Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92704 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 464(@200wpm)___ 371(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
We found spots by the bar, where Rex happened to be serving once again.
“You guys sticking around today?” he asked. “I was planning to join in on the games later.”
He seemed plenty interested—in us more than the games. The way he glanced between Sawyer and me, I didn’t imagine he was all that particular about which of us might be into playing games with him later.
He took our drink orders and generously offered to make me some eggs-over-easy when I joked about how I preferred them to the scrambled eggs at the buffet. Before Rex headed off, he added, “I get off at four, so I hope to see you both then.” He winked and walked off.
“’Scuse you, Rex,” I muttered to Sawyer. “I’ll decide when you get off.”
I’d enjoyed several victories since our friendlier conversation the day before, but now Sawyer just shook his head.
“Clearly, wouldn’t be the first or last time you helped a man get off.”
I wondered if his remark was at least in part about that night at Fever. “Do you really get to be the one to judge me in that department?”
“I definitely don’t have the massive Rolodex of a guy like Carter James.”
“Just let me know when you need help changing that, and I’m all yours.”
He struggled against a smile before chuckling. “Seriously, what makes a guy talk and joke about sex all the time?”
“Typically, because he’d prefer to be having sex all the time, but in my case, I only do that with people I’m interested in having it with.”
He smiled at the compliment. “Interested in adding me to your list of conquests?” There was something bitter, almost sad about the way he said it.
“Conquest implies there’s some force involved. I’m only interested in seducing the willing. But if you’re interested in a conquest, I’m fine with pretending I’m being forced.”
He at least gave me a snicker that time, and I’d take it. I’d take whatever he wanted to give me, really. Wasn’t that obvious to him?
Sawyer winced, in that way I’d become accustomed to. It was evident he had something on his mind, but before I could ask, he continued, “I’m curious what it’d be like if you were more open about what you were actually thinking.”
“I always say what I’m thinking.”
“Do you, though? When I talk to you, I typically get right to the point. Or I’m polite enough not to say anything if it’s too harsh. That’s not you. Aren’t all the jokes a bit of a front…or at least distracting from something that maybe you aren’t saying? I’ve never seen you behaving seriously about, well, much of anything. So I have a hard time believing this carefree, sex-addict act you put on.”
“So Serious Sawyer is accusing me of being disingenuous?”
“A little bit.”
“Fair enough,” I said as he looked directly at me…really looked at me, in a way I hadn’t felt like he had in some time, especially not after that night in Fever.
He wasn’t wrong, no. But certainly he had his own defenses, same as anyone else. Was it so terrible that mine involved pervy jokes and irreverent commentary?
Now he was getting under my skin.
Before I had a chance to say anything, Rex approached with our drinks, and I decided it was best to change the subject back to the weather and checking in with the guys.
“What card are you using?” I whispered to Sawyer, who sat on the sofa beside me.
We sat in a circle of fifteen guys around a coffee table.
“I’m not telling you.”
“I’m just worried about playing the one I have. It’s the best in my hand, and if I don’t get it, that blond twink from hell is gonna beat us.”
“Us? There is no us. You’re the one with all the cards.”
He was being modest, considering he’d collected five, but it wasn’t near my ten or that guy’s eleven—twelve being the number a player needed to win.
I sighed. “His partner stomped our asses over at darts, and now this. They’re some sort of gaming power couple.”
We’d spent the past few hours floating between groups, dispersed into teams, mixing and matching throughout the day, with plenty of free drinks and shots being offered intermittently. It was clear the lodge was more than prepared for the event of the slopes being shut down for a bit, and I had to admit, the games were helping me clear my head of all the work-related BS I’d carried around the week before.
Sawyer chuckled. “I don’t even understand this game.”
“It takes a special sort of understanding of how people work to win Cards Against Humanity, and I always win this game. I’m only one away from this kid. This is my chance. He can’t collect a card this turn since he’s the judge, so if I get it, then we’re tied and I can still beat him.”