Stay With Me (She's With Me #2) - Jessica Cunsolo Page 0,53

Aiden, who manages to keep us from falling until the last second, when his roller skates cause him to lose his balance.

I already heard the crash, laughs, and swears from when Mason and Vee hit the ground, and I’m sure we were just as amusing as they were falling. We fall, and Aiden twists so that I land on top of him. Despite his body being 99 percent pure muscle, it only hurts a little bit, probably lessened by the fact that I’m having so much fun.

Lying on the floor with his hands around my waist, we look at each other and can’t contain our laughter. I feel like a child who wants to clap her hands and chant, Again, again!

Our laughter dies down when the butterflies in my chest make an appearance, like they do whenever I’m this close to Aiden. His gray eyes flicker to my lips, and like granting an unspoken wish, he lifts his head to kiss me. Like every time our lips touch, the fire that ignites within me spreads, and everything else melts away. He kisses me slowly and deeply, like there is nowhere else in the world he needs to go, nothing else that matters. He pulls away, frankly entirely too early for my liking, and looks at me with a smirk, a spark alight in his eyes.

“Told you I’d save it for later.”

I laugh and push myself off of him, helping him up in the process, but not before catching the look on Mason’s face as he watches us. A look that manages to leave me feeling cold despite the fact that I’m sweating from all the exerted energy.

The rest of the time goes by in a blur, and I don’t remember ever laughing so hard, even as I’m busy trying to ignore Vee making eyes at Aiden and avoiding making eye contact with Mason. By the time we’re ready to leave, we’ve invited our new friends to come back to the house with us to hang out, but they all say no. Erin, however, gives Mason her number, and promises to come by later. I’m not a mind reader, but even I know what that means, at least if the suggestive way she runs her hand down his chest and the sultry look she gives him is anything to go by. He smiles and promises he’ll see her later, then catches me looking and hastily shoves his phone back in his pocket and stares down at the floor.

“Ready to go? I’m thinking we pick up sushi for dinner,” Aiden says as he comes back from returning our roller skates.

“Sounds good to me,” I tell him, taking his offered hand and walking out into the fresh air together, the rest of our friends trailing behind us.

13

We’ve only been here for three days and we’re already getting sick of only eating various types of barbequed meat for lunch and dinner. Since tomorrow is Christmas Day and the guys have been so good about taking turns being grill master, Annalisa, Charlotte, and I have shooed them out of the kitchen, where we’re making our “family” dinner. Tomorrow will be a traditional, big Christmas lunch—Julian even managed to get a whole turkey from the market and googled stuffing recipes—but we’re still making a big Christmas Eve dinner.

“Quick! Someone take a picture! Anna’s voluntarily helping in the kitchen!” Julian jokes.

Annalisa responds by lobbing a wooden spoon at her boyfriend, which he easily deflects with a laugh.

The house is beautiful, but the only problem is that it’s open concept, so there are no walls dividing the kitchen and TV area. This is a problem because it’s raining outside and the guys are bored, which means annoying us is their only form of entertainment.

“Go video call your parents,” I tell them. “You all promised you’d wish them Merry Christmas on both Christmas Eve and Day.”

“We all did that already,” Julian says.

“Then go play outside or something,” Annalisa orders them as she gets another spoon, having lost hers.

Noah sits down beside Julian at the kitchen island and steals a cucumber from the salad we just finished preparing.

“It’s raining outside.” He reaches to steal another cucumber but Charlotte swats his hand away, and he gives her a kicked puppy look.

She huffs but ends up falling for it, giving him another cucumber slice before moving the salad to the counter.

“When has the rain ever stopped you from doing something?” she asks him.

He tilts his head, contemplating the question. “Well, never. But