Stealing Third Read online

  Two can play at this game. I take a drink of my beer before taking a slow step towards the girl. “Would you mind holding this?” I ask, handing her the bottle. I grip the back of my tee-shirt by the collar, and pull it up and over my head, before tossing it on the edge of the table.

  I can’t help smirking back when her eyes go wide, obviously expecting me to take off a shoe or something. “Thanks,” I say, taking back my drink and acting nonchalant, even though I rarely let loose like this.

  I don’t know if it’s the relief from finals, or the possibility of the minors, or this girl—maybe a combo—but I’m definitely feeling riskier than normal. “It’s your shot.”

  “Let’s do this!” Pete hollers before yanking off his tee-shirt, too, and making Kaitlin squeal.

  “Come on, Ems. Let’s show’ em how it’s done.” Kaitlin gives Emily a high five and I get the distinct impression this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.

  Man, was I right. Three shots later, I’m shirtless, shoeless, and sockless and the next shot will be my jeans. Damn this girl is good.

  I try and catch Pete’s attention, since this is getting embarrassing, but it’s no use. He and Kaitlin are far too distracted by each other to even notice we’re starting to get an audience.

  Maybe a little distraction is exactly what I need to turn this around—unless I plan on rocking my boxer briefs in front of the entire party. Which I don’t.

  Emily walks around the table to line up for her next shot and as she leans over I lean in. Brushing the hair that has fallen over her shoulder and is grazing the table away from her face, I let my fingers sweep slowly across her neck. I feel her shiver as I hover my lips next to her ear and whisper, “How about we play for double or nothing later tonight?”

  Her breath catches at the invitation, even though it’s more of something Pete would typically say and not me, but as she scratches, I figure who cares. It worked. Our turn.

  “It’s cool, man, you go.” Pete waves me off when I try and hand him the cue-ball. I shake my head. Is he kidding? He’s the shark. I’m only slightly above average compared to him, or Emily for that matter, but from the looks of it, Kaitlin and Pete aren’t even playing anymore. Great.

  I set the cue-ball on the table, and line it up for an easy shot to sink the two ball in the right hand pocket, before Emily’s body presses into the side of mine.

  Her lips brush my ear lobe as she runs her fingernail up my outstretched arm, giving me the chills. “Make it…and I’ll go double or nothing with you upstairs, right now.”

  Scratch.

  Touché.

  Chapter 5

  Emily

  A few minutes after beating the pants off Tyler—literally—Kaitlin drags me through the mass of people crowding the three story house in search of a bathroom with no line.

  “Oops, sorry. Carry on,” Kat says after throwing open the door to a bedroom currently occupied.

  “Kat!”

  “My bad,” she laughs, shrugging her shoulders. “I swear Pete said take a left up the stairs and it’s the third door on the right.” She scratches her head before turning us around and dragging me up the next flight of stairs. “Maybe he said it’s the door to the right, on the left side of the third floor? Whatever. It was super loud. We’ll find it—eventually.”

  “We might find a whole lot more than that if you keep barging into people’s bedrooms,” I giggle, tripping on a stair.

  Kat helps me back to my feet. “Whoa, are you drunk?”

  Rubbing my ankle, I shake my head. Stupid heels. “No. It’s the shoes,” I answer, even though there is a warm buzz running through my body. One I’m not totally sure is from the beers, or from Hottie Mchottieface, Tyler Ford, whispering in my ear a few minutes ago.

  Hottie Mchottieface? Okaaaay, maybe I am a little drunk. But seriously, a girl could get tipsy just looking at that guy’s abs.

  I clutch Kat’s arm as we make our way up the rest of the stairs, hoping to avoid another mishap, since the last thing I need is a sprained ankle. “Are you?”

  “Yes,” Kaitlin says, triumphantly flinging open the door to the bathroom on the third floor and pulling me inside with her.

  “Wait.” I shut the door behind us and lean against it, glad Pete was right. No line. “Yes, you’re drunk?”

  “What? Oh, no,” she laughs, “I meant yes, we finally found the bathroom, not yes I’m drunk. I’ve only had like two sips from that beer I’ve been nursing ever since we got here.” She points at herself. “DD, remember? Tonight is all about you.”

