Dom slowly lowers the other side of his headphones with a cocked brow, "Okay, I'll bite. What do you want to play?"

Smiling, I take my water bottle and lay it sideways on the table. "It's something I used to play with Dad."

Dom was only six when our father died, and I know he only has a few memories of him. I am happy I can play this game with him and pass on how amazing of a man he was.

"The rules are pretty simple. Spin the bottle, and when it stops—"

"I am not going up to random people and kissing them," He panics as he waves his hands up in protest.

"Dom!" I laugh loudly. "Do you honestly think Dad would have his daughter go up to strangers and kiss them?"

The horror etched on his face, morphs into curiosity as he rests his folded hands on the table.

"Anyways, you spin the bottle and whoever it lands on you need to come up with a backstory for them."

"Can you give me an example?" He asks as he packs away his Switch.

Placing my hand around the half-filled plastic bottle, I flick my wrist, and it begins to turn smoothly on the table 's hard surface. After a few rotations, it stops on an older gentleman a few rows away.

"Okay, so that guy," I say as I discreetly point to the man to my left, "Is not who he seems. He is an undercover CIA agent. Those glasses he is wearing are a high tech computer that helps him scan the faces of everyone he passes by to see if they are a threat. That cane he has next to him is not to help him walk, but it is to fight off anyone that crosses him."

Dom breaks out in a fit of laughter, "That is absolutely ridiculous. He is like ninety years old."

Shaking my head, I let out a sigh, "I can't help that he is a CIA badass who could whoop both of our asses with his magical cane."

"I think we should get another method of picking victims." Dom grabs the bottle and throws it in the air and the plastic cracks as it lands perfectly on its bottom. "Spin the bottle seems rude."

Curious to know what is going through his mind, I ask, "What do you have in mind?"

Dom reaches for his bag of chips and pulls the packaging open. Placing a chip between his teeth, with a loud crunch, he tilts his head from side to side. "I think it would be more fun if I pick your victims, and you pick mine. Spice it up a bit."

After a few rounds, Dom and I can't contain our fits of giggles. My favorite stories include a family of clowns that are on their way to their next big break in Boston and a woman who is secretly training for American Ninja Warrior and off on an adventure to climb different mountains to improve her grip strength.

Taking a swig from his drink, Dom leans his back against the window and props his legs up on the booth. "Okay, my turn."

His smug grin disturbs me, but I keep my eyes set on his and give him my best poker face. "Bring it on, baby brother."

Smiling mischievously, he drums his fingers against his chin at an irritatingly slow pace. Each tap causes me to flinch internally, I know he has something up his sleeve, and I am not going to like it.

My heart drops to my toes as his eyes go wide in excitement when he finally spots my next target. His brows begin to wiggle as he raises his finger to point towards the bar behind me. "Over there, the tall blonde guy."

Slowly turning around, I realize he is pointing to the large group of young men at the bar. As I am scanning the group, my gaze finally lands upon the gentleman he is talking about. He stands out from the rest of his crew, due to his height and sparkling white smile.

The guy finds something funny and throws his head back, and my heart flutters, and curious to know what caused him to laugh so beautifully. I quickly snap back towards Dom with my lips pursed in annoyance that he would pick someone that would cause me to act like a thirteen-year-old hormonal teenager.

"Ohh, you think he's cute," Dom says in an obnoxious suggestive tone. "Come up with a backstory, or I win."

I scoff loudly to let him know I won't back down, little does he know I'm dying inside because I do find him cute— Very cute.

I haven't had time to date. My top and only priorities were to keep working and make sure Dom didn't end up in foster care. Now that we are in a place that allows me a little more freedom, I'm terrified to get back out there and meet someone.

Knowing I have to get a better look at him before giving him an epic back story, I slowly turn around and take a peek.

His dirty blonde hair is cut short on the sides, but the thick locks on top are neatly brushed to the side as if he runs his fingers through them frequently.

I wish I could run my hands through it.

A low growl of annoyance comes from my chest due to my immature thoughts, but I continue to take in the God-like specimen from afar. My target is built like a damn tree, towering over the people standing next to him. It is hard to tell from this far away, but I wouldn't be surprised if he were a good foot taller than me.

I watch as he picks up his drink from the bar and brings the glass beer bottle to his mouth, and the moisture in my mouth intensifies as his arm muscles ripple under his baby blue t-shirt.

Most likely sensing my stares, he looks in my direction, taking me in before winking. Acting like a child, I quickly turn around, wishing the world would swallow me whole.

Dom bursts out laughing as my cheeks burn from embarrassment.

"I hate you so much right now," I say as I cover my cheeks with my hands, desperate to reduce the uncomfortable tingling spreading across my face.

Still laughing, he kicks his feet under the table, trying to get my attention. "Well, you and I both know you could never hate me. You should thank me, though he's walking over here."

I turn around and nearly break my neck, only to find that my brother was not lying. The handsome man is making his way over to us, and I want to die.

Taking a deep breath, I try to control my racing heart that is currently attempting to leap out of my chest. Pointing my finger towards Dom, my brows lower so deeply I might have wrinkles when it is time to leave the boat. "You're dead."

As if he didn't just throw me under the bus, He picks up his Switch and places one headphone over his ear, leaving the other one free to listen to the embarrassing conversation I'm about to have.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulls my attention from my brother. Slowly looking up, there he is standing next to our table in all his hot glory.

