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A buzz kissed its way through my body, my cheeks heated and my lips freely curving upward. I twisted in the booth, grinning up at Seth. “I actually moved out here and applied to the university because of this guy.”
To hell with it, he might only see me as Project-Protection, but I’m going to enjoy myself tonight.
I gave him an overly dramatic wink and I turned back to the rest of the table. “We’d written to each other after he moved away. A couple times a week for the entirety of my four years of high school. Once I was nearing the end of my senior year, and decided to give the college thing a try, I applied to a bunch of different colleges,” I brushed a strand of hair over my ear. “None of them really fit what I was looking for. Then Seth wrote to me, suggesting I should come out here. So, I packed a bag, drove out here to visit the campus and do a few tours then decided this was where I wanted to be. And the rest is pretty much history.”
Libby’s eyes were huge and all doe-eyed. “Wait, how long have you guys known each other?”
I shrugged. “Since we were in diapers pretty much. Our parents knew each other,” I twisted my head in Seth’s direction. “Actually, you said your mom was an Angel. Is that how they actually met?”
Seth nodded. “Yeah. They were partners, I found out later.” I wave of nausea hit me.
Oh no.
“When you say partners…” I felt like I was going to puke.
Seth apparently thought it was hilarious. “Oh, God no, Erin. Gross. I mean like on the front lines and in this whole external fight for the innocent thing. Most Angels work in pairs, as do we. They were a compliment to each others’ powers and fought together so long, they were like siblings from what I was told.”
Relief washed over me. “Oh okay, that’s pretty cool. Way less gross.”
Libby snorted. “No kidding.”
I took another swig, the buzz ramped up. I looked around the restaurant, seeing if I could find our waitress because I needed food in me or I was going to be more of a mess than usual by the time we left. In my determination to find our waitress and flag her down, I managed to subconsciously pull one of my knees onto the booth seat. I propped myself up, leaning forward once I spotted her. I waved one of my hands in the air to get her attention. I lost my balance and fell forward. Directly into Josh’s lap, knocking his beer out of the way in the process. My stomach landed right on top of his crotch. The rest of me halfway out of the booth, and my ass essentially on full view for Seth. Shorts—specifically the ones I stupidly decided on—were most definitely a horrible idea.
I scrambled, trying to fumble my way into a sitting position and off of Josh’s crotch. He reached his hand out under my arm to help me back up, pulling me toward his chest while doing so. I used my other arm to push myself up. My hand gripped Josh’sthigh in the process, making sure I didn’t lose my balance. Josh grunted and I looked down to realize that it wasn’t his thigh that I had my hand firmly grasping.
Oh no.
Fuck.
Fucking fuck.
I shot upward apologizing profusely, offering to cover his beer and the replacement. I grabbed a handful of napkins off the table, dabbing profusely at the wet spot now covering his pant leg. Libby and Derik were in hysterics, laughing their asses off. I could feel the heat that radiated off of Seth from where he sat half behind-half next to me since I was now sitting with my legs tucked under me.
Josh coughed out, “Ahem, Miss Snow, although I understand that was an accident and greatly appreciate your attempt to dry me off,” Josh shifted in his seat, bringing his voice down to a husky whisper. “You’re not exactly improving the matter.” He gently grabbed the napkins from me, and I glanced down.
The blush that stampeded its way over every inch of my skin deepened. In my panic trying to dry the guy off, I ended up rubbing him down and he was sporting one hell of a tent. I looked back up to see that Josh’s eyes held a glimmer of amusement in them.
Someone. Something. Shoot me. Now. Please.
Our waitress showed up at that moment, saving me from saying anything that would dig me further into the pit of embarrassment I’d landed myself in. “Are you all ready to order?” she asked, a fake smile and pitched.
I’m never going to live this one down.
We placed our orders, each of us getting a plate of tacos. I ordered a large thing of nachos, offering to split it with Josh as an apology. I could feel my ears burning and glanced at Seth out of the corner of my eye.
He seethed. Clenching and unclenching his fist on top of the table. He slid his other arm along the back of the booth after I sat back and tried to ignore the fiasco that I just caused.
Why are you the one seething?
You didn’t just embarrass the hell out of yourself by unintentionally groping someone.
I took the straw for the margarita and slurped a good bit of it down. I was going to need it if I was going to make it through the rest of the evening.
“So, uh Libby, what about you?” I asked, needing to change the subject and shift any attention off of me.
“Bad breakup with a girlfriend. I wanted to move as far away from her as possible and ended up here,” she waved her hand in the air, brushing it off. “And then a few months later I ran into these buffoons when my abilities started coming in and I’ve been stuck around them ever since.” After I chugged the rest of our margarita, she called another waitress over, ordering a Sex on the Beach, dubbing it her go-to.
I laughed at that. “You’ve put up with Derik the whole time you’ve known Seth? That’s rough.”
