“How did I get so lucky to have you as a best friend?” I asked Liv as I stirred the milk into the hot chocolate mix.
“I think it was fate,” she said seriously. “I think we were meant to be best friends so that you could meet my brother and then we could end up as sisters.”
“That’s if Aiden and I get married.”
“Oh, you’ll get married.” She laughed. “I’m positive of it, sis.”
“Oh God, that means I gain Gabby as a sister, too.”
“Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain, Alice.” She laughed and picked up a cup. “Let’s go through to the living room and watch some TV while we chat.”
“That sounds good to me.” I followed behind her and we both settled into the couch and made ourselves comfortable. “I’m going to miss you when you move out.”
“I’m going to miss you, too.” We stared at each other for a few seconds, and we both looked at each other in surprise when the doorbell rang.
“Who’s that?” I asked, my heart skipping a beat, hoping it was Aiden.
“No idea.” She shrugged. “I thought Xander was going home.” We both jumped up and hurried to the door as the doorbell rang again. “It has to be Aiden.” She rolled her eyes. “He’s the only one I know who’s so impatient that he has to ring the doorbell multiple times in seconds.”
“Oh Liv,” I said, but I hurried to the door and opened it. “Oh, it’s Aiden and Xander.” I grinned at Aiden, who looked me over with an expression of desire on his handsome face.
“Hello to you, too.” Aiden swooped in and picked me up and gave me a big kiss.
“What are you guys doing here?” Liv stepped forward and gave Xander a kiss on the cheek.
“We didn’t want to leave our two favorite girls home alone.” Aiden grinned as he put me back down. “Plus, I didn’t want you to get into any trouble.”
“What trouble are we going to get into on a Sunday night, Aiden?”
“Knowing you two, I’d say a lot of different things,” Xander said with a laugh as Liv hit him in the shoulder.
“We were just about to watch TV, actually.” I kissed Aiden lightly on the lips. “And we were just drinking hot chocolate.”
“I love chocolate,” he said and sucked on my lower lip.
“We know,” Liv said loudly and cleared her throat.
“You told her already?” He groaned as he looked at his sister. “Alice!”
“What? She’s my best friend.”
“And I’m her brother.” He shook his head.
“I’ll have to tell Mom and Dad that they deserve an award,” Liv said with a small smile.
“Award for what?” Aiden asked her with a curious expression.
“An award for creating Mr. Pleasure,” she teased, and I watched as Aiden’s face went red.
“I’m going to kill you, Alice.” His fingers came up under my arms and started to tickle me. “I’m seriously going to kill you.”
“No.” I tried to push him off as I started squirming and laughing. “You can’t tickle me. No!” I shrieked as his hands kept up their assault. “Aiden, please!” I caught his hand and tried to stop him. “I won’t tell her anything else.”
“Liar.” He pinched my nose. “If you don’t stop lying, it’s just going to keep growing.”
“I’m not lying.” I giggled. “I mean, obviously I’m going to tell her stuff—”
“I’m right here, guys,” Liv interjected. “I can still hear you.”
“Maybe we should give them some privacy,” Xander said and grabbed her around the waist. “Maybe we can go to your room.”
“Nope,” Liv said and shook her head. “Alice and I were planning on watching TV and talking. If you guys want to stay, you can just watch TV with us.”
“Do we have to?” Aiden made a face and looked at me. “I had much more exciting plans for us.”
“They will have to wait,” I said and grinned at Liv. “We had a girls’ night planned. If you guys want to stay, you’ll just have to participate.”
“What does that mean?” Xander asked.
“It means I’m painting your nails.” Liv grabbed his hands. “You can choose the color.”
“Ugh.” Xander groaned, but he was still smiling. “I’m going to need a beer—or ten.”
“Coming right up,” I said and pulled away from Aiden. “Do you want anything?”
“Besides you in the bed right now?” he said softly as he whispered in my ear.
“Aiden,” I groaned as he caressed my back. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“Besides your juices as you come in my mouth?” he whispered again, and my face grew bright red.
“Aiden!” I slapped his shoulder. “Go into the living room with Xander now.”
“Yes, Aiden.” Liv pointed her finger at her brother. “You’d better behave.”
“Or what?” he retorted back.
“Or I’m going to show you what happens to boys who don’t behave.” I grabbed the top of his shirt and pulled him towards me. “I bought a paddle online and it arrived while we were gone.”
“A paddle, huh?” His eyes sparkled down at me.