Page 72 of Playing Flirty

It didn’t help that Louisa avoided my gaze as we passed each other in the hallway. She didn’t need to spell it out for me to understand: Jeffrey Markham was the boss.

As usual, work was awonderfulplace to be.

But it did have Shaun.

“The RSVPs are dribbling in.” His blue eyes brightened. “It’s starting to feel real.”

We spent the remainder of the workday sprinkling in talk about wedding plans, and it was exactly the distraction I needed.

“Did you bring your game?” Shaun asked later that afternoon.

“No, Neema is bringing it later.”

“I’m super-excited to play it again. Especially now that you and William have fine-tuned it. Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s really excited about this presentation. He won’t stop talking about Overpower and the themes. I swear I can hear him talking about it in the middle of the night.” Shaun let out a laugh. “And while he can be really annoying, there is no one better at games than he is.”

Shaun beamed, clearly proud of both me and his brother.

Was it normal for a stomach to flutter at the mere mention of a name? Did I need a doctor? What if something was medically wrong with me?

“I know,” I almost whispered. “He’s the best.” I couldn’t trust myself to say more about William. Not anymore.

When we arrived at Shaun’s place, Neema’s car was already parked, and Shaun barely stopped his own car before sprinting upstairs in search of her. My heart twinged at his never-ending enthusiasm to see the person he loved.

I was left behind wondering what silly comment William would greet me with. What secret game we’d be playing today that we were yet to figure out.

But instead, when I walked inside, he stared at me. His gaze roamed over my body, beginning at the top of my head and then trailing over my chest and down my hips, over my thighs, until finally reaching my feet. Then he slowly reversed direction until his eyes met mine again.

He brought his knuckles to his mouth and bit on them.

And now I didn’t regret the dress anymore.

Neema gave me a once-over. “I love this dress.”

“Well, I only have it because of you,” I reminded her.

Claire and Lincoln arrived a few seconds later, and William timed them while they set up the game. It only took a few minutes, but they had played it once before. I couldn’t imagine total strangers playing Overpower, especially without me there. It could be a train wreck, but the pride in William’s eyes said otherwise.

The game lasted thirty minutes longer than William and I had planned. Glancing at the time, I bit my nails.

“Thirty minutes is nothing.” William picked up the pieces. “Plus, I’ve got a few ideas of how to lengthen or shorten it as we go along.”

“Care to share?”

“Nope.” He smiled.

“It’s really good.” Claire gave me a tight squeeze. “I mean it. I’m not saying this because I’m your friend. If I didn’t absolutely have to go home, I’d stay for another round.”

“Really frikken good. It’s brilliant,” Lincoln said, which was uncharacteristic for him.

Hearing him speak with that much enthusiasm warmed my heart. I launched myself into his arms. He allowed it and patted my head, a soft laugh escaping him.

“Your genius engineering brain likes it? Or is it because you won?” I asked.

“Both.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I especially enjoyed learning the characters’ backstories as the game progressed.”

William’s chuckle echoed through to me. “Yeah, those backstories nearly had Rose shoving me over the balcony.”

“It was a gentle nudge,” I replied and peeled myself off a silently laughing Lincoln. His vibrating chest brought me an incredible amount of joy.

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