asked, softly.

I beamed up at him. “Definitely.”

So we ate pizza and got drunk. Well, the girls (all except Allie, of course) did. And we played a couple rowdy hands of Cards Against Humanity before someone got the bright idea to play Charades.

It was my turn to act…is that what it’s called? Acting? Flailing your arms and body around wildly while trying to pantomime some inane activity or thing? Anyway, that’s what I was doing.

I was attempting to get them to guess that I was riding a horse, which should be simple, right? Maybe when the players hadn’t been imbibing…but we had, and I, for one, was pretty frickin’ buzzed. So maybe my acting wasn’t quite on par. Maybe I really did look like I was, “Humping a hippo,” as Chloe had shouted out.

Or, “Spanking my ass like a naughty girl,” according to Calland.

All I knew was that, by the time everyone had shouted out a guess, each more outrageous than the last, I was laughing so hard I’d collapsed on the floor and was seriously in danger of pissing myself.

We’d called Brandon’s answer the winner. He’d guessed, “Riding the baloney pony!” Close enough. Ish.

It wasn’t long after that, though, that people started getting handsy.

And by people, I mean me. And Emma and Chloe.

So we decided it was time to call it a night. Calland was all for that, shooing everyone out the door in a comical rush, then slamming the door behind them, making sure to lock it before he turned to me, a slow grin spreading across his face.

Just like that, my good night turned great.

I stood there, waiting to see what he’d do next, but he didn’t make a move. In fact, he leaned back against the door, crossing his arms over his chest.

I cocked a hip and rested one hand on it, using the other to tap my chin in that universal I’m-thinking pose. Then I turned and ran, heading for the bedroom.

I barely made it through the doorway when I heard footsteps pounding after me. I took off across the room, jumping for the bed when strong arms caught me around my waist and hauled me back into a hard, muscled chest.

Lips brushed the outer shell of my ear as he whispered, “Going somewhere?”

I moaned and turned my head, finding his lips with mine. I devoured him with my mouth, not even realizing that he had moved closer to the bed so that my knees were on it, because he was still holding me against his chest.

While our lips and tongues mated, one of his hands slid up to cup my breast while the other slid down my stomach and into the waistband of my shorts, delving under the lace fabric of my panties and directly into the wet, hot folds of my sex.

I broke the kiss on a moan, dropping my head back on his shoulder as his fingers played in my wetness, slipping and sliding up and down my slit, dipping inside, circling and pinching my clit until I was panting and thrusting my hips into his hand, seeking the release that hovered just out of reach.