The buzzer noise sounded to indicate that was—thankfully—not on the list.
“Water?” Riley droned like it was obvious.
Ding, ding, ding!
“I was going to guess ice next!” Ethel protested. “That’s also water. Frozen water. For the organs!”
Her most memorable moment, however, might have been an answer that Rowan wished he could have prevented with a hand over her mouth.
Name something that might be full of holes.
“Me!”
At least she didn’t elaborate.
“I love this woman,” Raina declared.
“Aw, you’re sweet, dear. Gingers don’t really do it for me though.”
Riley nearly snorted coffee out of her nose at that, as everyone had coffee and cake by then.
Rowan’s best round was correctly guessing the answer to:
If a football player loses his cup, what might he put down his pants instead?
“Socks!” he’d blurted, immediately going red in the face and cursing himself for guessing something so juvenile, which was actually the number one answer.
Milo’s best answer was equally as impressive, especially being a bot.
Name something you haven't licked in a long time.
“Ice cream!” Also number one, although Milo’s follow-up comments could have been excluded. “I’ve actuallyneverlicked ice cream. Or anything, really. Well, other than—”
“Let’s get some more coffee brewed,” Rowan had talked over him—just in case.
“Oh no,” Raina said. “We’ve got pizzas coming for dinner, so it’s time to switch to some real drinks. Next up is drunk rounds!”
Her present to Rowan had been two very nice bottles of tequila, which she was apparently intent on opening tonight. They drank, they ate, they played, pausing here and there to chat or make sure Spot wasn’t trapped in a corner somewhere, andonce Rowan was pleasantly buzzed—butnotdrunk, thank you, that was a younger man’s birthday mistake—and the party was winding to a close, a very sober Riley came up to him again.
“Sohe’sthe new boyfriend, huh?” She nodded across the room at Milo, who was currently chatting with Raina and Troy. Raina was definitely the drunkest among them and hanging onto Troy’s arm for support, which was not doing much to stop her from swaying.
Milo must have felt them staring, because he looked over, grinned wide, and waved.
Damn he was adorable.
“It’s complicated,” Rowan said.
“Ruben met him and didn’t know he was talking to a bot?”
“Also complicated. Milo was wearing my sunglasses.”
Riley worried her lip before asking, “What happened to him?”
“We’re not completely sure, but it was from the lightning the other night that broke through my window and caused the power surge.”
“Wait, so this isn’t some weird new programming, he’s… alive?” She said the last word in a real whisper, only barely raising her voice again to elaborate, “Really alive?”
“Seems to be. And soon, he might not be the only one. Keep it under your hat though, okay? It’s technically proprietary information.”
