“Hey, if I die, I’ll die happy.” His hand splayed on my hip pulled me closer.
“I’d rather you didn’t die.”
“Would you miss me?” He nuzzled into my neck.
It was a different experience to be the one who had the gushy morning after PDA. To be the one who was the center of someone’s attention.
“Maybe.” I cupped his jaw and leaned down close to his ear. “I’d definitely miss your tongue,” I whispered so only he could hear me.
Kieran tapped the brakes abruptly. “Hey, none of that back there.” I met his eyes in the rearview mirror. “I don’t want any white stains on my black interior.”
“It’s leather. It’ll come up with a wet wipe,” Brant replied.
“Ewww.” April shivered in her seat. “We don’t need to be that close.”
“That’s not close. If you were back there too, that would be close,” Kieran added.
“You joke about that all the time. I think you’re really angling for a foursome,” I teased.
“Why not? We’re all friends.” Kieran was stone-faced.
“Because Brant already said he wouldn’t fuck me if I paid him and that would leave just you and Claire. I’m sure if you wanted to, you would have already done it by now. So, that takes that off the table.” April said this without rancor and for a moment, it was like we were back in familiar territory—territory where we weren’t sniping at each other over dick.
For some reason, that brought to mind what Kieran had said—that he was only good for his body, his cock. My gaze was drawn back to him, but he wasn’t watching the road. He was watching me in the mirror again.
“Sure, why not?” I rolled my eyes.
“Really?” Brant whispered in my ear. “Who do you want to fuck? April or Kieran?”
My face flamed. “I was being sarcastic.”
“Were you?” He wasn’t judging me. No, not by a long shot. He was turned on. The ridge of his erection pressed into my leg.
“You’re a little twisted.”
“A little?” He leaned closer. “If you knew the things I’ve already watched you do in my head…”
“You’re so wrong.” But I giggled like I was twelve.
“Sometimes, you have to be wrong to be right.”
“So this orgy… tonight work for everyone?” Kieran’s tone was casual.
“I have to work tomorrow, so no good for me.” April was just as cavalier.
“On a Sunday?” I asked.
“Yeah. My boss is being a douche. He wants a new proposal by Monday, and I mean, I guess I could have worked on it Friday, but it was my birthday. I’m only going to be twenty-four once.”
“No, when you’re thirty, you’ll try twenty-four again.” Kieran grinned.
“Of course I will, but it won’t be the same. The people we are right now, at this minute, we’ll never be again. Half an hour from now, we won’t be the same because we’ve had other experiences, stimuli. Every moment we’re given is unique and can never be repeated.”
“That’s pretty fucking profound,” I agreed.
She was right. I wasn’t the same person I’d been last night, none of us were. Every experience changes our perceptions. Maybe it wasn’t noticeable, but it was like a river cutting through rock. Because of the constant wear, that rock was never exactly the same shape it’d been even minutes before. The changes were miniscule, but they were changes nonetheless.
“Every once in a while, I’m good for something.”
That sounded a lot like what Kieran had said. Maybe they were right for each other.
“I was reading something last night that said you should never say anything about yourself that you don’t want to be true,” Brant said.
“You read?” April snorted.
“Of course I read. Your buddy Gavin isn’t the only one doing this gig to pay for school. You think I want to do this forever? That any of us do?”
“I’ll do it until I break a hip, maybe even after. I love this job,” Kieran offered.
“I didn’t say I don’t love it, but it’s like anything that relies on your physicality. Eventually, you get old. In this business, middle-aged might as well be dead.”
“What are you going for?” I asked him.
“Biomedical science. I’m interested in research.”
And here all I wanted to do was design clothes.
“Biomedical science? Really?” April turned all the way around in her seat. “And here I thought you were just a pretty face. Have you thought about your investment portfolio?”