Page 71 of Risk

“Nope. I won. You miscounted.”

“Are we talking orgasms or…” Landon leans in and waggles his eyebrows. “Orgasms?”

“Kerrington, come get your boy before I throat punch him for flirting with my future wife.” The words fly out before I can stop them.

Everyone freezes, including Leah, who recovers fastest. “Who says I’d marry you?”

Her tone is playful, but underneath is a hint of something else I can’t pinpoint.

I lean against her ear and say in a low, grumbly tone, “I’d beg.”

Kerrington snarfs his ice water, splashing it all over himself.

Landon leans back and stretches his arms over the top of the booth. “Gage, man, you’re just in time. Mason here was just proposing to Leah.”

“Oh yeah?” Gage holds out two bottles of bubbly. “This is good timing then, huh? Hi Leah, I’m Gage.”

She leans forward to shake his hand and my gaze falls to the swell of her breasts in the low-cut dress. Landon looks, too. And so does Gage. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Gage pops the cork and pours champagne in our flutes.

We all lift our glasses and Landon says, “Here’s to swimming with bow legged women.”

“Christ, Landon, that’s not it,” Gage groans. “Here’s to those who wish us well, and all the rest can go to Hell.”

“Wow,” Kerrington huffs. “You both suck balls.” Raising his glass higher, he clears his throat and toasts, “Cheers to that long straight piece in Tetris.”

“For the love of God, make it stop,” I joke. Raising my glass, and also Leah’s hand, I kiss her knuckles before saying, “Here’s to a long life and a happy one. A quick death and an easy one. A good girl and an honest one, a cold pint and another one.”

“Ayyy!” Kerrington and Gage clank their glasses. Landon chimes his with mine. Then we all take turns hitting Leah’s.

Dinner starts off with a variety of small dishes. Leah plucks an olive from Landon’s plate and pops it in her mouth, smiling like the devil.

He rests his elbow on the table and has this dopey smile on his face. “Tell me about yourself, Leah.”

I stab a crouton and eat it, waiting for her reply.

“Oh, there’s not much to say.”

“Where did you and our boy meet?”

She looks over at me, completely unfazed while my heart’s pounding. I’m pissed my natural reaction is nervousness and decide to do something about it. “She works for a cleaning service.”

“Nice. You like it?” Gage spreads bruschetta onto a toast point.

“Yeah, I do.” Leah pulls a face. “Is that weird?”

“Doing what you like?” Gage frowns. “No. Why. Is it supposed to be weird?”

Leah looks up at me as if she hadn’t expected him to say that. Winking at her, I sip my water.

“This place sucks.” Landon flicks an olive off his plate. “I hate hoity toity food. Why are we here?”

“Because it’s the nicest restaurant in the city.” Ker slathers butter on his roll and shoves the whole thing in his mouth at once.

“You eat like an animal,” Gage states.

Unbothered, Ker swallows and says, “I fuck like one too.”

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