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I sighed and resigned myself to having to stay.

“Marcus,” a smoky female voice spoke from my left side. If a pout had a voice, that would be it.

“Come on now, you promised.”

“You better not lead me into a wall. In case you haven’t realized, I don’t like being blindfolded.”

That voice. I knew it. It was her.Fucking hell.Did Marcus know about our home life, or was this just a coincidence?

“No one is going to touch you. You’re in control, remember?” Marcus’ voice was a note softer when he spoke to Selena.

I couldn’t see shit with the blindfold on, but there was no mistaking her voice.

“I’ll be right here, watching,” he said. “You’re safe.”

“Fine, whatever. Let’s get this over with,” she said.

“That’s the spirit!”

There was rustling and then the feeling of someone coming close to me.

“Okay! Has everyone got their partners in front of them?”

A chorus of agreements went round.

“The way the game works: You are both blindfolded. One partner reaches out and touches the other, trying to identify them through touch alone. Then you can switch, or not, up to you. Go!”

I went to protest but bit my tongue. My voice and accent were a dead giveaway.

I stayed there in the darkness, waiting, until I thought Selena had chickened out. But then a soft touch landed on my arm.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I hope this is okay.”

I didn’t want to respond and blow my cover. I wanted to see what she’d do when she found out it was me. After all, I’d warned her this morning not to come to any parties without my permission. What were the chances she wasn’t drinking either? It looked like the little heathen in the room next door was already begging to be punished for rule-breaking. I stepped a tiny bit closer to encourage her.

Her hand ran up my arm to my shoulder, over my bare skin, her touch hot, trailing awareness in its wake.

The blindfold scratched against my skin, and I had to fight the urge to take it off. I wanted to watch her as she touched me. The thought came out of nowhere. I wanted her to pay attention, in a situation where she couldn’t ignore me. No one ignored me. It just didn’t happen… until her.

But wasn’t this childish? As my father had reminded me, I’d put away childish games long, long ago and should end this.

I could call out her name and finish this game right here and now. That was the best thing to do.

I was about to do that, opening my mouth, just as her fingers reached my face, brushing over my lips.

“Sorry!” she murmured. Her finger sank into my open mouth, and she jerked it back. “I promise, I’m not trying to be weird,” she continued and then paused. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

I held my tongue. Her fingers returned to my face, cupping my jaw.

“If you aren’t speaking, it means that you think I’d know your voice,” she mused.

Smart. She cupped my face with two hands and slid her thumbs over my cheeks, felt around my nose and up and over my eyebrows. She rubbed her thumbs over my ears and sent heat sliding down my spine. Fuck, why did that feel so good?

Farther up the line, people were calling out the names of their partners, but Selena didn’t seem to have a clue yet. Her touch was doing something to me. Something I had no experience with. It was curious but cautious. Probing but shy. It was at odds with the little hellfire who’d mouthed off at me so perfectly thismorning. The rude little rebel who knew what buttons to push to piss me off. If I hadn’t already known it was Selena, I’d never have guessed, from the sweet hesitation of her touch.

“Three minutes left! If you’re not sure yet… you might lose this round!” I could hear the grin in Marcus’ voice. He was clearly enjoying the chaos he’d caused.

“Shit,” Selena muttered and ran her hand down my arm and picked up my hand.