Page 74 of I Never Stopped Loving You

CHAPTER 34

WILLOW

After we ordered food, I grabbed a couple of games down from the ledge. Jenna and I collect board games so she was excited to play as long as it wasn’t Monopoly.

“So…Why don’t you like Monopoly?” Jeremy asks Jenna, and she actually grimaces.

“I’m not allowed to legally talk about it. You should understand since you’re a lawyer,” she laughs, and Jeremy just looks at me wide-eyed.

“Did you assault someone over Monopoly?” he asks, stunned.

“I plead the fifth.”

Her tone is flat, but her smirk says it all. I, for one, have heard that story, and there is a reason we don’t have any Monopoly games in the house.

“Well, that’s no fun. I can take over being your lawyer, and then we can have our own attorney- client privilege,” he flirts as he wraps an arm on the back of the booth around her, mimicking how Noah’s is around me.

Noah’s been slowly inching closer, or maybe it’s me. All I know is our bodies are slightly touching. His arm is around my shoulders. Our legs are pressed against each other, and his fingers are tracing patterns along the exposed skin on my shoulders. I should stop this. I should pull away. I’m the one who said we couldn’t date or anything more…So why can’t I stop this?

“What games did you grab?” he asks as he starts to look through the pile.

“Clue, Guess Who, Scattergories, and Scrabble.”

“Ooh. I love Guess Who. We could play couple vs. couple,” Jeremy says, grabbing the Guess Who box.

“A little presumptuous, aren’t you, Jeremy?” Jenna teases as she moves our drinks out of the center to make room for the two game boards.

“You all know how to play, right?” Jeremy asks, and Noah just laughs.

“I’m pretty sure the name says it all, Remy.”

I watch Jeremy’s eyes narrow at Noah, then soften when they look over at me.

“Okay then. You two want to go first?”

“Sure, first to five wins or are we just playing till the food gets here?” Noah asks.

“Till the food gets here,” Jenna says as she shuffles the cards and passes one to us, then another for her and Jeremy.

Noah’s hand moves from around my shoulder to grab his phone out of his pocket to check it, then slides it back. I expect him to wrap his arm back around my shoulder, but he doesn’t. He crosses his arms on the table in front of him and looks over the game board at all the people in front of him. Apparently, my body is disappointed because it’s already missing his touch.

“Okay. Is your person a dude?” Noah asks.

“Yup,” Jeremy answers, and then Noah flips down all the women.

“Is your person a chick?” Jeremy asks.

“Nope.”

“Ah, so we’re both dudes?” Jeremy says to Noah, and Noah just laughs.

“What do you want to ask next, Willow?”

I jump slightly as I feel Noah’s hand on my thigh. When the hell did he move? When I glance over, I see the arm next to me is still crossed on the table, the other arm is on his lap, and his fingers are tracing up and down my thigh, slowly lifting the skirt each time.

“Uh…Um…”

I don’t know why I can’t seem to form words with his fingers teasing me.