smug grin taking over his face. “Guess I’m not so witless after all.”
I grimaced, only having a vague memory of what I’d shouted at him in the rain. Considering the anger that had radiated through me in that moment, I had a feeling it hadn’t been complimentary. “Are you seriously calling me out for calling you witless?”
“Absolutely not. You were right—I was being an idiot. If nothing else, I should have told you and my brothers as soon as I made the deal with Dad.” He shook his head, as though he was annoyed with himself. “But I do want you to admit that I was right about how your presence would affect the Sharpe men.”
“If you’re including Vincent in that statement, no way. I’m pretty sure my presence has only made him more of an ass.”
“That’s debatable, but I’ll give you that concession. You only have to admit to my brilliance about the impact you would end up having on me and my brothers.”
“Oh, so now you’re not only right? You’re also brilliant?”
His smug grin transformed into outright self-satisfaction. “Oh, Thea. You should know by now that I’ve always been brilliant.”
I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t hold back my laugh. “You’re so right, about everything. How could I have ever thought differently?” Cue sarcasm.
We continued with our playful banter through breakfast and cleaning up. We made a good team, which was something we hadn’t really given ourselves a chance to find out before now. There was so much I still wanted to know about him.
“What do you want to do today?” Hayle asked, once the kitchen was as spotless as when we’d arrived. “Tristin left a list of suggestions.”
“Would you be terribly disappointed if we stayed here and hung out?” Maybe it was totally lame of me, but I wanted some time to just chill and enjoy the house and gorgeous view. And we still had three more days to explore the area.
“Are you kidding?” He threw himself onto one end of the large sectional. “As long as I get to spend time alone with you, I don’t care what we’re doing. You may not have noticed, but my brothers tend to monopolize your time.”
I leaned over the couch, so that I was posed right above him. “I’m not sure you can blame them when you’re the one who keeps disappearing.”
He chuckled, his eyes gleaming with what I had to guess was amusement. “You’re never going to go easy on me, will you?”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Would you want me to?”
“Not a chance.”
“Good. Now, how do you feel about playing Two Truths and a Lie? I think it’s about time I uncovered all of your secrets.” And it was one of the only games I remembered from parties over the years. There had been drinking involved last time I’d played it, but that didn’t seem necessary, especially since it wasn’t even noon yet.
“All of them?”
“Why not?” This time, I gave him my own version of a smirk. “Do you have something to hide?”
“Nope.” He sat up, so that our faces were only inches from each other. “Why don’t we just play Truth or Dare?”
“Because I’m more interested in your truths than seeing you put a handful of ice cubes down your pants.”
Hayle snorted. “Would that be your dare?”
I shrugged. “I’m not exactly creative when it comes to dares.”
“Okay, then. We can just play Truth. You ask a question, and I have to answer it, and vice versa. But I do have one demand.”
“What’s that?”
He placed a slow, sensual kiss on my mouth. When he withdrew, he was smiling again. “We move this shindig to the hot tub. What do you think?”
“I think your use of shindig just earned you a free question.”
He laughed. “Excellent. Meet you out there in five?”
I nodded and scurried to my bedroom to change. The guys must have told Petra to pack a bathing suit, because she’d included a pink bikini that was too skimpy for me to ever consider wearing in public.
When I checked out my reflection a few minutes later, I wasn’t even sure how I felt about the guys seeing me in it. It was one thing for them to see me naked—and Hayle had yet to do that. It was another to strut around in a bikini with triangles over my boobs that managed to make them look bigger than usual and strings that were practically asking to be untied. At least I’d shaved when I soaked in the