So that happened a roman.., p.22
So That Happened: A Romantic Comedy, page 22
I sputter out a laugh. “Safe to say you were wrong?”
“One thousand percent wrong,” she concedes. “But at least Mr. D looks happy.”
I glance at Luke, who’s strapping himself into one of the weird chest harness-y things we’ve all been given. He’s grinning from ear to ear and heckling anyone within a five-foot radius. “Guy looks like he’s a regular here.”
Vanessa pulls a face. “Not what I would’ve expected.”
I smile as I focus my attention on Liam. He’s changed out of his work suit and into a black t-shirt and charcoal jeans. Which means those gorgeous, colorful arm tattoos are in full view. I soak in the sight as he sits on a bench and clips himself into his harness with ease.
“I think Liam’s done this before, too,” I say, surprised.
Vanessa’s jaw slackens. “Holy moly. Those tattoos should be illegal. Not that I’m looking.”
I don’t reply. I’m too busy trying not to swallow my tongue.
I like to think I’m not a shallow person, that I value depth. That physical appearance isn’t important, that…
Oh, who am I kidding? When it comes to looking at this man, I’m practically a puddle.
Ten minutes later—with no small amount of effort—we’re all clipped into our harnesses, armed with large, bulky plastic guns, and being ushered into a “training room.” There, another teenage boy gives us a rundown of how the game works, how to shoot our guns, and what to expect when we’re in the arena. All between sneaking surreptitious glances at Vanessa’s legs.
“So remember, you guys are playing our Mega Death game—which means that there’s no limit on how many times you can shoot another player when they’ve been temporarily stunned.”
Luke and Liam share a maniacal smile at this information.
The boy checks his clipboard. “The teams are as follows…”
Apparently, this has all been pre-arranged, because Luke and Liam step forward as team leaders right away. Luke even jostles Liam a little as they make their way to the front. I’m amazed to see Liam grin at his brother and mutter a few words I can’t hear, but lip-read as something along the lines of “you’re going down” with an unrepeatable expletive thrown in.
Wow. Mr. Donovan is full of surprises today.
Vanessa pouts a little as she’s called onto Luke’s team, but then seems to catch herself, like she’s just remembered her vow to no longer pine for Liam. Luke practically pouts too when he takes in her shoes and short skirt. “Can you run in those?” he asks doubtfully.
Jamal, Barb and a few customer care people also get called to Luke’s team, while Liam gets a couple of the accounting guys, Trevor, Todd, and me.
When I come to stand beside him, he nudges me in the side. “Ready for battle, Jacobs?”
Who is this guy and what has he done with Liam? I blink up at him, and his dark eyes dance all over my face. “Born ready, Donovan.”
“Good.” He smiles that heartachingly gorgeous smile of his again. “Because losing is not an option.”
“Might’ve been a mistake to have the girl who’s never played before on your team, then,” I tease, keeping my voice light.
“Not a mistake,” Liam says, his eyes darker than ever. “A happy accident.”
My heart skips a beat.
“Sounds like you’ve had enough practice for both of us, anyways.” I smirk, trying to make my heart rate return to normal. “You come here a lot?”
“Luke and I must’ve played laser tag a thousand times when we were kids. Mom used to take us.” He smiles softly at the memory, then chuckles. “We were obsessed. So this is quite the blast from the past.”
I see the nostalgic flicker in his eyes. He’s so at ease—loose-limbed, smiling and full of fun competition. Almost like a trip down memory lane, back to a part of his childhood that was carefree and happy, is lifting whatever weight he usually carries with him.
My eyes linger on him as he sidles up to Luke and the two of them start smack-talking each other. Meanwhile, the boy stops checking out Vanessa long enough to count us down.
Our teams are led down separate passageways. Then, we’re in the arena.
For a moment, I’m disoriented. It’s dark, and it takes my eyes a few blinks to adjust. I hold up my gun tentatively, feeling like Katniss Everdeen after she rose on her platform into the Hunger Games arena for the first time.
