That would be fun. Let me know when.
"Is everything okay?" Bran appeared in front of me, handing me my sparkling water spiked with orange juice.
I put my phone back into my pocket as I stood. "Everything's fine."
He arched a brow. "I'm guessing you are chatting with Harper." He let out a long sigh. "You don't have to hide your friendship with Harper from me. I don't mind that you’re friends with her and in fact, I'm happy that you are."
Guilt swamped me again because he'd been right. While I'd been hiding Bran from Harper, to some extent, I’d been hiding Harper from Bran. Still, it would be a betrayal to tell him things that she had told me. It wasn't my place.
But I could let him know she was okay. "She's doing fine, Bran. Still annoyed at you but doing fine."
He smiled. "Thank you."
The fact that he didn't press me further made me think that he probably knew more about what was going on in Harper's life than I did.
Maybe even she did.
He might not have someone like Dax following her, but I couldn't imagine that he wasn’t keeping tabs on her somehow. I considered asking about it and suggesting that maybe he give her some breathing space as I knew he was working to give me, but I didn't want to ruin the fun we were having bowling.
"So, should we put a wager on this one?" I asked as I walked over to pick up my ball.
He flashed me that sexy grin again. "I was thinking of strip bowling. What do you say?"
I smirked wanting him to think that I thought he was a such a man for succumbing to his basic sexual urges, but inside I was pretty excited about the idea of getting naked with Bran. "What are the rules?"
"Whenever one of us gets a strike or spare, the other one has to remove an article of clothing."
"What if I am a hustler and this time, I beat the pants off of you literally. You’d be standing there naked while I'm still in my dress."
"I don't see that happening, sweetheart, but if it does, I hope that you will take mercy on me."
I had to actively tell myself that his use of the word sweetheart didn't mean anything.
"Since we know that I'm the one that's going to beat the pants, or in this case, the panties off you, what are you going to do when you're standing there naked and I'm still in my clothes."
I tilted my head and smirked. "Are you seriously going to tell me that if I was standing there naked you would still be dressed?"
His head jerked back and let out a bark of laughter. “You got me there." He took a seat as I stepped up to the alley to bowl. “Either way, we know this is going to end in a lot of pleasure."
As it turned out Bran was the hustler. It wasn't long before I was only in my bra and underwear, while Bran was shirtless, but still had all his other clothes on.
I watched him look at me, the way his gaze slid down my body. It was like a promise of things to come, and my body heated in response.
I saw the bulge behind the fly of his jeans. I wanted to see more. That desire had me rallying to win the game. I bowled a strike and two spares, and finally he was standing in his underwear.
He turned on his music again and bowled a strike, which left us even, both of us in our underwear.
He turned to me. "You realize that no matter how the game turns out, we’ll both enjoy it, right?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. If you crush me again, I might be too depressed to do anything but put on my clothes again."
He stepped up to me, his hands sliding up my waist and around my back, pulling me close. "In that case, maybe we should just call it a tie and proceed to celebrating our victories."
"I thought you were a fierce competitor." I ran my hands up his chest and over his shoulders, savoring the feel of him. Trying to imprint him in my mind for the time when he and I wouldn't be like this anymore. He reached over, grabbing his remote. He turned off the Queen song. The next song that played was a sexy R&B.
"I've already won, Anne."
I looked into his eyes, wondering if those words meant anything more than just that he was going to get laid. I couldn't tell. But then his lips were on mine and the only thoughts were about savoring this man.