Page 77 of The Work Wife

The bathroom was also tiny. He didn’t even think he’d have room to change in there.

Without thinking, he turned off the air-conditioning and opened the sliding door that led out the back onto the beach.

“We won’t be spending much time in the room anyway. Just to sleep,” she pointed out.

“Right.” Sleep. That was what he was worried about.

* * * *

The dinner table was elaborately decorated with tropical flowers and food Jamie didn’t recognize. She and Weston were the first ones to arrive, but the others wandered in a few minutes later.

Misty moved to the head of the table and tapped a pack of index cards.

“Okay, everyone. I want you each to take the seat across from your partner. Men on one side, women on the other.”

Jamie had nearly forgotten about the game. She was hungry after the walk she and Weston had taken on the beach.

Weston gave her hand a squeeze and moved to the opposite side of the table from her. They were both super competitive, so she knew he would do his best to win the game.

She leaned across, offering her palm. “Go team Archer!” she said, making the others chuckle. Weston had a look in his eyes that she’d never seen before. It made her heart skip a beat.

“All right, everyone. We’re playing the newlywed game. Obviously some of you are not newlyweds, so you’ll have an advantage. But the important thing isn’t the points as much as to learn something about our partners.” Jamie’s brows pulled together in disgust of a game where points didn’t matter. How could she be the winner if the points didn’t matter? “But of course there will be a prize for the team with the most points.” That’s more like it. Weston gave her a thumbs-up.

“Ladies. In front of you you’ll find a stack of index cards and a marker. I’m going to ask you a question and you’re going to write your answer on a card. We will ask your husband the same question, and he’ll try to give the same answer you’ve written. Then you’ll show your answer and see who got it right. Are we ready?”

When everyone nodded, Misty asked her first question.

“What was the name of your husband’s first pet?” Jamie frowned, not because she didn’t know the answer, but because it was just so sad. She wrote down her answer as Misty moved on to the next question.

“What was the name of your husband’s college roommate?” Jamie wrote the answer on the next card without a doubt.

“What would your husband say is his greatest achievement?” Jamie gave that a little thought, and then wrote the answer she hoped Weston would say.

“And last question for this round, what would your husband say is his favorite part of your body?” Jamie swallowed. She didn’t know how to answer this. Except . . .

Last night, his hands had been on her ass. Once, in their office, she’d turned around and thought she’d caught him looking at her ass. Wes was an ass man. She looked down at the blank card.

“Okay. Now we’ll read the questions again. The men will answer and we’ll see what the ladies wrote.” Yes. They all knew how to play; she wanted to get on with it so she could see if they’d won.

“Wes, the name of your first pet was . . . ?”

“I never had a pet,” he answered. After the collective “aww” of pity, Jamie was instructed to hold up her card that said No pets. They moved on to the next person as Jamie and Wes gave each other a high five across the table.

Rob and Beth got their answer correct, but Lance and Holly didn’t. Neither did Curt and Wendy.

“Next question. Wes, who was your college roommate?”

“Zane Jackson.”

Jamie revealed her card with the same answer and the group clapped. All of the other teams got their answers right.

“Wes, what is your greatest achievement?” Misty prompted.

Wes pressed his lips together and then nodded. “Finishing the Holebrook job on time and under budget while I had bronchitis.”

Jamie held up her card which simply said Holebrook job. “He didn’t even complain about how crappy he felt. He was a real trooper.”

The other teams got their answers wrong. The wives gave a personal answer, while the husbands went with work achievements.