Page 105 of The Match Faker

I told him that I’d had multiple emails and calls at work today, which I attributed to being seen out with him on the Tube, but most of them weren’t serious leads. Just people who wanted my services but weren’t prepared to pay, or those wanting to know how they could meet someone famous.

I wasn’t giving up hope, though. The awards finalists would be announced soon and that should help bring in some more serious interest.

After dinner, Liam led me to the living room.

‘Okay, so I need you to close your eyes while I bring out your surprise.’

‘Okay!’

I heard him leave the room and when a gorgeous waft of his woody scent hit me, I knew he’d returned. I caught the sound of something being put on the coffee table.

‘Open your eyes.’

‘Oh my God!’ I looked down and laughed. ‘Connect 4! And wait, Jenga too! They’re my favourites!’ Happy memories from our teenage years when we spent hours in the school holidays playing together came flooding back. ‘Thank you!’

I jumped up, leant over the table and gave him a long, slow kiss.

‘Mmm…’ Liam groaned as he gently pulled away. ‘If you keep kissing me like that, then it won’t be Connect 4 that I’ll want to play.’

‘Oh yeah?’ I teased.

‘Yeah. My hands and mouth would love to play with your body.’

‘What part?’ I bit my lip.

‘Well…’ He trailed his hand across my shoulder, then moved it lower, skimming slowly over my breasts. ‘First I’d play with your nipples and these perfect tits…’ Goosebumps erupted over my skin. ‘And then I’d trail my tongue down your stomach.’ His hand moved south towards my waist. ‘Then I’d play your clit like it’s my favourite instrument.’

He swiped his finger between my legs and it was like the air had been sucked from my lungs.

‘I-I’d like that… a lot.’ I ran my hand across his chest.

‘Me too. But not now.’ He picked up a chair and put it on the opposite side of the coffee table and my horny vagina wept. ‘The night’s young. We’ll play in bed together later. Right now, I’m gonna whoop your arse.’

‘Dream on,’ I scoffed. I was happy to know playtime was only being adjourned and not cancelled tonight. ‘It’s been a few years since I played, but if you still play like you used to, I’ll be whooping your arse.’

‘We’ll see.’ He raised his eyebrow. ‘Wanna start with Connect 4?’

‘Go on, then.’

I picked up the boxes and took everything out of the packaging. As I tipped the colourful Connect 4 discs onto the table, I was filled with a different type of excitement.

Playing games like these had always been something Liam and I did. Back then, none of our family or friends were interested, so it was one of the things that bonded us.

The fact that he remembered and took the time to buy these so we could play them together again after all these years meant a lot.

I didn’t need to ask what colour he wanted. Liam was always red and I was always yellow. It was how we’d always played. I pushed the discs over to his side of the table.

‘Ladies first.’ He gestured towards me.

The familiar click of our plastic discs being dropped into the grid made me smile. Each move sparked a fresh wave of memories.

It wasn’t long before Liam secured the first line of four discs. He won the next couple of games too, but I soon caught up. It was crazy how easily we fell back into the rhythm of how we used to play. He always tried to start in the centre or close to it. As I watched him consider each move carefully, it was like no time had passed.

Speaking of time, what felt like minutes later but must have been at least an hour, we’d played six rounds.

‘Three all!’ I announced as I won the game.

‘Whoever wins next is the champion,’ he declared as he pulled the catch to empty the discs. ‘So have you really not played this since we were kids?’

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