“Oh well, then this is the perfect game for you,” Payne replied. “You’ll get plenty of practice.”
“Why don’t you demonstrate your technique?” Wylde suggested as he pulled off his other sock. “I’ve always been more of a visual learner.”
“Okay,” Payne replied, grinning across the table at him.
He never lost eye contact with Wylde as he leaned over the plate, straw between his lips, inhaling as he touched it to the marshmallow, before smoothly moving it from the big plate to his smaller one before letting it drop.
“Catch a quick breath in between marshmallows, then go for the long inhale when you’re ready to pick one up. It’s as much about timing as breathing, well and finding the right rhythm.”
“Timing, breathing, and rhythm, just like riding a bull, got it,” Wylde replied.
“Is that what you did in the rodeo?” Payne asked. “Seriously? You were a bull rider?”
“We both were,” I replied.
“Now I don’t know if I want the t-shirt or to ask a question the next time I win.”
“Who says you’re gonna win the next round, pretty kitty?” Wylde replied, smirking across the table at him. “Now that you’ve shared your secrets with me, I’m coming after your clothes, and Thor’s, ‘cause he’s got a tattoo I think you’d like to see.”
“Game on!” Payne replied, doing what I could only interpret to be a squirmy happy dance in his seat as he put fresh marshmallows on the plate.
I had to give it to Wylde; he’d always caught on quickly, and this time was no exception, which put some of my fears to rest, but only just, since he was still breathing hard by the time he got the fifth marshmallow on the plate a half second before I dropped my last one.
“Yes, take his shirt!” Wylde declared.
“Oh, no, no, no,” I replied. “Payne still won, so you don’t get to choose what I lose, and in keeping with the precedent you set, here is one sock.”
I made a show of pulling it off, folding it up, and sitting it on the floor beside my chair.
Twenty minutes later, I was forced to finally peel off my t-shirt, while Wylde still had his and his jeans. Rhythm, timing, and breathing. Payne might as well have told him it was sex. I couldn’t believe how fast the tide had turned on me, fast enough that for a moment, I wondered if Wylde had been fumbling deliberately at the start. Only, I’d always been able to tell when he was playing games or faking, and that’s not what had gone down at the beginning of the game. His struggles had been real.
“I don’t see a tattoo.,” Payne remarked as he studied me.
“Turn around, Thor, and let him see what you’ve got on your back.”
“You’re getting a kick out of this, aren’t you?” I noted as I stood and turned so Payne could see the panther, claws outstretched, jagged red lines depicting the scratches it left behind.
“Is it okay if I touch?” Payne asked, sounding a little breathy.
When I turned to look at him over my shoulder, the tip of his tongue was poking out from between his lips, but his eyes were glued to my tattoo.
“You never have to ask if you can touch me,” I told him.
His fingers were soft as they traced over the outline of the panther, while my breath released in hard pants the longer he touched my back. When he reached the tail, which curved to rest on my hip, I shuddered, goosebumps rising on my arms, thanks to the silky gentleness of his caress. My head tipped forward as he made his way back up to the panther’s head and the scratches that started at my shoulder blade.
“He positively melts when someone gives him a massage,” Wylde said, half statement, half suggestion.
“I’ve been told I give amazing backrubs, but you’re kind of tall, so I’d need you to lie on the couch if you’d like to pause the game long enough to get one.”
“We don’t have to pause the game; we can just make another modification,” I said as an idea began to take shape in my head as I strode toward the couch.
“Oh, okay,” Payne replied, following close behind me. “You’ve got me curious.”
“Wylde, bring the marshmallows, straw, and plates over here, please, and set them on the coffee table,” I said as I stretched out on the couch. “Wylde gives amazing backrubs too, and tag-team action is always fun, so why don’t you play for who gets to give me a backrub? Every five minutes we’ll play again. The winner gets to rub my back, and the loser gets to answer the winner’s questions.”
“Sounds pretty win-win in my book,” Payne said as Wylde got everything situated.
“Mine too,” Wylde said.