Free Game on by Cheryl Douglas

Ryan to lighten a somber
mood.
     
    ***
     
    Brianna sat on the couch watching sports
highlights with Dominic and Lena when Ryan made his way down the stairs. She
hadn’t seen him much this week, and she was surprised how much she’d missed his
daily visits to her office.
    “Did Aiden and the boys win tonight?” Ryan
asked, claiming the empty spot beside Brianna on the couch.
    She felt the heat of his leg through her
jeans, and it seemed like the most natural thing in the world when he grabbed
her leg and squeezed. He grinned when she looked up and smiled at him, and her
breath caught in her throat.
    Women had chased the Spencer brothers for
as long as Brianna could remember, and it was little wonder. Both men were
gorgeous and successful in their own right, but Ryan’s playful personality made
him a hit with the ladies.
    “Hello?” he said, chuckling. “Are you
suddenly spellbound by my sex appeal?” He looked at Dominic and winked. “Poor
girl can’t even string two words together. See, man, that’s the effect I have
on women.”
    Lena rolled her eyes and threw a pillow at
him, hitting him in the face. “In your dreams, Spencer.”
    “Hey,” Dom said, winking at Brianna. “I
heard he’s not the only one makin’ an impression on the opposite sex. Evan
tells me all the boys at the office are talkin’ about the sexy new lawyer with
the killer smile.”
    Ryan’s hand tightened on her leg. “Did he
tell you who’s after her?”
    Brianna elbowed him in the ribs. “What’s it
to you?”
    “How will I know who to threaten if I don’t
know who it is?”
    “It’s no wonder I couldn’t get a date in
high school or college,” she said, rolling her eyes at Lena. “Between this
guy,” she said, hooking a thumb at Ryan, “Evan, and Aiden, all the guys were
afraid to ask me out.”
    Ryan put his arm around her, drawing her
closer. “Hey, it’s my job to look out for you.”
    “I know you think so,” she said, patting
his leg affectionately. “But you need to know when to back off. At this rate,
I’m gonna turn in to the crazy cat lady ‘cause I can’t get a date.”
    “That’ll never happen,” Ryan said, running
his finger up her arm.
    “How can you be so sure?” she asked,
looking up at him.
    “Trust me, I know.”
    “Well,” Dominic said, stretching his arm
across the back of the sofa, “I guess we better head out, baby. I’ve gotta work
tomorrow.”
    “Yeah, so do I,” Lena said, standing up.
    Lena leaned over to give Ryan and Brianna a
kiss on the cheek and he pulled her down on his lap, folding his arms around
her when she tried to get up.
    “Let me go,” she said, laughing when he
started to tickle her ribs. “I’ll get you back for this,” she said, gasping for
breath. “I swear I will.”
    Dominic chuckled as he offered a hand to
help his fiancé escape her captor. “I didn’t even know she was ticklish there.
I’ll have to remember that.”
    “I know all of her secrets,” Ryan said,
tugging on a lock of Lena’s hair as she got up. “If you wanna take me out for a
beer this week, I might be willin’ to tell them to ya.”
    Lena stuck her tongue out at him. “Don’t
forget I know all of your secrets, too.”
    “Hey, a beer sounds good,” Dom said. “It
may help lift Evan’s spirits.”
    “That’s what I was thinkin’. Jimmy’s on
Friday night?”
    “Sounds like a plan. I think Nick’s still
here. Why don’t I ask him if he wants to join us?”
    “Yeah, do that. I’ve been meanin’ to get
together with him. I wanna hear all about how life on the ranch is treatin’
him.” He chuckled. “Can’t say I understand it. I mean, why would he waste his
degree mendin’ fences and shovelin’ shit?”
    “No one would expect you to understand,”
Brianna said, reaching for his hand and holding it up for their friends’
inspection. “Look at that. That’s why he hasn’t been in to work this week. He’s
been too busy gettin’ his nails done.”
    “Is