Until You (The Redemption, #1)(27)
“That’s not exactly fair considering she’s a dancer and I’m . . . me,” I say to another round of laughter.
“Exactly. You always win.” Paige crosses her arms over her chest and smiles smugly. “It’ll be nice to see you lose for once.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be on my side—”
“Red,” Addy shouts and adds a little jump of excitement when the spinner lands on the color.
Tenny snorts as she looks at the current placement of her first foot and where her other foot has to go, directly in front of me. There’s no way her small frame can cover that distance.
But the smack of Tenny’s hands and her rubbing them together tells me her competitive streak is just as stubborn as mine is.
And she’s just about to lose some of that sass of hers to a spot on the board.
“You’re mine, Madden,” she says playfully as she snakes one leg in front of mine.
My chuckle turns into a sucked-in breath as her body slides in front of mine with her back to my front.
Warmth.
That’s my current focus as the warmth of her body heats up my own skin. At least that’s what I try to stay focused on because it’s pretty fucking hard to have our bodies lined up, pressing against each other’s like this, and to not have a clear physical reaction.
That’s to say I’m trying to make sure my dick doesn’t go hard at the feel of her nestled right up against my cock, in an innocent game with my girls standing there watching.
I’m going to hell.
That’s where my mind thinks I should be going with the thoughts I can’t stop from running through my head.
“You’re going down,” Tenny playfully says over her shoulder. She has no idea how much I wish she were right. Me going down. On her.
I shake my head to rid the thought but only serve to lose my balance with the action and fall farther into her.
“Not on your life,” I grit out.
“Do you want us to spin for you, Dad?” Addy asks, bringing me back to my own twisted, comedic reality.
“Sure. How about a green?” I ask for my own sanity’s sake as that would move me away from Tenny.
I hear the flick of Addy’s finger on the spinner. The sound of the plastic scraping against the cardboard holder. And then the laughter as the two girls see what my fate is.
“Red,” they both say in unison as I groan.
“How in the hell am I supposed to—”
“Language,” Paige says sarcastically. I glare at her.
“Funny,” I mutter.
“What’s going to be funnier is seeing how you’ll wrap yourself around me and put some part of you on that red dot,” Tenny says, pointing to the one in front of her.
More body-to-body contact with her. That’s just what I need when I’m already struggling to stop my mind from wishing the girls were at a friend’s house and I could act on the thoughts I’m having.
“You’re about to see the master at work here,” I say and wiggle my fingers as if I know exactly what I’m doing.
But I don’t.
Not in the least. I attempt to replace my one hand where my foot was, which gives me a face full of Tennyson’s very nice ass. And as awkward and distracting as that is, when I try to wrap my arm around her to reach the only red dot to claim, I end up with the side of my face pressed very squarely against the side of her chest.
We’re talking nose to nipple.
This is a cruel, cruel . . . incredible game.
Tenny’s sharp hiss is enough to make me lose my concentration. My feet slip out from under me, and I fall, my legs sweeping against hers as I go.
My barked-out curse is followed by Tenny’s yelp seconds before she lands squarely on top of me. And if I thought pressing against her back was temptation, then her lying on top of me, her lips so close I can feel the flutter of her breath against my own, is torturous in all the best ways possible.
I think we’re both stunned. Rather, I know I am because there’s no rapid scramble to move off each other. There’s a brief moment where our eyes meet and our smiles widen, and then laughter bubbles up and over. I hate when she rolls off me to collapse on the floor beside me because that moment of enjoying the feel of her weight on top of me is over before I can truly appreciate it.
“How do we judge that?” Addy asks Paige as Tenny and I lie beside each other, staring at the ceiling and not speaking.
Is she thinking what I’m thinking?
“What do you mean how do we judge that?” Paige asks.
How easy it would have been to kiss her? How much I wanted to?
“I mean, who’s the winner?”
“Tenny is,” Paige says. “She was the last man standing.”
“I demand an instant replay,” I say, raising my hand as I push up to a sitting position. “My opponent plays dirty and hip-checked me so I’d go down first because she knew I was going to win.”
Tenny snorts out a laugh as she rolls on her side and stands. “Cheaters never prosper, Madden. Didn’t you know that?”
I snort. “Right, West. Whatever you say.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Crew
Tenny stayed.
It’s all I can think about later when we sit on the back patio as the girls swim. If this is the result of losing to her, I’m perfectly fucking fine with it.