Page 55 of Touch of Class

“Easy for you to say. You’re not competitive,” Gillian said. “You’ll choose one chili all day and be perfectly happy, while the TMI twins over there will choose fives and traumatize us every time.”

Tegan laughed. “See, we’re already learning group dynamics. Come on, let’s try a few rounds and see how it goes.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Sawyer said, “because we’re supposed to start with the youngest player, and that’s you, Boo.”

Tegan squared her shoulders. “I’ll choose two chili peppers.”

Robin pulled a card and ran her finger down the edge before frowning. “Damn, we all already know the answer to this one.”

Daphne glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t.”

“What’s the question?” Tegan asked.

“Have you ever had a one-night stand?” Robin read.

Everyone but Daphne laughed, and Tegan turned to her to explain. “I tried.”

“And what? Some fool said no?”

Brooke absently twirled one of Tegan’s honeyed curls around her index finger. “The fool in question fell in love and rendered the ‘one-night’ caveat obsolete by coming back for more.”

Daphne’s eyes got big. “Oh, you two couldn’t leave it at one and done?”

“We did try,” Tegan reiterated. “It’s just hard when you find out the next week that you work at the same office.”

“My office.” Gillian pinched the bridge of her nose. “Second-worst disclosure conversation of my career.”

Daphne arched her eyebrows. “Second worst?”

“The first worst was when they did it again, and again, and also … Never mind, can we give her two chilis and move on?”

“Sold.” Robin marked Tegan’s tally on the scoresheet.

“Then you’re up, Babe.” Sawyer took the card box from Robin and passed it down the table. “Brooke, go ahead and ask her a fiver.”

Brooke’s blue eyes scanned to the bottom of the card. “Robin, would you tell the story of the most dangerous place you ever had sex.”

“Good one,” Tegan said. “How will you ever choose between the many, many options?”

Robin’s eyes glinted as she turned to Sawyer. “I mean ‘dangerous’ is subjective. There’s like physically dangerous, then there’s danger of getting caught.”

“Then there’s the danger of what you’d be risking if you got caught,” Sawyer prodded with a grin.

“Something tells me I want to hear the story you’re both thinking of,” Daphne said.

“Shall we say it in unison?” Robin asked her person.

Sawyer nodded slowly. “I feel like doing so even now is dangerous.”

“For five whole chili peppers.” Brooke leaned forward. “Where is the most dangerous, for what’s at stake reasons, place you’ve ever had sex. One. Two. Three.”

“Gillian’s couch.” Robin and Sawyer both said at once.

The room erupted, but Gillian couldn’t hear anyone over the pounding in her own brain. Two of her friends, one of whom was an employee, had sex on the couch where she liked to unwind after work? She wasn’t sure she wanted it to make sense. Instead of trying too hard, she took another big pull of her wine and relished the way it flooded her senses with gentle warmth, or maybe that was the spreading horror.

“We didn’t plan it,” Robin said, as if that were helpful information. “It was our first time. We’d kissed the week earlier after our impromptu karaoke night, remember?”

“Did you know about this?” Brooke asked Tegan.