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Well, shit.That was a mood killer. I scratched my eyebrow, stalling. “I…”
“Never mind. Sorry. Again. I shouldn’t have asked. We don’t need to talk about it. I’m done, I promise.”
She mimed zipping her lips shut, locking a key, and throwing it away. Like every single damn thing she did, it was adorable. This woman was designed to torture me. In the best way possible.
“Are you sure? We can talk about anything you want.” I forced myself to say. I truly appreciated the reprieve, but the mood had already dampened considerably anyway, we might as well talk. Little brother had struck again. Even from three hundred miles away he was ruining my night. Pain in the ass.
Unexpectedly, Jillian shot to her feet, closing the distance between us. “I’m sure. Aside from my drunken rant, I’m pretty sure we had fun last night. And back at the club, I wasdefinitelyhaving fun. And that’s what I want right now. Fun. Mindless, angst free, fun.”
“Fun, uhh, sounds good.” I muttered, pleasantly surprised at the unexpected turn of events. I could barely keep up with the changing moods, but I was determined to see this to the end, no matter what.
“Perfect, I have an idea.” Jillian looked up at me, her expression reminiscent of something I could only describe as devilish.
My pulse kicked up a notch. “Oh?
CHAPTER7
Jillian
The thought had barely formed in my head when I blurted it out. “Let’s play a drinking game. I was thinking something like quarters.”
Dean’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Are you that desperate to erase your memory again, or are you just a glutton for punishment?”
I giggled nervously. “No, I’m absolutely not going to drink as much as last night. Like, ever again in my life, actually. I was just thinking, you’re technically my husband, for tonight at least, but I don’t know much about you. I know the basics, of course, but we’ve never spent any time alone together. Not that I remember clearly. No matter what happens once we leave this city, I’d like to say that we knew each other. That there was a reason we did this crazy thing. And I thought this could be an entertaining way to do it.”
“Sure. Why not?” Dean answered after a beat, looking bewildered. “I think there are some of those mini bottles in the fridge. That should get us started.”
While he rifled through the contents of the little refrigerator, I dug out a quarter from my tiny purse. Then I grabbed two glasses from the counter and sat cross-legged on the floor. With my short dress I was left slightly exposed in that position, but I didn’t think anyone in the room would mind, and it was the most comfortable way to sit.
Dean looked down at me warily, shook his head, and then unceremoniously dropped to the floor a few feet away. He set up the glasses, pouring an inch of Vodka into the bottom of each and positioning them an appropriate distance apart. I saw the exact moment he accidentally glanced up my dress and hid my grin at his reaction.
Once he recovered, we discussed the rules. We would take turns bouncing the quarter at each other’s glass. Every time we missed, we had to take a drink. If we made it, though, we could ask the other person any question we wanted, and we always had to answer truthfully. No passing, no matter what.
With that settled, we began. I went first, missing three shots in a row to no one’s surprise. I’d never been great at this type of game, but I didn’t mind losing in this case. Dean made two shots right away, but fortunately, he took it easy on me. Favorite movie, and my least favorite subject in school? Not exactly deep dark secrets. I answered both easily and tried to decide what to ask him when my turn came around.
It was on the fourth attempt I got the hang of it, and then started making most of my subsequent attempts. Dean and I went back and forth for nearly half an hour, learning silly little details about each other. I legitimately enjoyed hearing that Dean had a significant phobia of spiders.
“Why do you think I fly? Those little fuckers can’t.” He had half-joked.
I had been even more shocked to discover that he been on the chess team back in middle school. There was some hidden nerd in there, which only made him sexier in my eyes. I had always known he was the more intellectual of the brothers, but I hadn’t realized how much that difference mattered. And turned me on.
Of course, in return I had to admit that I had once gotten stung by a bee directly on my ass, and the loud bark of laughter Dean let out made my mortification totally worth it. I loved making him laugh. I’d always tried to do it when we had hung out with the whole family, just to see if I could, but with it just being the two of us it felt more intimate.
Getting to know each other was genuinely nice, but after a while I realized that it wasn’t quite what I wanted for our final night together. I wanted what I had felt back in the club. When we had been dancing perfectly in sync, and I had desired nothing more in the world than the feeling of Dean’s hands on my body. It had been so long since I’d felt anything that strong. I craved that rush of lust, and attraction, and endless possibility.
With just enough liquor in my system to do something about it, I put down the quarter. “Ok, time to kick this up a notch.”
“What do you have in mind? Strip quarters?” Dean asked, his expression hopeful.
“I like that suggestion, but no. A few years ago I was at a friend’s bachelorette party, and we used this app to play adult Jenga or something. It had some great, X-rated questions. It was hilarious. And insightful.”
I pulled out my phone and did a quick search. I found the app I was looking for and showed it to Dean. He downloaded it without arguing. He saw where this was going and was too smart to question it.
“So, from now on, when you make a shot, you tap the button and ask whatever question shows up next.” I told him. “No cheating!”
“Got it.” Dean answered, already checking out the questions with growing mirth. He raised his hand and tossed the quarter, barely looking.
And right off the bat, I got a loaded question.
