Page 36 of Playing Flirty

Not because of heartache, which there was little of. I’d mourned our relationship long before it ended. But I wanted no one else’s voice but my own in my head while I processed it.

Neema, ever concerned, brought me treats and more tea than I could drink, and hugged me at every opportunity. I hadn’t been calling my mom, but I could clearly hear her on the phone with Neema, both of them increasingly worried about me.

When I wasn’t at home, Shaun fussed around me at work. He had a similar strategy.

Treats. Tea. Hugs.

Once, when he was hugging me, one of our colleagues walked by us and whispered, “So glad you two finally got together.”

Even that didn’t deter him.

When I couldn’t handle it anymore, I showed up at game night, intent on proving to everyone I was okay. Plus, it was my turn to pick a game, and I’d been itching to play Clue.

I kneeled beside the coffee table and set up the game. Everyone tiptoed around me—including William, which was strange because he always made his presence known.

Tonight he wore black jeans and a gamer T-shirt that fit him far too well.

“Hot date?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“I’d never miss game night,” he teased, ruffling his hand over his hair in an attempt to tame it. At some point, I’d have to tell him how pointless that was.

“It’s been a while since you brought a girl over,” Neema said, bringing me yet another cup of tea. “I rather enjoyed watching those women slobber all over you. They were always ultra-nice to me in an attempt to impress you.”

William rolled his eyes and sat at his desk. “Oh, stop.”

Shaun sat down on the couch. “William can charm the pants off the pantsless. That’s why I don’t leave any of you alone with him.”

“Dark magic,” I mumbled.

William’s groan turned to a laugh, and I was grateful that the focus was on his love life instead of mine.

Our phones pinged simultaneously, and Neema glanced up from her screen. “Claire’s texted the group to say she’s not coming. Hannah’s got the flu. She’s really sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about. Her eighteen-month-old with a viral infection probably needs her more than her adult friend who isperfectly fine,” I enunciated the last two words and made eye contact with all of them.

I also knew that, if Claire wasn’t coming, Lincoln wouldn’t come either. Even after all these years of friendship, he still battled with social anxiety. I turned to face William. “And you, I hope you weren’t kidding about being excited for game night because now you have to play.”

William’s mouth tilted upward as he hopped up from his desk and joined us around the game table. “Seeing as you’reperfectly fine, I won’t let you win this time.”

He really didn’t. Jerk. After losing Clue because William caught me out, I walked out to the balcony for a moment alone. There was a slight breeze, but the moon was bright and almost yellow amid a starless sky—which was soon interrupted by William’s dark shadow sliding over me.

Leaning his elbows on the railing on my left, he stared out at the ocean ahead. “I’m sorry.”

“For winning?” I shrugged. “Don’t be. You did it by the book, although I don’t know how you keep doing it.”

“About Patrick.”

I wasn’t sorry. But it didn’t seem appropriate to say that.

“Love is temporary.” I turned and offered him a wink, repeating the words he’d said to me not too long ago.

His dark eyes met mine, and while we’d been talking a lot lately, having his full focus left me speechless. Dark magic. Like I said.

I tucked a lawless tendril of my black hair behind one ear and offered him a smile. “I’m fine. Tell everyone to stop worrying.”

His mouth pursed upward to the side, pushing in his deep dimple. He turned back toward the vast ocean in the distance. “Well, that’s good to know.”

Standing side by side, we drank in the comfortable silence. After the longest time, he gripped his hands around the railing and then turned to face me with one of his black eyebrows arched.

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