Love Sex & Other Games (Part 1) Read Online Free

could kill, his hazel eyes shooting daggers.
    “Based on what I gave you, this sounds really dirty, so on that note, here’s your phone.” I place it gingerly on the table. “And your jacket.” I slip it over the back of the booth and take a step back. “I’m going to go.”
    He grasps my arm, and before I fully register what’s happening, Cooper stands, nudges me into the booth next to some girl, then squeezes in beside me, boxing me in. “Stay, have a drink.” He dips his head next to my ear and leans in. “Please help me. Dante set me up with the date from hell.”
    He extends his body to its full length and boisterously says, “Have you met Alisha and Mattie?”
    “That’s Mattie with double T’s,” Dante supplies.
    “Not double D’s.” This from Cooper. My head swings back and forth between them.
    “Though I—”
    “We,” Cooper interrupts.
    Dante gestures with his chin. “ WE think they don’t look bigger than double C’s.”
    “It’s still not funny,” the girl, who I assume is Mattie, replies dryly, her face illuminated from the phone screen, making her look ghostly.
    “I thought it was kind of funny,” I admit. “A little sexist and immature, but still funny.”
    Her eyes lift from her phone long enough to glare at me. “You just killed feminism.” And then her fingers glide over her screen once again.
    “Damn, Em, I had no idea you were so powerful,” Cooper retorts, his voice loud, tone mocking. “You singlehandedly murdered a movement—which, technically, since you’re a woman with that kind of skill, it should actually be a point in feminism’s corner, not against it.” He winks at me and mouths: Date. From. Hell.
    I stifle a laugh. “I’m pretty sure feminism is about allowing women to like what they like and not judging them for it. And I’d like a drink. If you’re going to force me to stay, then I need that drink before I actually do get judgey.”
    He grins, showing off those sharp canines. “Sure thing. Jack Daniel’s, no glass, right?”
    I don’t hide my laugh this time. “How about something I won’t regret in the morning?”
    His golden gaze is playful, a substantial contrast from last weekend. “Then we better not sleep together.”
    “I’ll try to keep that in mind,” I reply, my voice flat.
    “Are you legal now Emerson?” Dante asks.
    “In ten months,” Coop answers for me. “But that will be our little secret.”
    While the guys make their way to the congested bar, the girl, who by process of elimination must be Alisha, stretches an arm across the table, offering me her hand. “Hi, I’m Dante’s…” She trails off and I realize they must be newly dating. I fill the silence, letting her off the hook.
    “I’m Emerson. I grew up with Cooper.”
    “Oh, wow, so you two have a lot of history.”
    I have to think about that. I was only thirteen when he left for college. Rosie’s annoying little sister that sometimes tagged along. Between then and the wedding, I think I’ve only seen Cooper a dozen or so times. But before he left, he and Miles were a constant in my house. He’s always been a presence in my life. So, yes, there’s history, just not the kind she’s referring to.
    “A bit,” I concede. “How did you and Dante meet?”
    She blushes nearly the same shade of red as her hair. “I went in to his shop to have work done.”
    “Oh, he gave you a tattoo?”
    The blush deepens. “No, he, um, pierced…”
    She doesn’t have facial piercings, I don’t see anything glinting in her mouth, and girls don’t usually go to a tattoo parlor for ears. My lips part. “Oh. Nipples?”
    She shakes her head.
    My brows scrunch as I consider what’s left. “Ohhhh.”
    She laughs, nodding. “Yeah.”
    “Is that…” I search for the right word.
    “Painful?” she supplies.
    “Awkward?” I say at the same time. “I mean, him asking you out after he’s been down there…professionally.”
    We both laugh at the oddness of this