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I cradle her face in my palms. Her full lips are parted. Her small hands rest on my chest. I run the pad of my thumb over her bottom lip. Her eyes close, and she trembles. Syn is so beautiful, and I tell her so.

Her eyes flutter open, the slate gray–blue pulling me into their depths. “I am? You like me tatted and pierced?”

“Fuck yeah. What I dig most, though, is this.” I set my palm on the spot over her heart. “You’re a great friend to Dare. Am an angel for putting up with a hot-tempered bastard like me. Do an amazing job being a buffer between Midnight and Riley. You have a big heart, baby.”

Smiling, she takes my hand and drops a kiss on the center of my palm.

“I like you so much, Taron.”

I smile back. “I dig you too, Pixie Dust.”

It is so easy to be with her. What won’t be easy is dealing with one another’s secrets. That’s my gut feeling. Our secrets have the power to make or break our progress.

Her smile not leaving her face, Syn continues to clear up her calendar. She frees up the entire day of the first home game for me, Gunner, and Beau. Nice. When she’s done, she closes her calendar, and we move on to her spreadsheet.

“Back to the bonding time. Would Dare be open to opening his place and his pool up for the guys? I overheard them talking about Darksoul’s upcoming release, that it’s available for beta testing by invitation only.”

“Taron Vaughn, you are one sneaky bastard.” She hops off my lap and, grabbing my hand, tugs me off the chair. “You are so turning me on with your smarts. If you can get them in the pool, you can see who has the tat.”

“Yeah, but this son of a bitch will need to be one cocky bastard to flaunt the tat in front of Dare.”

She tips her head at the excel spreadsheet that she quickly closes before demanding I strip. “Those six are the very definition of cocky. Whoever he is, he’ll do it so he can show off to Dare.”

She’s not wrong, and I am liking how right she is.

I like it so much, I make her come apart on my fingers, my face, and my cock for being so damn right.

34

Syn

Between spending time with Dare and Taron, keeping the peace between Taron and his teammates—my presence on the bleachers helping with Taron’s temper—and more hours at Shades to make up for quitting on Taron, three weeks fly by.

Dare sent an invitation to our six suspects. The pool party will happen on Sunday, giving the football team time to celebrate after the game on Saturday if they win. But if they lose, they’ll still party. Those guys and parties. Shaking my head.

The idea of waiting three weeks to find out if any of the six have the tat kills me, but patience is a virtue for a reason.

Waiting gave me the chance to plan other things, like more of Cindy and Hank “bumping” into one another. There was the time Cindy and I accidentally bumped into Hank when she met me at one of the practices on the bleachers to go over Primie’s new habit of looking awfully lonely the last time Cindy went to Alexandria. Maybe Primie needs a sister or a brother, I offered.

I said that part loud enough at the end of practice, and success when Hank piped in, telling Cindy all about the rescue dog he adopted last year.

“Maybe you two should take the dogs on walks or to the dog park together. Then you wouldn’t have to find Primie a friend,” I said innocently.

The two smiled and exchanged numbers. Yes!

You win some, and then, you lose some.

I set time aside for Beau, excited to see him and Gunner, but Lola changed plans on him and is taking Gunner with her to Paris for the weekend.

Hmm, Dumas or Paris? I FaceTimed Gunner and wished him a fun trip. He promised to bring me back a souvenir. That kid. He is growing up too fast and is in the unfair position of being his parents’ peacekeeper.

A bowl of popcorn and a tray of shots is set near my face, yanking me out of my thoughts of my little brother and his already chaotic life stuck between a supermodel and an ex-football superstar.

“Thanks, Dare.” I take the bowl off the tray and down a shot of fireball whiskey. He plops down next to me on the couch.

“You sure you don’t want to make the game in person? We can be there in time for kickoff.”

“I’m fine watching from your place. Anyway, it’ll be crazy afterward. Lots of cars. Lots of people. I’ll lose my way.”