Page 47 of Face Off

“It was natural.”

“So why change it?”

“Because I wanted to.”

The answer didn’t give her anything to work with. She looked toward Briggs as though he should step in and make the conversation easier for her, but he’d gone quiet beside the stool she still hadn’t taken.

A bartender approached and placed a napkin near her. “Can I get you something?”

Lyric glanced over the bottles. “Do you have the champagne they’re serving at the reception?”

“We have the same label behind the bar.”

“I’ll take a glass.”

Briggs rested his forearms against the bar. “You said you had a headache.”

“I changed my mind.”

He nodded and moved to sit beside her, but Lyric placed her purse on the stool.

Briggs stopped.

The movement was small enough to appear accidental. It wasn’t. She left him standing while claiming the only available seat with a bag she could’ve placed beneath the bar.

I watched the excitement disappear from his face before he covered it.

Briggs had always been too large for subtlety. His laughter filled rooms, his feelings entered before he did, and every form of affection came out of him with both hands open. Seeing him calculate how much of himself Lyric would tolerate made something cold move through me.

Ryan noticed me watching.

His gaze shifted from my face to Briggs and Lyric before his jaw tightened around the same conclusion.

Cade pushed his glass toward Briggs. “Sit here. I’ll stand.”

“I’m good.”

“You’ve been traveling all day.”

“I’m a professional athlete. Standing has been covered in training.”

Lyric accepted her champagne without thanking the bartender. She took one sip, looked at the label, and set it down.

“This is warm.”

The bartender paused. “It came directly from the cooler.”

“It isn’t cold enough.”

“I can bring an ice bucket.”

“That’ll water it down.”

“He said an ice bucket,” I said. “He wasn’t planning to put ice cubes in your glass.”

Her eyes moved toward me. “I know how an ice bucket works.”

“Then this is going beautifully.”