Touch of Mischief 7.5 Read Free Page A

could see through it. From the thumping, I wondered if there was punching or tackling.
    Kota quietly stepped up behind me. He had the gloves off now and his hand went around my waist, his palm resting above my belly button. He held firm there, his mouth at the back of my head, his lips and cheek pressing against my hair. “Watch Luke,” Kota said, his moving lips making my hair slide against my head. “He’ll have more tricks planted in places. He does it every year.”
    “He just got here,” I said. “And we’ve got a lot to do. Wouldn’t that slow him down?”
    “He’ll have planned this out for weeks,” Kota said. He drew me in closer, until my butt was up against his hip, and squeezed gently in a backward hug. “Stay near me. Trust me. He’ll be targeting you a lot. The rest of us are used to it and don’t fall for the old tricks anymore.”
    I sucked in a breath, almost leaning into him at the thought. I turned my head slightly, intending to ask something else.
    His lips met with my temple, close to my eyebrow. He kissed me quickly, the move making my brain malfunction and I forgot my question.
    Thudding footsteps echoed in the hallway. Kota started to release me, but a second later, something crashed into me and I tripped forward.
    Kota fell backward. His leg moved out, and I twisted to avoid him and got tangled.
    I landed on top of him, half on the floor and the rest on his stomach.
    Another body crashed on top of me. I caught a waft of ginger and citrus. It surprised me, because it wasn’t a scent I often caught, and in the scrambling confusion, I turned, trying to look behind me to identify the source.
    Squeezed between him and Kota, I cried out in a squeal and choked when my voice box couldn’t handle the higher, louder notes.
    Laughter filled my ear. “Pookie,” Dr. Green held me at the waist and tried to pull me off of Kota. “Sorry. I was being chased.”
    “You’re fucking fast,” Nathan said somewhere behind him. “I got Luke, though.”
    “I was trying to run around you and use you both as a shield,” Dr. Green said. He positioned himself on his knees, drawing me into him. He wore jeans, and from what I could feel, a track jacket. He squeezed his arms around me. I was dizzy, blinking, letting the wash of colors in front of my eyes fade and pressed a hand to my temple to stop the spinning. “You move too fast, Kota.”
    “Never was a problem before,” Kota groaned, but he hadn’t moved yet. He remained on his back on the floor, his knees up and looking at the ceiling. He coughed and covered his face with a palm. “It is way too early for tackling.”
    “You started it,” cried out Luke as he came around the corner. His jeans were splotched with grass and mud stains, his hair disheveled. A hair clip hung from his head, barely gripping at a few locks. The moment he was in the kitchen, he stripped off the T-shirt that was also stained and draped it over his shoulder. He was breathing heavily, and there were red marks across his stomach and chest. He bent over, grabbing at his knees and then placed a palm over one of the splotches on his chest. “Nathan pinches hard, dude.”
    “Don’t try to scare us next time,” Kota said. He rose, adjusting the glasses on his face. He turned toward me. “You okay?”
    “She’s fine,” Dr. Green said. He pulled away from me so he could stand and then reached down for my elbow to help me up. Once I was standing, he brushed at my back and hip. “You’re good, right?”
    I smiled, choking on a giggle. I was hanging onto Dr. Green just to feel stable. Too many scares in the morning. Dr. Green’s touch chilled me through the material of the pajama pants and my shirt. They must have been outside for a while. A tremble started inside of me at the pit of my stomach, both from his cold hands and the excitement.
    He reached up and clasped his hand around my mouth, the chill seeping into my cheeks. “Hold on there,” he said. “No