by Meika Usher
As she threw her head back and laughed at something Cora said, a thought hit me: Did she really want eight kids, like she’d told my mother earlier? Because, well, eight was a lot. It was an entire sports ball team of some kind, I was pretty sure.
As if she could feel my eyes on her, Birdie looked my way. A smile lingered at the corners of her mouth, and her eyes were bright with laughter. And, in that moment, she was...magical.
Every single one of my internal organs flipped upside down, and a new thought formed in my brain: I could absolutely have eight babies with her—especially if every single one of them radiated like their mother.
“Okay, okay,” Ma said, breaking the spell I’d been under. I blinked and turned in time to watch her enter the dining room, a cake aflame with lit candles in her hands. “Time to sing!”
I winced and slid down in my seat. This was my least favorite part of my birthday. The singing. Not because not a single member of my family could sing, but because they all made it a point to be as obnoxious as possible. Beside me, Birdie smirked. She really did get way too much amusement out of my misery, didn’t she?
As Ma sat the flaming cake down on the table in front of me, the singing began. If I thought Birdie was going to sit this tradition out, I was way wrong. Beside me, she joined in, with gusto, her off-key and wobbly voice rising high above everyone else. I looked over to find her grinning like a jackass as the last note rang, long and agonizing, through the room.
“Make a wish!” Ma said, gesturing toward the cake.
With a sigh, I straightened and inhaled, ready to blow out the candles. But before I could, Cora leaned in and huffed, extinguishing every one of my thirty-two candles.
“Cora!” Ma admonished, hands on hips. “You stole Uncle Nate’s wish.”
“Sorry,” she said, not looking at all apologetic. “I really wanted a new dinosaur toy.”
As Sarah explained to her daughter that birthday wishes only worked if they were your birthday wishes, I caught Birdies eye. And then a thought lit bright neon in my head: I didn’t need my birthday wish because she had already come true.
God. I was the corniest person on the planet.
Ma leaned in front of me to yank the candles from the cake, breaking the spell. Blinking hard, I faced forward—and came eye-to-eye with the most terrifying cake I’d ever seen.
“Ah,” I said, jolting a little. “What the fu...udge is that?”
Staring straight at me from the table was a bright green creature with wide, unseeing eyes and a gaping mouth full of sharp little teeth. I was fairly sure I’d seen it before.
In my nightmares.
“It’s a t-rex,” Ma said as if it should be obvious. “You said no bunny. It’s not a bunny.”
“Where do you get these cakes?” I asked, putting a hand to the side of my face to break eye contact with the cake creature.
“Snack Rack,” Ma said as she reached for the knife and sliced into said t-rex, oblivious to my horror. “What piece do you want?”
“Oh, he wants the eyeball,” Birdie answered without hesitation. She tossed a raised brow my way. “He wants both the eyeballs.”
“You’re not right,” I murmured as my mother plopped my plate down in front of me, giant eyes staring.
Birdie merely grinned even wider, then reached over, jamming a finger into one of the pupils. I watched in horror as she scooped up the frosting then lifted it to her lips. My horror took a weird, hot turn as her lips wrapped around her finger, sucking it clean of frosting.
I cleared my throat and looked away, picking up my fork. “Thanks, Ma,” I said. “It looks...delicious.”
Once Ma had doled out slices to everyone else at the table, Birdie scooted her chair closer to me. Cora had abandoned her lap moments before because Sarah was worried she’d get bright green frosting all over Birdie’s...well, entire person. Cora was not known for eating daintily.
“You gotta eat the whole thing,” Birdie said, her chin resting on my shoulder. “It’s...good luck.”
“I think you should eat it,” I muttered back, tracing my fork through the black pupil. “You evil woman, you.”
“Oh, no,” she replied, tilting her face up to kiss my cheek. “This one’s all you.” She moved away, straightening in her own seat. “I’ve got a perfectly good, eyeless piece of cake right here.” Then, she grabbed her fork and dug in.
A while later, cake demolished, clean-up achieved, goodbyes said, we stood at the front door.
“It was so nice to meet you,” Ma was saying, putting a stack of containers in Birdie’s hands. “Here, lots of leftovers for you.”