And that’s when I hear squealing. I catch a flash of laser light streaming across the air, followed by a red flash on a chest nearby.
Someone’s been hit.
Time to get moving.
I use my free hand to hike up my maxi skirt and run as fast as I can. I spot a neon-painted piece of scaffolding and dive behind it. Just as I’m poking my head up, I see a light flicker and I take aim at my target.
The light flashes, and I hear the enemy team member groan.
Yes! A hit.
I could get into this.
A loud curse word, a flashing light, and nearby footsteps tell me I’m not safe here, so I dart forward, brandishing my weapon defensively as I head for what looks like a structure with a second floor platform. I’ll have a good vantage point up there.
I jog toward a ramp, but the footsteps behind me are gaining. All of a sudden, I see a flash in my peripheral.
I look down to see my chest light blinking. I’ve been hit!
I pick up my pace, laughing as I go.
This is too much fun. What was I thinking, not playing laser tag all this time?
A laser light flashes to my left, warning me that I was almost hit a second time. Shoot!
Flash!
Ahh… another hit. Dammit. Maybe this plan wasn’t so smart after all.
Gotta get to safety. Fast.
Flash!
Another hit.
I scramble forward, tripping over the hem of my skirt as I go. And then, out of nowhere, something closes around my arm.
A hand. A big hand.
“Agghhhh!” I scream as I’m pulled sideways in one swift motion, off the ramp and down a little side alley I hadn’t seen.
The hand moves from my arm, clapping over my mouth as a body covers mine, pressing me into an alcove.
Suddenly, all I can smell is sexy pine forest, all I can feel is warm skin against mine. Darkness cloaks us in the alcove, totally hidden from sight, and my inability to visually orient myself serves to heighten my other senses, which are all in absolute overdrive right now.
Through the darkness, my eyes meet Liam’s. Inky, sparkling, endless pools. I focus on his gaze—still dancing playfully—boring down on me.
I suck in a sharp breath, but this just has me breathing in more of his intoxicating scent.
He lowers his face so his lips are almost at my ear.
“Shhh,” he murmurs, his breath tickling the sensitive skin on my neck as he gently removes his hand from its firm position on my mouth. “That was Luke behind you.”
He pulls back and he’s grinning, his face inches away. Painfully close. And his big, hot body, wide and hard as a brick wall, is still covering mine. His hands have moved to press against the wall, one on either side of my head, caging me into position. Protecting me.
Every square inch of my skin is tingling, whipped into a hyper-alert frenzy.
“Don’t worry,” he breathes, lowering his lips back to my ear. “He didn’t see what happened. Nobody did.”
I let out a nervous, high-pitched laugh. I feel woozy. “Thank you for saving me.”
His smile turns wry. “Couldn’t let you be the reason we lose the game, could I?”
I grin back, heart beating a million times a minute. “Should’ve worn my Team Donovan shirt.”
Liam’s eyes darken, his pupils dilating into depths of that deep, rich brown. “I can’t stop thinking about you in that shirt.”
My stomach clenches. “I can’t stop thinking about you in general,” I whisper back.
It’s Liam’s turn to suck in a breath.
His arms tense against the wall and the next thing I feel is his stubble scraping my cheek, sending shockwaves through me. His lips follow, the contrasting softness spurring a thousand butterflies in my stomach.
He gently kisses my cheekbone, then presses another achingly sharp and sweet stubbly kiss next to it. My hands reach up to fist in his t-shirt, pulling him closer. His lips move again, on a path to where I’m desperate for them, and I tilt my mouth hungrily to meet his, not caring where we are or what’s going on around us, just desperate for more of him.
His lips skim mine, featherlight, and I begin to part mine….
Flash!
“HAHAHAHAHA, GOTCHA!” Luke screams like a psychopath.
