Chapter 39
CHAPTER 39
KINSLEY
“Girls’ night, girls’ night,” Sydney cheers, skipping onto the boat with a brooding Lawson following behind her.
“Girls’ night, girls’ night,” Jace mocks and I backhand his chest.
“Quit your pouting.”
“I won the race, so I should be the one having fun with my girl, but my sister is stealing her away.” He pulls me into his arms, sticking out his bottom lip.
I laugh under my breath and wrap my arms around his shoulders. “We can still have some fun later tonight when I get back.”
His pout turns into a smirk and he leans down, brushing his lips against mine. “I’m going to hold you to that, sweetheart,” he whispers against my lips.
“I come bearing gifts from our favorite redhead,” Blake calls out as she and Ryder walk down the pier.
Ryder sets down the box on the table and we crowd around as Blake rips it open. “She said she wishes she didn’t have to miss out on tonight, but at least this way she’ll be with us in some small way.”
“Oh, very cryptic.” Jace drums his fingers together.
Blake peaks into the box and chokes on a laugh, quickly shutting it with wide eyes.
“What?” Ryder leans around his wife, trying to get a look.
“What’s in the box?” Jace drawls.
She glares up at them. “Who says this stuff is even for you?”
Jace shrugs. “I’m nosy.”
Sighing, Blake opens the box and lifts up a black bodysuit.
“Is that?—”
“Jesus Christ?—”
“She’s insane?—”
“She didn’t?—”
“Oh, she totally did,” Sydney squeals through her laughter and dives for the box, pulling out a pink bodysuit before handing me the white one.
I hold it out in front of me, uncontrollable laughter bursting out of all of us as we look at the mini Cassie faces printed on them.
“That is so Cassie,” Nik grumbles, but I hear the slight humor in his voice.
He’s right. This is so Cassie.
Vibrant. Bold. Tenacious. Loving. Funny.
She’s 100 percent the girl you’d call to help you hide the dead body… hell, she probably would have been committing the act with you.
I have to admit, I was nervous to meet her at first.
She’s everything I wish I could be.
She speaks her mind without worrying about what others think and if you don’t like it, then she’ll give you a closeup of her middle finger.
She’s very much extroverted and isn’t afraid to draw attention, especially if that means making new friends wherever she goes. In our short stay in Miami, she got more phone numbers from girls than the table full of blokes next to us at the club.
I can see why her and Jace became best friends. I’m pretty sure if there was a freaky Friday moment between them, we probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.
The man himself wraps his arms around my waist as he rests his chin on my shoulder. “At least Cassie will be there to make sure my girl doesn’t get hit on by any creeps tonight.”
“You don’t think I can get anyone’s number while wearing this?”
His eyes widen. “Please don’t try.”
I turn in his arms and take his face in my hands. I place a soft kiss on his lips and hum. “There’s only one man I want hitting on me.”
“Please say it’s me.”
I pull back, laughing. “Of course.”
“Yes,” he quietly cheers and leans down, stealing a kiss.
“Oh look!” We turn as Blake reaches into the box, pulling out a note. “I couldn’t leave out my favorite boys. I hope they bring as many happy tears to your eyes as they did mine.”
She hands off black bags to each of the lads and two smaller ones for the boys. I help them rip open their bags and they both gasp.
“Oh my god, Mummy, look, it’s Iron Man!”
“And I got Spider-Man!”
They each hold up their bright red swimming shorts decorated with the superheroes.
“Oh my goodness, that’s so cool. Do you want to change into them?”
They nod furiously and Jace snorts. I look up at him and he slams his bag shut. “I’ll take them.”
He shuffles the boys off without another word and Sydney pokes my side. “What’s his deal?”
“Son of a—” Lawson closes his bag with a sigh and stomps off after them.
“Okay, what’s going—” Ryder and Nik get up, skulking into the cabin area of the boat. “—on…” Blake trails off as her husband turns back to wink at her.
Sydney pops her hands on her hips, her brows furrowed. “I feel left out of the know and I don’t like it.”
I shrug, holding up the bodysuit. “Might as well take the opportunity to change.”
“You really don’t have to—” Blake starts, but Sydney cuts her off with a laugh.
“Oh yes we do. You think Cas will let us ever forget it? We’re wearing these and taking as many pictures in them as possible.” She skips off towards the upper deck.
Blake slaps her thighs. “Alrighty then.”
We follow the bouncing blonde and change into our new outfits for tonight, falling into fits of laughter every time we look at one another.
Climbing back up to the main deck, we bump into each other as Sydney comes to an abrupt halt. “Jesus, Syd,” Blake cries out, clutching onto the railing to keep from falling back down the stairs.
“Oh my god,” Sydney whispers.
Blake balances on her tiptoes to look over her shoulder and a laugh barrels out of her. “Oh this is gold,” she says as we make our way towards the guys.
