“Without,” Garrett said, watching her as the waitress placed straws and extra napkins on their table. “Thank you, Mary.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Just let me know if you need anything else,” Mary said, and with that, she walked away as Garrett gestured to the deck of cards. “Ladies first.”
Keeping her eyes locked on him, Kristen popped a steak fry in her mouth before she reached over and cut the deck, revealing the nine of spades before placing it back on the deck. She watched Garrett copy the move, popping a fry in his mouth before he reached over and cut the deck, revealing the queen of diamonds.
“Looks like you win,” Kristen said, grabbing the bottle of ketchup off the table and squirted an unholy amount over her fries before handing the bottle to him.
“And it looks like you lose,” Garrett said, accepting the bottle as he considered her for a moment and-
“Why aren’t you married?” he asked, making her lips twitch.
“Trying to get all the skips out of the way?” Kristen asked, watching as he squeezed ketchup into a neat puddle next to his fries.
“Something like that,” Garrett drawled while she sat there, debating using her skip now, but she knew that if she did, he’dforce her to use her second skip on the next question so that she didn’t have any choice but to answer all of his questions.
“Nobody asked me,” Kristen drawled, watching his lips twitch as he ate another fry.
“Fair enough,” Garrett said as he took his turn, revealing the jack of spades.
She tore her straw open and placed it in her glass before she took a sip as she reached over and took her turn, enjoying a sip of the creamy treat as she held up her card, revealing the king of hearts. “Who was she?” Kristen asked, pausing mid-suckle to ask him the question that she’d been wondering about for a while now.
She watched him go still before he forced himself to relax as he said, “Skip.”
“Chicken,” Kristen said, taking another sip before she reached for the deck, this time revealing the seven of hearts.
“Probably,” he murmured, taking his turn, revealing the four of clubs.
“Why did you take me camping?” Kristen asked, deciding to start with something easy while she waited to see where he was going with this game and there was no doubt in her mind that they were playing this game for a reason.
“Because I wanted a chance to show you that I’m not a complete asshole,” Garrett said, cutting one of his burgers in half.
“And the reason why you took it upon yourself to teach me everything there was to know about camping?” Kristen asked, picking up her burger and took a bite.
“Are we doing follow-up questions?” Garrett asked, picking up half of his burger.
“You never said that I couldn’t,” Kristen pointed out, taking a bite of the incredibly juicy burger and nearly groaned even as she found herself wondering if he did it on purpose.
Garrett was thorough, detail-oriented, and strategic. He thought everything through at least ten times in his head before he even considered making a single move, anticipating any possible loopholes, which left her wondering why he left this one.
“True,” he said, taking a bite of his burger. “I wanted to help you with your book.”
“It did help me come up with fifty-seven new ways to dispose of your body,” Kristen said, nodding solemnly as she reached for the cards and held up the two of spades.
“I’m sure it did,” Garrett murmured, waiting for her to put the cards down before he reached over and took his turn, revealing a four of diamonds. “Why didn’t you tell me that I was Tristan?”
“Because it wouldn’t have changed anything,” Kristen said, already reaching for the cards.
“It would have changed everything,” Garrett said, watching her as she cut the deck and held up the king of spades.
“You really think so?” Kristen asked as she placed the cards back on the deck.
“Yes,” he said with absolutely no hesitation as he reached over and cut the deck, revealing the nine of hearts.
“Why did you quit your job with a prestigious law firm, where rumor has it, you were set to make partner to buy a house that was on the verge of being condemned?” Kristen asked with a look that dared him to lie to her.
“Revenge,” Garrett admitted, watching her nod as she thought that over.
“And you really think that you would have believed me if I told you the truth sooner?”
