His father raised a brow. “For every question they got right, they got this.” He made the bell sound. “If not.” There was a horn sound.
“Oh.”
“Who’s next?” Louise asked.
He wasn’t about to put his hand up for this kind of game. They were fucked. They didn’t know enough about each other and that was why he had a feeling his father had picked this game. It was to show him they weren’t compatible, or to express the lie that was told.
The minutes ticked by.
Everyone was able to answer the ten questions quite fast and it was frustrating. Sure, there were plenty of buzzes, but he had this horrible feeling.
He’d told his father he intended to marry Lauren. Now this game. It was fucking stupid.
“Right, I think it’s only fair Caleb and Lauren get a chance,” Louise said.
“Can we skip it?” Caleb asked. “I’m not in the mood.”
“It’s fine,” Lauren said. “I’ll answer the questions. You pick ten.” She winked at him.
“I’m really not feeling it.”
“What’s the matter, son?” his father asked.
“Nothing.” He got to his feet, took the questions from his father, and started to go through them. He tried to find easy ones. “Are you sure you want to answer, Lauren?”
“Yeah. I don’t mind.”
She didn’t look so happy. He’d picked ten questions and now was the moment of truth.
“Okay, are you ready?” Caleb asked.
“Was that an actual question?” There were a few chuckles. “Yes, sorry, lame joke, go ahead.”
She pushed some of her long blonde locks out of the way. Her cheeks were a little flush and she bit her lip. The nerves were getting to her as well.
“Fine. Fine. Er, what’s my favorite color?” he asked.
“Cream.”
He expected her to get that wrong. Caleb stared at her.
“What do I do to relax?”
“You like to party. It helps to give you a buzz if you’re surrounded by music, noise, people.”
Again, another ping.
Caleb couldn’t believe it.
“My favorite actress?”
“You don’t have one. You don’t have time to go watching movies.”
Again, another ping.
How did she know all of these answers?
She’d paid attention to him, that was how she was able to answer them. She continued to nibble on her lip and he just had this overwhelming need to kiss her.
“What do I hate most?”
“Mess.”
“What do I want most?”
“To make your family happy. It’s important to you for them to be proud of you.”
“Where did we meet?”
She chuckled. “Your apartment.”
“Name one of my hopes?”
“To make your father proud and be a member of the board.”
“Why do I hate William?”
“Because you think he’s a gold digger, after your family’s cash. Sorry.”
“Is there any place I want to go in the world?”
“No, you’ve seen everywhere you wanted. You travel for work so it’s not a need you feel you have.”
“What do I want more than anything else in the world?” This was the hardest of all the questions. He’d tried to find easy ones, but of course there were going to be a few random questions that wouldn’t make the cut. Where he did doubt her ability to answer, this was one of them.
Crap.
Had he fucked up?
She looked at him.
Silence rang out.
She took a deep breath. What was she thinking?
“You want to have a relationship like your parents and one day a family you’d like to come home to every single night. A woman who will accept all of your flaws and still love you. A couple of kids and maybe a dog or two.” She licked her lips.
The bell pinged.
She’d gotten every single one of his questions right.
How the fuck did she do that?
“Well done.”
He stepped up to her, just as all the couples had done, and he kissed her. This wasn’t for show or playing a part. He took possession of her mouth because he wanted to and couldn’t imagine not kissing her, not having her in his arms. He was possessed with an overwhelming need for her.
There were cheers but he didn’t give a fuck what people were doing or saying. All he could think about was kissing her, being totally consumed by her. Pretending was out of the window. This was natural to him.
She was everything.
Kissing her deeply, he wanted to take every inch of her. He wanted to fuck her.
Lauren was all he craved.
“Okay, okay, we get it, you two love birds. Don’t think for a second you guys are off the hook. When we go back around, it’s the opposite person to play.”
Any happiness he had disappeared.
Lauren cringed. “I don’t know if we can do that.”
“We will. It’ll be fine.”
She licked her lips. “I’m really thirsty. Is it okay if I go and get a drink?” she asked.
“Yes, of course. Our home is yours.”
Caleb watched her go. She kissed his cheek and he checked out her curvy ass.
He didn’t know if he was going to survive the weekend keeping his hands to himself. Why would he want to?