Page 379 of The Winslow Brothers

More giggles.

“Rachel, what was the challenge?” I ask, staring down at her and raising my brow as if to say,I won’t stop until you admit the truth.

“I think I was mistaken,” she says, and I start to tickle her ribs some more. She tries to squirm out of my grip, but it’s useless. “Ah! Okay! Fine! I’ll tell you! Just stop doing that!”

On a smile, I stop, but when she isn’t quick to respond, I flash a pointed stare in her direction and start to gently dig my fingers into her belly again.

“Ty! Okay! Okay!” she shouts, raising the white flag. “I will tell you. Promise! Promise! Just stop tickling me!”

“Deal.” I release her from my hold and gesture with one hand in the air. “Please proceed.”

She rolls her pretty green eyes but does, in fact, proceed. “The challenge was based on some kind of promotional card for The Secret Club. It was the brand that was throwing the party that night at Orchid.”

“I’m aware,” I answer with a shrug. “I mean, it was my brother Jude and sister-in-law Sophie who threw the shindig.”

“Holy hell. I literally just now put that together. I thought they looked kind of familiar at the hospital, but—” She shakes her head. “Man, sometimes, it really is a small world. Anyway, both Lydia and I grabbed one of these challenge cards they had set out for people to take. And the challenge on my card is what led me to the dance floor where you just so happened to be.”

“Wait… The challenge card instructed you to give a random stranger your panties?”

“Well, no, not exactly.”

“Then, what did it say?”

“I don’t know,” she says and turns on her side to bury her face into one of the cushy pillows. “Some bout hotnessth eye duh might forget they sight.” Her muffled voice and garbled response make me laugh.

“What?” I question and flip her back around toward me. “Repeat that one more time.”

This time, she covers her face with both hands. “The card said to make the hottest guy in the room remember you for the rest of his life,” she rambles in a rush and then proceeds to bury her face in one of the pillows again.

“Hold up…” I pause with what I assume is the biggest smile in existence. “The challenge was to find the hottest guy at Orchid? And you chose me?”

Oh, hell motherfucking yes.

“Don’t get too cocky,” she retorts and sits back up to meet my eyes. “I mean, I didn’t take that much time to find a hot guy. So, it’s not like I scoured the place or anything.”

She’s so full of shit, and I love it.

“Let me ask you this,” I continue on, my smile a permanent fixture now. I could die, and they’d still have to bury me like this. “Did you decide to give your panties away before or after you decided that I was the hottest guy at Orchid?”

“Why would that matter?”

“Oh, trust me, it matters. A lot.”

“I don’t know,” she responds and rolls her eyes. “I can’t remember the order.”

“You are so full of shit,” I tease her and proceed to pull her onto my lap. I adjust her body so that her legs are straddling my hips and she can’t avoid eye contact. “Admit it, Rachel. You didn’t want to give just anyone your panties that night. You wanted to give them tome.”

She eyes me with annoyance. “I take it that version of the story is making you feel really good about yourself, huh?”

“Yeah.” I press a kiss to her mouth and nip at her bottom lip. “But I also know that’s not aversionof the story. It’s thetruth.”

“Whatever you say, Ty.”

“Admit it,” I whisper into her ear and use one hand to brush her hair off her shoulder. “You wanted to give me your panties.” My lips are at her neck, and I don’t hesitate to reach my tongue out and taste her sweet skin. “Damn, Rachel, I thought that nightwas hot to begin with, but this new information, well, it takes it up one thousand fucking notches.”

“What?” She leans back to look into my eyes. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” I take one of her pert nipples into my mouth and suck. “And now, because of all that, it’s time for round two.”

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