“Um, on a date in high school. So I guess it’s possible I’ve improved since then.” She went first and rolled her ball about ten feet short of the target. “Never mind. I’m still horrible.”
I rolled mine and knocked into her ball, sending it closer to the target while my ball bounced uselessly off to the side. I hadn’t done it on purpose, but she turned and looked at me, completely appalled.
“What?” I asked.
“Don’t let me win.”
I stared her down. “Is that in the rules or something?”
“It’s in my rules.”
“I think you’re giving me more credit than I deserve, and also less. I did not do that on purpose. I’m not sure I could if I tried.”
“Oh.” She turned an adorable shade of red. “My bad.”
“Throw your next ball already.” I nudged her with my hip, and she turned and threw her arms around me, burying her head in my chest.
“Are you hugging me or wrestling me?” I asked with a laugh.
“I haven’t decided yet.” She looked up, resting her chin on me. “This feels weird. Does it feel weird to you?”
“Which part?”
She let me go and picked up her ball, giving it a concentrated throw. It landed a lot closer to the target this time, but she didn’t celebrate. “I don’t know. Being out on what feels like a formal date with you. This point of no return.” She bit her lip. “I’m overthinking again, aren’t I?”
My stomach dropped, but I picked up my next ball, acting as if her words didn’t bother me. “If you just want to be friends, it’s okay. Or we could go back to hating each other. If that’s what feels natural.”
“Clay.” Lauren said it like a reprimand.
“What?”
She took my hand and dragged me back to the tarp blanket. “Sit.”
Great, another sit-down discussion. I already felt sliced open from the last one.
The second I was sitting, she climbed into my lap and took my face in her hands.
Her touch threw my senses into high alert. “I’m very confused right now.” I closed my eyes, trying to lock down my feelings as her fingers skimmed across my neck and through the back of my hair.
“Clay, I don’t want to backpedal. I don’t want to hate you anymore. And I’m good with friendship as long as we get this, too.” She kissed me, and with my eyes closed, all my focus went to the way it felt, the plumpness of her lips, the heat, the taste.
Two teenage girls walked by giggling, and Lauren scooted off my lap, wrapping her arms around her knees. We stared at each other and tried not to laugh. We’d totally just becomethatcouple. The one nobody could take anywhere.
And then Lauren tensed again. A little wrinkle appeared in her forehead, and she reached out and covered my hand with hers. “Point of no return was a bad choice of words. I’m not worried about having a relationship with you. I’m worried it’s not really what you want, and I can’t seem to let go of that fear. I can’t help testing you to see if you’re gonna wink at me and take it all back.”
“Go back to teasing you like I used to?”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I deserve that.”
“You don’t. And I’ve been nosy about your grandparents for no reason at all. I feel like we need a do-over.”
“No do-overs. Things are going to be weird. For a lot of reasons.” Like her dad, and Parker, and being coworkers. The ownership thing we still hadn’t talked about. But right then wasn’t the time to get into all that. “I think what we need is a friendly wager to make this game more interesting. If I lose, I’ll call up my grandparents and tell them we’d like to come over and play Scrabble.” Maybe Lauren and I could play as a team. I was familiar enough with her precise note-taking to know she was probably good at word games.
“And ifIlose?” She bit her lip. We both knew, chances were pretty good I’d be cashing in.
“If you lose, you won’t freak out over Parker buying all those four wheelers with company money.”
