Everything But (11 page)

“So…you game?”

She’d already decided to be brave and do it, but she wanted to play a little hard to get.  So she pretended to ponder it a little, looking at the board and
slapping on a look of musing.  Then s
he looked up and into his eyes and said, “Okay.”

“Atta girl,” he said, rubbing his palms together.  “And, since you’re being such a good sport, why don’t you go first?”

She felt her mouth screw up in an uneven smile, but she wasn’t about to argue.  She grabbed the dice and blew on them, hoping she’d be lucky.

Chapter Eleven

FUCKIN
’ A.
  ERIN
had actually agreed to th
e whole crazy idea. 
Riley
could barely
believe it.  And they’d made it halfway around the board so far without incident, both
just
buying properties.  She had three and he was getting ready to roll a third time and landed on B. & O. Railroad.  He promptly purchased it and then acknowledged that he had to divulge some information.  So, after he finished his transaction, he said, “Okay…let’s see.  Something you don’t know about me. 
Hmmm.
  Okay.  I’ll
turn
thirty this year.”

She shook her head, looking at him through skeptical eyes. 
“Uh-unh.
  That doesn’t count.”

He wrinkled his brow and took a drink of water. 
“Why not?”

“I already knew that.”

“You kno
w how old I am?”

He saw her cheeks turn a slight pink. 
God, that was cute
, and it told him more than whatever words would come out of her mouth.  But it turned out she was honest.  “I
was
a fan of Spawn, you know.  So as a fan, it was my job to know the facts. 
So, c’mon.
  Tell me something I
really
don’t know.”

Well, that wasn’t exactly fair.  He didn’t know how old
she
was, for instance
; he
only knew she was younger than
he was
.  So he
racked his
brains, hoping to come up with something she didn’t already know, but he wasn’t ready to get too personal yet.  Finally, he said, “In my new band, I’m playing rhythm guitar, and I’ll be playing on the road too.”

She smiled.  “Okay.  I didn’t know that.
”  She grabbed the dice.  “Will you have a video come out when your single’s released?”  He nodded.  “
You playing
the guitar in that too?”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”  He liked the look
she gave him
then, like she was impressed.  He hoped she wasn’t just shining him on.

And they went the rest of the way around the board just buying up more properties.  Her piece remained ahead on the boar
d too
.  Riley didn’t care, really.  It was nice seeing her laughing and having fun.  He hoped she’d maintain that attitude once the clothes started peeling off.  Maybe he should’ve brought some weed to take the edge off.  But, for all he knew, being a straight-laced teacher and all, she might’ve kicked his ass back out the door
at the suggestion of
what his mother would call
illicit activities
.

And then he passed
Go
and landed on Baltic Avenue, a property Erin had just purchased after passing
Go
herself.
  His piece nestled up close to hers on the space.
  “
Goddammit
,” Riley sputtered, but he had kind of hoped he’d be first.  If he took some clothes off
before she did
, he
thought
she’d relax a little.  He could tell she was a little on edge.  She grinned at him but said nothing.  He handed her some fake Monopoly money
for the rent
and then grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, draping it on the
back
of the couch.  As soon as he released the shirt, she lowered her eyes to the game board.  “Hey, I never said you couldn’t look.”  She looked in his eyes once more and started chuckling again, but he could tell she was planning to do
everything
but
look.  That was okay.  He knew
the power of peripheral vision, having practiced using it most of his adult life.

She rolled the dice and landed on
the Electric Company, meaning she’d have to divulge information.  So after transacting Monopoly business, she said, “All right.  I’ll take a cue from you.  I’m twenty-five.”

“When’s your birthday?”

She grinned.  “That’s another secret, isn’t it?”

He raised his eyebrows.  “Oh…we’re
gonna
play
that
way, are we?”  She was teasing him.  He liked it.  And, as his gaze shifted to the board to scoop up the dice, he saw she
was
stealing a glance at his
pecs
and abs. 
About-goddamn-time.
  He’d worked hard to make them worth looking at and he’d had plenty of girls on his
Facebook
page and the band’s website forum talk about his
“hot
body.
”
  Finally, someone he
wanted
to check
it
out was.

When Erin at last landed on one of his properties, she removed a sandal.  But he lost both his shoes (and socks, per his agreement) before she lost another sandal.  She was saving her goodies for last…not that he blamed her.  And he didn’t mind being teased…as long as it paid off.

And through those few times around the board, all the properties were purchased and they’d learned a little more about each other by the time the game was done.  Erin told him her birthday, a little about her college experiences, and she divulged that she was working on her master’s degree a couple months every summer (and joked that she’d be done by the time she was forty).  She also told him she
’d had the same best friend since third
grade
, that
she’d grown up in Winchester (like he had), and that her dream job as a kid was to be an actress. 
And, of course, s
he also lost her other shoe. 
He tried not to say too much,
because he didn’t feel comfortable telling her a lot about himself,
but he’d made the rules and had to stick to them
and had to say
something
, for Christ’s sake
.  It was almost like an ad
ult version of Truth or Dare.  So h
e told her he had an older brother and a niece and nephew.  He also revealed that he’d actually
liked
English in school and had gotten Bs in every English class.  He’d gotten an A in the only Creative Writing class he’d ever taken.  He loved Europe, especially France, because he’d visited it on tour one year. 
And then…how stupid…he told her his parents hadn’t been happy he’d chosen the life of a rock star but seemed to at least accept it now.

