“Gavin turned us to face Josh, a satisfied grin springing up when he noticed the condition of Josh’s clothes. “Thanks for the last-minute invitation, man.” Josh chuckled, patting Gavin on the shoulder. “Shall I do the honors, Mr. Suave?” “Sure thing, Frodo Baggins. By the way, I hear the Shire has impeccable dinner parties this time of year.” The corners of Gavin’s lips twitched and his eyebrows shot up as he gestured to a food stain of some sort near the collar of Josh’s white shirt. Josh’s chin shot down to follow Gavin’s amusement and he quickly tried to wipe away the crumbs. “Yeah, well … you know how we hobbits like to eat.”

“No way. I swear I wasn’t thinking anything … inappropriate.” “Really? What were you thinking?” A faint blush crept into Josh’s cheeks and across the tops of his ears. “I was thinking that I would really like to talk to you again, without worrying about anyone overhearing us.” “That’s all?” “Pretty much.” “That wouldn’t trigger the curse.” Josh’s ears and cheeks went from pink to cherry red. “Well, I might have … sort of … maybe … been thinking that you look really nice today.”

“Josh, you saw him," Tally says, "What did he look like? Did he look nice?""He looked like a person," Josh grunts."Don't be a spoilsport," Tally says, and Caid hears her smack Josh on the arm."Shortish, blondish, thinish," Josh says."Thank you, Josh," Caid says, "Your way with words astounds me yet again.""Well, whatever," Tally says. "What did you guys talk about? You said he's nice?""We talked about a lot of things. And yeah, he's—I mean, we traded numbers, so hopefully he'll call.""I hope so, too," Tally says. "I'm glad you have somebody to hang out with now.""Because I was such horrible company?" Josh says, voice thick and deep like he's got a mouthful of ice cream."I wouldn't say horrible," Caid says. "Unbearable, maybe. Like one of those YouTube videos that never loads." And with that, he shoots a shit-eating grin in Josh's direction, and shovels a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.”

“K, boys, it’s shirts against skins. Lose ‘em,” Lucy said, pointing to the guys and ignoring Thad.“I beg your pardon?” Thad said, aghast.“Why do we have to be skins?” Josh complained.Lucy looked at Erin and they both shrugged and grabbed the hems of their shirts, preparing to haul them over their heads.“Whoa!” Sable said, covering his eyes immediately.“Wait,” Josh, Angelo, and Thad said at the same time.“Hell, yeah,” Blaze chimed in.The girls stopped right before they fully exposed their chest. “What? You guys act like none of you have ever seen a pair of boobs in a bra before. Josh saw mine a few hours ago and I know, for a fact, that three of you have seen hers outside the bra.” Lucy looked pointedly at Thad, Blaze, and Angelo.Erin’s head snapped in Josh’s direction. “JOSH!” she screeched, accidentally letting loose a snap of electricity.”

“Does it bother you when you see Daddy kissing Josh?” he asked.Ty shook his head and made a funny face. “No, not really. I guess you really like him a lot.”“I do,” Rex agreed. “I love Josh.”“I love Josh too, and so I don’t care if you kiss him. But I thought boys only kissed girls.”Rex nodded. “Yeah, well, that’s how it is most of the time, but you know some boys kiss other boys and some girls kiss other girls.”“Well, I don’t wanna kiss no girls!” Ty said emphatically.Rex and Josh both laughed. “Maybe someday you will, though. If you do, that’s fine, and if you don’t, that’s fine too. For right now, you can just kiss Daddy.” He leaned in and kissed Ty on the forehead.”

“Jace set what he was holding down on the windowsill and reached out to her. She came to lean against him, and his hand slid up under her t-shirt and rested caressingly, possessively, on the small of her back. He bent to kiss her, gently at first, but the gentleness went quickly and soon she was pressed up against the glass of the window, his hands at the hem of her shirt — his shirt —“Jace.” She moved a little bit away. “I’m pretty sure people down there in the street can see us.”“We could …” He gestured toward the bed. “Move…over there.”She grinned. “You said that like it took you a while to come up with the idea.”When he spoke, his voice was muffled against her neck. “What can I say, you make my thought processes slow down. Now I know what it’s like to be a normal person.” “How … is it?” The things he was doing with his hands under the t-shirt were distracting.“Terrible. I’m already way behind on my quota of witty comments for the day.”