GRIND

The two of them went upstairs too, leaving me downstairs by myself. I glanced at the clock, surprised to see how late it already was. How long had Liam and I been playing on the tennis court?

As much as I wanted to see him before bed, I made myself get a shower too, and laid in my bed afterward, thinking about how amazing the weekend had been so far.

My phone chimed on the night stand, and I grinned when I picked it up, sliding my finger over the picture Liam had taken of himself with my phone and used as his contact photo.

It was so hard not to jack off in the shower. I keep thinking about you. Get some sleep.

Letting out a sigh, my cheeks hurt from all the smiling I was doing as I replied.

Maybe next time you'll have some company to help. Good night, Liam.

Chapter 11

ALY

* * *

I felt silly arguing with myself over which top to wear for the day, to go with the tight skinny jeans I had already picked out. They made my ass look nice and round, and now all I needed was a sweater that showed off my cleavage…

Settling for my favorite dark green V-neck sweater, I fixed my hair so that it was half up, sprayed a little perfume, and tried to casually walk down the steps as if I wasn't dying to see Liam first thing this morning.

"Ah, good morning, Aly! You remember Jackson?" Randy called out as I came down the stairs, standing by the closet where both Jackson and Liam were talking.

I gave Jackson a little wave and looked for my sister and mom, who I found sitting together on the couch, watching TV.

"Morning," I said, sitting on the other side of Mom. "How are you feeling today?"

Sage blew her nose noisily into a tissue and leaned back. "Meh. I feel a little better. Still super congested and stuffy, though."

Mom patted her on the knee. "Some fresh orange juice and more medicine should help. I'll be right back."

"I feel terrible that you haven't been able to enjoy yourself like the rest of us," I said, giving my sister the tissue box. "It isn't exactly fair."

"Maybe we'll be able to come back again. I don't know about you but I think Mom really likes Randy."

I totally agreed. "Yeah, I see it too. It's nice. It's been so long for her."

Sage nodded and pulled her knees up under her chin, watching the TV as the next court case popped up on screen.

Glancing over my shoulder, I wondered what was on the list of plans for the day. If I was lucky, there'd be plenty of alone time with Liam on it.

"All right, all right! Jackson has agreed to round us up some breakfast on our last morning here," Randy called out to everyone, passing into the kitchen area with his arms spread wide. Jackson and Liam followed him, and my eyes followed Liam's butt.

Sage nudged me. "I forgot to ask you about something…"

But before she could continue, Mom mentioned something about making mimosas and my sister was suddenly halfway healed, pushing the blanket off her and walking slowly into the kitchen. Only Sage would get up while on her sickbed for some mimosas.

Breakfast was a chatty affair, and between Jackson and Randy discussing the latest restaurant chain opening up in Napa Valley with my mom, and Sage laughing next to me as she flipped through photos on Instagram, everyone's attentions were scattered. Mine, on the other hand, were right where they'd been the whole weekend.

I jolted as my phone buzzed silently in the pocket of my jeans, and I slipped it out, chewing on my lip as I realized it was none other than the sexy man sitting across from me at breakfast. Liam pretended to be absorbed in the conversation, playing it cool.

You should wear that sweater more often. It really shows off your… assets.

I smiled, tilting my head to the side as I replied back.

One could say the same about your jeans.

"I have an idea—why don't we all play a game? When the boys were younger, Selene and I used to play Monopoly and Scrabble with them all the time. Remember that?" Randy laughed, asking his sons.

"Oh yeah. And remember how bad Liam was at spelling the words out?" Jackson chimed in, smirking over at Liam.

Liam rolled his eyes. "I was seven. Cut me some slack, will you?"

"Oh, I haven't played a board game in years," Mom said, taking Randy's hand over the table. "What do you think, girls? Up for a little fun?"

Sage snorted rather unsuccessfully given the state of her sinuses, but gave me a small smile anyway. "She forgets how terrible she is at them."

Mom put on an indignant frown, pursing her lips. "I am not bad at board games."

I looked away when she glanced over at me, waiting for me to come to her defense.

"Aly! Tell her I'm good at them!"

Everyone at the table laughed this time, even Mom, who settled back into her seat grumbling, "We'll see just how right I am. Game on."

My phone dinged again; this time I briefly read the text as it came in, my throat tightening.

If you play your cards right, you might be seeing me without the jeans on later.

"Who's texting you?" Sage leaned in and whispered next to my ear as I quickly turned the phone out of her view.

"Shh!"

She took it upon herself to shake her head as she picked her phone back up, her fingers flying across the screen. A few seconds later my phone dinged again, and this time it was her.

Were you on Tinder last night or something?

Confused, I typed back.

What? No!

She clucked her tongue quietly, pausing her insanely fast fingers to take a sip of her mimosa.

Because I swear I heard you screaming like you were getting murdered. Or like your vagina was getting murdered. In a good kind of way. ;)

My skin flushed pink for the millionth time this weekend. Betraying my own self, I glanced over at Liam for the tiniest flicker, but Sage was watching. I heard her softly gasp.

OMG it was LIAM.

I pushed the phone away from me on the table and pretended to be very interested in the games that Randy had brought out of the game room. "I've always liked playing Spades, myself."

Into card games huh? How about a little strip poker later? You'll strip and I'll poke…

Liam's sexy little message came in first, followed by Sage's full line of exclamation points and wide-eyed emojis mixed with a weird eggplant next to an emoji of a pair of lips. What the…?

“Goodness honey, are you coming down with what Sage has?" Mom's voice cut through the battling texts on my phone, and I slowly looked up at her sheepishly.

"No…"

"Your cheeks are flushed, Aly. Maybe you should go take some aspirin just in case?"

I breathed in and out evenly through my nose, part of me hysterically laughing on the inside from the absurdity of the moment. "I'm fine. I think I might have gotten a little wind-chapped yesterday while skiing."

Across the table, Liam accidentally dropped his fork.

"If you say so," Mom replied.

Buzz.

Did you wear that short skirt for my benefit?

Buzz.

OMG you're looking at him with legit bedroom eyes. You have to spill!

Buzz.

Lift it up.

My mouth went dry and I looked at Liam, willing him to look back at me when he typed those dirty things to me. But he kept on pretending as if everything was normal. Tugging the corner of my lip between my teeth, I hitched the hem of my new flowy pink skirt up.

Liam dropped his knife this time. "Whoops!" When he bent down, I carefully spread my thighs just wide enough…

Buzz.

Am I making you wet?

I nodded my head just enough to answer him while he was looking at me out of the corner of his eye. The tiniest flicker of a smile showed up on his face, and he was up, stretching tall and offering to take everyone's plates for them.

Randy plopped down an older version of Monopoly and I inwardly groaned. How on earth was I going to play this long ass game when all I wanted was to go back

upstairs with Liam?

"Delicious, simply delicious, Jackson," Mom said, graciously bowing her head down in Jackson's direction. "I'm going to need that latest curry recipe from you."

Dinner was laid back, especially after everyone had decided to go skiing one last time, Sage taking a dip in the pool instead, after breakfast earlier.

It was pure torture getting all of the dirty texts Liam had been sending to me all day long. It wasn't as though we could just break away from the game—what would everyone think? Would they be suspicious? For every sext I sent Liam, I received three in its place, dirtier and dirtier as the day went on.