A/N: AHHHH! I'm so sorry this was late! The problem with agreeing to update on Tuesdays is that it's an election year here in the states, and for some reason elections are always on a Tuesday which makes my job a freaking nightmare.

But I promise I'll try my hardest to stick to the Tuesday schedule from now on!

Lissy! Are you ready for me?

Felicity smiled at her phone. The message was from none other than her high school best friend, Barry Allen.

I'm so excited! she typed back.

With a huge grin, she bounded down the stairs where her father was stirring the marinara sauce in a pot big enough for babies to wade in. "I hope you're hungry, because I think I've made enough spaghetti to feed the town," Quentin told her.

"I'm starving," she answered as she made a beeline for the cabinets and started pulling out the plates and cups. "All I had at lunch today was a stale muffin."

Quentin glanced up as his step daughter set the table. "And what's got you all smiley?"

"Barry's coming home," she answered. "He's going to be in town for two weeks, so we're going to do all the townie stuff he misses, like getting coffee at the Mud House and beach bonfires and stuff."

Quentin grunted. "What's he doing with his life, anyway?"

"He's working as a CSI in Central City," Felicity answered. "He said he sees a lot of weird stuff, but he loves it."

"I imagine so," he nodded. "I don't know why you liked to hang out with him so much. He was always such a weird kid."

"Dad," Felicity rolled her eyes. "He liked math and science. That didn't make him weird."

Quentin grunted again. "Well, I'll say this much for that Allen kid — he never gave me any trouble. Not like the other kids in your grade who were smoking joints down by the skate park or sneaking booze onto the boardwalk at night."

"I remember," Felicity nodded. "Pretty sure you were the reason I was unpopular all throughout high school."

"It certainly didn't help that you dressed like some depressed vampire," Quentin added.

Felicity giggled and Quentin gave her a tiny smile.

Ten minutes later, Laurel came barrelling through the front door. "Hi Dad, hi Lissy!" she shouted on her way up the stairs, not even bothering to poke her head into the kitchen.

Quentin raised his eyebrows. "What's her deal?"

Felicity took the pot of spaghetti and placed it on the table. "She's got a date. Tommy Merlyn's coming to pick her up in half an hour."

He snorted. "What's she see in that fancy pretty boy anyway? Your mother won't stop gushing about this guy, saying she thinks he's the one. She predicts that next summer they're going to get married."

She laughed. "It's got you freaked out, doesn't it?"

Quentin scowled.

"Well if she does end up marrying Tommy, she could do a lot worse than him. He's a good guy who treats her well. I've seen it first hand. He dotes on her. He acts like she's the only woman in the room. Everything you'd want out of a potential son-in-law."

"I still don't trust him. He's an out-of-towner. You can never trust them."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic."

Right as they were about to sit down at the table for dinner, the doorbell rang.

"LISSY, CAN YOU GET THAT?" Laurel shouted from upstairs.

She obliged, standing up from her chair and walking to the door to let Tommy Merlyn in.

"She'll be just a second," Felicity told him with a smile.

"Thanks," he said as he followed her into the kitchen, where Quentin was waiting, leaning against the island counter.

"You must be Tommy Merlyn," he growled, his eyes narrowed and his expression hostile.

"Yes," Tommy answered cheerfully. "You must be Mr. Lance, it's very nice to meet you."

Tommy offered Quentin his hand. The latter merely raised an eyebrow in response. "That's Detective Lance," he answered, taking him up on his handshake.

Tommy winced ever so slightly, but he otherwise didn't let his discomfort show. "Right. Well it's very nice to meet you, sir. Laurel's told me a lot about you."

Quentin dropped the hand and grunted before walking away. Felicity tried to hide her smile at her stepfather's gruff introduction.

When Quentin left, Tommy turned to Felicity. "So, how are you?"

"I'm well. You?"

"Good. I had a really great time the other night, when it was the four of us. Your mother was a hoot."

Felicity grimaced as she remembered the rest of the failed double date. Her mother inadvertently spent the night flirting with both Tommy and Oliver, and even made a few more references to Laurel and Tommy's sex life. And on top of all that, Oliver continued to be a taciturn asshole, eating in silence and responding to all of Felicity's inquiries with monosyllabic answers.

Luckily, Tommy and Laurel were so ensconced in their own little bubble of love that they didn't notice any of it. And for Felicity, that was worth the torture — she'd grumble and complain about it, but truthfully she'd brave a thousand terrible double dates so long as her sister had a good time.

