Page 20 of D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding

“I love this game!”

A smile on my lips, I glanced at D’Vaughn. “Oh yeah?”

She nodded, half laughing as she said, “Yes! It’s the only shower game I can actually win.”

I sucked in a breath through my teeth and cringed playfully. “Lo siento, preciosa. It looks like whatever winning streak you have ends today. I’ll try not to rub my trophy in your face though.”

Instantly, her eyes narrowed. “Is that a challenge?”

“Not at all, ba—beau—preciosa. I wouldn’t set you up for failure like that.” I chuckled, shaking my head at my slip. She almost had me with that one, but I was quicker than that. She’d learn though.

She started to grin, but quickly pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. I sucked my teeth and pursed my lips. There was just something about the way she nibbled on that thing that made me want to suck it into my mouth, and as much as I protested every single time she did it, I was starting to think that she was purposely doing it in anticipation of my reaction.

“Now, what have I told you about that?” Reaching forward, I slid my thumb from the corner of her mouth to the other, gently rolling her lip outward. “You’re going to have to pick a new nervous habit, baby. This one is making me want to attack that mouth.” Although I couldn’t see him, I knew that Felix was somewhere nearby, yet that declaration hadn’t been for the sake of the cameras. In fact, it was a truth that had decided to slip out of its own volition.

This time she didn’t try to stifle her grin. Sitting forward, she leaned toward me until our lips were only a breath apart. Her eyes were full of mirth as they bored into mine, and I held my breath to see if she was going to initiate the kiss. Except for our practice session earlier, every visible moment of affection between the two of us over the past couple of hours had been at my hand. I started to let my eyes drift closed.

“Gimme my pins,” she whispered, brushing her lips against mine in a notkiss that pulled a sigh from me right before I processed her command.

But then I caught it and my eyes flew open.

“Wait. What?!”

“Aww shit!” hooted Rhea, her fist at her mouth as she cracked up. “She got your ass!”

Sitting back in my seat, I sputtered a half-groan, half-laugh as I shook my head and removed the pins from my shirtsleeve. “You set me up.”

D’Vaughn giggled as she added my two pins to the ones already dangling from her shirtsleeve. “How in the world could I have done that?”

Sucking my teeth, I lifted the lid of the clay dish and retrieved a couple of tortillas. “By being all fine and shit. You distracted me and I couldn’t think straight.” That was an understatement. I hadn’t even thought of the word all afternoon, yet the moment she’s leaning into me and aiming those big brown eyes at me I didn’t hesitate to attach it to her. What was that about?

Rolling her eyes, she smirked and flicked her fingers at me in a shooing motion. “Girl, bye!”

Still laughing, Rhea walked off to distribute the rest of the pins. As soon as she was gone, Raymond breezed past me, rounding the table and dropping down on the other side. His thick, shoulder-length hair was pushed back from his face with a jersey-knit headband and a pair of wide-rimmed sunglasses.

“I’m finally off the clock!” he declared, stabbing a fork at the mixed-up pile of food on his plate. He shoved a heaping forkful into his mouth, shaking his head. “Moses knows he could’ve freed me hours ago.”

“Bruh,” I cracked up. “All Mami asked you to do was take pictures while KiKi opened her gifts. You’re the one who decided you needed different angles and shit.”

“I’m a professional, dammit,” he snipped, cutting his eyes at me.

Chewing my food, I shrugged. “And it’s your professional fault that what was supposed to be a half hour of pictures turned into almost an hour and a half.”

He glared at me for a moment before swinging his gaze to D’Vaughn. The glare quickly morphed into an interested gleam that made me suspicious.

“Well, hello there, beautiful.”

D’Vaughn turned to me. “I love this family. You are all fantastic for my self-esteem.”

Ray and I laughed. I gave myself permission to lean into her then, brushing my lips over her cheek.

“Zavalas have naturally good eyesight. You gotta stick around ’cause I swear it gets better.”

There went that lip into her mouth. Tilting her head to the side, she eyed me, an unreadable expression on her face. Finally, she reached her left hand up and brushed her fingers over the steel bar in my eyebrow before trailing them down over my temple, cheek, and cupping my chin.

“I think I might just.”

What the hell had just happened? The fallingfallingfalling feeling from earlier slammed into my gut as I stared into her eyes. It had only been the lightest of touches and five simple words that she’d bestowed on me, but it felt big. It felt meaningful, hitting me in the chest in the form of an inexplicable pang.