“Thank you,” Birdie said to Ma, glancing my way with wide eyes. Does this mean she likes me, her expression seemed to ask. I nodded. Yes. Yes it did.
I pressed my lips together to prevent the smirk threatening to take over as I caught sight of Aidan pouting in the living room, mourning the loss of his leftovers. She’d tried to give us the rest of the Terror-saurus Rex cake, but both Birdie and I declined with much more vigor than necessary. Aidan could take that home.
“Please, come again,” Ma was saying when I tuned back in, placing a hand against Birdie’s cheek. “Next time, I’ll make jeyuk bokkeum.” She turned toward me next, standing on her tiptoe to kiss my cheek, then whispered, “You’re grinning like an idiot. I approve.”
She pulled the door open for us before I could think of anything to say. “Now, go,” she said, shooing us outside. “Enjoy the rest of the evening. Maybe get a head start on making my grand babies.”
“Ma—“
“Thank you, Mrs. Kim,” Birdie interrupted, securing her arm around my waist and steering me onto the porch. “We will.”
Once the door closed behind us, I pulled away from Birdie. “You get entirely too much joy out of my mortification.”
She simply shrugged and started down the stairs, shooting me a grin. “I’ll make it up to you when we get to your place.” Turning, she continued walking backward, eyes twinkling in the porch light. “I’ve got a present for you, birthday boy.”
How did she make the words birthday boy sound absolutely filthy? Following her down the walk, I replied, “Oh, yeah? What is it?”
She tsk’d and shook her head. “That would ruin the surprise.” Digging her keys from her purse, she unlocked her car. “You’ll find out soon enough.” Then, she climbed inside and started the engine. “I’ll race you.”
Then she was off. Like a total cheater. And, even though I knew there was no chance in hell I’d beat her home at this rate, I still sprinted to my car like Sonic the Hedgehog.
As I got in, Aidan poked his head out of the front door. “Use protection!” he yelled. “Eight kids is too many!” Then, after a second, he added, “Like, way, way too many.”
I ignored him and started my engine. There was no time for annoying little brothers—I had a hot chick on her way to my place.
42: Birdie
“I’m pretty sure you are now Cora’s favorite person,” Nate said as he unlocked his front door about fifteen minutes later. “That was straight-up hero worship in her eyes.”
“I’m pretty sure Cora is my favorite person,” I replied, grinning. Nate’s niece was quite possibly the most adorable person on the planet.
Nate laughed as he pushed the door open and let me inside ahead of him. “I’d be offended if she weren’t also my favorite person.” He shut the door behind him and grabbed my hand before I could get too far away. I let him pull me closer, lifting my chin to meet his eyes. “Thanks for coming tonight,” he murmured, hands sliding beneath my coat to spread over my back.
I stepped closer and looped my arms over his neck. “Thanks for inviting me.”
His eyes searched mine before he spoke again. “I can’t believe you spent all night talking to my five-year-old niece and you didn’t say fuck once.”
I threw my head back, laughing. “You have no idea how hard that was!” I said. “I had to come up with some real creative save
s.”
“Oh, I know.” He pulled away to take my coat off and shrugged out of his own. “Mother flunker?” His brow lifted. “Darn tootin’?”
I lifted my hands helplessly. “I’ve never spent that much time with a kid, man. I did my best.” Toeing off my shoes, I added, “You know that when Sunny and Ben have kids, I’m gonna teach them so many swear words.”
“Hell, they’re gonna teach them all the swears.” He kicked off his own shoes and glanced up. “You were kidding, by the way? About the eight kids?”
His brow was furrowed and there was a flicker of fear in his dark eyes. All I could do was laugh. “Yes,” I said, pulling him in close again. “I was kidding. Eight is so many.”
Relief flowed through him and I could feel his body melt into mine. I laughed again. “Jesus, dude. I’d be offended if I were serious.”
A sheepish smile touched his lips. “Good thing you’re not.”
I rocked back on my heels to look him in the eye. “Or am I?” I murmured, easing away toward the hallway. I glanced around the house on my way. “No Anya tonight?”
She’d been crashing on his couch for a while now. I fully expected her to be here tonight to cock-block. But the house was quiet. His couch was empty. No sign of life.