"I'm glad," Felicity finally said in response. "I know Laurel enjoyed herself."

"Yes, so did Oliver."

She quirked an eyebrow upward. "You're kidding."

"No, not at all. When we got home, he said that was the most stimulating conversation he'd had in a long time."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "No offense, Tommy, but that doesn't really count as enjoyment."

"Well when your name is Oliver Queen, it does," he smiled. "But all jokes aside, he really did have a fun time. And I think he actually likes you."

That made Felicity burst out laughing. Oliver Queen? Oliver Queen didn't like anything. He was an unfeeling, emotionless robot who spent his vacation reading linguistics textbooks and refused to have any fun.

Luckily, before Felicity could actually put words to the thoughts running through her mind, Laurel chose that moment to descend the stairs. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," Felicity answered between giggles. "You two should get going, before Dad decides now would be a great time to polish his service weapon."

Tommy grinned as he reached forward to take Laurel's hand. "Don't need to tell me twice. It was nice talking to you, Felicity."

She waved them both off and closed the front door after them. Then she walked back to the dining room where her dad and a big plate of spaghetti awaited her.

There are a lot of things about Barry Allen that Felicity could rely on.

For example, she could always rely on him to answer her texts within five minutes. She could always rely on him to share in her excitement over any sort of big, technological announcement. She could also rely on him to be there for her when she needed him most, as he had been all throughout high school and much of their adult life.

And, of course, she could always rely on him being late to literally everything.

Having been his friend for most of their lives, however, she'd long since gotten used to it. It's why she knew to bring her astrophysics text to the Mud House with her the day of his return as she waited for Barry to show up.

"That certainly isn't very light reading," a low, baritone voice said.

She tore her gaze from her book and found Oliver Queen hovering over her, his piercing blue eyes trained on her book. Her heart almost gave a little stutter when she realized just how close he was.

"I know," she bit out. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," he answered, stepping back a little to look at her. "I just noticed you were sitting here by yourself, and I wanted to know what you were reading."

"Well I'm not really here by myself," she told him. "I'm waiting for a friend."

"Ah."

But the news that she was expecting someone didn't move him. He continued to stand there, awkwardly, like he was on the verge of saying something but couldn't find the words to express them properly.

"I was at the bookstore the other day," he said finally. "You weren't there."

That made her eyebrows shoot up her forehead. "I usually don't work there Thursday afternoons," she answered. "I spend Thursdays doing contracted maintenance work for the city's IT systems."

He hummed a noise of acknowledgement. "I'm starting to get the feeling that you're very interested in science and technology."

Well spotted, she thought sarcastically to herself.

But she didn't say that. Instead, she replied, "Is there a question in that?"

He shrugged. "Not really. It's just a statement, I guess. You don't meet very many women who are interested in science and technology."

"That's because Felicity Smoak isn't very many women," a voice said.

Felicity's head turned to spot the source of the answer and much to her delight, it was none other than Barry Allen.

"Barry!" she shouted with excitement. Immediately, she jumped from her seat to throw her arms around him.

He chuckled as he returned the hug.

"Hey, Lissy," he greeted warmly. "Sorry for being late."

That just made Felicity laugh. "Are you kidding, Barry? If you were on time, I'd have been seriously worried about you."

He grinned at her, then turned his attention to Oliver Queen, who stood like a statue, watching the exchange unfold. "Hi," he said. "I'm Barry Allen."

"Oliver Queen." They shook hands briefly.

"Wow, the Oliver Queen?" Barry asked, mildly impressed. "That's so cool! What are you doing here in Hertfordshire?"

"Vacation," Oliver replied.

"Cool," Barry nodded. "Though I bet you haven't had much chance to get away from work. Lissy here's probably been asking you nonstop questions about what QC is working on, hasn't she?"

Oliver shook his head. "Quite the opposite, actually. She's been rather reserved around me."

Felicity's cheeks reddened as Oliver's gaze landed on her. She couldn't understand why he looked at her like that, with those piercing, ice-blue eyes of his. Like he was trying to X-ray into her brain. Maybe that's how he looked at all the people he thought were stupid.

"Well, I'll let you have your coffee," Oliver finally said. "It was nice meeting you, Barry. And it was a pleasure as always, Felicity."

She gave him a lame wave in return. Once he was gone, she and Barry took their seats.

"So, Oliver Queen! In Hertfordshire!" He was beaming like a kid on Christmas morning. "That's gotta be exciting!"

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Please, let's not ruin the happiness of our reunion with talk of Oliver Queen. Tell me about your life in Central City. I want to know everything about it!"

