Page 145 of Sing For Me

Aw, hell. Maybe breaking down in front of my dad cracked some kind of seal or something, because my damn eyes get wet. I can tell that Eva notices, but she doesn’t say anything. Just presses her lips against mine once more.

Way too soon, she’s pulling back again, breathless, and I realize for the first time that there are other houses on this private beach, and I should probably not be grabbing her ass where anyone can see. Eva seems to have the same thought, because she’s giggling as she presses her forehead against mine.

“Did I ever mention that Marissa’s apartment opens up onto a patio right under my deck?”

“Uh, no?”

She’s still giggling and I find myself smiling, even though I have no idea what’s so funny. Eva just has that effect on me—her happiness makes me happy.

“So, her patio is right on the beach. And I’d bet a good sum of money she’s sitting out there right now watching us.”

I chuckle, sliding my hands from under her dress. “That’s fine, actually. We need to get going.”

Her eyebrows go up. “Going?”

I nod. “There was a lot of disagreement in my family this afternoon on whether or not you would need a grand gesture before you took me back.”

“Hang on—you talked about this with your family?”

“I wanted them to know I was coming over to talk to you. I was pretty nervous that I screwed it all up too badly, and I thought it might help me to know they were thinking about me.”

She’s silent for a minute, opening her mouth and then shutting it again before she finally shakes her head. “That might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.”

I snort. “Yeah, because you weren’t there to hear how annoying they all were about it. Anyhow, they were arguing about grand gestures—”

“And I hope you told them I was a simple girl who didn’t need that kind of thing.”

I grin at her. “I did. But I didn’t tell them that I had a surprise in my back pocket just in case things went well.”

“What kind of surprise?”

It’s suddenly difficult to keep a straight face. She’s either going to love this, or she’s going to smack me—actually, she might just do both. “I called Luke yesterday. Explained that I was going to try to convince you to take me back and I needed his help with something.”

Her eyebrows go up. “And he agreed to that?”

“Well, first he told me he was going to hack into all my social media accounts and post photoshopped pictures of me in Wonder Woman cosplay if I ever hurt you again—” She erupts into giggles and I kiss the end of her nose, so fucking happy I can do things like that. “After that, he agreed to help me.”

“Help you with what?”

I can tell she’s getting impatient so I stand, pulling her up with me. “He called some of your friends and set up a campaign for tonight.”

She freezes. “A campaign.”

“Yes.”

“For us.”

“Uh huh.”

“Me and you.”

She seems to be having trouble wrapping her mind around this. “Me and you and Luke and your whole party, whatever that means.”

“You’re going to play Dungeons and Dragons with us.You.”

“Apparently I’m going to be an elf. Or maybe a mage? I can’t remember what he said.” I also didn’t understand most of it, but she hasn’t smacked me yet so I keep that to myself.

She’s staring at me like she’s never seen me before and her voice drips with skepticism. “You want to play D&D with my friends.”