"Is this seat taken?" He asks calmly.

Of course, he would have a smooth, enticing voice that sounds like damn music.

Being the awkward human I am, I shake my head with a quick, "No."

He settles next to my brother and takes a peek at his game. "What are you playing?"

Removing his eyes from the screen, Dom looks up at the guy sitting next to him and smiles. "Zelda."

"Freakin', classic."

Dom's grin grows a little wider as he nods his head. "I've never played it before, but I like it."

Pointing to my brother's Switch, the handsome unnamed man asks, "Mind if I take a look? I've been waiting to buy one of these. I'm Zach, by the way."

Zach puts his hand out, and Dom willingly accepts, taking Zach's hand in his before handing over his video game. Zach turns the device around and takes in all its details before placing it back on the table. "Pretty sweet. This game originally came out years ago, but they updated the graphics for the Switch. I might need to invest in one."

"Do it. Ten out of ten recommend. I'm Dom." He then points over to me, and my eyes instantly go wide when Zach's ocean blue eyes connect with mine. "And that is my sister Gemma. She's 20, about to be 21 in a few months, single and ready to mingle."

Not even thinking of the words coming out of my mouth, I quickly spit out, "Do you want to get thrown overboard?"

"Oh, stop it, Gemma. We all saw how you were staring at Zach." Without hesitation, Dom picks up the Switch and plugs his headphones back in, leaving me stunned by what he just said.

My blood begins to boil at his words, and the way he is unphased by my embarrassment is irritating beyond belief. "Because we were playing a game, you little shit!"

Zach sits back in the chair with his arms crossed, unphased by our bickering until he hears the word, "Game."

Placing his hands on the table, he glances between the two of us. "Game? What kind of game?"

I can't help but look down at his large hands, and with what I am sure is an audible gulp, my attention is brought back to his perfectly sculpted face. "It's something I played when I was younger. You just come up with backstories of random people, which is why I kept staring at you."

I should have stopped there, but the words continue to flow without my permission. "Don't worry, though, we keep them family-friendly, and I don't want you to think that I was just looking at you because you're hot."

Dom whistles loudly and decides to add to my humiliation. Without missing a beat and taking his eyes off his game. "You should probably stop talking, Gemma. You're starting to embarrass yourself."

Even though he is right, I cannot for the life of me understand why he keeps throwing jabs in my direction. It must be all those preteen hormones. "Do you have a death wish? Because that water is looking mighty cold right now."

Zach raises his hands with a chuckle, and I swear my heart flutters at the sound. "Woah, simmer down. Do I have to go find your parents to break up this bickering?"

Dom winces and shakes his head before fully covering his ears with his headphones, leaving me to tell this handsome stranger that there are no parents to be found. "Well, this is awkward."

Zach's confident demeanor disappears as he shifts uneasily in his seat. "I'm sorry, did I say something wrong?

Before I have a moment to think, I reach for his hand. The moment my palm touches his skin, warmth radiates up my arm. Trying my best to hide the effect this man has on me, I try to ease his discomfort. "Unintentionally. It's just us, he is in my custody."

Zach looks down at our joined hands, and the fact that he hasn't moved away causes unfamiliar feelings to make their way through my body. All I know is that I like it.

His face falls at my admission, and he whispers, "I'm sorry."

The tenderness in his voice could have melted me into a pile of warm goo on the floor. Taking my free hand, I place it on top of my other and say, "Don't be. You had no way of knowing."

"Yeah, I still feel like a major asshole."

My mind starts to run in circles as I try to figure out why he feels so horrible. When he walked over here, he had such a brightness to his presence. Now it just looks like his favorite ice cream fell off the cone and slammed straight to the floor. All I know is that for some odd reason, I don't like seeing him so defeated. "Don't. It's honestly okay, I promise."

He nods his head while looking down at my hands, lying upon his. As if a lightbulb goes off in his mind, his enticing gaze finds mine once more. "I feel like the only way to make it up to you is to let you come up with my back story."

"This is super embarrassing." My teeth pull my bottom lip into my mouth as I try my hardest not to burst out in laughter. When Zach's eyes flicker downward, I begin to feel uncomfortable under his intense stare and release my lip. "I mean, I told Dom the gentleman over there is a CIA agent, and his cane is his weapon of choice."

"Well, I mean, he could definitely use that thing to take someone out."

There is something incredibly sexy about his playful banter, and I can't help but find his sarcasm charming. "Well, just remember this complete fiction, and I one hundred percent feel like I'm judging you right now."

Zach's face lights up once more when he showcases his perfectly lined teeth. "I'll be fine, I promise."

Breaking our contact, I immediately miss the warmth of our joined hands. My lips purse, and I tilt my head from side to side as I study the man sitting in front of me. "You are with your friends, and you are coming back from a weekend mission. Secretly you're superheroes and had to go undercover to find information on possible terrorists that plan to take down the world."

Seeming to be surprised by my utterly made-up story, all Zach says is, "Interesting."

Confused, I ask, "Why's that?"

As Zach leans back in his seat, his when his knee gently grazes mine, I feel the same warmth I felt when I touched his hand. "Oddly enough, you described me perfectly except for the superhero part."