Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses Book 9) by Addison Moore Page B

input. Trust me, nobody knows how to stir up some good old-fashioned shenanigans like Calamity Clayton.”
    I wince. I’m pretty sure that’s not the verbiage she’s looking for. “What’s with the shenanigans?”
    Baya leans in. “Annie and Marley are getting married next weekend, and we’re plotting their final soirée as single women.”
    Marley growls out a laugh. “More like plotting our destruction.”
    Laney leans in with her petite frame and cute, pinched features. “They made us swear we wouldn’t pull any stunts. They just want to hang out.”
    I scoff while looking to Roxy. Surely, she’ll be the voice who can withstand all of the reason running amuck, but she simply shrugs.
    “Et tu, Roxy?” I gag for a moment on the flood of words trying to evict themselves from my throat. “Surely, you of all people understand that her shenanigan days as a single woman are fleeting.” As are Roxy’s, considering the fact she’s practically hitched herself. Speaking of hitched, my father has forecasted the biggest mistake of his life will happen this coming August twenty-seventh. I glance over my shoulder and catch Rex casually leaning against the wall with three tall blonde cheerleaders ready and willing to leash their long, svelte ponytails to any part of his body. His eyes snag on mine, and he gives a friendly nod, but I turn back around, landing my attention right where it belongs with my shenanigan-plotting friends. My stomach burns with heat, and it takes a moment to catch my breath. I’m not sure why, but ever since we shared mattress real estate, he’s had all sorts of erotic thoughts churning in my head—mostly when I’m sleeping, i.e., out of my right mind.
    “I think she’s right.” Izzy pulls a strand of dark hair under her nose like an elongated mustache. Laney and Izzy are sisters, and as much as I find it endearing, there’s a kernel of jealousy in me. Why can’t Sabrina and I be that close in proximity without wanting to claw one another’s eyes out? God knows if my sister’s hair were that long, I’d noose her with it. “Shenanigans should be had,” Izzy stresses. “In fact, I plan on entertaining any and all shenanigans right up until my own wedding day this August, so I say let the plotting of trouble begin.” She gives a cheeky grin, and the table begins to buzz with a flood of ideas.
    “Excuse me,” a deep voice emanates from behind. The rich, spiced cologne hits me before I can turn around, intoxicating me to whoever this might be. I jump, only to find Rex and the look of rapid concern blooming on his face. “We should dance.” He pulls me up before I can protest, before I can formulate a single thought as to why this might be happening. Rex leads me by the hand, weaving us in and out of an entire thicket of limbs, only to bury us somewhere in the middle of the dance floor, his arms finding a home around my waist.
    “What the hell has gotten into you?” I slip his hands off my hips, and they spring right back.
    He cocks his head, and that sarcastic lopsided grin makes its reprisal. “You’ve gotten into me.” His hand rides up and down my back as the smile slides off slowly. “She’s coming.”
    “Who’s coming?” I struggle to remove him for a moment before spotting an all too familiar face who, although I’m quite used to seeing, still looks foreign to me at the Black Bear.
    “ Sabrina !” I pull Rex in tight until his body adheres to mine, the girth and width of his chest demands my attention in far too many erotic ways for me to process at the moment. He’s so solid, I can’t help but touch him.
    “Here you are!” my sister squawks over the music. Her hair is pulled into a tight bun, her lips heavily pigmented in magenta. There’s a garishness about her I’m not used to. Sabrina has always been a natural beauty, the one who wore her hair wild and free while spending her days in blue jeans and a T-shirt. I glance down at her leather mini skirt, her