Page 16 of Endeavor

She picks up a t-shirt with a logo of some company on it. “Here. Blythe gets tons of free clothes from companies she works with and she keeps some here for her guests and she donates the others.”

“Oh.” I grab a pair of shorts and a sweatshirt. “Are you sure? I don’t know.”

“It’s not a big deal. I’ve known Blythe my whole life. She’s an old family friend and she would want you, her guest, to be comfortable. Trust me on this. I’ll set up the game while you change,” Quinlan says as she leaves me alone to change.

I make quick work of getting out of my shoes and dress. There are even little sports bags. So, I grab one of those and put all my stuff into it, leaving it in the closet for safekeeping. I shake my head at the fact that I’m digging through the closet of one of the world’s most famous leading actresses.

When I arrive back in the game room, the sound of laughter draws my attention to the game table in the far corner. I freeze. My game just got hijacked by Monumental Mistake. The entire band sits around the table as does Quinlan and Hawke and some other girl sits next to Rhett. If I had to guess, it’s his girlfriend because her legs are swung over his lap and they are chatting with everyone as though their seated position is the most normal in the world.

“Hey! I grabbed some more players,” Quinlan says, waving her hand to beckon me over to them.

Grady pats the seat next to him. “Saved you a seat,” he says with a devilish grin.

I raise an eyebrow as I slowly sink into it.

“Great, I gave you the shoe. Hope that’s OK,” Quinlan says. I shrug, and we begin to play.

Chapter Eight

Grady

Yeah, so I weaseled my way into the game. When I saw her sitting alone on the beach tonight, I knew she was someone worth getting to know. How many people show up at a movie star’s house and then leave the party to be by themselves? And not to cry or have a private phone conversation, just be by themselves. Of course, I’d already shown her my stage persona, the guy I am to most people, the jerk. Winning her over was going to be twice as hard as it could have been, but I’m not a quitter when it comes to the ladies. Now, other things in my life, well, I don’t want to think about them tonight.

I roll the dice and make my move. Everyone is talking smack and chatting in small clusters around the table. I purposefully chose the love seat when Quinlan said Emma was joining us, knowing she’d be stuck next to me.

“So, enjoying the party?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “Your mom’s house is very nice.”

“I see you found the extra-clothes stash.” I nod toward her attire.

She blushes and I want to run my hands over her heated skin. The pink hue contrasts so starkly against her pale skin and blonde hair. “Quinlan said—”

I put up a hand. “It’s totally cool. Most of the overnight party visitors will be raiding that closet at some point this evening unless they came prepared with their own stuff. I mean, who wants to stay in their formal wear all night?”

The pink slowly goes away as she nods her agreement. My turn comes around again and I buy a property. Emma rolls and lands on it and I smirk.

She groans and pays the rent on my property.

“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” she asks with a raised eyebrow.

Shrugging, I run a hand through my hair. “I like this game. Do you?” I know my words are intentionally vague and that’s why I chose them, so I could see the pink on her skin again. I don’t know why my immature mind always goes to slapping a woman’s ass when I see her blush, but dammit if that’s not where it goes, and I can’t stop it. I drop my arm in my lap to hide my dick that’s decided to pay attention to my conversation.

“It’s a fun game. I don’t play it often because it takes a long time,” she says. Now, I know full well that she means the board game, but my smirk tells her that I enjoy the double entendre of our dialogue.

Blushing, she turns back to the game. Rhett asks me something and I answer him, while Jackie weighs in on the conversation. But my attention turns back to Emma after she rolls and lands on the space everyone always wants to buy.

“You gonna buy it?” I ask her.

She cocks her head to one side and all eyes are on her. I wait, curious that she didn’t jump on the opportunity right when she landed there.

“I’ll pass,” she says as she hands the dice to Quinlan, whose mouth hangs open at Emma’s declaration.

“What!?” everyone yells. There’s applauding, laughter, and confusion on the faces around the table. I laugh.

“It’s so overpriced. I’ve never won from buying it before,” she explains.

There’s more dialogue between players and she definitely gets some shit from the guys who scoff at her decision, but I’m impressed that she holds her own with their banter.

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