“Just messing around.” She laughed, patting the side of Grady’s leg before pulling her hand back away. “Okay, I’ve never been off the continent.”
Shit, Ryder’s turn. Grady was tempted to make an emergency escape, but, dammit, these werehisfriends. “I’ve never been kicked out of a bar.”
Grady clenched his jaw and tried to calm down before he got them both kicked out. Tempted to raise his middle finger, he downed a swig of his beer and held out his thumb. It had been Ryder’s fault, so the finger really should go to him.
The challenges bounced around again, his friends doing their best to ease the tension. Well, most of them. Asher wasn’t so subtle. “I’ve never kissed anyone’s ass to sell them anything.”
The corner of Grady’s lips turned up as Asher nudged him under the table. Claire bit her lips together and stared at the ceiling with a discreet smile.
Grady kept it tame for the next few rounds, feeding Asher and Freya easy points to end the game as quickly as possible. He was too wiped from the long day out in the cold anyway. Maybe tonight hadn’t been the best night to hang out. He was ready to crash and sleep for the next week and a half... until Claire was out of his life.
She wasn’t any perkier. As the night wore on, she slouched in her chair and faded from the conversation.
Wide awake and raring to go, Ryder hopped up from his stool and rubbed a hand on Claire’s shoulder. “I see some old friends. Let me introduce you around?”
Claire shook her head. “Not this time.”
While Ryder spent the next hour chatting it up, Claire’s eyes fluttered shut, and she slumped against Grady’s side. Against his better judgment, he breathed her in, her hair soft against his rough growth of beard, her scent filled with lavender and leather and absolutely not the tropical flower he’d pictured for Ryder.
Grady gulped his water and groaned, “You know what? I think we need some new games. Doesn’t matter how we play it, I always get my ass kicked.”
Asher’s eyes darted back and forth between Grady and Claire. “Yeah, you do lose too much.”
Sophie pointed behind him. “Looks like Ryder’s racking up another round at billiards. You should take Claire home.”
Eyes heavy, Claire lifted her head and turned to discover that Ryder showed no signs of slowing, then rotated back on her stool. “I’m sorry, Grady, do you mind? I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.”
As you wish,he thought, patting himself on the back for not saying it out loud. His feelings were already pretty damn obvious. “Sure,” he said instead, his voice full of gravel.
9
W-H-O-O-P-S-A-D-A-I-S-Y
“I swear, I didn’t even know you were interested.” Trace Perry covered her mouth, her delighted shock brightening her naturally brilliant demeanor.
“Not even a little? Haley moved away. But you kept coming over to hang out, so I thoughtyouwere interested. Yeah, we were friends enough, but I wasn’t subtle.” Grady took a bite of his smoked salmon with gruyere over spring greens, smiling through full cheeks.
