Page 141 of Face Off
“Is that another threat?”
“It’s forced politeness.”
“You’re terrible at it.”
“You like me terrible.”
“I like you every way.”
The words escaped before I could soften them.
Ryan’s smile disappeared.
I forced myself to remain in the moment instead of apologizing for the truth. “That was always the problem. I loved you every way and still treated your love like something I was ashamed of.”
His gaze moved over my face with warning. “We aren’t doing this here.”
“I know.”
“And liking you doesn’t change the terms.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“You’re making several accurate points.”
A laugh broke through his resistance. He shook his head and looked toward the confiscation table beside Bliss’s abandoned megaphone. “I want my flask back.”
“Briggs is already attempting a recovery mission.”
Across the lawn, Briggs crawled beneath the table while Rider stood in front of him pretending to examine the scorecards. Cade approached from the opposite direction, spotted Briggs’s yellow shirt moving beneath the linen, and planted one shoe against his ass.
Briggs went still.
Cade folded his arms. “Lose something?”
“My dignity.”
“You never brought that.”
“I’m checking the table for structural weaknesses.”
“With your hand inside Bliss’s bag?”
“Thorough inspection.”
Ryan glanced toward me. “Our people need us.”
“Because we’re excellent captains?”
“Because Briggs is about to get us all searched.”
We crossed the lawn together. Our shoulders bumped once, then again, while the happy warmth of mezcal and everything Ryan had risked saying moved through me.
Yesterday morning, Ryan and I were a never.
Today, he hadn’t offered a different answer. He had given me his hand, his mouth, his laughter, and every small intimacy he insisted belonged exclusively to the weekend and told me to do my worst.
