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“I’m twenty-seven years old.”

“You’re a team captain.”

“Those facts can coexist.”

Bliss held out her hand. “Ryan.”

Charm reached beneath my green shirt before I could stop her, retrieved the flask from my pocket, and placed it in Bliss’s waiting palm.

I stared at her. “Betrayal before nine.”

“You were compromised.”

“You drank from it.”

“Unproven.”

“Your mouth was on it thirty seconds ago.”

Charm looked toward Bliss with perfect innocence. “I was confiscating contraband.”

“You took two drinks.”

“Quality control.”

Bliss placed my flask beside Briggs’s. “You can have these back after the lawn games.”

“This marriage has become authoritarian,” I said.

“You aren’t part of the marriage,” Cade reminded me.

“Then stop putting your name across my back.”

Charm laughed hard enough to catch my arm. Her fingers curled around my bicep as she leaned into me, and every instinct I possessed tightened around the contact.

Last night, I had taken her inside that room after making sure she understood exactly what I could offer. Charm knew sex wasn’t forgiveness and this weekend wasn’t a promise. She had accepted my terms, then warned me she intended to change them.

This morning, when her laughter faded and she realized I was still holding her, the satisfaction in her eyes told me her campaign had already begun.

I let my fingers close around hers. She could have the victory. I intended to have her back in my bed before the day ended.

I left it where it was.

Charm’s laughter faded as she noticed me watching her. Her fingers loosened, though she didn’t pull away immediately.

“We’re going to win,” she said.

“You haven’t seen the scavenger-hunt clues.”

“I designed half the schedule.”

“That sounds like advance knowledge.”

“It sounds like competent leadership.”

“It sounds like cheating.”

“You said you were handling that.”