  I smile at my best friend as she messes with her hair in the mirror. Man, am I going to miss her this summer. “You know you’re the best, right?”

  “I know.” Kat winks at me in the reflection before turning around and leaning against the sink. “Okay, can we seriously talk about the fact that we’re hanging out with Tyler Ford and Pete Mickelson, right now?”

  I want to squeal, because no. I can’t believe it. But right now, there is something even more important we need to discuss.

  Arching an eyebrow over my narrowed eyes, I plant my hands firmly on my hips. “What we need to seriously talk about, is you, tricking me into coming to the baseball house tonight. Way to be vague about whose house the party was going to be at.” I drop my voice to a whisper so no one will hear us, despite the fact the third floor is empty. “You do know if my dad finds out we were here, he’s going to come unglued, right?” At us, and probably at the team, too.

  “What?” Kat says innocently, batting her eyes. “I had no choice—you never would have come if I’d told you.”

  I throw my arms in the air. “Exactly!”

  “Relax,” Kat laughs, “no one has recognized you yet, and we’ve been here for over an hour. Besides, you haven’t been to one of your dad’s games all year, and you look way different now anyway.” Kat tugs on the tip of my hair with a grin. “I think your secret’s safe.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Aren’t you glad you came?” Kat asks, pulling a tube of lip gloss from her purse and applying it before handing it to me.

  I think about Tyler downstairs shirtless in his low slung blue jeans and bare feet, and my answer is definite.

  “Fine, I’m glad I came,” I admit, swiping the watermelon red gloss across my lips and making a kissy face at my best friend as I hand the gloss back.

  “Save your kisses for Romeo downstairs, you little vixen,” Kaitlin teases, tossing the lip gloss back in her bag. “Oh, btw—what did he say to you when we were playing pool? Your cheeks turned redder than the tips of your hair.”

  “You mean when he and I were playing pool? Because as far as I could tell you and Pete were off in la la land, lady. I’m surprised you even noticed Tyler and me at all.”

  “Can you blame me? Did you see the shoulders on that guy? Holy crap.” Kat fans herself with her hand. “They don’t make boys like that in high school.”

  I laugh. Like Kaitlin ever dated a high school boy anyway. I’m pretty sure her last boyfriend could vote before we could drive.

  “So? What did he say?” Kaitlin cocks her head, a knowing smile on her face. “Whatever it was must have been good. I swear, your dad would never believe his little pool shark protégé could get rattled.” Kaitlin gives me a playful shove. “I bet he’d freak out if he knew by who.”

  Just the thought makes my heart speed up. Dad would more than freak out. “Let’s just say, if my dad had any idea what Tyler just propositioned, he’d be dead meat.” My cheeks flush. “And I’d be worse than dead meat if Dad knew how badly I’d like to take him up on his offer.”

  …

  “We were getting worried about you two,” Pete says when we finally make it back downstairs, my cheeks back to normal. I hope.

  “Oh, sad.” Kaitlin pouts, tugging on the hem of Pete’s tee-shirt. “You put your shirt back on.” I glance over Pete’s shoulder, disappointed to find Tyler did too.

  “The pool table’s been clai
med, but we could always play a round of strip beer pong or something,” Pete offers, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her in close.

  Kaitlin taps her finger against her chin, like she’s actually considering his offer, causing his eyes to light up, but I know she’s not. She sucks at beer pong.

  “Yo, Mickelson, Ford?” a guy calls out from the living room, where half a dozen people are sitting around a coffee table covered with at least two dozen shot glasses filled to the brim with clear liquid. “You wanna get in on Suck, Blow, Shots?”

  Do we?

  Pete eyes Kat for an answer, Kat eyes me, and I eye Tyler—having no idea what the hell Suck, Blow, Shots even is.

  “A few rounds of SBS and you’re likely to see Pete with more than just his shirt off,” Tyler says to Kat from over his friend’s shoulder. The mischievous glint in his eyes makes me wonder if it’s a warning or a promise. Either way, I doubt she cares.