Liam and I spring apart, and my eyes fly open to see burst after burst of green light. Liam’s chest lights up as his brother fires mercilessly.
There’s nothing we can do. We’re trapped. Cornered. Sitting ducks.
Liam looks at me and smiles as he gets murdered over and over.
“You got killed because of me,” I say.
“You kill me,” he says softly, running the back of his calloused hand softly over my jawline. I’m not sure if it’s his words or his touch that send a bigger jolt of electricity through me. He pushes a stray lock of hair behind my ear tenderly, and I look up into that gorgeous face. Trace my eyes over the stubble and scar and eyelashes and mussed up hair.
“And I’m gonna kill Luke for interrupting that.”
He grins. “That’s the spirit. On three?”
I peek around Liam and see that I’m currently concealed from Luke. The perfect sneak attack.
“One, two…” I count.
“Three!” Liam finishes as he darts sideways, moving his body away from mine and offering me the perfect kill shot.
“Gotcha!” I cackle as I shoot repeatedly at Luke, who whirls in horror to try and take me down.
Bursts of light explode all around me.
Fireworks.
33
LIAM
“Good game, Jacobs.” I give Annie a nod as we exit the arena, then turn to acknowledge the rest of my team.
We’re a motley crew after that insane death match. Luke is positively drowning in sweat—the man looks like he went for a swim fully-clothed. Todd is taking hit after hit of his inhaler, stopping between each one to let out a wheeze. Vanessa’s broken a strap on her shoe, and I’m pretty sure Barb is half-drunk after smuggling in a hip flask.
But Annie?
She’s glowing. And looking at her makes me glow, too, because I’m pretty damn sure I know what’s making her smile that secret little smile she keeps sharing with the floor.
What happened in there was… hot. Like, crazy hot.
I’m a tangled mess of thoughts that involve full lips and shaky breath and soft skin.
I need to get her alone. Like, now.
“We lost by a million points.” Annie raises her eyebrows at me, then bites that lip I can’t stop thinking about. “But I will say that it was very… eventful.”
“Not quite eventful enough, I’d say.”
She flushes prettily, then attempts to unbuckle her harness. A futile attempt. Her damp, messy hair tangles in one of the clasps, and it’s so hilariously predictable that I laugh. She looks helpless, like a turtle on its back. “Need a hand?”
“Please.”
I step toward her and gently take a lock of her hair between my fingers, trying to be as delicate as I can as I unfurl it from the clasp.
“How are you getting home tonight?” I ask quietly, trying to distract myself from how close we are. I remind myself sternly that everyone can see us.
Act normal, Liam. Or, as normal as possible.
Annie bites her lip and gives me a look that’s so loaded, it’s all I can do not to just grab her and kiss her. “Um,” she says. “Well, I was going to ask Barb.”
Going, past tense.
I glance in Barb’s direction. She’s swaying dangerously as she talks to Jamal. “Yeah, no. I’ll call Barb an Uber.”
Annie follows my gaze from under her hair knot and chuckles. “Good call. I guess I can get an Uber, too? Or the bus?”
I love how she makes these sentences questions… like she knows we can come up with a better plan.
“I’ll drive you.”
“Don’t you have to get home to Legs?”
I smile. “Lana Mae’s home, remember? I’m back at my place.”
Annie’s mouth pops open. “I just realized I have no idea where you live.”
I try to hold back a smile. “Is that surprising? People don’t often know where their bosses live.”
“You know where I live.”
Touché. I nod, eyes on hers. “True. I live in Midtown.”
“But that’s, like, the opposite direction.”
“I like to take the scenic route.”
Annie’s lips twitch. “There is no scenic route.”
I run my eyes over her pink cheeks and glittering eyes. “There most definitely is.”
Behind her head, Luke points at Annie, then points at me, and makes an obscene gesture.
