cover her stomach. “And very stuffed. That was delicious.”
“It was,” Jason agrees.
“Knowing the owners helps,” Chase explains, leaning back in his chair. “One call, and they’ll make anything for you. Just tell them you want a special meal for dinner with a special woman.”
There isn’t an ounce of flirtation in the way he says those words, but Kaia feels a smile creeping across her lips just the same. She can’t help but laugh, and shake her head.
“What?” Chase asks.
“You’re very charming.”
Jason laughs. “He’s laying it on a little thick this evening.”
Kaia turns her head so she can get a good look at Jason, where he’s sitting beside her. She narrows her eyes. “You don’t think I’m a special woman?”
He leans in and gives her a quick peck. “You’re the most special woman I know,” he replies quickly. “But I’m the only one in this room who’s allowed to think that.”
Kaia doesn’t mind Jason’s possessive streak, really. In fact, she thinks she quite likes it when it comes out amongst friends. Especially when it makes him slide his arm along the back of her chair, and gently trail his fingertips up and down her bare arm like he’s doing right now.
Yeah, she likes that a lot .
She smiles despite herself, and looks between the two old friends. “You two together are quite a force to be reckoned with.”
“It’s a good thing we went to college across the country from each other,” Chase says with a laugh. “The world might never have recovered. In prep school, though? That’s a different story.”
“We were partners in crime,” Jason replies.
“Yep.” Chase nods, then takes a sip of his wine. “We got into a ton of trouble.”
“And charmed our way out of it.”
“ Almost all of it,” Chase amends.
Kaia figured as much. Chase and Jason are so naturally charismatic individually, and she’s only just starting to get a taste of what a force that is when they’re together. She can only imagine how concentrated the powers are when they’re together and actually trying .
“What kind of trouble did you two get into?”
Chase laughs. “Oh, you know. Typical asshole teenager stuff. Breaking into the headmaster’s office and bringing his furniture out onto the school’s front lawn, ditching school to steal my father’s boat and take it for a spin on the bay.”
Kaia laughs so loud and so suddenly that she actually has to cover her mouth.
“What?” Jason and Chase say simultaneously, both looking pretty confused. It’s cute, Kaia thinks.
“That is not typical teenager stuff,” she replies. “That’s spoiled rich kid stuff.”
They both pretend to be offended.
Jason’s hand slides down her back. “Oh? Why don’t you tell us what typical teenager stuff is, then.”
“I thought you would’ve TP-ed some houses or something. But where you guys grew up, the TP budget probably would’ve been massive.”
That gets Jason interested. “What would you know about TP-ing houses?” he teases.
Kaia innocently shrugs. “Not much. I never did it myself,” she continues, even though Chase and Jason are giving her their best disbelieving looks. “But my sister dated this guy in high school who was a master at it. He was like a TP ninja; so stealthy.”
Kaia looks over at Jason, and she swears he almost looks a little jealous that she’s complimenting another guy’s TP-ing skills.
Men.
“If you weren’t doing that, then what was your poison for a little mischief making in high school?” Chase asks her.
“I grew up in Iowa. There was only so much mischief to be made. We did pretty low-level stuff, what I would consider to be typical teenaged troublemaking.”
“Like?”
“Like getting drunk under the bleachers. Making out under the bleachers. Doing other stuff under the bleachers,” she says with a laugh.
Chase leans forward, resting his