Sydney doubles over, clutching onto the bright pink swim shorts with her face on them that an unentertained Lawson is wearing.
“At what point does your skin burst out in hives since an actual color other than black is touching it?” She wipes away a tear, sighing. “God, I love Cassie.”
Lawson scowls down at her, but I catch the hint of a smirk as he watches her break out into giggles all over again.
Blake walks over to Ryder and tugs on the band around his trim hips. “This is a good look for you.” I swear I hear him growl before he bends down, taking her lips in a fierce kiss that has her laughing.
She breaks away and glances at Nik. “Hey, we’re twins.” He shifts in his black swim shorts with Cassie’s face on them, exactly like Blake’s bodysuit. He shakes his head with a faint smirk, adjusting the sleeve of his compression shirt.
“Mummy, Jace has your face on his swimmers.” Cooper giggles, running over to me and takes my hand. I look over and Jace strikes a pose.
He throws his arm over my shoulder and winks. “Now everyone will know who I belong to.”
I laugh, shaking my head and pointing to my shirt. “Does that mean I belong to Cassie?”
His eyebrows furrow. “What? No.” I squeal when he bends and licks the side of my face. “I licked you so you’re mine,” he growls in my ear and I laugh, pushing him away.
A phone rings and Blake holds up her phone. Cassie’s bright smile and freckled face framed wild red curls appear and her eyes widen as she slaps a hand over her mouth.
“Oh my god, it’s better than I could have imagined.”
“This was brilliant, Cas,” Jace calls out, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.
“I still can’t believe Lawson is wearing his,” she giggles. Her eyes slide over the screen and she squints. “Oh my god, Nikolai. You?—”
“Don’t,” he growls and she squeals.
“Who are you talking to?” A voice cuts through the background and she looks off screen. She waves whoever it is over and a second later her boyfriend, Richard, appears by her side.
“Oh, hey.” He squints at the screen. “What the hell are you all wearing?”
Blake flips the camera and shows off each of the guys. Richard’s amused smile hardens when the phone pans to a scowling Nik.
Cassie bounces in her seat, giggling. “Aren’t they great?”
Her bright attitude falters when he glances at her. His phone rings in the background and he quickly excuses himself. Her eyes track him off camera a moment before she looks back at the screen with a forced smile. “What about my two favorite little boys?”
The boys get on camera and thank their Aunt Cassie for their new favorite swim shorts and she raves about how great they look in them. She tells us to go have fun tonight and to send her all the pictures before hanging up.
I turn in Jace’s arms and his eyes trace over my body. “I really want to tell you how amazing you look, but it just feels incredibly weird to do so when there’s hundreds of pictures of one of my best friends looking at me.”
I laugh and he leans down. “But you do. Look amazing, that is,” he whispers against my lips.
“Ew!” The boys giggle.
Sydney points at us, fake gagging. “Yeah, get a room.”
“I would but you decided to steal my girl from me for the night.”
I playfully push on his chest and he nips at my lip.
“Well, we should probably get to that before this,” she twirls a finger towards us, “escalates.” Hopping to her feet, she ruffles the boys’ hair and grabs her bag.
“It’s only a few hours you leech,” she cries, prying Jace’s arms from around my waist.
With one last kiss, I step away and slip my bag across my chest. “Have fun!”
Blake, Sydney, and I climb off the boat. “You too, but not too much,” Jace calls out, watching us walk down the pier.
“No promises,” Sydney yells over her shoulder. She takes mine and Blake’s hands before we take off in a jog, giggling all the way to the car. “Girls’ night,” she cheers as we drive through the streets of Monaco.
“Oh, he’s cute.” Blake bumps Sydney’s shoulder as she sips on her rum and Coke.
She pretends to glance in the man’s direction before shrugging. “Not my type.”
Blake quirks an eyebrow. “What, is he too smiley for you?”
“I like my men smoldering, on the verge of looking like they want to burn the place down.”
Blake snorts and shakes her head. Sydney finishes what’s left of her drink and shifts towards me. “So, Kinsley.”
Here we go.
“How’s it going with you and my brother?”
And there it is.
I smile around the straw of my Diet Coke. “Amazing.”
“Oh, come on. You’ve got to give us more than that.” Blake laughs.
“But not too much, please. He’s still my stinky older brother, so maybe keep it PG-13, yeah?” Sydney pleads before quickly ordering another drink from a passing waiter.
I set down my drink and nibble on my lip as my mind replays the past month. “It’s seriously been incredible. He’s incredible.”
I laugh when Blake wiggles her eyebrows and Sydney scowls at her.
“It feels like a dream, really. But it also feels right. Like this is exactly where I’m supposed to be and who I’m supposed to be with.” I shake my head, smiling. “I don’t know if it’s ridiculous to say that since we’ve only been together for a month?—”
“It’s not ridiculous,” Sydney says, grabbing my hand.
