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“Huh,” I say and rub my chin. “I didn’t consider that.”

“I think you should go either way. Show them that you’re all in.”

I nod. “Well, there is a catch.”

“There is always a catch. What is it?”

“It’s a couples’ trip,” I rip off the Band-Aid.

She cheers, then drops back to her seat and gapes at me.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. If I say yes, you’ll have to come with me.”

“I see.”

She bites her lip again, and on instinct, I reach out and pull it from her teeth with my thumb.

Her gaze snaps to mine and then drops to my lips.

A throat clears next to us.

I turn to see Dutton standing in front of us, arms crossed as he looks at me.

“You’re up, King.”

I smirk.

“Thanks.”

“Yep.”

I glance back at Grace, who is rolling her eyes and laughing.

“You have to stop being all protective brother over this, Dutton. Preston and I are engaged.”

The words fall from her lips effortlessly, and I have to control my expression.

They fell so easily, even I forgot for a split second that it’s a lie.

“And the moment you say I do, I’ll stop.”

Grace grins. “O-kay. Whatever you say.” She hops up and brushes against me, her breasts pushing against my arms as she whispers, “Sucks to be you.”

Then she bounces off to sit by Brooke, Sadie, and Layla.

I step up to the lane and grab my ball.

“You know, this whole thing felt weird at first, but look at my sister now,” Gavin says, and we both look over our shoulders to find her deep in conversation but smiling nonetheless. “I haven’t seen her smile this much since before everything went down last year, and even then, I can’t remember ever seeing her this happy.”

“Grace has always been happy,” I say.

“Not this happy.”

He steps forward to take his turn, and I keep my attention on Grace.

He might be right, but the crazy thing is, I can’t remember a time when I was this happy either.