Under My Skin (Skin Deep #2)

Under My Skin (Skin Deep #2) Page 34

Jan just shook her head and moved on, losing it even more when the next picture was my dad giving a thumbs up as two busty strippers surrounded him. After that was a picture of Ben, Emma’s dad, smiling dazedly into the camera, holding up a bottle of beer in one hand and a mini blow up doll in the other.

Picture after picture went and we all cracked up, laughing until we were literally holding our stomachs, tears pouring down our faces; there were pictures of random people biting candy off of Emma’s shirt, ones of Chloe and Leah dancing on the bar, ones of me and Emma dirty dancing with an alien…wait, what? What the hell was up with the blow ups?

Jan flipped one more and I grabbed it, exclaiming, “Hey!” I turned it around so Emma, Jenna, and Leah could get a better look at it. “What happened to our friend?” I asked, laughing.

The picture showed Emma handcuffed to an almost life-sized blow up neon green alien, which she had sitting on her lap, kissing it’s cheek. Emma grabbed the picture out of my hand to see and handed it to Luke, who was sitting beside her.

“Sorry, honey,” she said sweetly. “Looks like someone else might have stolen my heart at the bar!” She giggled and winked at him.

Luke guffawed and kissed Emma’s head, saying, “I’ll forgive you this one time, sugar, but I’m telling you what; if our first child comes out neon green, he and I are gonna have to have a talk!”

We all busted out laughing again, with the exception of Emma’s dad, who just shook his head and grunted. Typical Ben.

When the laughter died down again and Jan continued flipping through the pictures, I took that opportunity to bust Calland’s balls a little.

“So… ‘little brother’, wanna tell me why you were crashed out on my couch wearing a bra?”

His face turned beet red for a second before his ever-present cockiness asserted itself again. “I’m secure in my masculinity…and besides, you never asked what happened to the woman who was wearing it before me!” He winked and waggled his eyebrows at me exaggeratedly.

“Calland, you ass, tell me you didn’t do the nasty at my house!” I screeched, reaching out to slap him. He jumped away and I missed, my hand accidentally tagging Brandon in the junk. I clapped my hand over my mouth, apologizing profusely as he bent in half, blowing out a deep breath on a groan. Flustered, I didn’t think first and dropped to my knees, hell bent on doing something, anything, to alleviate the pain I’d caused.

“Oh, fuck me sideways, Allie, baby, please stop, please stop, please stop…” Brandon mumbled, his words trailing off on a moan that sounded about a hundred times different than the in-pain one he’d just emitted a few seconds ago.

I blinked up at him and then down at where he held my wrist, fighting to stop my hand from rubbing over the…wow…now suddenly much larger and umm…harder part of him that I just so happened to be on eye level with and let out a little ‘eeek!’ as I realized what I had been doing. I scrambled away from him, mumbling ‘oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God’ under my breath in mortification.

I jerked myself up and sat down at the table again, risking a glance around the now completely silent kitchen. I winced as I noticed the wide-eyed stares of shock everyone was sending my way until, one by one, they started laughing even harder than they had while looking at the pictures. My grandma even slapped her knee. Face. Palm.

After a while, Brandon and I said our goodbyes to everyone, promising my grandparents that we would come visit soon, and headed home. When we got in the car, Brandon looked over at me and grinned while he reached over and rubbed my thigh.

“Don’t even start!” I snapped, trying to keep from grinning back even while I could feel my face heating up again.

He just grinned even bigger. “It’s okay, baby. You didn’t even think about it, but I seriously had to stop you before I embarrassed myself in front of everyone, and not in a way that anyone would laugh at!”

I covered my face with my hands. “I can’t believe I did that…” I sighed.

We pulled up at my house after a few more minutes of idle chat and went inside. Brandon pulled me into his arms and kissed me sweetly before setting me back away from him.

“I have to run down to the shop for a bit to work on a design. Wanna come with me?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Nah…I have a couple orders I have to put in for my Down & Dirty stuff and then a few things to work on for the store. See you when you get back?” I asked, leaning against his chest and offering my lips up for a kiss again.

“Of course,” he replied before obliging me, capturing my mouth in a hot, tongue tangling kiss that left me panting for more when he pulled away. He gave me that sexy smirk of his and added, “And we’ll continue this kiss and that little rub down you started earlier when I get back.” He winked, kissed me hard on my lips one more time, and jumped away as I swatted at him.

I managed to get my orders in and the things done that I needed to finish for the store before I heard the door open and Jackson came strolling in, making a beeline for where I was sitting. I smiled up at him as he leaned in, kissing my lips gently with his before taking it a little bit deeper, stroking my bottom lip with his tongue before sweeping inside. He kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in a month, and he did it like that every time he kissed me. Which is just one of the things I loved about him.

“Hey,” he said when the kiss ended. “Did you have a good time at breakfast?” he asked, the slight smile on his face giving him away.

“Been talking to Brandon?” I asked him, smartly. I crossed my arms and gave a small harrumph.

He grabbed my arms gently and pulled me up out of my chair, enfolding me into his arms and holding me tightly. I sighed and wrapped my arms around him, pressing my body even tighter against his.

“I’m just teasing, baby, you know that,” he said gently.

I nodded against his chest. “I know, but I have to pretend to be put out about it just a little. Save face. Not that I’m not mortified that I did that in front of my whole family and Emma’s…” I broke off when I felt his chest start bouncing under my cheek with silent laughter.

I growled and pinched his ass, making him jerk and yelp before he gave in a laughed out loud. I pulled back and smiled up at him, sighing when he leaned down for another soft kiss.

“So,” I began when he pulled away again. “Did you guys get everything done that Chloe needed to do?” I asked lightly. Yeah, sue me…I was fishing a little because she didn’t say what kind of errands she had to do.

“Yeah, I think so. She actually just left to go somewhere with Leah. Do you think I should be worried about those two being out together?” he asked, his voice a mixture of amusement and concern.

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think you’d need to worry on a Sunday. Now, on a Friday…” I shrugged my shoulders and gave him my best ‘oh-God-who-knows’ look, laughing when he growled playfully at me before he grabbed me up and threw me over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold.

I gave a small oompf and a squeal that turned into a giggle as he headed down the hallway toward the bedroom. I slapped his ass and let out an even bigger squeal when he reciprocated, his large hand firmly smacking against my unprotected backside swaying in the air, and then nipped my thigh with his teeth.