Kiss and Don't Tell(33)

“Can you? You’re going to have to crack that door open, you know?”

“For Jenga, for the title of Master Jenga-ist, I’ll do it.”

“Is that the proper term?” He chuckles. “Master Jenga-ist?”

“Yup,” I answer with confidence. Anyone will believe you if you have enough confidence in your answers. Tonight was a prime example of that.

“Uh-huh, just like Falcon is the name of the Mars Lander?”

I pick up my cider and tilt it at him. “Precisely.”

“Okay, Master Jenga-ist, you go first.” He gestures toward the tower and I go for the kill, the bottom of the tower, and I pull out the left block.

“Savage.” He shakes his head.

“I told you, I’m good.” I scan the block and see there’s a question. “Fuck, Chuck, Marry. Hornsby, Posey, Lawes.” I scrunch my nose and look up at Pacey, who has a huge grin spread across his face. “What is this?”

“A question,” he says. “And did I mention, the first question always has to be answered?”

“That’s not the—”

He holds an index card up to me that states the rules of the game the boys obviously made up, and right there, the number one rule is the first question always has to be answered.

“Now, you can forfeit right now and I can claim the title, or you can answer—”

“Marry Posey.” I tap my chin and think about the question. There’s no way I’m going to let him win that easily. Knowing it will grate on Pacey’s nerves, I finish, “Fuck Hornsby and chuck Lawes. Easy.” I plop the brick on top and lean back in the chair while grinning at him.

He clutches his heart. “After everything we’ve been through, you’d chuck me? That’s brutal, Winnie. Really fucking brutal.” He reaches for a block as I try to hide my laugh. He pulls it out with ease and then places it on top.

“Hey, don’t you have to answer a question?”

“There wasn’t a question on that block.” He picks it up and shows me. “Only some of them have questions.”

“Oh, so I was the lucky one who pulled the ‘fuck, chuck, or marry’ block?”

“Incredibly lucky . . . even though you didn’t answer it truthfully.” He smirks.

“And how do you think I should’ve answered it?”

He brings his drink to his lips and says, “We both know you’d chuck Hornsby.”

Yup.

We both know it.

“Isn’t Horny the perfect guy to fuck, though?”

Pacey nearly spits out his drink when he laughs. “I guess so.”

Pleased with myself, I grab another block, this one on the bottom right so the tower is left teetering on one block. I like to start the game off with a real challenge. I flip it over and find writing. “Apparently, I only know how to pick blocks with questions.”

“Just the way I like it,” Pacey says.

“Okay, what’s your favorite . . .” I trail off and look up at Pacey.

“What?” he asks, even though the humor in his eyes gives him away.

“What’s the theme of these blocks?”

“No theme, just questions the guys and I came up with.”

“And you play this with each other?”

“Yup,” he answers casually.

“So, you answer what your favorite body part is of the person across from you?”

“Easily.” He grins.

“I don’t believe you.”

He shifts in the chair and says, “Fuck, chuck, or marry—I would fuck myself, marry Posey, chuck Hornsby. Last time we played this, I sat across from Holmes. I told him my favorite body part of his were his thighs. Titans in jeans, thick as hell.” He wiggles his brows and then leans back again. “No shame in playing with the boys. Now, do you have any other complaints?”

I pause and then ask, “You’d fuck yourself?”

“Usually the only kind of love I get, so yeah. Stick with what’s working.”

I snort and then cover my nose.

“What’s so funny?” he asks.

“I’m sorry.” I wipe at my nose. “I just wasn’t expecting you to say that.”

“What did you expect? Oh wait, that’s right—you assumed I was the manwhore of the group.” He picks a piece of lint off his shorts. “Can’t always judge a book by its cover, Winnie.”

“Apparently not. Well, that’s, uh, interesting. I hope you’re gentle with yourself. Kind.”

He chuckles. “I’m always gentle, but commanding.”

I laugh out loud. “Oh God, my mind is reeling right now and it shouldn’t.”

“Do tell what it’s thinking.” He takes another sip of his drink and leans against his side of the chair so he’s facing me, and it’s hard not to fall under his spell. His easygoing, open spell. It feels so normal talking to him. Simple. I don’t have to try, it just flows, and all the credit goes to Pacey, because he makes me feel comfortable. Not sure I’d feel this way with any of the other guys in the house.

“No way. I’m not sharing the thoughts in my head.”

“So, then they must be really good.”