“Can I interview you as a source?” Bailey took a sip of her beer, watching me from the corner of her eye. I tried not to get distracted by the way her lush lips looked wrapped around the glass bottle. And failed.

“Absolutely not.”

Her face fell. “Really?”

“Kidding.” I put my hand on her thigh beneath the water and stroked my thumb over her soft skin. “I’ll make all the guys on the team tell you anything you want to know too.”

She arched a blond brow, clearly fighting to keep a straight face. “Not sure coercion is the best way to get sources, Carter.”

“Psh, no one needs to know.”

From beside my drink, my cell phone lit up with an update from Ward. At least his trademark terrible timing hadn’t struck again.

“They’re twenty minutes away,” I said. “Want to get out and hit the shower?” We’d been in for a while, anyway, and the heat was going to my head. But all the knots in my muscles had finally melted away.

“Sure.”

Once I’d hauled myself out of the water, I grabbed two thick white towels from the nearby chair and handed one to her. Bailey climbed out and wrapped it around her chest. The heat had caused her cheeks to flush so deeply it was visible even in the dim glow from the tub’s light. The sight of her like that paralyzed me in awe, and all I could do was stare. How did I get so lucky?

“What?” Her lips curled into a half smile.

Busted.

“You’re just beautiful, that’s all.”

* * *

After we got cleaned up, we played several rounds of Cards Against Humanity with Ward and Siobhan, where he defended his reigning title as Worst Loser Ever.

“You guys have no taste,” he grumbled, putting the cards away.

From behind him, Shiv rolled her eyes. She padded into the kitchen and returned moments later with a bottle of champagne in hand.

Dallas glanced up. “Where’d you find that?”

“Wine fridge,” she said. “Is Stewart going to be mad if we open it?”

“Nah, they have parties here all the time, and people bring more booze than they could ever drink.” He opened his palm, gesturing for her to pass it to him. “Just let me make sure it’s not crazy expensive.” He scanned the label, brow furrowed. “We’re good. Go nuts.”

“What are we celebrating?” Bailey asked, following her into the kitchen. She retrieved four champagne glasses from a high cabinet.

To be fair, we were all half-cut and probably didn’t need the extra alcohol. But YOLO.

“You never need an excuse for champagne.” Shiv pointed to her with the bottle. “But you did get the scholarship, which is a big deal, right?”

“Need help with that, Shiv?” Dallas asked, eyeing her warily. I drained the last of my beer, weighing the odds of this going wrong.