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“I don’t,” I add, and cup his face gently in my hand. “For the record, I’m as single as they come.”
“Good, because I don’t poach.”
“You’re much too good of a human to do that.”
He smirks, but I shake my head and straddle him, bracing my hands on the back of the sofa on either side of his head. “It’s true. I may not know you inside and out, but I’m a good judge of character, and I know, deep down, that you’re not a prick who doesn’t care what the relationship status of a girl is before you sleep with her.”
“My parents raised me better than that,” he admits with a small shrug. “Hell, I come from a huge family of very monogamous people. It’s almost disgusting how in love they all are. Just today, my dad made a point of telling me how hot he thinks my mom is.”
“I think that’s sweet.”
“It’s not your parents.”
I laugh and lean into him again. “My parents are the same way. They never held back on showing affection for each other around us kids. They’ve always been totally devoted to each other. I think that’s why it’s been so hard to watch my dad have to cope with my mom’s illness.”
“Maybe that’s one other thing that makes you a little sad.”
I nod but don’t look up at him.
“Are you hungry?” I ask him.
“That question means that you’re hungry. What do you want? You can have anything.”
“Pizza.” I grin as my stomach growls. “With extra cheese, and I want breadsticks, too. With both ranch and marinara on the side.”
“We can order that.”
“And I want to eat it on the bed and watch reality TV. Like a dating show or something silly.”
“You got it.”
I blink at him. “That easy?”
“You’re not exactly asking for the world here, sweetheart.”
“I’m going to set you up on a date.” Stella makes the announcement when I have my face stuffed with avocado toast and I can’t reply to her, so I just raise an eyebrow. “Don’t argue with me.”
“Can’t,” is all I can say as I chew, and Stella grins at me.
“A bunch of us couples are going out for a game night, and I want you to join us.”
“I’m not part of a couple,” I remind her after swallowing.
“That’s why I’m setting you up. It’ll be a lot of fun, and you’ve met pretty much everyone going anyway.”
“When is this happening?”
“Tonight.”
I stop and stare at her, but Stella only grins.
“What, like you have big plans?”
“No.” Honestly, I don’t have plans at all because Keaton told me that he has to go hang out with his family tonight, so I was just going to stay home and write some more songs. “What if I hate the dude you’ve set me up with?”
“You won’t, but if there’s no spark, it’s totally fine. He’s a super laid-back guy. Mostly, it’s so we can all hang out together and just have fun. No pressure.”
When she puts it like that, it doesn’t feel too scary.
“Okay, I’ll go.”
“Yes.” Stella pumps her fist in the air. “We’ll leave around six.”
“Where are we going? Should I get dressed up?”
“Definitely don’t get dressed up. We’re going to a place called Top Golf. Have you heard of it?”
“Yeah, it’s like a bowling alley but for golf. I’ve never played golf in my life.”
“Me, neither.” Her smile doesn’t falter. “It’s gonna be a blast. And they have food and drinks there, too, so we can eat while we make total asses out of ourselves with the golf part.”
“Great.”
“Ike might beat us all at this,” Stella says from the front seat of the car. Gray’s driving us to the golf place, where we’re apparently meeting the others.
Whomever the others are. They still haven’t told me.
Except now I know that Ike and Sophie are one of the other couples.
“Ike’s a football player. That doesn’t mean he’s good at golf,” Gray points out.
“He’s good at everything athletic,” Stella counters with a bit of a pout. “He’s even good at cornhole. He can do anything. But that’s okay because we’re just here to have fun.”
Gray pulls into the parking lot and cuts the engine, and when we walk to the entrance, we find the others are already waiting for us.
Ike and Sophie are here, as expected. There’s also Vaughn and Liv and the twin cousins, Josie and Maddie, who each have their guys with them, Brax and Dylan.
And the last person, standing just behind Liv, is Keaton Williams.
“Is Keaton my date?” I ask loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Yes,” Liv confirms, clapping her hands. “We saw how well you two got along the other night when you arrived, and we thought it would be fun to set you up.”
“Well, I know him,” I reply and can’t help but laugh. “You can’t set me up with someone I know.”
