She was jealous.
She was fake-dating Grant Lawson, and she was jealous at the thought of another woman being interested in him.
Which meant this wasn't fake anymore.
At least not for her.
TEN
Grant
Grant should have known better than to agree to game night at Hannigan's.
The bar was packed—friends from high school crammed into booths, the jukebox playing songs that made everyone nostalgic, pitchers of beer flowing freely. Riley sat across from him in the big corner booth, laughing at something Emily said, and Grant couldn't stop staring.
She was wearing dark jeans and a sweater that kept sliding off one shoulder. Every time she laughed, he felt something in his chest, more than thumping.
"You're doing it again," Mark said, nudging him.
"Doing what?"
"That thing where you look at Riley like she's the only person in the room."
Grant took a drink of his beer. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you don't." Mark grinned. "You two are terrible at the whole 'casual dating' thing, by the way. Everyone can tell you're completely gone for her."
"Is it that obvious?"
"Painfully. But it's cute. We're all rooting for you guys."
Before Grant could respond, Riley caught his eye and smiled—soft and real and just for him. His heart stumbled.
He was in so much trouble.
"All right!" Mike called from behind the bar. "Trivia time! Teams of two. Winner gets free drinks for the night."
Everyone scrambled to pair up. Grant stood to claim Riley, but Hannah was already pulling her toward the bar.
"Come on! We've got this!" Hannah said, and Riley laughed, letting herself be dragged away.
Grant ended up with Mark, and they settled in for what was clearly going to be a bloodbath of competition.
"First question!" Mike announced. "What year was Pine Valley founded?"
"1847!" three teams shouted in unison.
"All right, all right. Easy one. Let's get harder. What band released 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in 1991?" That was an easy one too.
"Nirvana!" Riley called out before anyone else could answer, and Hannah high-fived her.
Grant smiled despite himself. Riley had always been good at trivia—her brain held onto the most random information.
The questions kept coming. Grant and Mark did okay on sports and local history. Riley and Hannah dominated pop culture and music. Chris and Jenna crushed the science questions.
By the time they hit the fifth round, it was clear it was going to come down to Riley and Hannah versus Chris and Jenna.
Grant didn't mind. He was content to watch Riley—the way she bit her lip when she was thinking, the way she bounced in her seat when she got an answer right, the way her whole face lit up when Hannah said something funny.
