Blame it on the Tequila by Fiona Cole (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

found each other and danced, but the guys around us helped keep me from staying too long. Not that it mattered because each time my eyes met his, each time his hands held mine to twirl me around, another crack formed in my resolve.

“Ooooo,” Oren shouted between songs. “You know what we should play?”

“Oh, shit,” Parker muttered. “The last time Oren said that sentence, I ended up streaking down a hotel corridor with just a hand towel.”

“Hey, that was your fault for sucking at strip poker,” Oren defended.

“No,” I gasped.

“Yup.”

I looked him up and down, imagining Parker’s long, hard body running down the hallway, not at all covered by a towel. I kind of couldn’t wait for Oren’s idea, keeping my fingers crossed for strip poker.

“Spin the bottle,” he cried.

“Uhhhh,” Brogan interjected, looking dubious. There’s a lot of guys here, bro.”

“Psshh, we’re all friends. It’s not like we have to make out. We just have this empty bottle of tequila, and what else should we do with it?”

“Throw it away?” Ash suggested.

“Nah,” I cut in. “I am one-hundred-percent down with this idea.”

“I fucking bet,” Parker muttered.

“Okay, you big babies. We’ll do a truth or kiss version of spin the bottle,” Oren amended.

“What the hell is that?” Brogan asked.

“I don’t know. I just made it up. Let’s figure it out together. Come, come,” Oren said, clapping his hands. “Let’s gather around.”

I plopped down in my seat so fast, almost bouncing in excitement to get going. For some reason, I saw absolutely no downside to kissing every guy here. I’d just blame it on the tequila.

“I’ll go first.” Oren spun the bottle, and I looked up expectantly when it landed on me. “Okay, Nova. Truth or kiss?”

“Who do I kiss?” I asked.

Instead of answering, he waggled his brows.

I snorted. “Truth.”

“Ugh. Fine. Okay. Soft or hard…tacos.”

“Hard,” I shouted like I won a prize or something. I took my turn and spun the bottle, landing on Brogan. “Truth or kiss, Brogan?”

“Definitely kiss.”

The guys cheered with ooooohhs, and I pretended to primp my messy hair.

Oren quickly cut the cheers down with his drumsticks on the table. “Order! Order at the table! Brogan has chosen kiss, so Nova gets to choose who he kisses.”

“Wait, what?” he screeched.

“Yes,” I shouted.

“You have to answer the truth or kiss whoever Nova chooses. If she didn’t want to answer the truth, I would have made her kiss me.”

“C’mon, Nova,” Brogan pleaded dramatically with a pouty lip poking through his beard.

“Oh, no, no, no. You can answer truth or kiss Oren.”

“Oh, fuck no.”

And the guys began shouting again while I clapped my hands in joy.

“Truth,” Brogan grumbled.

I narrowed my eyes, giving him my most threatening stare. “Did you fuck Amber on my bed that one night when we were all in the living room after the Barney’s concert?”

He gave me his own stare back. “No.”

“Oh, thank god, I still have those sheets,” I sighed.

“She sucked my cock, and I ate her pussy, and man, was she wet and messy.” Brogan smiled, cutting off my joy.

“Fucking gross,” I shouted. The guys gave him high-fives, and I made a note to burn those sheets when I got home.

Brogan spun the bottle, and it landed on Oren again. He answered truth, turning down Brogan’s offer to kiss his bare feet.

“I’m into a lot of weird things, but feet are a hard pass.”

The next spin landed on Ash.

“Truth or kiss Parker,” Oren declared, rubbing his hands together. I looked just in time to catch Parker’s cringe.

“Truth,” Ash answered.

“Who do you get all bent out of shape over every November?”

Only a slight moment of hesitation. There and then gone in the blink of an eye. The next thing I knew, Ash stood from the captain’s chair, gesturing for Parker to stand too. “All right, bro. Let’s not make a thing of it. Just pucker up and feel grateful you got a kiss from the great Ash.”

“Wait, what?” Parker shouted. “Don’t I get a say?”

“’Fraid not,” Oren said, not sounding the least remorseful. “You joined the game.”

“I didn’t know the rules.”

“Come on, Parker. Don’t be a baby,” I taunted.

He directed his glare at me, and I rested my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands like a kid desperate to tear through her Halloween candy.

He narrowed his eyes more. “I’ll get you back.”

“Bring it on,” I challenged. “But first, pucker up. And no pecking. We’re not in middle school.”

“Come the fuck on,” Ash grumbled.

Brogan started to chant “kiss,” and Oren and I joined in. When they stepped close, I stopped—I didn’t have any air left in my lungs to say words. I waited on the edge of my seat as they inched closer.

As soon as their lips touched, they jerked apart. Oren and Brogan cheered, and I boo’d my disappointment. They may as well have been in middle school. As soon as they pulled away, both of them wiped their mouths with the backs of their hands.

“Pussies,” Brogan called.

“That wasn’t so bad,” I said, nudging Parker’s toe with mine.

He glared but couldn’t hold it when I made exaggerated kissing noises. His lips twitched into a smile that stole my breath. More and more, everything he did stole my breath. It was an odd mix of laughing and joking with unexpected flashes of heat and so, so much more.

Ash spun next, getting Brogan. I should have known I was in trouble when he looked to Parker and then me, his lips twisting into this devil smile.

“What’s your favorite ice cream?” he asked Brogan. “Or kiss Nova.”

“I’ll never fucking tell,” Brogan laughed, standing from his spot to come to me.

Parker’s eyes flicked from me to Brogan and back again. Before I could get a read on them, Brogan grabbed my hand and jerked me upright into his arms. He held me close, looking down at my mouth. I shivered when his hand slid up my back, pressing me closer. Not really because of Brogan’s touch, but because the thought of Parker watching me be touched sparked