Needless to say, he got up to fill his water glass after admitting that.

And he cheered up right away when he felt her eyes on his bare back.
  And it was nice to see the flowers he’d bought for her displayed in the center of her kitchen table.

The next roll, Erin landed on Virginia Avenue, one of Riley’s properties. 
Hot damn.
  She was down to
showin
’ off the good stuff.  He hadn’t thought far enough ahead, but he hoped she wouldn’t back out now.  This was one of the moments he’d been waiting for since he’d dreamed up this plan.

She seemed a little distressed.  “Don’t watch,” she said.

He smiled.  “Do you want me to cover my eyes?”

She grinned back at him, a twinkle in her eye.  “Yes.”

He shook his head but covered his face with his hand
s
.  Surely, she had to know he was peeking through a slit in his fingers.  She seemed self-conscious, but her fingers wrapped around the bottom of her shirt and slid it up over her head to reveal probably one of the sexiest bras Riley had seen in a long time…and they were covering up a knockout set of tits.  He felt his blood rushing to the one place he needed it to avoid for a while.  God, this girl had more control over him than she knew.  If she
had
known, he would have been in deep shit.

Think about war, famine,
sewage plants,
sick
children…anything but those sexy
—

“Okay, you can look now.”

He swallowed, willing his spirit down.  He had to be calm.  He managed to make eye contact with her but then he
did
look…for just an instant so she didn’t think he wasn’t interested.  He smiled and picked up the dice but said nothing.  He rolled and moved his piece…right onto another piece of her property.

Fuck…moment of truth.  She had no idea how long he’d debated what underwear to put on after toweling off
from his shower
earlier, anticipating this moment.  When he was a kid, he used to wear nothing but
tighty-whities
, because that was
all his
mom ever bought him, but then he discovered boxers.  He didn’t necessarily like the feel, but the chicks dug ‘
em
.  And then he had a girlfriend tell him she
preferred
boxer briefs.  So he switched back and forth between the two types, but he’d ditched the
plain white
briefs for good.

Today, he’d finally settled on a pair of dark blue boxer briefs.  It was a daring move, because he knew it would accent what he had.  Fortunately, he felt confident about his size, but he always felt nervous the first time a girl checked him out.  Well, that wasn’t entirely true.  He felt nervous when a girl he gave a shit about checked him out.  So he stood and unbuttoned his fly
and pulled down the zipper. 
Jesus, Riley, it’s not a stripper show.  Pull the goddamned things off.

So he did. 
As quickly as possible.
  And then he sat down again.

He grinned at her and
took a big swig of water. 
“Happy now?”

She smiled back and her eyes looked…well, the only word he could think of to describe the way her eyes looked was
knowing
.  He raised his eyebrows but said nothing.  Instead, he picked up the dice and handed them to her.

She rolled and landed on her own property.  She laughed.  “I hope you’re not too cool over there.”

He chuckled
, refusing to give her the obvious line that would have been so easy, telling her she could warm him up
. 
Instead, he said,
“Hey, it was my idea.  I can take it.”  But when he picked up the dice, he prayed he wouldn’t land on another piece of her property.  He wasn’t ready to be totally naked, although, he supposed, that would take all the pressure off.

But when he rolled, he landed on Free Parking.
  He breathed a quiet sigh and just smiled.  And then he got lucky.

Erin landed on one of his properties again, and at this point, he didn’t give a shit what she took off.  He’d be happy no matter what she removed.  She looked up at the ceiling as if cursing her bad luck.  He asked, “Do you want me to cover my eyes again?”

She took a deep breath, and he really liked what that did for her breasts
,
but he bit the tip of his tongue to keep himself calm and grounded.  “No, I think I’m used to it now.”  She stood up and unzipped her jean shorts. 
Goddamn
…they were cute and short and tight anyway. 
Apparently, pretty damn snug.
  She had to shimmy them off and it drove him damn near crazy.  He hoped his eyes stayed in his head.

They must have because she didn’t act weird when she sat down.  He smiled.  “How long you
wanna
play?  Till somebody wins?”

The corners of her mouth turned up playfully.  “Why?  You afraid you’re going to wind up in the buff first?”

He shrugged.  “I’ve made peace with it.”

She started laughing and leaned forward.  “So tell me about this trust game anyway.”

He shook his head. 
“
Mmm
…not yet.”
  He picked up the long box of Monopoly money and set it on the coffee table beside the playing board.
  He patted the couch cushion beside him.  “Why don’t you come over here?”

Oh, God, she did.  Riley felt his stomach tighten.  Of course, every muscle on his body had been
growing
tight over the last hour.  Her knee was touching his, but he planned to touch every part of her very soon.  For now, though, he was going to keep his hands to himself.  “We were supposed to talk this afternoon, right?  And I kind of distracted us from doing that.”