Chapter 27
MIA
“Roll up, roll up. Everyone grab a chair. Let’s give a round of applause to the lovebirds competing this evening. Bame! Let’s go!” Mario bows, ushering us onto the pool beds while he paces the length of them like an army drill sergeant.
“First up, front and center, lovebirds of the hour, Niiiiiiiick and Layla. Dating for twelve years before he finally decided to put a ring on it. Took you long enough sir, amiright?”
Nick throws his head back with a good-natured laugh when Layla nods her head in violent agreement with Mario.
“Next up… Maria and Taki, parents of our esteemed groom, childhood sweethearts—or should I say arranged marriage in the good ol’ days.” He winks, drawing another laugh from everyone.
He’s not wrong. Their parents picked them for each other. It’s just how things were done back then.
They clearly had better luck than me. Mom’s attempts at setting me up have been a freakin’ disaster.
She’s lucky she met Dad. He can handle her larger-than-life personality and nonstop ribbing. He’s super chill, hardworking, and loyal. Everything a good partner should be.
Sounds like someone else I know.
Swayze hasn’t pushed me to talk about yesterday, taking it in stride and letting me process things at my own pace. I know I should apologize for my meltdown, but he’s made it so easy to fall back into an even, chilled, no pressure, fun vibe.
I side-eye him sprawled out on the lounger beside me, looking all kinds of hot in a heather gray t-shirt, which, given the way he’s braced on his elbows, highlights every ridge and dip of his ripped body.
The deliciously low v-neck and bare arms only draw more attention to the ink decorating his skin.
Ink I’d love to trace with my tongue.
Uhh Mia… what are you doing?
Fuck. The sun really must be messing with me. It’s not like I can use the freakin’ horny excuse since the other night’s little sexcapade should keep me going for at least six months.
Wellll, okay. Fine. I prooobably can’t blame the excess vitamin D for reactivating the horny hellcat since I’m the one who bribed him into cloning his dick for me.
“Aaaaand, last but not least, Mia and Swayze! Young love at its finest. These two might have only been official for—wait, how long have you been official for?” Mario swivels his head toward us.
“Nine months,” I respond at the same time Swayze offers, “Almost a year.”
Oh shit.
“Uhhh-ohhh, that doesn’t bode well for the competition. Is someone forgetting an anniversarrrry?” He winks while I scramble to figure out a way to fix this little fuck up. We kept it vague when we first told our parents, but we really should’ve discussed specifics.
Rookie move, Mia, rookie move.
God. My subconscious is so judgy.
“Well, officially Mia is right, it was nine months yesterday, but in my mind we’ve been official since the first night we kissed back in January.
I couldn’t look at another girl after that, so eleven months ago now…
almost a year in my book.” Swayze smoothly interjects with a shrug, grinning and winking at me when our mothers audibly swoon over him.
Ugh. Smug bastard. How does he always know what to say?
He must register my irritation because he leans forward, crooking his finger at me before whispering a quiet sorry and kissing me softly on the lips.
Dammit, now I’m the one swooning—and I know this isn’t freakin’ real.
“Now for the rules…” Mario rubs his hands together and winks at me. Yippee, it’s almost like he already knows we’re so good at sticking to those.
“First few rounds are quick-fire questions. I’ll ask the same question about each of you, and you both shout out the answer at the same time. Get it right, you kiss. Get it wrong, you both drink. Entaxi? Let’s go.”
“So much for not drinking again on this trip,” Swayze mutters quietly beside me.
My gaze snaps to his face, but his eyes stay locked on my cousin.
“Layla and Nick, what’s Nick’s favorite thing about you, Layla?”
They both laugh out loud and shout, “Ass!” before kissing like their life depends on it.
“Okay, same question about Nick.”
Nick grins and shouts, “My cock” just as Layla calls out, “his sense of humor.”
We all erupt. Well, except for the toxic toad and his frozen-looking plus one, who react like someone just canceled Christmas.
Well, that’s what you get for showing up, dickhead.
“Next up, same question, Maria and Taki.” Mario points the rolled-up menu he’s now using as a fake microphone towards them.
“Ta Vizyá,” aka boobs, they both shout in Greek.
Fuck my life. I didn’t have find out if Dad is a tits or ass man on my bingo card for today.
“Annnd, same question about Taki.”
“His wallet!” They shout, two for two now.
The following kiss lasts way too long for my liking.
“Bow chicka wow wow, Maria and Taki!!! And now for our big bad Wolff…”
Ohhh god. This is going to go horribly wrong, isn’t it? What the hell do I say? I don’t know what his favorite thing about me is.
Can’t very well say he likes fucking me, can I?
Shit, shit, shit.
“Relax. You got this,” Swayze mutters, sitting up to grip my hand tightly in his.
