Page 78 of The Elusive Billionaire

“What’s up?” Braxton asks, jogging with much softer footfalls than my own, catching me before I reach the second floor. “Everything okay?”

“No, everything is not okay. I basically bet a woman to marry me, and now she’s drunk with two of her best friends on our bed when I need to lay down some ground rules for us.”

“Uncle Grey.” Sage chuckles my name and makes a wheezing sound. If this kid is actively going to laugh in my face, I might lose my shit. “Are you even listening to yourself? You can’t bet someone to marry you. And it’s not the 1890s, you don’t get to lay down the law.” His tone shifts to something more…contemplative, and it has me stopping my march back toward Savvy. “If you don’t go at this like a partnership with Savvy, you’ll…”

My shoulders tense up around my ears, ratcheting up the ever-present tension headache until I see stars.

“I’ll what?”

“You’ll lose her,” he says simply, then he turns sideways and knocks on the now-open bedroom door. “Hello, ladies. I think my uncle is looking for some privacy with his fiancée but has lost use of his manners. Never fear, Uncle Brax and I are here to escort you to your rooms, because at least some of the Reyes men are still gentlemen.”

The little shit.

“Ugh,” Savvy scoffs, and when she finally turns, it’s with a scrunched nose and fire blazing in her green eyes.

It’s her fire that calls to my own. I can see that now, acknowledge it even, I simply don’t know what to do with it. We’re two meteors headed for a collision that’s out of our hands but destined for complete chaos.

What will be left of us when we finally crash into each other for good?

She staggers to her feet, and I move on instinct to her side. One long finger pokes me hard in the chest. “It’s ladies’ night, you gray devil you.” The playfulness of her tone doesn’t match the harshness of her expression.

“Gray devil.” Clover hiccups as Sage leads her out of the room. “That’s funny.”

“How much did you ladies drink, hmm?” Wrapping one arm around her waist so she doesn’t topple over, I reach for the bottle of wine on the nightstand.

“It was like one and half…glasses.” she giggles. Savvy fucking giggles, and I’m transported back to high school. Not my high school experience because I was busy raising Sage, but what I always secretly envisioned was happening outside of my four walls at the time.

“I like it when you laugh,” I whisper.

Braxton is on the other side of the bed, trying to coerce Madi into leaving with him.

“Do you do it too?” Savvy’s head falls back against my chest so she can crane her neck to peer up at me. She’s a tall woman, but even at five foot eleven, I still have at least four inches on her.

“Do what?” I ask.

Braxton finally lifts Madi into his arms and carries her from the room. Her laughter echoes down the hall as they go.

“Laugh. I need laughter in my life, Patch.” Her words are whimsical and light, so unlike the sass and venom I’m used to. I’m drawn to her like the damn fireflies she loves so much as her eyes blink slowly, lazily, dreamily.

“I laugh,” I grunt. Gently, I turn her in my arms, then press on her shoulders so she’ll sit back on the bed.

Her laughter snorts through her nose, and she sways with the movement. “Yeah, right. You never laugh. You’re laugh-a-phobic.” Her shoulders shake.

Drunk Savvy is a snort-laugher, and I can’t believe I think it’s cute.

“Do you ever flirt?”

This question catches me off guard.

Do I flirt?

I’m sure I have, at some point, with someone.

Right?

“Oh my God. You can’t flirt. Flirting is fun, Patch. Have some fun.” She drags out the word fun and dramatically flops onto her back with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed. At least she won’t fall off now, but her tiny tank top has ridden up high on her ribs that protrude too far for my liking.

My fingers remember how soft that skin is there, but she’s had…wait. “Did you say you had a glass of wine? Glass, not bottle?”