Page 229 of End Game

Jeremiah stares at me.

I stare back.

Micah folds his arms, clearly enjoying himself.

Carter looks delighted. “Board meeting,” he says again.

Jeremiah's mouth finally twitches. “Give me your number.”

I take out my phone. “That does not mean you've won the payment argument.”

“I know.”

We exchange numbers.

Micah meets my eyes.

The satisfaction in his expression is subtle, but I understand it.

A week ago, I took him on our first date.

Now we're discussing learning to put people in rope together.

Apparently this is what courtship looks like for us.

I find I don't object.

Cameron

Alexis doesn't take me upstairs until almost an hour later.

I don't mind.

Mostly because coffee turns into sitting at the kitchen island while she complains about wedding planning and I laugh at her.

“I love weddings,” she says. “In theory.”

“In theory?”

“In theory they're romantic. In practice, yesterday I spent twenty minutes answering questions about napkin folds.”

“That's horrifying.”

“Thank you.”

She smiles when she says it, though.

Happy.

A little overwhelmed.

Maybe something else beneath it, but I don't know her well enough yet to pull at that thread.

“So,” I say, gesturing toward the stairs. “You like all of this.”

Alexis raises an eyebrow.

“The room. Giving up control.”