She lets out a screech, stands up, slams down half her drink, then drops her slouchy cotton pants, stepping out of them before stomping one foot. “Well, I’m not taking off my bra. You can forget it.”
Sam smirks at her. “Stop breaking the rules, and you won’t have to.”
She narrows her blue eyes fringed with thick dark lashes. “You know, sometimes I dream about wrapping my fingers around your neck and squeezing.”
“It’s not my fault you decided to break a rule in the middle of someone else breaking the rules,” Sam says.
I rise and bang my hand on the table like I’m in an episode of Suits. “I did not break the rules.”
“All right, all right.” Charlie waves his drink around the table, and it sloshes a little onto the surface, because we’re all pretty drunk at this point. “If you’re determined to be difficult, let’s take it to the jury. Who here thinks Jessica was speaking in an accent?”
Not one of them raises their hand.
I scowl pointedly at all the women. “You traitors.”
Harmony shrugs a shoulder. “You’re the only person who hasn’t lost any clothing yet.”
“Yeah!” Gracie exclaims with enthusiasm. Her amazing, awe-inspiring cleavage spills from the top of a red satin longline bra. “You can’t be the only one not in their underwear.”
“Look, just because I’m able to keep track of the rules, regardless of how much I drink, doesn’t mean you all have to gang up on me.” I gesture wildly and drunkenly in the air. “It’s not my fault I’m super smart and really good at remembering things.”
“Super modest, too,” Sam says.
I cross my arms over my chest. “Excuse me, but I’m explaining I didn’t forget, you just don’t understand the subtleties of the Australian tongue.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “Stop stalling and strip.”
“This is bullshit, man.” I whip my top over my head and drop it to the floor. “If someone warned me, I’d have worn more clothes.”
Charlie smirks. “That’s what you get for showing off.”
“You can fuck right off.” I stick out my tongue at him.
“Such a filthy mouth,” Charlie says, his accent more on display the drunker he gets.
At least I have on a good bra; it’s pink and lacy and cute. I mean, I wasn’t necessarily planning on him seeing it, and certainly not in this way, but I couldn’t completely knock it off the table either.
In my heart, I’m an optimist.
From across the table, his eyes roam all over me before meeting mine.
I get lost in the heat of his midnight gaze, unable to break away until Gracie rudely yells, “Rule break! Eye contact.”
I growl, clenching my hands into fists. “Now look what you’ve done. I’m losing two pieces of clothing at once.”
“Don’t worry. We don’t get completely naked,” Gracie says, her blond curls bouncing. “There are siblings here and we’re not that perverted, but we’ve all seen one another in bathing suits, so it falls under the rules of decorum.”
I glower at Charlie. “Obviously, this one’s on you.”
“You always think that,” he says.
“I speak the truth.”
“Shut up and take off your pants.” Since he also broke the eye contact rule, he has to lose his clothes, but he doesn’t protest like me. He stands, unbuttoning his jeans, and they drop to the floor.
Do not look at his cock. I do a pretty good job, covering up any covert looking as I take off my shorts, letting them fall to my feet before kicking the denim away.
Charlie sits down on the chair, giving me an evil villain smile before crooking a finger to beckon me over.