“What are you thinking about?” Shay asks.

I shake my head. “Just how lucky you all are.” I let out a breath. “And how much I hate my father.”

Shay’s expression turns sad. “Have you talked to him?”

“Oh, yeah. He was watching the draft and called right away.”

Anger flashes in her eyes. “Of course he did.”

“‘Congratulations, son,’” I say in my mocking impression of my father’s voice. “‘I knew you could do it. Aren’t you glad you got my athleticism and not your mother’s? Now let me talk out my ass about NFL contracts like I know anything at all.’”

“Fucker.” Shay’s uncharacteristic curse makes me smile.

“Exactly.”

“Did he ask for money?”

“Not yet. I’m sure he will. But I’ve trained my whole life to tell him no, just like he told Mom no when she asked for help.”

Her fingers brush mine, and I look down to see her taking the beer from my hand. She takes a long drink from it, her throat bobbing as she swallows, then hands the bottle to me. “To knowing when to say no.”

I take a sip and nod before holding up the bottle. It’s nearly half drained. “We don’t have much to work with here.”

She shrugs. “You’d better make good use of your turns, then.”

“So we’re playing that we take turns saying something and drink if we’ve done it?”

She nods. “Which is why I had to drink so much to start. That beer is pretty much all yours.”

“We’ll see about that.” I smile and lift it to my lips. I imagined us sitting on the floor, face to face as we took turns, but this is better. Standing, I can be closer to her. “Never have I ever celebrated Father’s Day with my dad.”

She snags the beer from my hand. “That’s cheap.” She takes a sip then studies me for a long beat before saying, “Never have I ever had sex.”

Cutting right to the chase. “There’s no rush, Shay. Seriously. Don’t let anyone make you feel like—”

She clears her throat and presses the cold bottle into my hand. “Drink.”

“Right.” I take a sip, mindful of keeping it small so we can keep this going. “Never have I ever had a crush on a brother’s friend.”

“You don’t have any brothers!”

I shrug. “I don’t make the rules.”

She takes a drink.

She has five brothers, four of them older than her. The possibilities are endless, but there’s only one possibility I’m interested in hearing her confess to. “Who?”

She laughs. “That is not how this game is played, cheater.” She taps a finger to her lips. “Never have I ever gone skinny-dipping.”

“Seriously? Your family owns a house on a lake, and you haven’t even once?”