Sleeping with the Enemy (An Enemies to Lovers Collection)

“Make that two, please,” Carla popped up next to me and gave me a smile. “I think we both deserve a good few drinks.”

“I can’t argue with that,” I agreed with her. “Do you think we could discuss the business of the land lease before we leave Hawaii?” I asked her. “Maybe a brunch before we leave the island on Sunday? We can even have it at the airport.”

“Sure,” Carla nodded and took her whiskey. “Oh, by the way,” she turned and pointed to something behind me. “We’re being challenged to a game of whiskey coinage.”

I turned and saw some of the party goers, including Drew and Hayley, setting up a table off to the side of the dance floor.

“Huh,” I stood up straight with my whiskey in hand and took a sip. “I take it that those two chairs next to each other at the head of the table are for us?” I raised my eyebrows as I looked down at Carla.

“What gave it away?” Carla sighed and shook her head, “Obviously not the party poopers’ seating sign they’ve stuck to the back of our chairs!”

“No,” I shook my head, “it’s the way Drew is doing that eye pointing thing at us.”

“I thought for sure most of them would’ve gone and passed out by now,” Carla sighed again.

“Well, we could always make them pass out,” I grinned down at her. “What do you say, partner?” I offered Carla my arm. “Ready to go drink some aged teen under the table?”

“I am.” Carla linked her arm through mine, then looked up at me with a big smile, “I also thought they were acting like aged teens.”

“Great minds and all that,” I laughed as we headed into hostile drinking territory.

Hayley pulled the chair out for Carla and Drew pulled one out for me. Hayley then took the chair next to Carla on one side of the table and Drew took the chair next to me, facing Hayley. That’s how each of the couples lined up all the way down the table, which grew in size as more people joined in the game.

The first game was one we usually played with light beer to start. But Hayley and Drew, who were the spokespeople for the rest of the party goers, had decided to start with whiskey. As it was Hayley and Drew’s night, they got to set the rules, which were pretty much stacked against Carla and I. Coinage was played by having to bounce a quarter into a pint glass. Because the pint glass had been filled with whiskey, it was only a quarter full.

When it was Carla’s and my turn, we both had to get the coin into the glass. If either one of us missed, we both had to drink two shots of whiskey. If both of us missed, we had to drink three shots of whiskey. If we both got the coins in the glass, we had to drink one shot of whiskey before we could allocate any four people to drink their choice of drink. I thought most of them were drinking club soda and trying to pass it off as vodka.

After our turn, it was the entire table’s turn. Carla and I had to each drink one shot for everyone at the table who got the coin into the glass. Those who missed had to have one shot of their drink when we drank. By the time the table had decided to move the next game, Carla and I were more than a little tipsy. But we were having fun and I had never seen Carla let her hair down quite as she did playing these drinking games. She was also fiercely competitive and, even tipsy, was an excellent shot with shooting a coin into a glass or ping pong ball into a cup of margaritas. Oh yes! We played margarita pong. It was awesome.

In between the drinking games, Carla and I would hit the dance floor. Of course, we also cleared the dance floor every time Carla set foot on it. Sober Carla was a disaster on the dance floor. I guess the party goers imagined drunk Carla would be a lethal weapon on the dance floor. But she surprised everyone by being quite controlled. Slowly but surely the party goers who wanted to dance wearily dribbled back on to the dance floor but still maintained a safe distance from us.

The rest of the night passed in a whirl of Carla and I against the rest of Hayley and Drew’s wedding guests. We were team bestmaid and kicked butt at every drinking game well until the night became a blur and neither of us remembered going to bed or how we got there.

I vaguely had some recollection of myself and Carla kissing in the hallway outside the restrooms and of looking for her shoe she lost and then collapsing in a fit of laughter as she hoped it had not flown off on the dance floor and killed someone. I was not even sure if we found her shoe. We snuck into the hotel kitchen and made ourselves toasted cheese because we were hungry and got stuck into the biggest tub of ice cream I’d ever seen just before we got caught and had to high-tail it out of the kitchen.