“Uh, whatever you want is fine with me.”
“How about cards?” Julia asked spinning around to the music.
Max took advantage of her turned back and readjusted himself through the heavy material of his uniform pants. “Do we have a deck?”
“Good point. How about two truths and a lie? My sister and I used to play that all the time.”
Max took another swig from the bottle and didn’t wince. His taste buds must be dying. “What do you have to do?”
Julia grinned. “It’s super easy. I say two things that are true and one thing that’s a lie and you have to guess what’s fake.”
“The person who loses drinks?”
“Are you kidding? You don’t reward people for losing. Whoever guesses right drinks. Whoever guesses wrong gets slapped in the face.”
“I’mnotslapping you in the face.”
She heaved a big sigh. “And you call yourself my best friend…Okay, fine. The winner makes fun of the loser until they cry. Are you in?”
Max took another swig from the bottle. “Sure thing, Jules. What do I have to lose?”
Chapter 5
JULIA’Sheart spasmed every single time he said that silly little word. Everyone called her Jules, it was as generic as no-brand detergent, and yet it sounded different coming from a man like Max. Even the way he was sprawled out on the floor, swigging from the bottle turned her on. He looked like a teen idol musician who’d finished a gig and was waiting for a groupie to get in his lap.
I wonder if we’ll have to get changed in front of each other, you know, for survival?
Her panties were cute, ruffled purple silk with daisies. Her bra not so much but she could take that off, let him see her nipples through her top…Julia shivered. The dangerous thoughts were only growing worse. She subtly pinched the inside of her wrist, promising she’d keep her bra on, both physically and emotionally.
Max smiled lazily up at her. “Ready to play?”
Julia didn’t trust herself to respond without fortification. She gestured for the bottle and their fingers touched when he handed it to her, the sensation more intoxicating than the alcohol. Well, more intoxicatingso far. Julia intended to get way beyond the point of stomach tingles and racing hearts with the bottle of Tawny Tiger. She was counting on drunkenness to save her from all-encompassing lust.
She sat down opposite Max, who quickly reclaimed the bottle. The dude was thirstier than she was. “Okay, here we go. Two truths and a lie. I’m Julia Bennett, my middle name is Jupiter, and I once ran over a pigeon on my push bike.”
Max grinned. “Easy as hell, the pigeon thing.”
“Wrong, I ran over a pigeon and it totally died. Hand over the bottle, Connor.”
He did so begrudgingly. “Who kills pigeons?”
Julia took another stomach-decaying sip. “It was an accident. Besides, you should have known Jupiter was fake.”
“What’s your real middle name then?”
“Catherine. A normal human name.”
“Like the Russian queen?”
Julia flushed. “Yeah. You must be the only person who’s ever put that together.”
“I studied Russian history in school.”
“Then you’ll love this. My mum wanted to call me Yulia.”
“No way.”
“Way. It’s the Slavic version of Julia. Luckily my dad freaked out and refused.”