Grounded (Up in the Air, #3)(59)

She waved her martini glass in the air. “You see this?”

I nodded, smiling. I knew there’d be a punch line.

“This is not a martini. This is a Midol-tini, cause I’m on the rag, folks, and it is a heavy flow day!”

“OOOhhhh,” Murphy cried. “TMI, Marnie TMI! I picture things!”

“Well picture that whole pool turning red if I take one step in.”

Every man within ten feet groaned in disgust. Except for Mr. Beautiful, who didn’t seem to have a squeamish bone in his body. He just laughed.

“Women are disgusting!” Murphy told her. “And what does it say about me that I’m kind of turned on right now?”

“You want a shot at this?” Marnie taunted him, waving a hand at her cute little body. “Liz told me you were good in bed, but I’ll warn you right now, if you don’t make me come, I’m spreading the word.”

Murphy slapped his forehead. “How am I supposed to perform under that kind of pressure?”

She pointed at him. “If you can’t perform under pressure, that’s a deal-breaker. If this makes you nervous, what will you do when I bust out my strap-on? The pressure hasn’t even begun. Take it or leave it, Cap’n!”

Murphy’s eyes widened comically. “Will you call me that while we’re going at it? That might help my performance.”

She gave him a smart little salute. “Ay Ay, Cap’n!”

She shouted the words, but could still barely be heard over the sounds of all of us laughing. The funniest part was, I had no idea if they were actually joking.

Murphy turned to Damien, holding out his hand as if to shake. “We’ll finally be Eskimo brothers, mate! I’ve been looking forward to this day!”

Damien just shook his head, looking pained. He was particularly quiet tonight, chatting up Jessa in the corner of the pool. “So wrong,” he muttered.

Murphy threw his arms up in the air. “Is that too crass? How about fish-sticks? Can we cross fish-sticks now?”

“What does that even mean?” I asked James, figuring it was a guy thing.

He grimaced. “It’s a really crude way of saying that they hooked up with the same woman.”

Judith held up two fingers to Murphy, bouncing over to him in the pool. “Fish-sticks!”

They began to have a long mock sword fight with their fingers.

“Your friends are a riot,” James told me. “But I can’t imagine they weren’t a shock to a virgin.”

I gave him a look. “I was a virgin, but I’ve seen plenty, James. I was on the streets as a young teen. I was past the ability to be shocked before I was sixteen. I think that Judith and Marnie were more shocked at my virginity than they’ve ever managed to shock me.”

He laughed. “I can well imagine.”

“They tried to relieve me of the ‘condition’ for months. I had to really chew them out to get them to stop.”

His face darkened. “I’m glad they didn’t succeed. The idea makes me feel violent.”

I rolled my eyes. “They didn’t even come close to succeeding. They were trying to hook me up with guys that they had hooked up with.”

“Murphy is earning his red-wings tonight!” Marnie shouted loudly.

I looked at James, who had me crowded against the side of the pool. “What does that mean?” I asked him, knowing it was something kinky, and that he was the expert on kink.

He grinned, moving close against me. “When you go down on a girl on her period for the first time, that’s called earning your red-wings. I’m going to earn my red-wings with you.”

I felt like I blushed from head to toe. I had to look away. I didn’t know how, but he could still manage to shock me.

He gripped my chin and turned me back to look at him.

“So you’ve never done that before?” I asked him.

He shook his head.

“And people actually do that?”

He shrugged. “I’m going to.”

I wrinkled my nose at him. “You are so kinky in the strangest ways. I just kind of assumed that people just stopped doing…stuff…during that time of the month.”

He laughed. “Look at you. You can’t even say it. I won’t be going a week without sex just because you have your period, I can tell you that much. And I won’t be going a week without going down on you either. So yes, I’ll be earning my red-wings soon.”

I flushed hotly. The idea was so embarrassing, but the fact that nothing about me was a turn-off for him, was still always kind of a turn-on for me.

He grinned, gripping my chin in a hand, and leaning in close. “Words can’t even express how much I love to put that scandalized look in your eyes.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” I whispered back, still blushing.

“God you guys are good at eye-f*cking each other!” Marnie shouted at us, just making me flush harder. “Get a room!”

“I might not be in the mood when I’m on my period,” I told him, ignoring Marnie. “I can get tired and grumpy.”

He laughed, unfazed. “Oh, trust me, I’ll get you in the mood.”

Knowing him, I could hardly doubt it.

“I need to go to the bathroom, you kinky bastard,” I told him.