“Mia’s favorite thing about Swayze.”
He gives my hand another squeeze before turning to smirk at my cousin, answering “my body” at the exact same time I announce “his abs” loud and proud.
Yesssss. We score, we win.
I bounce on the spot and Swayze throws his head back with a throaty laugh.
“That counts, give us a kiss.” Mario makes an obnoxious smooching sound when Swayze cups my neck and pulls me in for a soft, decidedly too-short kiss.
I wouldn’t mind, but dammit—my parents just put us to shame.
“Okay, same question Swayze.”
“Hmmmmm.” He runs his thumb over his lip watching me. When his eyes drop to my mouth, my cheeks heat.
“On three?” I whisper to him, taking a huge drag of my water to cover my nerves.
He nods and squeezes my hand three times. Sucking in a sharp breath, I call out “my sass” just as he shouts “her sassy mouth,” a huge grin splitting his face.
Everyone laughs at the excited squeal that bursts out of me while he slides a hand round my neck, drawing my face to his with a chuckle.
“I really do like this sassy mouth,” he murmurs, lips pressed to mine, sending my stomach into a weird, happy flip as he deepens the kiss.
Breaking away, a little breathless, I shake my head at him. “Good guess, boyfriend.”
“Easy when it’s true, girlfriend.”
Mario, ever the showman, fans himself watching us before continuing. “Most embarrassing moment—”
We don’t even let him finish before we both shout, “Airport security!” at exactly the same time.
Mom cackles beside us, launching into a full-blown play-by-play to fill in the rest of the group.
“…I just told him, my girl works hard and needs some relief. And we all know orgasms work best for that. Just look at Mario—not a single gray hair on his head. Sex does wonders for the stress levels.”
Fuck me, this is why that moment might go down in history as the most embarrassing of my life. Ever. It had nothing to do with TSA waving around my vibrator like air traffic control and everything to do with mom’s sex education speech.
Even Mario looks a little sheepish, the tips of his ears turning a cute shade of pink, despite his amused expression.
“Okay, gang, who made the first move?”
“He did!” I shout triumphantly. This one’s easy. He pulled me into that bathroom at Jett’s quicker than Mario can drop his boxers.
“Nope. You kissed me first, brat.”
I gasp, my head snaps toward him. “Wait, what? No way, you leaned in.”
He chuckles, shaking his head. “It was loud in there. I was trying to hear what you were saying.”
“As if! You were staring at my lips.” I shoot him a mock glare.
“Ever heard of lip reading?” He smirks wickedly.
“With your tongue?” I’ve got him there. No way he can twist that narrative. “Your tongue darted out to lick your bottom lip before we kissed. It’s the universal I’m gonna kiss you sign. Everyone knows that.”
“Objection.” His wicked smirk widens into an all out cheshire cat grin as he holds up his hand.
“Nope. Overruled.” Grinning smugly, I shove the shot glass into his outstretched hand and watch him reluctantly drink.
He crooks his finger at me, then hooks it under my chin drawing me in for a fiery kiss. Butterflies erupt low in my belly when his tongue sweeps into my mouth, tangling with mine.
This man tastes like alcohol and bad decisions, but I can’t bring myself to care.
“Damn. Someone call the fire department, it’s getting hot in here. On that note… favorite sex position. Go!”
Layla and Nick say, “Doggy” simultaneously, high-fiving while Nick barks like a dog. Mario responds with a howl of his own.
Mom announces, “Reverse cowgirl” proudly, at the exact same moment I stupidly take a sip of water, almost choking myself to death.
Death by mental trauma.
Someone hand me the bleach, I need to burn the mental image of Mom riding Dad like a cowboy from my brain, stat.
It takes me only a split second to realize all eyes are on us while I’m still reeling from that little truth nugget.
No way.
Not doing it.
“Oh, come on, guys, I can’t talk about sex positions in front of our parents.”
Mario chuckles, shrugging. “Your mom doesn’t seem to mind. Yeehaw.” He swings his hand over his head, thrusting his hips like a perverted cowboy.
“Why are we friends, Maz?”
“We’re family, boo. That’s worse.” He winks at me before clapping his hands. “Bame, Bame.”
“Come on, Mia mou, everyone does it,” Mom shouts in encouragement.
Christ. I need a new family. This is not normal.
And that’s coming from a sex journalist.
“Ready?” Swayze mutters, catching my gaze.
No.
“Handcuffed.” My eyes snap back to him again. “Any, if she’s at my mercy.”
Wait, how did he know that? We have definitely not discussed it. I’d remember that, no matter how drunk I was.
His gaze burns as he sinks his hand into my hair, tugging me toward his lips slowly, never looking away.
Mayday.
May-fucking-day.
I think I need to dive into the pool and cool off before I forget our reinforced rules less than twenty-four hours later.