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“Next.” It’s a bored drawl. This time, it’s my head that snaps across to Rory to see what the hell he’s playing at. I shoot him a look of pure outrage, which he acknowledges, but never explains himself.
I pick myself up from the ground and cross over to Rory. “MaybeIwanna kiss whoever I wanna kiss,wheneverI wanna kiss.” And with absolutely no grace whatsoever, because frankly he deserves none of it, I drop myself onto his lap.
As Rory leans back to regard me, his expression turns smug. “‘Wanna’? Honestly, little saint, when Luke is no longer around to correct it, your diction has a dreadful habit of deteriorating.”
“I’ll showyoudiction,” I mutter, and I grab hold of Rory’s lapels, dragging him closer to me, and crush my mouth against his. He arches beneath me, softer than I’d been expecting. His hand grips my waist and holds me tight against him, pressing our bodies so close together that his erection presses firmly against my lower belly, and I realize as he surges into me that he’s entirely mine for the taking, entirely mine to control.
Into Rory’s ear, I whisper, “Kiss Danny.”
Rory pulls back in bemusement.
“Kiss Danny,” I say, quiet enough for Danny not to hear, “and you can kiss the rest of me tonight.” It’s a test, it’s experimental, it’s seeing how far I can strain the bonds between us all.
It turns out not a lot because Rory just laughs quietly and says, “No, my thirsty little bride. Not like this.”
Mixed feelings overwhelm me. That no, I’m not as much of a dominant force when it comes to sex as Rory, but also… “So therewillbe a time…? Because that wasn’t a no.”
Rory kisses my forehead gently. “You just lost your bargain,” he points out instead, distracting me by gesturing to his lap.
“But I don’t want to leave.”
“Then why offer sacrifices you don’t wish to make?” Rory rolls his eyes, looking faintly amused. “Rule number one, little saint. A well-crafted bargain is for the benefit of both parties. Off you go.”
“Are you actually being serious?” I ask, astonished, but Rory’s impassive expression tells me all I need to know. His eyes, however, glimmer with amusement.
Grudgingly, I peel myself away from Rory, but not before turning my attention to the prominent bulge pressed against his lower stomach. I stroke him tentatively, and he bats my hand away. Tonight, he’s enjoying the game. God knows how. He has way more self-control than any of us mere mortals.
I stand slowly, unbuttoning my blazer and blouse. Three pairs of eyes shine up at me with lust.
It figures that if Rory’s messing with me like this, then I need to wield some power of my own.
“I want you to kiss.” I peel off my shirt and watch it flutter to the ground. I’m wearing a plain white bra this time, which has the effect of prolonging the tease — as well as enhancing my cleavage, apparently, because everyone seems much too busy gazing at my chest to absorb my words. “Did you not hear me?” I ask dryly, positioning my hands on my hips. Eyes slowly travel up to my face, sensing the edge in my tone. “I want you tokiss.”
Danny and Finlay glance warily at each other, looking awkward. They seem, somehow, almost negatively attracted to each other. But they’d kissed, once, alone together at night, escaping an endless dance with a bottle of alcohol and hearts heavy with shame. Danny had wanted to experiment, Finlay had wanted release. It had made sense once upon a tired and emotional time. Maybe it doesn’t make sense anymore, now that our experiments have been so thorough, now that release happens whenever we want and between whoever we want. They’d used each other when they couldn’t use anyone else, when the world had shut out their desires, when we’d never hadthis.
I let my request linger. Rory watches on with interest.
“Jessa asked,” Danny says, preparing to move though still looking monumentally awkward. I don’t get it. Okay, they’re not best of friends, they aren’t the closest in our group of five, but… we’re all stillconnected.
“Me and you,” Finlay mutters, his voice pitched low. “It disnae bring back happy memories.”
Insulted, Danny’s eyes narrow. “I can say the same about you.”
“Well, it was a shit night for me, all right?”
“Your tongue down my throat didn’t exactly help matters forme, either,” Danny snaps, and Finlay scowls. For whatever reason, Danny is done with pretending that kiss never happened, and my eyes widen as his words ring throughout the balmy air.
“Iknewit,” Rory breathes in delight. “Iknewsomething must have gone down between you two when I wasn’t looking. This is why you’ve always been so weird.”
“I didnae know whit ye’re talkin’ about,” Finlay mutters, looking anywhere but at us.
“It’s fine. I get it.” Rory sounds supremely pleased with himself. “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
Only then does the frost subside, Danny and Finlay glancing between each other in confusion. “Er, what?” Danny asks, needing clarification.
“Well, think about it,” Rory starts pragmatically, snatching up the remaining half of the chocolate orange in triumph. “You’re both into me. Don’t hide it, D-boy, I’m not blind. And I assume this is before me and Fin had…dalliances. So what, you take out your latent attraction to me on each other? Practice for a bit? And then hope for the main event with yours truly.” He takes a victorious bite into his orange. “It’s all terribly flattering.”
“It’s also terribly bullshit,” Danny drawls, “since I was mostly thinking about Jessa at the time.”