I flip him off before unhooking the last strand of Annie’s hair from her harness. In the process, my fingers accidentally brush her cheek, and she sucks in a breath. The sound makes my insides flip.
“Annie and I can Uber together,” Vanessa says brightly, popping up beside us with her heels in her hand.
“Nah, I’ll take her.” I try my best to sound casual.
“But I…”
“I’ll take her,” I repeat, this time in my boss voice. The one that says “that’s final.”
Vanessa stops arguing.
Luke mimes giving himself a high-five. I swear, who agreed to marry this idiot?
“Let’s get out of here,” Annie says as she shakes out her hair and tosses her harness in the returns bin.
It’s cold out this evening, and when we get to my car, I crank the heat. We sit for a moment while the air circulates, blowing her sweet ocean scent around the vehicle.
Great. I’ll just refrain from breathing for the foreseeable future. No big deal.
We pull onto the main road and sit in silence for a few minutes. Not a comfortable silence, but the tense, almost electrical silence you can physically feel.
“Annie, I—” I say at the exact same moment as she says “Liam.”
We look at each other.
“You first,” I offer.
She nods. Swallows. “About what happened…”
I give her a lopsided smile, one that I hope disguises just how hard my heart is beating. “You’re going to have to be more specific. Lots of things seem to happen when you’re around.”
She snorts. “My best friend Prisha used to call them shen-Annie-gans.”
My smile grows wider. “I’ve never heard such a perfect description for anything. So which shen-Annie-gan are you referring to, specifically?”
She gives me a side-eyed glance. Licks her lips. Then braces slightly, like she’s not sure if she should say what’s on her mind.
“I don’t know where to start.” There’s a flirty, biting edge to her tone that’s almost painfully sexy.
The stomach dropping sensation is back in full force.
I suck in a breath. “Shall we start with the fact that we spent a night holding each other, and even though I didn’t know you, I’ve never in my life wanted to get closer to someone like I did you?”
“Really?”
I nod. Drum my fingers on the steering wheel. “Really. I don’t get… close to people easily. Physically or emotionally. You, however, make me want to do both.”
“I feel the same,” she says softly. “Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about that night. Thought about how I want to get that close to you again.”
I know just what she means.
After what happened to my mom, everything I did became about control. If I couldn’t control my surroundings, I could control what I was doing, control what I chose to focus on. If I couldn’t control my shortcomings, I could control what I excelled at. Practice could make perfect.
And if I couldn’t control what had already come to pass, I could do everything in my power to control what happened next.
I was good at it, the whole control thing.
Until Annie came along.
“It’s hard to control myself around you,” I admit.
She lifts a shoulder, and when she speaks, her voice is breathy. “Then don’t.”
It feels like another dare. A challenge I won’t hesitate to take.
“Fine. I won’t.”
I swerve suddenly, turning the car off the main road and down a side street. I pull into the first parking lot I see—a closed strip mall. I park the car and my hand tightens on her arm. She makes a strange little noise, and I, in turn, make the mistake of dropping my gaze to her lips. They’re parted.
Lord have mercy on me.
“Good,” she breathes. “I don’t want you to.”
This back and forth is ridiculous. But it’s enough to make me forget every single last rule I’ve carefully lived by for so many years.
In this moment, the remainder of my control is slipping away. All I can see are those endless golden eyes, all I can feel is that silky smooth pale skin, all I can smell is her warm ocean scent, and all I can hear is her uneven breathing. Jagged enough to tell me that she, too, is feeling a little out of control by our proximity. A little reckless.
I move closer, my hands sliding over her forearms to her shoulders. My hands eclipse her narrow collarbones as I lean toward her, close enough that we’re sharing air.
“Do you want me to kiss you, Annie?”
It’s a rhetorical question.
I already know the answer.
34
ANNIE
Everything about this situation—those rough, calloused hands wrapped around my shoulders, his body so close to mine, the sandpaper edge to his low voice, the smell of his skin—it’s almost too much to handle.
