Page 74 of Scoring Destiny

“I might be willing to skip food and go straight to dessert,” he murmurs against my lips.

I chuckle. “But then it’ll be two in the morning and your stomach will be growling. I’m on to you, buddy.”

He chuckles. “Yeah, I guess you are. Okay, let’s get some food and then go back to my place.”

“You know we started this conversation talking about me moving to Atlanta and it turned into something else,” I say as we walk into the restaurant.

“Are you ready to pull the trigger on that?”

“I think I am. It costs me so much money and I’m almost never there.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to sell?”

“It’s in a great location and it’s been renovated, so probably not long.”

“And then you’d use the equity to buy something here?”

“I think I’ll live with Reid for a while, until you and I are ready to talk about living together. Or not, as the case may be.”

“I committed to living with Simon and the others for a year, so I’d need to give him the option to replace me or just eat the cost. I don’t think he needs the money but I don’t want to assume anything since we split the rent five ways. I know Blaze doesn’t make the money the rest of us do, so I want to be fair about it.”

“There’s no rush,” I say. “I won’t even be able to put it up for sale for a few weeks. I’d need to fly up and meet with a realtor, do some packing, get it ready to show.”

“I’ll help in any way I can.”

“Be careful with that—moving is a bitch.”

“Yeah, but what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t help?”

Boyfriend.

I love the sound of that.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Cash

Halloween sneaks up on us. Maya’s been busy, working on the Dusty Peaks set, coming up with new ideas for the clothing line and the project with the bookstore, and she even managed to find a realtor in New York that she’s going to meet with this coming week once we head out on our road trip.

Despite our sometimes-chaotic schedules, we’ve managed to find time for each other, and the relationship has felt easy so far. It won’t always be this way—life just doesn’t work like that—but there were signs of trouble early on with Shandy. I just chose to ignore them because I thought I’d scored the perfect woman.

Everything is different with Maya.

She’s focused and hard-working, but when we’re together, she doesn’t seem to be thinking about anything else. And I really enjoy basking in her attention.

Tonight she brought out our costumes for the party and I have to admit they’re both epic. Her Cleopatra dress is delicate and intricate, fits her like a glove, and she took a lot of care with her hair and makeup to complete the look. Luckily, my preparation was less intense, but the costume was no less intricate, complete with some kind of gold chest piece and gladiator style sandals.

We look pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself, and if there were a contest, I think we would win.

“You’re so talented,” I tell her when we’re dressed. “I know what you do for a living, obviously, but I’ve never seen it in front of me like this.”

“Thank you.” She smiles, sliding her hand into mine. “I’m glad you like the costume.”

We’re still holding hands when the Uber drops us off at the party—everyone is going to be drinking tonight, no doubt about that.

The party is in full swing and West and Serena have gone all out. The house is dark with orange and purple lights; the great room turned into a mini haunted house. There are coffins and skeletons and eerie music. Outside on the patio, there’s something that looks like an actual cauldron with smoke coming out of it.

“That’s the punch,” West tells me. “It has a kick.”