Page 114 of Flirting with Trouble

I take Victory’s hand, singing, “Shut that pretty mouth and dance with me.”

She laughs as I twirl her. I drop to my knees and hug her legs, singing about how she’s my destiny, earning roaring laughter from the others. The guys sing harmony as we continue our dramatic rendition of the song, and my parents dance into the kitchen, joining in on the fun.

I pull Victory into my arms, and as everyone sings about shutting up and dancing with them, I sing, “Shut up and put that mouth on me,” and then I kiss her breathless.

Breakfast is the usual banter and heckling, and Victory gives it right back to all of us. We catch up on the latest with my siblings, learning that Grant is thinking about expanding the foundation to help veterans who live overseas, and Bellamy is considering another lucrative sponsorship opportunity. We’re all glad to hear she’s off the reality-show kick. Fitz says he’s looking forward to doing some surfing in Costa Rica, and Keira jokes about setting up a retreat for herself at an exotic location as a write-off, which sparks a slew of ideas from us. Although we all know she won’t leave her bakery long enough to enjoy herself.

As we finish cleaning up, my father says, “We have something to show you.”

“Please tell me you didn’t break more furniture,” Fitz says.

My father shakes his head. “We thought it would be fun to show Victory some pictures of Wells when he was little.”

The girls all talk at once, excited to reveal all my embarrassing stories, and Victory seems just as thrilled to get the dirt on me. My mother brings a stack of photo albums down from her bedroom, and they gather around her in the living room and gush over photo albums full of our childhood photos.

I’m talking with my brothers and father when Jules says, “Look at those cute butts!”

I peer over their shoulders and see a picture of me, Grant, and Fitz standing at the edge of the property with our pants around our ankles, peeing off the bluff. “Jesus.”

“Oh, honey. You were adorable,” my mother says.

“I’ll say,” Victory says with a sexy smile.

“That was my idea,” Grant chimes in.

My father claps a hand on his shoulder. “Yes, it was. But you were eight, and when we asked you not to do it anymore, you stopped. Your brothers were not as easy to convince.”

“Are you saying Fitz didn’t follow the rules?” Bellamy asks.

“He wasn’t always a Goody-Two shoes,” Grant says.

My mother looks up and says, “Fitz would have stopped if Wells didn’t run outside every time he had to pee and holler, ‘Pee time, Fitzy!’”

Everyone cracks up.

“Wells,” Victory says.

“What can I say? I liked to feel the wind on my willy.” I wink, and the blush on her cheeks tells me she’s thinking of last night, too. We made love three times on the deck of my boat and woke up with the sun, insatiable for each other again.

“TMI,” Bellamy says, and they go through more pictures.

“Is that Wells with purple hair?” Victory asks.

“Yes,” Keira says. “Remember that, Wells?”

“How could I forget? It lasted forever.”

“You got the best brother award for that one.” Keira turns to Victory and says, “When I was in third grade, I wanted to dye my hair purple, but my parents thought the other kids might tease me, so Wells did it to his hair first. He said if anyone got teased, it would be him.”

Victory looks at me and says, “That was so sweet of you.”

“I’m a good guy.”

“He’s the same guy who pretended to read from Kei’s diary at her slumber party when she was a teenager,” Fitz reminds us.

“Oh my gosh. You did not,” Victory says.

Keira scowls. “Yes, he did. Mr. Charming has an evil side.”