Page 60 of Wilde Flame

I stood, my heart racing. “If you’ll excuse me for a moment.”

I grabbed my plate and quickly made my way into the kitchen. Ensley was standing there, eating a brownie and talking to Emeline. I walked over to them and whispered, “I need air. Cool air. Now!”

Ensley nodded as if she knew the exact reason I needed to get out of the house. She wrapped her arm around mine. “It was the brownie, wasn’t it? They’re orgasmic.”

With a humorless laugh, I replied, “Yes, it was the brownie.”

Caden

“What just happened?” Gatlin asked, as we both watched Lilibeth practically run away from the table.

I couldn’t hide the smile on my face if I wanted to.

Gatlin looked at me and raised a brow. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“Then why did Lilibeth jump up and run away?”

“She didn’t run away, Gatlin. She needed some air, I guess.”

Before he could question me any further, my father was getting everyone’s attention.

“Vivianne and I want to thank everyone who’s joined us for Christmas Day. We’re so blessed to have our family and friends with us. Now—this is when the fun begins!”

Our mother, standing beside Dad, clapped her hands in excitement.

“I love how excited Mom gets when she knows we’re playing games.”

I nodded. “I know.”

Dad went on. “Since it’s Christmas, we’re going to play some reindeer games.”

“What do you think they have planned this year?” Gatlin asked, as we all made our way into the family room.

“Lord only knows.”

We walked in and found different areas set up with what I assumed were the games. There was a long table with red Solo cups placed upside down in two straight parallel lines, each one with a ball sitting on top.

“Oh God,” Gatlin mumbled. “I’m having PTSD from last night.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lilibeth, Ensley, and Emeline walk in. Emeline covered her mouth and looked as if she were laughing. Ensley reached over and hit her on the back of the head, while Lilibeth looked around the room. When her gaze met mine, she blushed and tried to leave the room. Ensley said something and pulled her back to her side.

“Okay, listen up, and I’ll explain the first game. It’ll be boys against girls.”

“How long is Mom going to refer to us as ‘boys’?” Gatlin sighed.

“The first game is the red Solo cup game. Once we say go, you have to reach for the cup with one hand, toss the ball up and catch it in the cup. If you miss, you have to put the cup back down, place the ball on it and try again. First one to the end wins.”

“That’s easy enough,” I said, with a cocky smile in my mother’s direction.

“Why, thank you for volunteering to go first, Caden.”

Rubbing my hands together, I walked toward the table. “Who’s going to go up against me?”

“I will!”