Page 52 of Just Ten Seconds

“I know. But I do. These meetings were Joey’s idea. I asked him to come because I want to be completely transparent with him. It’s been healthy for us.” She gnaws on her lower lip and glances over at the guys, who are still talking baseball or football … or some kind of ball sport. “There are some things I don’t share in the meeting because I don’t want to hurt Joey’s feelings. Like intimate things, personal feelings I have about Ryan sometimes. I don’t want Joey to think he could be my second choice. I don’t want to hurt him. Sometimes, it’s okay to keep things to ourselves.”

I lift my beer to my lips and take a hard swallow. Sometimes, the truth hurts people. “I know what you mean.”

Lauren’s hands rise in the air as if she just realized something. “Wow. That just took a major turn, and we are supposed to be partying!” she calls out and starts shaking her head like a madwoman.

Joey’s eyes pop over to her. “My girl is about to let loose.”

“You know it, babe!” She slams the table and smiles brightly. She rests one elbow on the table and holds her other hand up high. “Never Have I Ever?”

I’m waiting for her to finish the rest of the sentence when I notice Dean and Joey raise their hands as well.

Dean slides an arm around my chair and leans into me. “It’s a drinking game.”

“Oh.” I raise my hand like they are. “How do we play?”

“We’ll play to five,” Lauren explains. “We each go around stating something we’ve never done. Other players who have done the thing respond by taking a drink.”

I grab my beer. “Sounds easy.”

“It’s not. Just wait.” Dean chuckles. “I’ll start. Never have I ever used drugs.”

Lauren takes a drink.

“Seriously?” Joey asks, exasperated.

“Just pot. Everyone’s smoked pot,” she explains with an eye roll.

“Oh,” he says like it didn’t dawn on him that marijuana was a drug. His glass rises to his lips.

“Not a one?” Dean asks me.

“Theater geek. Recreational drugs weren’t in my universe.”

This seems to please him.

Joey goes next. “Never have I ever sent a sext.”

Lauren drinks again. I cover my mouth with a chuckle at Joey’s flabbergasted expression.

“It wasn’t to me!” he playfully yells.

“If you want, I’ll send you a sext tonight.”

He voraciously nods his head. “Yes. Yes, I would very much like one.”

Lauren turns to me and Dean. “Neither one of you have ever sexted?”

We look at each other with slow head shakes and a shared smile.

“No. I like my dirty talk to be done face-to-face,” he says.

I flush at the way he’s looking at me. “Same.”

“In Portuguese,” he says. “Tu és linda e inigualável. Seria uma honra levar-te para a cama.”

My jaw is slack while my eyes are drawn to his lips as the words flow easily from his moist mouth. I lick my lips and then blink rapidly, lifting my beer from the table and taking a long chug.

He leans over the table, and his head comes in close to mine. So close that his breath tickles my ear. “Thirsty?”