  “Then we’re in.” Kat beams, obviously taking it as the latter.

  “All right,” Pete calls out, rubbing his hands together. “Let’s do this thing.”

  We make our way across the room, dodging the couples grinding on the makeshift dance floor in the middle of the room, and squish in around a crowded coffee table in the corner.

  Sitting directly across the table from where Tyler and I find a spot to sit, Kat wags her eyebrows suggestively at us, making me both laugh and cringe at the same time. Subtle, Kat, real subtle.

  “Are you okay?” Tyler asks as we get pushed even closer together when one last couple joins the circle. Thankfully, he seems to have missed Kat’s little show.

  “I’m good,” I say, even though something hard is jabbing into my ribs. An elbow, hopefully. But at this point who knows. It’s crowded as all hell.

  “Here, let me move my arm.” Tyler starts to twists his body away from mine, and I have to stop myself from stopping him. Who needs personal space, anyway? Not me.

  He lifts his arm up and over my head, angling his body so his chest presses against my side and his arm rests across my back. “Is that better?”

  Better? More like perfect. I give him my flirtiest smile. “Yeah, thanks.”

  “Okay, for those of you who don’t already know how to play, watch,” the guy, who called us over to play in the first place, says loudly, holding up four playing cards, all aces. “We’ll start with one card to begin and go until it drops.”

  He holds up the ace of hearts, puts it to his lips and sucks in, keeping the card locked to his lips with nothing but the suction of his breath. He turns to the girl on his right, leans down and presses the card to her mouth like a kiss. Then, just like he had, she sucks in a breath at the exact same time as he blows his breath out, releasing the card to her.

  The card continues to get passed around the circle, from person to person, each sucking and blowing to hold and release the card until it finally drops.

  I turn to Tyler, who’s on my right, and smile at the idea of a thin card being the only thing standing between our lips. “So, what happens if the card drops? Are you out?”

  Tyler laughs. “No, you have to take a shot, and then another card gets added into the circle until someone drops one of them again. Trust me, it sounds easier than it is. It starts to move pretty fast, especially when there are multiple cards in play, making it easy to accidently blow when you should be sucking or vice versa.”

  “So, is everyone good?” the guy asks, holding up the ace of hearts to his mouth again. With nods from all around the table, he sucks the card to his lips and the game begins.

  Just like before he leans in close to the girl on his right, but before she presses her lips to the card, he blows, sending the card falling to the ground and her lips crashing into his.

  “Shots!” everyone around me yells when the two separate.

  “Oops,” the guy says, acting like it was a mistake, when clearly it wasn’t. The girl next to him smiles at his charade as they both toss back a shot of what smells like vodka. “All right, time for another card,” he bellows.

  The game starts again and this time the first card makes it successfully around the group to the random guy on my left. I lean in, touch my lips to the card, and suck in my breath to hold it secure, as he blows out and releases it. Phew. Random kiss avoided.

  I turn to face Tyler and my heart picks up speed as he slowly tilts his head and leans in towards me, wearing a sexy smirk. “Ready?” he whispers.

  I nod, as he comes closer, and it’s taking everything in me to not drop the card on purpose and kiss him. And I think he knows it.

  With his piercing green eyes never leaving mine, he closes the small gap and lets the card linger between our lips for a fraction of a second before taking it from my mouth. I blow out a shaky breath. Holy shit. That was hot.

  The two cards continue around the circle several more times, causing my heart to race each time Tyler’s lips come close to mine, before one of them is finally dropped by a girl who looks like she’s had far too much to drink, as it is.

  She throws her arms in the air and yells at the top of her lungs, “Shots!” before reaching for one of the tiny glasses littering the table. The girl sitting next to her snatches the shot glass from her hand and laughs. “I think you’ve had enough,” she says, downing the drink herself, before helping her friend to her feet and stumbling off. “We’re out. Later.”

  With two less people and now a third card, the game speeds up to an almost impossible pace. I can barely catch my breath from blowing before the next card is waiting to be sucked.

