Flirting with Forever: A Hot Romantic Comedy(31)

I took a sip of the wine Nora had brought. I’d put it in a blue plastic cup so she wouldn’t notice that I was drinking it. Why? Hell if I knew. The wine was good, why was I worried about whether Nora saw me with it?

That woman had me all tangled up.

She’d practically set my blood on fire when she’d brushed up against me in the kitchen earlier. And when she’d bent over? Kill me.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Seeing her with my family—and with Riley—was making my chest ache in ways I couldn’t explain. And didn’t particularly like.

There was an easiness to her presence. A familiarity. She mingled with my family and chatted with Riley as if she’d been a part of our clan for years. The women in my family all seemed to like her. I would have heard about it already if they didn’t, they weren’t shy. And although the men hadn’t said much about her, they’d all given me looks that said yeah, we don’t believe for a second that you’re not into her.

They were right. But they didn’t get it.

Dallas came up next to me and glanced into the bounce house. “Mine in there?”

“Yeah, both of them.”

“Good. I told Tori I’d make sure they weren’t barfing up their dinner.”

“Nope. So far, only one little man down.”

“Not bad, all things considered.” He took a drink of his beer. “How’s work?”

“It’s good. Busy. The shop’s fully booked almost seven days a week.”

“Awesome. That’s great.”

“How about you?”

“Oh man, the case we’re working on is really complex.” He said that with excitement in his voice, rather than stress or dread. Dallas had always loved practicing law. “I’ve been putting in a lot of hours lately, so this has been good. Nice to get away and let the kids go nuts with the cousins.”

“For sure.”

“So what’s the story with her?”

I didn’t need to ask who her meant. “There’s no story.”

He grunted his disbelief. “Right. You think you’re being subtle with the way you look at her, but I know you.”

“Come on. Can you blame me?” My eyes flicked to where she stood chatting with Tori and Angie. “Look at her. She’s gorgeous. But there’s nothing going on.”

“Uh huh.”

He didn’t continue and I hoped he’d drop the subject. One of the kids in the bounce house shrieked and I shifted to get a better look.

Nothing to worry about. It had been a happy shriek.

One of my nieces came barreling out of an opening at the top of the slide. I tilted my head. I hadn’t noticed it before, but it kind of looked like— “Oh my god, that thing looks like a vagina giving birth,” Maggie said behind me. “Mom, what the heck?”

Another kid squeezed through and slid down to the bouncy surface below. She was right. It looked exactly like vagina lips. How had I not noticed that before? Apparently I hadn’t really looked because now it was all I could see.

Mom came over. “What’s the matter?”

Maggie gestured to the bounce house. “What is that?”

“It’s a pirate ship,” Mom said, clearly confused.

“No, that.” She pointed to the opening as one of the kids slid out.

“Wow, you really can’t unsee that, can you?” Dallas said.

“What’s the matter?” Tori asked.

“Mom rented a vagina slide for the kids,” he said.

She put her hands on her hips. “It’s not a vagina slide, it’s a pirate ship.”

The rest of the adults gathered around and the kids responded to what they thought was parental attention by lining up to go down the slide, one by one, each squeezing through the inflatable vagina lips.

Riley looked up at the staircase, like she was about to join her cousins.

I didn’t want to see my daughter squeeze out of that thing. “Hey, Ry, maybe don’t use the slide, okay?”

“Oh, I won’t,” she said. “I’m too big to fit.”

Dallas chuckled. “That’s what I said.”

“That’s what they all say,” Tori nudged him with her elbow.

“Hey.”

Nora stood nearby, her lips turned up in amusement. I didn’t know whether it was the horribly designed pirate ship—seriously, someone approved that—or my brother’s attempt at a dick joke. But she laughed along with the rest of us and for a second, I couldn’t see anything else. Not even the vagina slide.

Just her.

I tore my eyes away before she could catch me gazing at her like an idiot.

“That’s our cue to go,” Angie said. “It’s past the little ones’ bedtimes anyway.”

“Yeah, we better get them home.” Her husband, Mike, motioned for the kids to get down. “Let’s go, turkeys.”

Riley knew the drill. As the oldest of the cousins, she got out first and encouraged the little ones to follow her.

Goodbyes in my family always took at least thirty minutes. Conversations developed over hugs, tentative plans were made, my mom confirmed schedules with me and my siblings. Nora hugged everyone, even giving light cheek kisses.

I had to give it to her, she’d survived the entire evening.