With a crook of her finger, he ran to her side, and they had a brief conversation before Andy glanced over his shoulder at us, then looked back at Bailey and offered her his hand to help her up. She picked up her beach bag and slung it over her shoulder as though ready to leave.
“What's going on?” Jace asked Andy.
“Bailey wants to go for a drink at the bar up ahead.”
“You're dipping out?”
Andy just shrugged and gave us both a half smile that said he might be dipping out on us in the hopes that he'd be dipping into something else later, which only made me roll my eyes and turn away as I blew out a breath and planted my hands on my hips.
“Guess we're done here, then,” I said to Jace.
“Aww. Scared you off, have we?” Phoebe's voice grew closer, and when I spun back around in her direction, I saw her walking towards me with a challenging expression on her face, her hips swaying with easy confidence. “Any excuse to quit, huh, Cohen?”
She’d been a fiery little thing today, and I couldn’t get enough of it. But if she called me Cohen one more time…
“You still want to play?” I raised a brow, taking in the damp sweat on her chest.
She came to a stop in front of me. “I could spare a little more time to embarrass you, sure.”
Goddammit.
“How about we switch things up?” Jace offered, pulling our attention his way. He'd picked the ball out of the sand and was currently tossing it between his hands. “I'll partner up with Rhea, and you two angry souls can be a team. You know... learn how to work together instead of against each other.”
Hell. No.
“Hell no!” Phoebe cried the same time as I thought it.
I couldn’t be sure of her reasons for that response, but it had been hard enough keeping my hands off her with a net between us. With nothing but our willpower between us on the same side of the makeshift court, who knew what would happen?
It didn’t take long for those thoughts of worry to turn to thoughts of opportunity though, because, actually, without Andy lingering around, maybe I could have a little fun making Phoebe squirm in ways she didn't yet know she could.
“I think that's a great idea,” I said, watching with amusement as Phoebe's attention whipped my way, her lips parted as her eyes searched mine.
“You do?”
“Why not? I think we could take them both, don't you?”
“That's fighting talk, Cohen,” Rhea piped up.
I didn't look away from Phoebe, though. I couldn't. She was so small and perfect as I towered over her, and all I could think about was picking her up and throwing her over my shoulder. “What do you say?”
Her lips twitched as she tried to fight off an obvious smile. “Fine. But get in my way, Henry, and you die.”
I didn't, in fact, get in her way. The moment we started working together instead of against one another, we became a team nobody could beat. But fuck me, the struggle I had keeping my attention on the ball when Phoebe's little grunts of sporting enthusiasm were practically in my ear…
She'd just taken a killer shot that sent the volley straight past Rhea before she could even attempt to reach it, and now Phoebewas walking towards me with her palm in the air, waiting for me to high five her.
I did, and when she sauntered past me, I had to stop myself from slapping her arse as she strode on by. I had no doubt she'd stick to her promise of ending my life if I dared to cross one too many lines.
Her breaths were as heavy as mine, and the mid-afternoon heat had become suffocating now. One look at Rhea told me she had definitely had enough, and Jace... well, it didn't seem like he cared either way. All of us were ready for either the ocean, a drink, or both, but Phoebe seemed the one keener than keen to keep this game going.
The wannabe wallflower had a wild, competitive side that only made her all the more intriguing to everyone with a pair of eyes. If I wanted this game to be over, it had to come from Rhea.
“You guys getting tired of losing yet?” I called out to them on the other side of the net.
Rhea stood there with her hands on her hips, exhausted. “Officially tired and bored.”
“Wanna call it a day?”