  “Get it, Em,” Kaitlin hollers as I turn to pass a card to Tyler, knowing another one is coming any second. A sudden flash startles me from my concentration, sending the card slipping from my lips a moment before Tyler’s mouth closes in on mine.

  Behind my closed lids, I see another flash go off, but I’m too far gone in the warmth of Tyler’s lips to care if it’s a camera, or an explosion, as his hand wraps around the back of my neck, and pulls me closer, deepening our kiss.

  “Shots! Shots! Shots!” the crowd, I’d completely forgotten existed when his tongue swept across my lip, starts to chant.

  Tyler pulls away, a sexy smolder replacing his earlier smirk, as he casually grabs two shot glasses from the table. Handing me one, he clinks the rim of his glass against mine, before tossing it back and licking his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “Yum. Watermelon.”

  I toss back my shot, as my face—among other places—flushes with heat.

  Chapter 6

  Tyler

  “You want to get out of here?”

  Biting her lip, Emily nods yes, and it takes everything in me not to grab her and kiss her again. Screw whoever’s watching.

  “We’re out,” I announce to the group, helping Emily up, as the fourth card gets put into rotation and the inevitable binge shots begin.

  “Wait, you two.” Kaitlin jumps up and Pete follows suit, scrambling to his feet to wrap his arms around her waist.

  I’d say he has it bad and fast, but the taste of Emily’s fruity lip gloss still lingering on my lips is driving me pretty crazy, too. So maybe he’s not alone. “Let me get one more pic,” Kaitlin says jutting her arm out, phone in hand.

  One more pic? When did we take the first one? Ah…the flash. Guess I have Kaitlin to thank for Emily dropping the card.

  Looking as impatient as I feel, Emily rolls her eyes at her friend.

  “Oh, come on, you’ll thank me one day.” Kaitlin winks. “Now say cheese—no, better yet—say Suck, Blow, Shots!”

  After a quick picture, and then a selfie of the four of us that Kaitlin insisted upon, Emily and I manage to weave our way out of the party and up the stairs, hand in hand.

  “Finally,” Emily says when I shut the door to my room, muffling the sounds of the party below and that’s all it takes.

  In an instant, her lips crash against mine. Greedily we push and pull at one another’s clothes while walking backwards towards the be
d, breaking apart only long enough for her to pull my tee-shirt up and off.

  I strip her jacket off and toss it on the floor next to my discarded shirt, revealing a sexy black dress that looks more like a silky piece of lingerie than anything else.

  “Damn, you are so sexy,” I whisper, brushing the thin strap off her shoulder, and kissing the soft skin at the base of her neck, eliciting a quiet moan from her that makes me want her even more. If that’s even possible.

  Capturing her lips again and deepening our kiss, she runs her hands up the length of my torso and across my chest, before burying them in my hair as we reach the bed.

  “Oops, sorry!” a drunk girl says, throwing open the door to my bedroom and stumbling in. “I’m looking for the bathroom. Is it in here?”

  I groan at the interruption, but under her breath, Emily laughs. I don’t see what’s so funny, though. I seriously hate having a room right next to the bathroom.

  “It’s the first door on the right,” I offer as the girl sways back and forth giggling, drink in hand.

  “Thaaanksss,” she slurs, looking between Emily and me with a lazy smile on her face. “Hey, cute abs.” She points at Emily as she staggers further into the room. “And nice dress.” She points at me. “Oh…I mean…cute dress and nice abs.” She laughs—this time—pointing at us correctly.

  “Ah, thanks,” Emily says, adjusting the tiny black strap back over her shoulder before tucking her hair behind her ears, the bright red ends brushing across her collarbone. The collarbone I was busy kissing before we were drunkenly interrupted.

  “Hey, I’m looking for the bathroom,” the girl says again, this time hiccupping before falling into my desk chair and hiccupping again. “Is there a bathroom in here?” Hiccup. “Because—” Hiccup. “I think I’m gonna be—”

  I plunge my trashcan in front of her face. Sick.

  …

  “All right,” I say when it sounds like nothing is left in the poor girl’s stomach to throw up. “Let’s get you some water and let you lay down in here for a while.” The mood has effectively been purged from this room anyway. So to speak.