Page 100 of Hold Me Today

Something tells me that my idea of a “fun” game and hers have very different definitions. Idly, my fingers play with Mina’s dark strands.

“So! We’re going to play Attached at the Hip! Does anyone know what I’m talking about?” A few hands shoot up, but the majority of us do nothing but stare back at Sophia blankly. She counts all those who are in the know. “If you’re clueless, never fear. Pretty much, we’re all going to write down a body part on a slip of paper—I’ve got us covered—and pop it into a hat. We’ll be paired into teams of two. Each of you will pick a piece of paper, and then you’ll need to make sure those body parts are always touching.”

“And if they don’t?” calls out a guy with a man bun. “What happens then?”

Sophia’s answering grin is downright diabolical. “You take a shot and you’re out of the game! Easiest rules ever. Don’t stop touching,ever.Not even between positions.”

As though she has it all choreographed, the doors to the private room we’re in swing open and two servers tromp in with shots perched on black trays.

“How well do you hold your liquor?” I whisper to Mina.

She makes the quintessentialoh, shitface, and I figure that about sums up this night. “Not well enough,” she grumbles, “especially if it’s Tito’s.”

On my other side, Dom leans forward, elbow on the table. He points a finger at Mina, then says, “I don’t know whether to love you or hate you for the Don bit. This is either going to be the worst night of my life or . . .”

“It’s time to pick partners!” Sophia exclaims from the front of the room. “Oh,Dooonnnn! You’re with me.”

Dom’s finger practically wilts. “When I purposely lose this game, be sure to carry me back to my room and lock the door.” He pushes back his chair and strolls over to Sophia, looking like a dead man walking.

For a moment, Mina and I do nothing but mourn his bad luck.

Then we turn to each other in unison. “Partner?” we both ask.

“All right, let’s do this.” I toss back the rest of my wine and tap the base of Mina’s. “Operation Never-Stop-Touching begins now.”

As mandated by the rules, all of us write down a body part and toss it into the hat Sophia’s procured from thin air. She shuffles them round, shaking the hat, then peers back up at us. “Do three more rounds of body parts, just in case we get ‘leg’ five times. Be creative!”

I toss my jacket on the back of my chair, then loosen the knot of my tie. One glance at Mina shows she’s taking this seriously too. She’s kicked off her high heels and put her hair up in a high ponytail. When she catches me staring, she offers a blinding grin. “Lucky for you, I wore trendy, fashion sweatpants.” She plucks at the soft fabric before dropping to her haunches in what I thinkshethinks is a stretching pose. “I’m flexible and prepared to do anything it takes to win.”

Biting down on my lip, I do what every other man does when faced with a sexy woman showing off how agile she is: I pull my button-down shirt out from the waistband of my slacks and hope it’ll conceal the activity now happening south of the equator. There aren’t many days that I prefer ditching my jeans and T-shirts for finer clothing—in this moment, with my erection threatening to announce itself to the world, I’m fucking thankful.

“Okay, partners! Stand together as a team.” Sophia ushers one of the servers forward, and I almost feel bad for the utter horror he’s about to witness tonight. “Sean here is going to come around with the hat.Don’tlook at what the paper says until I tell you.”

Mina and I line up together. When Sean meets us, we each reach into the hat as one, our knuckles banging against each other’s.

“Hand tango-ing,” she says with a swift grin, “how good does it feel?”

“Better than expected.” I meet her gaze. “Not as good as the horizontal tango, if you catch my drift, but it’s good enough for now.”

She rolls her eyes but I see the lightness there, and some of my concerns drift away. Once everyone has taken a turn with the hat, Sean calls out, “Okay! Go ahead and look now.”

I peel open my slip of paper. “Right foot.”

Mina glances over at my feet. “Back.” Her nose scrunches. “Does that mean I need to lay on the floor? I mean, I will for the sake of competition, but this isnotoff to a good start.”

“I’ll do it.” When her brows shoot up in question, I shrug. “Teamwork, right?”

All around us, couples are getting into position. I spot Dom looking pained as he gets down on one knee and Sophia perches herself atop it. He’s going to wish he never came to Boston at this rate.

I lay down on my stomach, then feel Mina gently place her foot between my shoulder blades.

“Is this okay?” she asks. “I don’t want to put too much weight on you.”

Twisting my face so my left side is on the carpet, I try to twist my neck and catch her eye. “You’re good,koukla. So long as we never mention tonight to Vince or the guys.”

Sean comes around for round two. When he puts the hat at eye level for me, I’m convinced I’ve never seen a man look so close to pissing himself with laughter. I jam my hand in the hat, riffle around for the winning ticket, and pluck one out. Since I’m on the floor and practically out of sight from everyone else, I peek at my body part.

“Ah, fuck,” says the dude to my left, and I shift my attention over to him. When he sees me looking, he mouths, “penis.”

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