Page 52 of Under the Same Sky

Thorin takes Eli from my arms, and kisses the crown of my head. “I think that’s a great idea, but take my credit card.” He leans down to whisper in my ear. “Buy something sexy for our date, yeah?” Too bad it’s not soft enough because Mya hears ‘date’.

“You’re going on a date?” And there’s the mischief coming out, loud and proud.

“Now you’ve done it,” I mumble to Thorin.

“When?”

“It’s a surprise,” Thorin answers, though I doubt he’s had time to plan anything in the short time since he asked me. “But you girls go have fun. Fletch and I have some things to do around the ranch, we’ll take Eli with us.”

I pout. “You won’t hog him all day, will you?”

“No,” he laughs. “We’ll be here when you get back, babe.”

I smother Eli’s face with kisses. “Good, I need some time with my favorite boy.”

Thorin makes a noise at the back of his throat. “And what am I? Chopped liver?”

“No, you’re the disco stick,” Mya replies. “Obviously.”

“The what now?”

“You know, the Lady Gaga song?” When Fletch and Thorin give her a blank look, she huffs, and then belts out the lyrics, ‘I wanna take a ride on your disco stick, don’t think too much just thrust that dick’. “God,” she huffs, “No culture. Thor, you’re her disco stick, she rides—no, wait, Thor has a hammer.”

Fletch just about busts his gut with laughter because only Mya would be able to talk about Thorin’s hammer so seriously. Never mind that I’m sitting right here, and he’s hammered me six ways from Sunday since last night!

Thorin catches on, and it’s the look on my face, my tomato-red-bordering-on-beet-purple face, that has him joining his bandmate. I cover my face with my hands, and Mya asks, “What?”

I want to bang my head on the counter, and then maybe bury myself in the garden from sheer embarrassment. It builds inside me, until my eyes start to burn. This should be no big deal, damnit, friends joke about everything, and that should include sex, right? So why do I feel like I’m the butt of a joke? I know this feeling, I grew up with this feeling. I hate it. “Mya,” I groan. “Really?”

“Well, am I wrong?”

Naturally, this only makes Thorin and Fletch laugh harder, and it’s about as much as I can take. I stand up, and politely excuse myself. Thorin stops laughing, and chases after me, Eli in tow. I hide my face, afraid that he’ll see my mortification leaking down my cheeks.

“Hey.” He grabs my arm, and spins me into his chest. “We’re just teasing, babe.”

I feel absolutely ridiculous, crying from embarrassment, but Mya knows I’m not comfortable talking about this kind of thing so openly. “Why’re you crying?”

“It’s nothing.” I wipe my face. “Just forget it, okay? I’ll see you later.”

“Reese.” I look up, and Mya’s on the porch next to us, frowning. “I didn’t mean—” She stops talking as soon as she sees my expression, not that I’m even sure how I look because I have no clue where this is all coming from. Maybe I’m not as okay as I thought. Maybe last night has left me just a bit vulnerable with Thorin, and that’s new to me. It’s out of my comfort zone, and while I may have dealt with far worse humiliation, that terrifies me.

“Mya, give us a minute?” Thorin asks. She hesitantly goes back inside.

“I’m being silly, Thorin. It’s nothing.”

“Talk to me.”

I blow out a puff of air, wringing my hands together. “This is just…new to me, okay?”

“What is?”

“Just…I’m not as open about sex as you are. It’s…personal, and I know y’all were just joking around, but I don’t know how to do that. At least, not yet.”

Thorin brushes his hand over my cheek. “I wasn’t laughing at you, Reese, but I understand.” He tilts my chin, and looks me in the eye. “We don’t have to talk about what’s happening between us if you’re not comfortable with it.”

“Can we just keep the bedroom talk between us?” When I say the words out loud, a different kind of embarrassment washes over me, the I-completely-overreacted kind. Because I did overreact.

“Of course we can, I’m sorry I upset you.”