Page 55 of Let It Breathe
At last, Reese nodded. “Let’s play.”
She marched past him into the living room and Clay stared after her, admiring the sway of her hips. She chose a spot on a comfortable-looking love seat that matched the couch, and Clay watched her tuck her delicate bare feet up under her as her caramel-colored braid slipped over her shoulder. He saw Eric watching him and quickly feigned interest in a potted fern on the edge of the counter.
“You coming, Clay?” Larissa yelled.
Not anytime soon, dammit.
Kicking his inner pig in the head, he cleared his throat and headed for the living room. “Yeah, sure.”
He chose a seat as far away from Reese as he could get, settling on the end of the sofa near Eric while he ordered himself to grow the fuck up and stop ogling Reese. He could do this. He could renew friendships and revisit old memories and go home with no regrets. This was the way normal people functioned, right?
Across from him, Larissa began to explain the rules, though Clay suspected he was the only one who required a refresher. “Okay, so someone starts and they have to make a statement that starts I never. It has to be true, and it’s always best if it’s a little bit dirty. Like I could say, I never had sex on an airplane, and anyone in the room who’s done that would have to drink.”
Clay shifted his water glass in one hand. “So how do we know who wins?”
“There’s no winner or loser,” Larissa explained with exaggerated patience. “It’s just about learning people’s deepest, darkest secrets. The more you drink, the less inhibited you become, the more you cough up the dirt.”
Eric nodded at Clay’s glass. “Probably good the guy with the most dirt is drinking water.”
“Come on,” Larissa said. “Let’s just play.”
Reese sighed and settled back onto her love seat with a glass of wine beside her on an end table. Clay watched, wondering what she was thinking. This was awkward for all of them, but probably more for Reese, who tended to be a private person. Maybe he still had time to put a stop to it. Maybe?—
“Why don’t you start, ’Riss?” Reese suggested. “Show us how it’s done.”
“Okay, fine—I never had sex with two people at once,” Larissa declared.
“Oh, come on,” Reese said. “That hardly seems—” She stopped and stared at Clay as he took a slow sip of water.
Everyone’s attention swung to him, and Clay froze mid-sip, pretty sure he’d just started things off on the wrong foot. He set his glass down and frowned at Eric. “What?”
“Stud!” Eric slapped him on the shoulder.
Larissa laughed. “There’s a story I’d love to hear.”
Clay grimaced, feeling like an idiot just thirty seconds into the game. Everyone sat staring at him, which was the last thing he wanted. He felt awkward in his own skin, and remembered how easy it used to be to grab a beer at a party to make that feeling go away.
“I thought that’s how the game worked,” he said, wondering if it was okay to take another sip of water. His mouth felt dry all of a sudden. “That’s how we’re supposed to play, right?”
“Right,” Larissa said. “And no one is allowed to judge, so quit looking at him like that, Reese.”
“I wasn’t,” she said. “Just surprised, that’s all.”
Clay scuffed his toe across the rug. “Alcohol may have been a factor.”
Reese bit her lip. “It often is.”
“You’re up, Reese,” Eric said. “We go in a circle, right?”
“Right,” Larissa agreed. “Come on, Reese—lay it on us.”
“Oh, fine.” She grabbed her own wineglass, not meeting Clay’s eyes. “I never had sex in the winery barn.”
Eric and Larissa both lifted their glasses and drank. Reese snorted. “Larissa doesn’t surprise me, but Eric? I wouldn’t think Sheila would agree to that.”
“Wasn’t Sheila,” he said. “This was after you, before Sheila. Remember that intern six years ago? The one with the big?—”
“Okay, moving on,” Reese said. “Eric, you go.”
