Page 82 of Bitten By the Basilisk

Several tokens later, Alice had a third, orange stuffy in her arms.

“What am I going to do with all these?” she wondered aloud.

“My place has plenty of room,” he remarked as the claw made its next predictably feeble attempt.

She frowned skeptically. “Hmm. I’m having a hard time imagining any stuffies in that huge bed of yours.”

“No need to imagine it.” As he fished out another token, he sent her a mischievous look. “Come and see what it would look like in person.”

She averted her eyes, fighting back a smile. “I’m…not sure that would be wise.”

After spending another handful of tokens on practicing for the real attempt, he fed what would hopefully be the last token into the machine. The purple kraken was no longer trapped, and the claw would be grasping with its full strength.

As he sent the gently swinging claw down to its target, Alice pressed herself against the glass, compressing the faces of the plushies in her arms.

The claw landed upon the purple kraken, tightened its grip, and lifted it free of the rest. Silas didn’t dare breathe.

“Holy shit,” Alice whispered as the claw headed toward its default position.

The instant the stuffy tumbled into the chute, the machine flashed its soft lighting and played its now-familiar victory chime.

“You got it!” she cheered, jostling his arm with her free hand as she bounced with excitement.

He retrieved his hard-won prize and handed it to her, smiling smugly. “I’m sure your mom will love it.”

Alice blinked up at him in surprise. “How did you know I was planning on giving it to her?”

“It’s her favorite color, isn’t it? She certainly wears a lot of purple. And everything she considered buying from the festival booths was purple.”

Her expression softened as she smiled. “Observant of you. I guess this means we’re doing the photo booth next,” she said, shaking the purple kraken to make its tentacles jiggle.

He tipped his head at her. “Ready whenever you are.”

She left all but the purple stuffy next to her bag on the table, then they ducked into the photo booth and shut the curtain behind them.

Only it was much more cramped inside than expected. Two average-sized adults would fit, but Silas had a wide frame that he had to turn in order for Alice to join him on the narrow bench.

“Hmm, this is a predicament,” he said as he tried to find a more comfortable position that didn’t force his shoulder forward.

“Maybe if I sit more like…this,” Alice said, crossing her legs and twisting to one side, “you can put your arm down.”

He tried to scoot into the space she’d created and ended up bumping his elbow in a place that made him grunt in pain.

“Oh! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he stiffly replied before meeting her gaze with a sigh.

She was peeking up at him with a sympathetic frown, her arms curled around the stuffy against her chest, knees deliciously exposed. An idea struck.

“Let’s try this,” he said, sneaking an arm around her back. She made a soft sound of surprise as he hooked the other one under her knees, gasped as he lifted her onto his lap.

She accepted her new position with a bashful laugh. “I…forgot how strong you are.”

“You’ll get used to it,” he promised her.

Eyeing their position on the preview screen, he arranged them to be more centered—his knees pointing toward the booth entrance, hers pointing at a mirrored angle. With her on his lap, their faces were nearly side by side.

She felt so good in his arms. Her citrusy scent, her warm weight, the way her soft thigh pressed against his dick, which had been half hard ever since she’d moaned with her first bite of dessert.