“Thanks.” She inwardly smiled.
“Are they shorts or underwear?”
Was he being serious? “Shorts, you ass. Now what movie are we watching?”
“Guess.”
“Not in the mood, not near enough wine in my system for me to embark on such a strenuous activity.”
“Ah, pregnancy brain, it does it to ya, it really does.” Travis got up and turned off the lights, then pressed play. “I thought you might want to watch a horror movie.”
“Horror movie?”
A cartoon popped up on the screen. Kacey blinked as the music came on, then nearly fell out of her seat. “Oh my gosh, we can’t watch this, Travis. I can’t watch this. It’s been forever and…”
“Conquer your fears, Kace.”
Kacey scooted a little closer to him, just in case some of the cartoons did in fact decide to pop out and devour her.
He pressed pause and laughed. “Kace, really? I thought you’d be over this fear by now.”
“It’s not a fear.” Kacey drank her wine faster. ‘”It’s a scary movie!”
“It’s Alice in Wonderland.”
Kacey shook her head a few times and drank some more wine. “Damn that Cheshire cat.”
Travis held up his wine. “To conquering old fears?”
Something shifted between them then. His eyes, though it was dark, seemed to be hiding something, as if he was talking about more than her stupid phobia. She leaned in, now completely relaxed from downing half her wine already and whispered, “To conquering old fears.”
****
Travis knew it was a double meaning for him. He really did need to conquer his old fear and actually kiss the girl, and once and for all, get it out of his system. Great, now he had that damn crab singing Kiss the Girl in his head. Swell.
He sighed, surely that would make this blinding attraction go away. God, it was hard enough watching the movie sitting next to her, breathing in her scent, let alone viewing her shapely legs.
He wanted to run his tongue up and down her thigh until…
Stop! He needed to stop, or he was going to have a serious problem staying comfortable during the stupid cartoon. And then she’d probably assume cartoons somehow turned him on. That’s just what he needed, for her to think Alice in Wonderland made him horny.
He reached for the wine bottle twenty minutes into the movie, only to find they had nearly finished it. He blamed Kacey. She was drinking it like water, not that he could blame her. One dinner with his family was likely to do that to a person, especially when Grandma had a tendency to flaunt her liaisons.
He still couldn’t figure out why Grandma seemed to be doing so well. She was supposed to be bedridden, ill! Instead she was sneaking across the street to see the neighbor.
Oh, that mental picture did wonders for his aroused state. Consider him officially turned off.
The music started up, and it was the part where the Cheshire cat appeared for the first time.
He looked at Kacey to gauge her reaction.
She closed her eyes.
“Kace,” he whispered. “Open your eyes. The cat isn’t going to magically float into the living room.”
She peeked behind her hands then reached for the last bit of her wine, downing its contents and handing him her glass. “More.”
Far be it for him to deny her anything. He went in search of another bottle.
The minute the cork was out, Kacey held out her glass, still not taking her eyes off the TV. She really did have a weird fear when it came to that dang cat. To her credit, she didn’t scream like the last time, which would have been when she was fifteen, but she did inch closer and closer to him until her thigh was touching his.
Sweet torture.
He began drinking to keep his hands and lips occupied, and as the credits flashed, he realized they had finished two bottles of wine.
Kacey, however, looked wired. “We have to watch something happy to get rid of those mental images.”
Travis shook his head, feeling way more relaxed than he should, his arm draped around her, pulling her closer. “What do you want then?”
What he meant to say was Well, what do you want to watch then? But he was slightly drunk and a little loose-lipped.
She shrugged, snuggling closer into his body. His arm, once on her shoulders, caressed her back, moving lower and lower until it grazed her butt.
“Kace?” he asked again. She hadn’t moved, and the room was spinning, partially from the wine and partially from his lust-filled state.
“Hmm?” She looked up. God, she was beautiful, and so damn close to him he could nearly taste the wine on her lips.
“Your call,” he said, lowering his head to hers.
“This means nothing,” she whispered against his lips. “We’re drunk, and it means nothing,” she repeated as her hands tangled in his hair.
With a moan he shook his head.
“Right, nothing.” He licked her lower lip, tasting the red wine then running his tongue along the bottom of her jaw.
She arched her back, and he pulled her closer. His control was hanging on by a single thread.
When his lips grazed hers, she opened her mouth to him. All hell broke loose. He hadn’t expected her to taste so good, to feel so ripe, to feel perfect in his arms, to moan his name.
His tongue tangled with hers. Kacey ran her fingers up and down his biceps then tucked her hands underneath his shirt, peeling it off his body.
“Told you naked slumber parties were more fun,” he said between kisses.