Page 48 of For You & No One Else (Say Everything 3)

“I—” she started in defense but then pressed her lips together and gave Beckham a look. “Okay, I may have called you that.Once.”

“That’s just a smart woman calling it like she sees it,” Will teased. “Carter hasn’t met a high horse he doesn’t want to saddle.”

“Giddyup,” Beckham said dryly.

“See?” Will gave her a disarming smile and she laughed.

“For what it’s worth, he didn’t sell me on the idea. I was complaining to him about the hellscape of online dating, and he suggested I go off-line for a while. These parties came up. The concept sounded…” She glanced over at Beckham with a conspiratorial smile. “Interesting.”

His gaze held hers for a moment, the word now their own private joke. His lips twitched in quiet amusement, but something else flickered in his eyes, something she couldn’t quite pin down. Her belly tightened.

“Well, however he got you here,” Will said, breaking the odd moment with Beckham and bringing her attention back to him, “I’m glad you came.”

She smiled, the openness on Will’s face putting her at ease. “Same.”

“Hopefully you’ll still feel that way after playing these games,” Beckham said, pointing at the opening door. “Looks like it’s our turn.”

Trinity turned around and gave them all a droll look. “Let’s go, losers. If any of you slip me tongue, it’s a knee to the balls for you.”

The door opened fully, letting people out, and Eliza followed the group inside once the entrance was clear. Someone waiting inside the dim room handed her a tube of something as she entered—lip balm of some sort—and she got separated from Will as more people came in behind them.

The room had been cleared of furniture but had eight square floor pillows arranged in a circle and a few tall lamps tucked into the corners. The light bulbs had been switched to blue so the whole room glowed with almost a twilight color, and Debbie Gibson’s “Lost in Your Eyes” was playing softly in the background. Somehow they’d captured the secretive vibe of the Spin the Bottle game but had elevated the atmosphere and drizzled in some irony. She lifted the lip balm closer to her face and read the label, laughing when she realized what it was. Bonne Bell Lip Smacker, Peach of My Heart flavor. Another eighties touch. Whoever had organized this party had a great eye for detail and had clearly had a lot of fun.

Beckham sidled up next to her, squinting at his tube. “I guess I’m supposed to put this on?”

She leaned over, trying to eye his. “What flavor did you get?”

He flipped the tube to see the other side. “One in a Melon.” He popped it open and rubbed it on his lips, the scent of watermelon filling the space between them. He licked his lips. “That’s…different.”

She laughed and put her peach lip gloss on. “Yours smells better than mine.”

“Want to trade?” he asked, offering up his tube.

“You might be trading soon enough,” Khuyen said, coming up to them and putting hands on both their shoulders. “A peach-watermelon fusion.” He made a kissing sound. “Or y’all will land on me and make some flavored lemonade. I’ve got You Are the Zest. I’ll add some tart to your sweet.”

Beckham’s gaze flicked away from Eliza’s. “I think you’re enjoying this a little too much, Khuyen.”

“I get that all the time.” He walked between them to find his spot on the floor.

A petite woman with pink foam rollers in her hair andCobra Kaipajamas was on her feet outside of the pillow circle and was holding an empty wine bottle. “Welcome, welcome,” she said brightly. “For those who don’t know me, I’m Dahlia. Take a seat where you can find one. We’ll start again in a minute. We run the game for fifteen minutes and then switch groups.”

Will walked over to them and put his hand lightly on Eliza’s back. “Want to find a place to sit?”

Eliza chose a blue pillow to sit on and Will took the spot next to her. Beckham claimed the green one across the circle from her and next to Khuyen. Trinity looked indecisive and then ended up with the last spot when everyone else filled in. She sniffed her gloss and wrinkled her nose. “Nothing should ever be grapefruit-flavored. Or scented. Grapefruit should just be eradicated altogether.”

Khuyen reached over the person sitting between him and Trinity and traded glosses with her.

Dahlia shut the door and then cleared her throat. “All right, y’all. Rules are simple. I’ll spin to see who goes first. That person will spin the bottle. They will then kiss the person the bottle points to—regardless of gender.”

There was a groan from one guy. Khuyen rolled his eyes at that guy and muttered something that sounded likethere’s always one.

“The next turn goes to the person to the right of whoever the bottle landed on. Also, we’re all about consent here, so if you’re not comfortable kissing someone, you can opt out and leave the game,” Dahlia continued, giving groaning guy a you-can-leave-now-if-you-don’t-like-it look. When he didn’t move, she went on. “While you’re kissing someone, you will hold hands with that person. If they let go of your hand for any reason at any time, that means stop everything immediately. No pushing anyone past where they want to go.” She lifted her brow. “ThisNo Mercyline on my shirt isn’t just for show. I know karate. Don’t make me take you down.”

Eliza smiled even though her stomach was now flipping with nerves. She hadn’t kissed anyone in a while, and even though the logical part of her knew this was just a silly game, she also was well aware that she was in this circle with more than a bunch of inexperienced preteens. What if this was awkward as hell? What if she embarrassed herself? Maybe she hadn’t thought this through fully.

“Does everyone understand?” Dahlia asked crisply.

Eliza found herself nodding, her hands clasped tightly in her lap.Too late to leave now.

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