She laughs so hard she has to grab my arm. “No.”
“Yes.”
“I wish I’d seen it.”
“You would’ve pretended not to know me.”
She tilts her head, eyes soft. “I don’t think so.”
That look—quiet and sincere—hits harder than anything else tonight. And just for that sweet comment, I lower my hand from her back to her ass and give it a little squeeze.
Later, when the music shifts to something slower and the crowd thins , Harper and I drift toward the edge of the group. She slides onto the barstool beside me, knees brushing mine.
“This is fun,” she says.
“It is.”
She studies me for a second. “You’ve been smiling a lot.”
“Have I?”
“Yeah.” She nudges my knee. “It’s cute.”
I lean in, voice low. “Careful. You keep saying things like that, I might start kissing you right here. In public.”
Her eyes flick to my mouth. “Oh no, please don’t,” she says flatly.
I laugh, shaking my head, and pull her just a little closer. “You say that like you didn’t enjoy it the last time.”
“I didn’t say that,” she murmurs. “I just think you talk a big game.”
That gets me.
I tip my head. “You calling me out, Richardson?”
“Maybe.” She shrugs one shoulder, deliberately casual, but her knee presses more firmly into mine under the table. “What are you going to do about it?”
Christ.
I glance around at the group. Everyone seems distracted or in mid-conversation, Bodhi arguing with Griffin about karaoke rules that absolutely do not exist.
I turn back to her. “You really want to find out?” I ask.
Her gaze drops to my mouth for half a second before lifting again. “I’m very curious.”
That’s all the permission I need.
I cup her jaw gently, thumb brushing along her cheek, and kiss her, slow at first, unhurried. The kind of kiss that saysI’m not going anywhere. She melts into it immediately, her hand fisting lightly in the front of my shirt like she’s been waiting all night.
Somewhere behind us comes the razzing of my teammates. “Oh myGod. Are you two swapping spit already? The night is young.”
“Yeah man, get a room.”
“The bathroom is empty. I just came from there.”
I pull back just enough to rest my forehead against Harper’s, smiling like an idiot.
“Too much?” I whisper.
