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The table collectively gasped as Eva smacked him. “Aaron Leo, you did not!” she cried, scoring points with me for looking appropriately appalled. “Tell me you didn’t do that to the poor woman.”
Aaron dragged his hands over his face, covering it in pure shame. “I did,” he groaned, sending the table into uproarious shock and laughter. But before anyone could give Aaron too hard of a time, Sofia supplied the true ending of the story.
“But he was actually right and the meringue was done,” she said. “Aaron finally beat Mason at something, but he couldn’t even enjoy it because we were judging the shit out of him all night for throwing Aunt Clara in front of the bullet.”
Everyone was laughing hard. Even Mason was, but I bounced my knee under the table, fearful that Aaron might flip and switch and get offended by the ribbing. He was known to do that in the past but when I peered at him, he was surprisingly good-natured.
“Yeah… not my proudest moment and definitely nothing I plan to repeat,” he said, his grin fading to a slight smile as he turned to me. “I still remember how good it was though. That meringue? Sofia got lazy, big surprise, so Taylor finished baking it and God I remember it being the best thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Oh boy. I chewed my lip, one of several at the table who caught the tone in Aaron’s voice, and the faraway look in his eyes as he gazed at me another second before staring down at his plate. Giggling a second ago, Eva was back to being stiff. Her mouth was stretched into a tight, closed-lipped smile as she sat up so straight I practically heard her back cracking.
“Well. Let’s hope this meringue compares to Taylor’s,” she said, glancing at me as she picked up her fork. Sensing the tension, I looked to Mason but he didn’t seem particularly perturbed. Maybe it was because he’d put his hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing before and since, his palm had made its way up my thigh.
“Try it,” he said, holding a forkful of the dessert off his plate.
“I’m full,” I smiled at the glimmer in his eye as he lowered his voice.
“Come on.” His grin was so damned irresistible. “Help me get through the rest of this brunch.”
“Watching me eat dessert is what helps you get through boredom?”
“Watching you wrap those lips around something, yes.”
“If you wait a little longer, you’ll get to watch them wrap around something even better,” I smirked.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“Because the second we get on that plane, I’m bending you over and fucking you, Taylor.”
Damn it, Mase. I pushed him away to thwart any blushing but it was too late and I could tell from the way Sofia was nudging a very hung over Noah down the table. I would’ve smirked and shot them a look but I knew that if they were watching Mason and me, so were Eva and Aaron and without even looking in her direction, I feel Eva’s next remark brewing.
“Taylor, you have to try the dessert. I have to know if it compares to your meringue last year,” she said, innocuously enough. But my alert was still on high.
“Definitely, but in a bit. I’m pretty stuffed.”
“Oh, but you have to try it now, it’s so good,” Eva insisted. “Take off your Spanx if you have to.”
Ah. There it is. Hardly surprised, I managed a laugh. “I’m actually not wearing any. This dress is too tight for me to fit another layer underneath.”
“That means you should’ve gotten a size up,” Whitney quipped, smiling innocently at me. But then she eyed Eva, the two exchanging a look of mischief before she went on. “Yeah… I know it’s like, in right now but I just don’t ever want to be the curvy type. They just don’t look as good in clothes.”
Eva touched her lip. “Mm. True.”
“Fuckin’ news to me.”
It a low, almost bored mutter but the entire table heard it and stopped for a second to peer at Mason, who acted oblivious to the attention his remark at gotten. Checking the time on his phone, he looked up and raised his eyebrows.
“What?” He played dumb. It was the one thing he couldn’t pull off and I found it far more charming than I should have. But judging from the little smiles around the table, I wasn’t the only one.
“Okay, so we might have to go soon,” I whispered in his ear, hardly able to contain my amusement.
“Just say the word,” Mason smirked as Eva let out a loud, heavy sigh. It sounded like a preparation for her final act – one last jab to try and bring me down. I couldn’t help looking her way again as she spoke, resting her hand on her perfectly flat stomach.
“Yeah… that’s why I have to get pregnant soon,” she said, gazing down at herself. “I heard your body doesn’t bounce back as well after twenty-seven, and I just know my pregnancy is gonna do a number on me.”
“Why’s that?” someone asked curiously.
