Page 86 of A Scoring Chance
“I’m fine.”
Ramona is lying to me, but I let it go. She’s not fine. It’s written all over her face. She was already worried about seeing her family today, but this seems to be something different. There is sorrow in her eyes that wasn’t there before. An acceptance that she deserves whatever they throw at her, but I have a feeling nothing could be further from the truth.
“No. You aren’t fine, Beauty. Tell me what you need.” She tries to turn her head away from me, but I grip her chin, forcing her eyes to stay locked with mine. “Whatever it is, I’ll give it to you.”
“What I want and what I need are two totally different things, sadly. How about a kiss and a promise that you won’t go anywhere without me? I can’t protect you if I can’t see you.”
“As if I’d be anywhere else.” I pull her body against mine, my eyes never leaving hers as our lips press together.
Electricity sizzles through my body as my hold tightens around her waist, pulling her closer to my body. I can feel the thud of our combined hearts as Ramona clumsily turns in my arms, straddling my lap. My cock thickens against the zipper ofmy jeans as she rocks her hips slowly, grinding her warm center on me.
A part of me knows this is a bad idea, that we should stop things before they get out of hand, but right now, I can’t bring myself to care. All thoughts of the barbecue, her family, and even Darius’s birthday go out the window. The only thing I can focus on is the sweet taste of her lips and the feel of her nails as they scrape along the base of my neck. My hand slips underneath her top, brushing softly against her soft skin, causing her to moan against my lips. Loud banging on my window causes us to break apart quickly.
“Fuck.” I drop my head forward, my forehead resting in the hollow of her neck, and my tongue peaks from between my lips as I run it along her collarbone. Beauty moans loudly, dropping her head back to give me better access to her neck.
I can make out Alise’s muffled voice through the window as Ramon’s hips buck against my cock. “Oh, no, you don’t. You two aren’t leaving me to deal with all of this alone.”
“Talk about a buzzkill,” she whispers as I lift my head.
“I do not want to get out of this truck,” I growl, nipping at her chin.
“Me either.” She leans forward, sparks igniting between us again as her lips draw closer to mine, but she sits up quickly. “But we need to.”
My head drops onto the seat as she climbs off me, sliding across the seat and out the open passenger door. Alise has now made her way around my truck, standing next to Ramona with her arms crossed.
“I’m glad to know one of you sees reason.”
“Not by choice. I just don’t want to give anyone any more reason to give me shit today,” Ramona mutters, reaching her hand toward mine.
“I’m gonna need a few minutes before you touch me again, Beauty.”
“You two are disgusting.” Alise spins on her heels and marches back toward the house.
“I guess that’s one way to get her to give us some privacy.”
“If I’d have known it was that easy, I’d have said something sooner.”
Beauty closes the passenger side door as I climb out of the truck, having gotten myself a little more under control. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” she responds, lifting her chin high and following Alise into the backyard.
I know this is supposed to be a simple family barbecue to celebrate Darius’s birthday, but for some reason, it feels more like I’m headed off to war. I’ll be damned if anyone has a chance to hurt my beauty. Not on my watch.
“I don’t think that’s how you play Uno,” I mumble, drawing six cards from the deck after Darius and his cousins each dropped draw-two cards on their turn.
“It’s Black rules, Uncle Cooper,” Darius says in triumph as his cousins snicker softly. “I explained this before we started. All specialty cards stack on top of each other regardless of the color.”
“And the color is whatever the last card on top is,” I respond, each one of them nodding their heads in agreement. “But why do I have a feeling you three are hustling me?”
Alise warned me about getting roped into a game of spades with adults, but she never said anything about playing Uno. I figured the game would be harmless, especially because I’m playing with a few of the boys, but I was wrong. I have a feelingthat the children in this family are taught at an early age the need to win a game of cards at all costs.
“We would never,” all three boys respond in unison before breaking into a fit of giggles.
Everything has been going pretty well since Beauty and I finally made it to the backyard a couple of hours ago. As promised, I stuck to her side the entire time, keeping my eyes on our proximity to her infamous Aunt Thea.
Alise was right when she said I’d know Thea and her daughter the minute I spotted them. Everyone else was dressed casually in jeans and a different array of shirts and sweatshirts, but these two ladies were dressed to the nines. The younger of the two is wearing a bright green-and-blue-striped pantsuit and navy blue high heels, definitely not the best footwear to be walking around on the grass all day. Her long golden braids frame her face and hang down well past her waist. I have no idea what her eyes look like because they’re hidden behind a pair of red heart-shaped sunglasses rimmed in gold. She’s made a few attempts to flirt with me, but I shut them down every time.
She lingers close to our game, her eyes focused on the side of my head as I continue to ignore her.
