Page 33 of Take My Kiss
“It’s easier to scale ’em with a spoon in the water so they don’t fly up everywhere,” Colton explains.
“Okay…and how do I do that?”
Bodie excuses himself to use the bathroom, leaving Colton and me alone.
“Hold ’em in the water and scrape the spoon against the grain. They’ll come right off.”
“Are you sure you don’t wanna do this?”
“You’ll be fine. As long as you don’t put your finger near its mouth.”
Glaring, I look up at him. “Wow, you’re a real comedian.”
“I’ve had you laughin’ plenty.”
“Oh, you’re mistaken…I was laughin’atyou.”
“Hey, I’ll take it.”
I roll my eyes at his inability to be insulted.
“Okay, go ahead…” He nods toward the spoon.
As soon as I glide it up, my whole body shivers. And not in the sexy kind of way.
“Oh, that feels gross.”
“You can go a little harder. Ain’t gonna hurt it.”
I scowl at his attempt at being funny again, but I’ve never touched a fish, so it’s making me squeamish to hold a dead one with its beady eyes staring up at me.
“Don’t think I can,” I admit, my stomach bottoming out.
“Breathe through your mouth, Amelia. You can do it,” he encourages sweetly, and although I appreciate that he believes in me, my breakfast is threatening to resurface.
“I swear I’m not this much of a wuss, but the texture of the scales gratin’ against the spoon is a sensory trigger.”
“You don’t gotta do it, darlin’. It’s okay. Let me.” He gently nudges my arm, but I don’t move.
The way that word slips so easily from his lips makes me wonder if he says it to women often or just me.
“No, no…I got this far, I wanna keep tryin’. Or at least, until I throw up.”
“Try to avoid doin’ that. Chunks aren’t a good added seasonin’ to bass.”
“Y’know, you have a smart mouth on you.”
“Too bad you lost your memory of the first night we met. Otherwise, you’d know plenty ’bout my mouth.”
My spine straightens as tingles sprint up my back.Is he trying to kill me?
“Mm-hmm…I’m sure you were witty and pleasant,” I say dryly. “As much as you’re being right now.”
He inches closer, pressing his chest against my back, and then brushes his mouth over my ear.
“Let me show you how to do this.” His arms wrap around mine, covering my hands with his, then moving them together. “Good girl. Now we can do the other side.”
Memories of him saying those words to me in bed flash through my mind, and when his body tenses, I know he’s thinking about it too. He wasn’t the only vocal one that night, but everything he said has played on a loop for several months. When I get ten minutes of alone time with my vibrator, usually in the shower, it’s spent reminiscing about all the ways he touched and praised me.