“You don’t think it’s too soon for me to be feeling this way?”
“Absolutely not. You and Jace are soulmates.”
I smile at her as my heart flutters at the thought. “How do you know?”
“When you first met him, how did you feel?”
I laugh, thinking about how I ended up on my arse, staring up at him after we collided in the hallway. “Flustered, but oddly at peace? When I looked into his eyes, I felt this weightlessness in my body and mind.”
“So you’d say there was sort of this instant connection?”
“Without a doubt.” I laugh under my breath, blushing. “I don’t know how to explain it, but those first few weeks it was like I was drawn to him. Every time I walked into a room, I knew if he was there because I could feel it, like this string between us. I’d follow that pull and there he’d be at the end of it. Almost like he was waiting for me to find him.”
“I think I’ve read about that in one of Cassie’s romantasy books,” Blake hums.
“It’s honestly what it feels like. Like this is some fantasy.”
Sydney squeals. “I’m so happy for you. Obviously I’m happy for my brother, but I’m truly happy for you, Kinsley. You deserve this and so much more.”
I lean over in the u-shaped booth we’re in and hug her. “Thank you.”
She pulls back. “For what?”
“If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. I never would have met Jace or made new friends.” I glance at Blake and she smiles. “This is all happening because of you, Sydney.”
“It isn’t because of me at all, Kinsley. This is all because of you, it’s always been you.”
It’s always been you.
My eyebrows furrow slightly and I open my mouth to ask her what she means when a song comes on and she jumps in her seat. “Oh my god, I love this song!”
She drags me and Blake out onto the dance floor and soon we lose ourselves to the music. The next few hours pass in a blur of drinks, laughter, and flashing lights as we take endless pictures and videos for Cassie.
It’s long past midnight when we stumble up the stairs and I pull out my key. Unlocking the front door, we spill into the apartment and follow the sound of the TV to the living room.
“Look,” Blake whispers.
I follow to where she’s pointing and my heart skips.
Jace is tucked into the corner of the L-shaped sectional, his head back and mouth slightly parted. Beckham is cuddled into his right side and Cooper is practically sprawled out on his chest.
“Gah, I want one,” Blake sighs. Me and Sydney whip our heads towards her and she waves us off. “Not anytime soon. I want that championship first.”
Sydney sighs. “That’s fair, I guess.”
She looks at the guys and snickers under her breath as she tiptoes over to a passed out Lawson. She creeps up behind his head and takes out her pink lipstick. Lightly, she runs it over his lips, freezing when he shifts.
Taking out her phone, she snaps a picture of him and then bends down, taking a selfie. Stuffing her phone away, her eyes dance over the softened face of an otherwise hardened man.
My heart cracks when I see her reach up and lightly brush his hair off his forehead as her eyes fill with longing. As if sensing my gaze, she glances up and blinks, her lips tipping into a sad smile.
Standing, she takes a breath and reaches out, shoving his shoulder. “Come on, you can sleep in my bed.”
Lawson grunts, peeking up at her. “Trying to get me in your bed, sunshine?”
“Just don’t want to have to deal with your whining tomorrow. I know sleeping on the couch can do a lot of harm to your old joints.”
He scowls, but stands and follows her down the hallway to her room.
Blake walks over to her snoozing husband and crouches in front of him, speaking softly. I can’t help but swoon when his eyes flutter open and he smiles, reaching out to cup her face.
He follows her out of the living room, saying a quiet goodnight to me before they walk across the hall to their own flat.
I walk around the back of the couch and bend over, brushing my lips against Jace’s. He stirs, his head tilting to chase me as I pull back. His eyes flutter open and he smiles.
“Hi,” I whisper.
“Hi, beautiful. Did you have a good night?”
I hum, nodding. “I missed you, though. How was your night?”
“We missed you more. The boys tied in the cannonball contest and I treated them to victory gelato. Then we came back here, had some dinner while we played games, and watched a film.”
“It was good, though?”
“It was amazing.” He smiles, looking down at our boys and chuckles. “They’re little heaters though. I’m sweating more right now than I did during the race.”
“Come on, let’s get them to bed.”
Together we walk down the hallway, carrying them to Beckham’s bedroom. Closing the door to Jace’s room, he turns and pulls me in for a passionate kiss.
Pulling back to catch my breath I smile up at him. “What was that for?”
“Just making up for the times I didn’t get to kiss you tonight.”
I giggle, pressing my lips against his.
He hums. “Now there was something about having some fun with my girl when she got home later.”
“Oh yeah?”
He nods, his eyes darkening. “It’s later, sweetheart.”
I squeal when he picks me up and dives for the bed, losing myself in the feel of his body and the unspoken feelings that burn between us.