by Amber Rides
“Maybe half-drunk,” I admitted.
“Have another drink then,” she suggested. “There’s no sense in doing things halfway.”
“I don’t really drink,” I reminded her.
She tipped her head to one side and shot me a crooked smile. “Can I make you a deal of some kind?”
“I think I’ve heard that somewhere before,” I teased.
“Nuh-uh. I just thought it up now.”
“Is that right? Well then. What kind of deal did you have in mind?”
“You want a sandwich?”
“Nope.”
“Guess I’ll have to bargain with something else.”
“And you’re all out of ladder rungs too,” I reminded her.
“So I am,” she said thoughtfully. “But you know what I have lots of?”
“What?”
“Kisses. For each shot you do, I’ll give you one.”
I opened my mouth to tell her that I avoided women as readily as I avoided alcohol, but then she tipped her head up and brushed her lips against mine. Desire, deep and strong, shot through me. The second she pulled away, I wanted more.
“Guess what?” she breathed.
“What?”
“You owe me one. So far.”
Without looking and without letting her go, I bent down and grabbed another two shots of tequila from the tray. I drank them so fast I couldn’t even taste them.
“Well?” I said expectantly.
Her lips grazed mine, then her tongue darted out, licking the last of the booze from my mouth before she jumped from my arms and darted into the crowd. I watched her hips switch for just a moment before I moved to go after her.
A hand gripped my elbow, stopping me. I spun to face my cousin, who was grinning like an idiot.
“You wanna race and see who catches her first?”
“She’s a girl, not a prize,” I growled.
Ian laughed. “Still. Ten bucks says she winds up in my bed tonight.”
“Asshole.”
I shoved down an urge to punch him and took off, hoping the couple in my room hadn’t lost the page in my book.
Bonus 2 – Brenna’s walk of shame
Brenna
I rolled over in my bed and reached for my missing feather pillow. Instead, my hand met with an unfamiliar, fuzzy lump.
My eyes tried to open in confusion, but the second the light squeezed between my lids, a throbbing headache pulsed through, forcing me to shut them again.
What the hell?
I tried to connect the dots of the last twenty-four hours. I knew they’d been dark. Some of the darkest hours I could remember in a long time.
The darkest since I left her.
Four years earlier, five days after my eighteenth birthday, I’d left behind the only life I’d ever known.
Until yesterday morning.
And then.
Oh. Shit.
The puzzle – or at least its outline – came together.
The party at my next door neighbour’s house.
The hotshot offering me free drinks.
Me, taking said drinks.
Arms and legs and laughter and wanton cries that made my face heat up, just thinking about them.
And of course, the current pounding in my head.
With a groan, I attempted to ease my eyes open a little more slowly. My contact lenses were gummy in my eyes, but from my sideways position I could see two important things. One was that I was definitely not in my own bed. Another was the string that would pull the blinds shut.
Ignoring the meaning behind the first, I reached out to grab the second. With a yank, I snapped the slats shut and then leaned back in the blissfully darkened room.
I looked around cautiously, taking inventory.
The room was littered with evidence of stereotypical maleness. A shiny black guitar in the corner. A football mounted and displayed on a shelf. A line of ball caps on a desk and when I put my head back on the lumpy pillow, I spotted that piece de resistance. A poster of a bikini-clad woman – mouth open, legs spread – fastened to the ceiling above the bed.
Ew.
It was the exact motivation I needed to get me moving.
Ignoring the pulse of blood rushing through my brain, I pushed aside the sheet wrapped around my torso and swung my legs to the ground. I stared down at the expanse of bare skin.
Am I naked?
I ran my hands over my hips and groaned. I was naked.
I leaped to my feet and took another look around the room, this time in a frantic effort to find my clothes. I tossed aside a pair of sweatpants and spotted pink lace. My hand closed over the fabric before I realized that although they were underwear, they weren’t my underwear.
My fingers flew back in disgust and I muffled a scream in my elbow.
If I hadn’t felt sick before, I definitely did now.
I leaned down and looked under the bed. Red satin caught my eye. Also not mine.
What kind of guy kept a roomful of women’s underwear?
When I shot my eyes heavenward, the poster-girl looked down on me mockingly.
My kind of guy, obviously, she seemed to be saying.
“Oh my God,” I groaned. “Please just let me find my shirt.”
A door slammed out in the hall. I jumped and my knee hit the night stand, knocking open its drawer. A stack of nudie magazines slid into view.
“Can this get any worse?” I wondered out loud.
“Define worse.”
