Game night is wild as it always is. I hang with Jane on the couch even though we aren’t on the same team. Shot Charades—a game we made up where if you lose a round with your team, you have to take a shot—is in the thick of it, even if I discreetly grabbed the watered-down vodka for Jane so that she could get up and still rule the world tomorrow. Though, she’s still feeling quite the buzz as she giggles at something April says beside her.
I pull her closer. Just because I can.
My friends laugh all around me and I smile, loving the feeling of being here with my friends, with this woman beside me that I get to call mine.
Hell, even the new guy, Mike, isn’t so bad. He seems a little socially awkward, but between Enzo and Derek who have a habit of making friends with everyone they meet, Mike is thoroughly woven into our group now. He clicked with Chris and Archer, the two primary gamers of the group, since that seems to be something Mike is very into.
A knock at the door has Garrett getting up from where he sat, mostly quiet as is his nature, and answers the door. I peek around Jane to see Viviana, Enzo’s little sister, enter the living room with a bright smile on her face.
Archer stands immediately for her and I smirk at the action.
I don’t know how many people have noticed, but whenever Enzo’s sister is around, Archer stands a little taller, talks a little more, and he sure as hell stares at her a lot.
But I didn’t comment on it. Wouldn’t want someone else to insert themselves into my personal life like that if I had a chance to save myself. I also wasn’t going to give Derek any more ammo over any of it. He likes to use that kind of information for evil.
I was curious when—if ever—Archer would do something about his infatuation.
“Hey everyone,” Viviana says, and her eyes hit everyone before they land on Archer. “Hey Archie, nice shirt.” Her scan stops again on Jane and her eyes widen in surprise. “Jane!”
Jane stands and I look on in surprise. The familiar way they hug has my brows furrowing. “Viv! My god, I haven’t seen you in ages!”
“Ugh, I know. This new boss has pulled events out from under me, she’s out to get me, I swear.”
“You’re having issues at work?” Archer comments, a concerned look on his face. Viviana was a big marketing guru, she worked for one of the best-known business marketing companies in Denver, and from what I knew and heard, she was brilliant at it.
But Viviana waves him off.
“Nothing I can’t handle, Archie, don’t worry.”But he will,I think silently and stand to make my way to the two girls.
It’s late and everyone is paired off in groups, catching up and refilling glasses. I wrap my arm around Jane’s waist and Viviana tracks the movement.
“Aha, so now I know why you’re here.”
Jane giggles, laying her hand over mine and squeezing. “Technically, April invited me.”
“You know April, too?” Viviana asks as April walks up to our little circle.
“April basically saved my life on a late Valentine’s Day night.”
“Please, it was my pleasure. Plus, you’re easy to dress.”
I lean in close, my lips pressed against her ear. “Easy to undress, too,” I whisper.
Jane shushes me and starts to gab with her friends. I love that she’s comfortable here, that she can let her hair down and relax and justfit.
But at that moment, I also wish we could be back at her place, alone.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Show me all the parts of you that you do not love so I know where to begin.”
-ANA
Jane
I moan and shove my face farther into the bed, my body a bag of jelly bones as Warren works his hands over my body. “How are you so good at this?”
Warren chuckles in the deep baritone that I love. “I’m good with my hands.”