“Nah, she’s at Sunny’s.” He rolled his eyes. “Something about birthday nookie.” A rush of color climbed his neck. “So...it’s just us.” As he finished, his eyes met mine, and the air between us sizzled. Like, literally sizzled. I felt it straight to my toes.
I nodded, all casual-like. “Cool,” I said. Then: “I’m, uh, gonna use your restroom real quick.” I ducked down the hallway, wincing as I went. “Use your restroom,” I muttered to myself as I ducked into the bathroom. “God.”
Once inside, door firmly shut behind me, I exhaled and dropped my bag onto the counter. I packed Nate’s birthday gift in the hope that Anya wouldn’t be around, and now that I’d gotten my way, I was...nervous?
That couldn’t be right. I didn’t get nervous. This fluttery stomach, hammering heart, quickening breath thing had to be something else. Heart attack, maybe? Early onset amnesia?
Shaking the ridiculous thoughts away, I pulled out the shopping bag I’d hastily stuffed into my purse on the way out the door this evening and peered inside. Even as the not-nervousness flooded through me, I smiled. Nate was gonna love this.
About ten minutes later, I slipped from the bathroom on bare feet. “Nate?” I called. “Can you come here for a second. I think I broke your...toilet?”
I winced as the words came out. Jesus, Birdie.
“Broke my what?” Nate’s voice carried down the hall, laden with confusion. “How’d you—”
He stopped speaking once he caught sight of me, standing at the end of the hall in my underwear. My special edition, Starla Gray from Galaxy Crash, underwear.
“Happy birthday,” I said with a smile, smoothing the shimmery silver fabric over my hips. It’d taken way too long to figure out the straps and buckles on this thing. But the way Nate was looking at me? Oh, it’d been worth it.
“You, uh.” He stopped to clear his throat, still frozen to the floor at the opposite end of the hall. “You look amazing.”
“Yeah?” I turned to reveal the gun holster on my thigh—complete with a shiny toy gun. Who knew Starla Gray was kind of a badass? “Check this out.” I pulled the gun from its holster and took aim. When I pulled the trigger, a long stream of bubbles flowed free, filling the space between us.
A laugh—a beautiful, warm laugh—filled the air. “You are,” Nate said as he moved through the haze of bubbles, “the best.” And then he kissed me.
The bubble gun fell to the floor as I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him back. Nate’s hands slid down my bare back and I shivered, leaning into him. “Do you know how hard,” I murmured against his lips as I took a step backward, “this costume was to find?”
“Do you know how hard,” he murmured back, following my lead toward the bedroom, “this costume is making me?”
I laughed and pulled away from him. “Must you be so crude?” I asked as I took his hand and pulled him the rest of the way into his bedroom.
“I must,” he responded, eyes burning hot behind his glasses. And then he said no more. Not with words, anyway. But his hands? And his lips? Oh, they had plenty to say. Pulling me against him, he kissed me, hard and claiming, pulling me tight against him. I could feel his heart thundering, his blood rushing, his hardness pressing into me. And molten fire flowed low in my belly.
His hands slid down my hips to grip my ass and he groaned. The sound vibrated down to my very marrow and I wanted—needed—more. Pulling him closer, we tumbled onto the bed together. Nate’s body weight pushed me into the mattress in the most delicious way as I wrapped my legs around his waist. And, oh, he hadn’t been lying. He was hard and ready. I pressed myself into him and he groaned again.
“Fuck,” he whispered against my lips.
“Exactly,” I whispered back, prompting a laugh from him.
He pulled back then, resting his elbows on either side of me. A smile danced in his eyes, but something else hovered there, too. Something soft. Something tender. Something that sent my heart ping-ponging around my chest cavity.
Reaching up, I took off his glasses so that I could get a better look. He kissed my wrist as I pulled away. “Blurry, but still beautiful,” he murmured, squinting to see my face.
Laughing, I sat his glasses aside and cupped his face in both hands. My heart slammed harder as I traced his cheekbones with my thumbs. “Don’t run away this time, okay?”