My gaze flew in the direction of the deep, amused voice.
A tall, wide-shouldered man with a barbed wire tattooed around each arm grinned at me from the doorframe. His dark hair was shaved up the sides and his nose looked like it had been broken on more than one occasion.
I took a staggering step backwards.
“Who are you?” I gasped.
He waggled an eyebrow. “You don’t remember?”
It was suddenly too easy to picture his thick hands on my body.
“Ian!” I gasped.
“You betcha.”
“Oh, God. Oh, no.”
“I heard an awful lot more ‘oh, yeses’ coming from that pretty mouth of yours last night,” the behemoth replied.
“I think I’m going to puke.”
He laughed. “I guess that means a three-way is out of the question.”
On cue, a girl in a sheer robe appeared behind Ian.
“Did I hear three-way?” she asked, sounding genuinely excited.
The sight of her eager face and even more eager nipples peeking through the material reminded me that I was wearing even less than she was. Belatedly, I scrambled to cover myself with a bed sheet.
The three of us stood there staring at each other. Ian’s face was cocky, Bare Boobs’ was hopeful, and I was sure mine was terrified.
Escape! I thought desperately.
I dove between them and out into the hall. As I did it, the sheet became tangled in my legs and I fell to the ground with a hard thump. I crawled along the floor trying to maintain my hold on the sheet. I got several triumphant feet before my head bumped into something solid that stopped me in my clumsy tracks.
A hand grasped my elbow and yanked me to my feet, bringing me face-to-face with a pair of grey eyes. They were filled with concern and my face reddened as to how I must look to him.
How you look? Or how you actually are?
The internal voice made my cheeks that much hotter.
“Please,” I begged. “Pretend this never happened.”
“Brenna - ”
“Please!”
His brows came together in a dark frown above his black-rimmed glasses.
“Fine,” he growled, sounding unreasonably angry.
“Thank you!”
I tightened the sheet over my chest, made sure it was well-above my feet this time, and dashed away.
Bonus 3
Ridley’s Strawberry Cream Cheese Turnovers
Ingredients
&nbs
p; Strawberry filling
1-1/2 cups of thinly sliced strawberries
4 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp lemon juice
Pinch of cinnamon
3 tbsp of water
1 egg
1 tsp brown sugar
Cream cheese filling:
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
Puff pastry (Ridley makes his, but you can use store-bought):
4 cups bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup water, or as needed
1 2/3 cup room-temperature butter
Directions:
Puff Pastry – make ahead
Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Gradually stir in water until the dough holds together enough to clean the sides of the bowl. You may not need the full amount of water. Shape into a flat ball, and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.
Place the butter between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound into a flat disc using a rolling pin.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large rectangle, a 1/2 inch thick.
Place the disc of chilled butter in the center and fold the two ends over it so it is completely encased in dough.
Roll out the dough to about 1/2 inch thickness. (Ensure that the butter does not break through the dough.)
Fold into thirds. This is the first ''turn''.
Rotate the dough 90 degrees and roll out into a rectangle again. Fold into thirds.
Place the dough on a baking sheet and mark it with two pokes from your finger (two turns).
Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Repeat this rolling, folding and turning two more times, then refrigerate until firm.
Repeat two more times for a total of 6 ''turns''.
Wrap and refrigerate until use.
Strawberry Sauce
In a saucepan, stir together strawberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon; let stand for 30 minutes.
Stir water into strawberry mixture and bring the mixture to boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened.
Transfer the sauce to a bowl and let it cool.
While the sauce is cooling, beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth.
Assembly
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
On lightly floured surface, roll out each piece of puff pastry to 12-inch square. Cut each into 6 smaller squares.
Divide cream cheese filling onto half of each square, mounding filling. Top with strawberry mixture.
Brush pastry edges with water.
Fold 1 corner over filling to make triangle. With tines of fork, press edges to seal. Pierce top of each turnover in 2 places for vents.
Transfer to parchment paper–lined baking sheets.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes. (Can be stored in freezer for up to 2 weeks.)
Whisk egg with 1 tsp water, then brush over turnovers. Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake (1 sheet at a time) in 425ºF oven until puffed and golden, 15 to 18 minutes.
Bonus 4
Brenna’s Cookies n’ Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup + 8 tsp vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups milk chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups white chocolate chips
16 cream-in-the-middle cookies, crushed
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line 2, 12-cup muffin pans with cupcake liners
Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.
Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until just combined
Gently fold in chips and crushed cookies.
Bake at 400 for 14-17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
