Rush revealed his answer, showing that the best way for Scarlet to flirt with him was totext a sexy photo.
Scarlet jumped out of her seat, jumping up and down as she showed her card that said the same thing. “Yes, yes, yes!”
We were tied now, and if Isla and I got this last question wrong, we’d have to answer one more question as the tie breaker.
Looking at Isla, she gave me a subtle nod and a look that said,Let’s win this. I smiled, keeping my eyes on her as I turned my card over. She looked down at my card but kept her expression neutral, not giving anything away.
Slowly she turned her card around, the black wordsa little dirty talkingwritten on the white card, matching my answer.
She stood up, raising the card over her head, making circles above her head with her arms and her body as she celebrated winning the game. “We are the champions, my friends,” she sang.
I laughed, pulling her down into my arms and onto my lap. “I told you we had nothing to worry about.”
She smiled at me, her face shining with joy. “I know. I had complete trust in you.”
I kissed her. I couldn’t have stopped myself, even if I’d wanted to. I hadn’t meant to kiss her, and I definitely hadn’t meant for this kiss to turn into a heated show of how much we enjoyed kissing one another. But I couldn’t be at fault when it had seemed like a lifetime since we’d last kissed. Yeah, yeah, I know it had only been two weeks, but it had been two weeks too long.
Her hands were on either side of my face, her lips moving against mine in a languid way, as if she wanted this kiss to last forever. I gripped her hips, slowly letting one of my hands move up her back and into her hair. I was more than okay for this kiss to last as long as she wanted.
She pulled back before I was ready, placing her forehead against mine. “That was fun.”
Coming back down to reality, I remembered we were in my living room in the middle of game night with people watching us. Isla had kept our ruse going, and I was grateful one of us had been able to focus on our job.
“It was,” I said, working to not let my voice portray how lost I’d gotten in that kiss.
She slipped out of my arms and off my lap, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go get some food.”
I let her pull me up and followed her into the kitchen. A few people surrounded the island, picking at the different snacks laid out. Isla popped a grape into her mouth, and I didn’t notice someone had come up on my other side.
“So, that was some game, huh?” Harper’s voice rang out, an edge of bitterness to it. “I can’t believe you and Isla won. I mean, you haven’t dated for long, and you never come over to our apartment. And now that I think of it, she sleeps every night at our place.Alone.” Her whiny voice carried throughout the apartment, eyes turning to see what was going on.
Gosh, was this girl keeping a journal of how often Isla and I were together? What was her deal? Why would she care about our sleeping habits?
Isla took a step closer to me. “Have you ever thought that maybe we make use of the apartment when you aren’t there?”
“Even if that’s true, why wouldn’t he sleepover sometimes? New couples usually can’t get enough of each other in the beginning,” she argued.
“Probably because you’re weirdly obsessed with him, and it freaks both of us out,” Isla said, her annoyance of Harper clear on her face.
She narrowed her eyes at Isla. “I am not obsessed with him. I just find it odd that he would choose you. If he’s so crazy about you, why aren’t you two inseparable?” She shrugged, not waiting for an answer. “Maybe it’s because you’re not very good in bed. I know when I sleep with guys, they can’t get enough of me.” She looked straight at me.
My hands clenched at my sides. “Our sex life is none of your business,” I said curtly. “It’s time for you to leave.”
She glared at Isla, then gave me a flippant look. “Whatever. This party is lame anyway.” She turned and walked out the door, all of us watching her go.
I took Isla in my arms, tipping her chin up to look at me. Her happy mood was completely gone, the brightness in her eyes now diminished.
“You okay?” I asked quietly, aware everyone was still watching us.
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
Leaning down, I placed a soft kiss on her lips. She didn’t respond, and I tried to ignore the sting of rejection I felt. I couldn’t read the expression on her face, and I didn’t want to stand here and be people’s entertainment.
Picking her up by the waist, I put her over my shoulder, her butt in the air.
“Slate!” she screamed. “What are you doing?”
“We’re going to call it a night. Thanks for coming, everyone,” I said to the rest of the group who were still here. “Olivia, great party as always, but it’s now time for the winners to go celebrate.”