His eyes flickered and he shook his head. “I’m not going anywhere.” And then he leaned down and kissed me. And this kiss felt different. Like he was kissing me from a different place. Less sex, more...soul. And my own soul responded, kissing back with more fervor, more urgency, more...everything.
My pulse slammed throughout my body as I let my fingers trail over his cheeks and jawline, moving down until they curled into the hair at the nape of his neck. He shivered. My heart mirrored the movement.
Pulling back, I greedily drank in his face in that split second before he opened his eyes. Dark lashes lying against golden skin, flushed with heat. Lips still damp from our kisses. God, he was beautiful.
And when he opened his eyes, when he caught me staring, the flood of warmth that filled his eyes was like nothing I’d ever seen before.
Ever felt before.
“Nate, I...” I started, tracing over the moisture along his bottom lip with my thumb. I didn’t know what I was going to say. Just that I needed to say something. Something important. Something meaningful. Because this? It was meaningful. And I needed him to know that.
He kissed my thumb and brushed the hair away from my face. “Yeah?”
I opened my mouth to tell him. To vocalize all the things floating around inside me like frantic fireflies in a jar. But the lid was still screwed on tight, and so all that came out was, “Happy birthday.”
He smiled, and the lid loosened a bit more. I knew it was only a matter of time before all the words would come flying out, filling the air with their glow. Suddenly, I was okay with not saying them in this moment. Because I would say them. But, for now, I’d show him.
Leaning up, I pressed my lips to his, kissing him with a newfound fervor, a desperation, and a peace I had never felt before. He kissed me back, and I knew he felt it, too.
Flames engulfed us, like a goddamn inferno. Nate’s hands slid down my body, grazing over every inch of skin already bared for him. The rest of my body screamed in jealousy, aching for his touch, too. Reaching between us, I undid the front clasp of my bra. He needed no further invitation, cupping my breast with a warm palm. My nipple tightened beneath his touch, and a low groan rumbled through him.
Pulling his mouth from mine, he found my other nipple, his hot tongue flickering over it. I whimpered, my fingers tightening in his hair as my heels dug into the mattress, as I arched closer, a
s I desperately tried to press myself into him.
I could feel him smile against my breast, and I was about to tell him there was nothing funny going on here, when his hand left my breast to slide down my stomach. My next breath froze in my throat then rushed from me as he eased his hand into my underwear, finding me hot and wet and ready.
“God,” he murmured against my breast. “Birdie.”
I said nothing. I could say nothing. My thighs parted, begging him to stroke, to tease, to ease the ache that begged for his touch. As if he understood my silent plea, Nate’s fingertips moved over my clit, soft and slow. Torturous.
My thighs shook with the need to close around his hand. To grind into it until I reached the orgasm I knew was right fucking there, but Nate had positioned himself to make that impossible. Every nerve in my body had relocated. Every heartbeat pulsated low and hard. Desperation clawed at me from the inside out. Was he ever going to...I wanted him to...I...I needed him.
“Nate,” I panted, digging my fingers into his hair. I pulled him away from my breast, meeting his eye. “I need you.”
His glazed eyes flickered briefly, and I knew exactly where he went. “It doesn’t matter,” I said softly. “All that matters is you and me and this moment. This one. Not the last one. Not the next. Now.” I leaned up to kiss him, holding nothing back. “And right now?” I continued when we parted. “I need you.”
I watched the walls fall in a matter of seconds, and I matched the fire in his kiss with flames of my own. Too much, I thought as I frantically reached for the bottom of his shirt, pulling upward. Too much between us. I needed to feel him, all of him, everywhere.
We parted long enough for Nate to yank the shirt off, and then my fingers worked at the button fly of his jeans and I shoved them down his hips. Desperation turned to greed then became pure, unadulterated urgency as my hand closed around his erection. Like if I didn’t pull him into my mouth right this second, I would burst into flames, or implode, or die.
Nate’s hips jerked forward at my touch and I looked up to find a look of...agonized concentration on his face. And I knew—I knew—that if I got my way, we wouldn’t get much further. I also knew that he didn’t want that. So, instead of pushing him onto his back, instead of climbing to my knees, instead of pulling him deep into my mouth, I pulled my hand from his pants and reached for the condom I’d slipped into the waistband of my stockings.
