Just beyond the sliding glass door, I catch a glimpse of Demi at the patio table. Not shocking at all—I feel like I could spot that woman in a three-hundred-person flash mob. But it looks like she’s playing a game when I notice a few glasses in the middle of the table with more than a handful of guests around it.
I pull myself from the couch, the kids seemingly unbothered by my departure, and make my way outside as I take a sip of the iced coffee in my hand.
“This is a case of beginner’s luck. I’m not usually this good at party games.” Demi aims before bouncing the quarter off the table, but it just misses the glass in the center.
“Quarters?” I ask as I stride up on her left.
“What are you drinking?” Chase cocks his head back as he pulls my arm down to get a better look at the cup. “Is that coffee?” he questions.
“Sure as hell beats the hangover you’re all going to have.”
“I’ve decided I’m okay with it,” Ford blurts out, focusing his attention on the glass before making the quarter plop right in the center, sending beer sloshing to the sides.
I take the empty seat next to Demi and watch a couple more rounds go by. Truthfully, I have zero interest in playing this game, but every interest in sitting this close to her.
“Not a quarters fan?” she asks, when nearly everyone else leaves the table.
“Oh, I’m a fan. I’mverygood at quarters, but it’s Ford’s birthday so I needed to let him win.”
I see her eyes roll with my response and she blows out a deep breath from puckered lips. To my surprise, she doesn’t leave her seat and instead seems to settle in more comfortably.
“So…” Before I can say anything else, Demi pulls the glass closer to us and tucks a stray dark brown wave behind her ear. Once, then twice.
“Play me.” Her chin is set in a stubborn, yet confident line. “Let’s see this ‘verygoodat quarters’ in action.”
I scoff at her request and rub my hands together. “I always knew you liked seeing me win, just never thought it was at your own expense.”
“Tone it down, Twelve.” Her words are flat, but there’s a glimmer of something in her eyes. A challenge, maybe?
“Care to make it interesting, Dem?”
She narrows her stare as she studies my face, and a smirk lifts on my lips. “Let’s make a bet.”
This is probably a bad idea, but I’ve been having fun tonight. Something I can’t exactly say for the last few months.
Liam’s flirty smirk makes me hesitate, but I nod anyway.
“I win and I take you out for coffee,” he suggests.
“We just had coffee,” I say, shaking my nearly empty cup at him.
“You know what I mean.” He leans in closer to me.
“Liam, I’m not going out for coffee with you.”
“It’s the most innocent type of outing, Dem. Three shots—if I make all three, we get coffee.”
“Awfully confident, thinking you’ll make all three shots.”
He gives me a cheeky grin and places both hands on the surface of the table as he stands to reach for the cup. This party is filled with people, but somehow Liam makes me feel like I’m the only person here with the way his attention is so laser focused on me and our conversation.
“I’m determined to spend as much time with you as you’ll let me. All my focus will go into making these three shots.”
“I think we spend enough time together.” I shrug, twisting my earring with two fingers.
“Hardly,” he mutters under his breath, but I catch it.
His eyes are leaning toward a bluish hazel tonight and I don’t miss every time he runs them across me. But it doesn’t feel invasive when he does. I don’t feel the need to shift myself in my seat when they linger on my lips. It’s like, in my bones, I know he’s a safe person.
