Free Love Me Crazy by Camden Leigh Page B

the wind and sand.
    I snort, “Fire your mom.”
    “In so many ways, for so many reasons, I’d love to.” His gaze casts to the sand as he leans his elbows on his knees. “But really,” he says as he looks at me with hooded eyes, “she shouldn’t be the reason you won’t go out on a real date with me.”
    “A date? No. That’s definitely not going to happen.” I dip my chin, allowing my hair to hide my face from his inspection. “I leave in a month. Let’s leave things the way they are. You on your side of the line, me on mine.”
    “I believe we already crossed that line, Cassidy.”
    And I’m a goner. Lost, right there in his eyes, on a beautiful beach at sunset, waves in the background. So. Far. Gone. “Uh, that probably shouldn’t happen again.”
    “Probably,” he says. “But might.”
    Oh. Dear. God.
    His phone chirps and he reaches into his pocket to retrieve it. “Looks like spoons starts up in a bit. Want to play?”
    “Spoons?”
    “A Covington tradition, me and my sisters around a table playing cards and stealing spoons. And there may be liquor involved. How about it?” He offers the kindest smile and— though it’s probably the sun’s reflection I see in his eyes—a twinkle that has me nodding yes. What is my problem? Have I no control?
    I rise but he whisks me into his lap before I have the balance to fend him off. His arm weaves around me and I have no choice but to go with gravity and fall into him.
    “Just five more minutes,” he says.
    Last time I agreed to this, his hands ended up in my panties. “Okay. Just five.”
    I thought it would eventually feel awkward, sitting in his lap like that, his arms around me and me inhaling him so I could memorize his scent for later, but it didn’t. He felt warm like sunshine yet cool like a breeze. He felt safe, and for the full five minutes I allowed myself to dream outside of my own rigid set of rules–and Mrs. Covington’s. Him keeping his hands to himself this time also helped.
    I stare at him across the dining room table back at the Covington homestead, Annabeth to his right, another girl to his left. Ellie beside her. Kat and her friend Wes sit on either side of me to make sure I know what I’m doing. Everyone keeps stony-faced gazes on their own cards or the spoons, nothing else. They take this game way too seriously.
    I pick up the card slid to me. I can’t use it, so I pass it on to Ellie. She grabs a spoon. Everyone jumps to their feet. Chairs overturn as they scramble for a spoon. Nails claw, words fly, and I’m scared shitless to reach my hand into the battle.
    “Yes!” Annabeth slams her plastic spoon down. She glances at me. “Oh, you lost again?”
    “Yup.”
    Kat pours me a shot.
Another
shot. I lost count on how many, but the buzz in my ears and the blur in my eyes makes me pretty confident I’ll feel like ass tomorrow. I dump back the shot and throw my cards in with the others.
    Kat leans over. “Watch the spoons, not the cards. Get in there, girl.”
    Get in there? Is she crazy? “When am I out?”
    “When you spell the word ‘drunk.’” Annabeth deals the next round and makes an extra effort to lean across Quinn.
    I can’t tell if her interest in him is purely lust or if there’s something more. If they had something he left behind but should rekindle. She’s completely different with him than with anyone else. Soft, gentle, but still kind of bratty. She’s like those monkeys who need preening and constant physical contact in some manner, all the time. High maintenance if you ask me. But no one has.
    “Please tell me I’m out.” I lean into my hand.
    “Well . . . yeah, but we started you over. You’ve spelled ‘drunk’ twice.” Ellie scrunches up her nose in apology.
    “I think I’ll take a break.” I push back from the table. The leg catches in the rug. I snap forward, pawing for the edge of the table but miss it. The chair tips backward and my head bounces off the floor like a