We order a bunch of appetizers to share, and the mood is fun and light. Felix and Emmett are teasing Teddy about falling down the mountain today. My brother has this huge grin on his face as he tells us how his feet were over his head and Teddy looked like Sonic the Hedgehog in a cloud of blue rolling down the hill, snow flying everywhere.
Teddy lifts his glass to his lips with one hand, but the other finds my bare thigh under the table. I thought this skirt was a good idea. It’s red and green flannel, short. Very holiday but still sexy. And I paired it with my favorite over-the-knee boots. I did not imagine this happening, though.
I make a squeak of surprise, which I cover with a cough. Stella drops her stare to my lap and then giggles into her napkin. Thankfully, no one else looks twice.
Teddy chuckles quietly and lets his fingers graze higher. I squeeze my legs together, but now his hand is trapped between my thighs. Two inches higher and he could feel how wet he’s making me.
Which sounds nice and I could be into him having his hand up my skirt in public under different circumstances, but not with my brother across the table.
I set my napkin on the table and scoot closer to Stella. “Come with me to the bar.”
“Why?” she asks, lips twisting in amusement. “Something wrong?”
“You got a fake ID I don’t know about?” Felix asks.
“No. I want to see if they’ll make me one of those holiday drinks, the Christmas mimosa, but you know, virgin.”
Teddy was taking a drink and now shoots the liquid out of his mouth as he starts coughing.
“Sorry,” he says, voice tight. “Wrong tube.”
My face burns. I shoot him aget your head out of the gutter before my brother figures us outglare and then I push against Stella, forcing her to move.
“Okay, okay. Let a girl get her shoes on.” She stumbles as she slides into the stilettos she’d taken off while we were seated.
“Our server is coming. You can order it from him,” Felix calls behind us. I don’t look back, but I’m sure Teddy is laughing.
“I don’t know how you wear these.” Stella winces as she walks.
“Practice.”
“Hmm.” She hums. “I need more of it because those boots are amazing.” She gives me a once-over and then her lips quirk up at the corners. “Teddy seems to have noticed as well. You guys are cute.”
I blow out a breath as we squeeze into an open spot at the bar. “Yeah, well, I have two years of pent-up sexual frustration. I’m going to combust.”
“Should have followed him into that shower this morning.”
I finally told Stella everything while we were getting ready for dinner. She was appropriately excited for me, but tellingsomeone just made it all feel so much more real, and now I am dying to tell Felix, so we can stop sneaking around.
Is he going to freak out? I don’t think so, but I’m worried his reaction will change how Teddy sees me.
“He’s looking over here,” Stella says, leaning one elbow on the bar top.
I peek over my shoulder to meet Teddy’s playful stare. Emmett says something, pulling his attention away, but his gaze returns a second later.
“I can’t handle any more teasing.” I fidget, trying to calm the buzz skating over my skin and pulsing in my core.
“You know what you need?”
“Yes. A six-foot-two football player with fingers like magic and a kiss that makes my knees weak.”
“Daaaang.” Stella laughs lightly. “You have it bad.”
“So bad. I didn’t think it was possible to like him more. What am I going to do?”
“I have an idea.”
“It was a rhetorical question. We’re going to tell Felix and then we won’t have to steal kisses and touches when no one is looking.”