He laughed and gave a shrug. "I mean, you already know pretty much all of it. I got to work my first really gruesome homicide the other day. This guy had all his limbs severed with what looked like a chainsaw."

"That's sick," she said in a voice full of awe and disgust.

He shrugged. "The detectives are saying it looks like a revenge story."

"And what about stuff outside of work?" she prodded. "What about your social life? Have you made friends in the city? Have you started dating?"

Barry let out a soft laugh and looked down at his coffee, "Uh, not really," he hedged. "I don't know, just...just not a lot of girls who've caught my attention, I guess."

She rolled her eyes. "No offense, Barry, but Jennifer Aniston herself would have to smack you over the head with an anvil to get your attention."

He chuckled.

"Seriously, do you mean to tell me you haven't gone on a single date since you've been in Central City?"

He shrugged. "I know, I know. My captain keeps telling me the same thing. 'Allen, you need to let loose every now and then. This job is a soul crusher. You need to have a healthy social life, otherwise you'll drown in sadness of it all.' Yadda, yadda, yadda."

"He's right, you know."

Barry waved that away. "Look, whatever. Let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you. How have you been?"

"Good," Felicity nodded. "I'm really close to paying off that loan and hitting my savings goal. I think if I keep working through the end of the tourist season and a little into the fall, I'll finally have enough and I can move out of here for good."

"Wow, that's great," he gushed. "I'm so excited for you."

"I know," she beamed. "It's been five years of nonstop work, but I'm almost there."

"Do you know where you want to go?"

She shook her head. "Not really. I've been toying with the idea of applying for some grunt IT position at Wayne Enterprises in Gotham. I've also considered maybe an internship at Ferris Air. I've been really into astrophysics and aeronautical engineering recently."

He nodded. "Yeah, those all sound like good plans." Then, suddenly Barry's face lit up. "Or, hey! What about coming to STAR Labs in Central City? They're always in need of tech geeks like you!"

She smiled. "That would be a lot of fun. We'd be in the same city again."

"Remember in high school when we'd talk about what we'd be like when we were adults? We always talked about renting an apartment together."

"Yeah," she sighed reminiscently. "We could have Marvel movie marathons and nonstop games of Scrabble. We could even go out together on the weekends. I could even be your wingwoman. Make sure you were meeting interesting girls."

Barry's face took on an expression that Felicity couldn't quite read. "Yeah. Yeah, exactly."

His response seemed just a smidge less enthused than he had been seconds before. She didn't say a word about it, but she took a mental snapshot of his face and filed it away with the slightly forlorn tone in her brain for later examination and prodding.

But for now, she was just content to be reunited with one of her oldest friends.

That Saturday, Laurel had big news for Iris and Felicity.

"Tommy's going to throw a big party," she announced once all three of them sat down. "It's going to be huge. He's inviting practically everyone in town, and you both have to come."

Felicity and Iris glanced at one another, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure," Felicity nodded. "Not like I have anything better to do anyway."

"When is it?" Iris asked as she sipped her coffee.

"It's two weeks from now. It's going to be celebrating the end of the season."

"Hey, speaking of the end of the season," Felicity said as she tapped the back of her sister's hand, "have you and Tommy talked about that?"

"Talked about what?"

"About what's going to happen after the season's over," Felicity answered. "I mean, I'm assuming he's not going to stay here forever. He and Oliver are only here on vacation. Once September rolls around, he'll go back to Star City won't he? What happens after that?"

Laurel's smile fell off her face, and Felicity felt bad about bringing it up. "No, we haven't talked about it," she answered.

"At all?" Iris prodded gently.

"I mean, we've been having such a great time with one another," she confessed. "And I didn't want to be that girl, you know? I didn't want to be the one who thinks this is something more than it is."

"But you want it to be, don't you?" Felicity asked.

Laurel sighed and pulled her gaze away to stare out the window. "I want a lot of things, Felicity. Of course I want this to last longer than the summer. But I don't know what he wants. I don't know if he feels the same thing."

"That's why you talk to him," Felicity insisted. "I mean, for crying out loud, Laurel! You two have been inseparable since he arrived! You spend every evening together! You clearly have a lot of feelings for the guy, and that doesn't just go away when the calendar changes!"

"She's right," Iris nodded. "You need to talk to him."

"But what if he doesn't feel the same way?" Laurel's voice had taken on a sadness and uncertainty Felicity had never heard before. "What if he doesn't want this to go past the summer? What if this is just another fling for him and he goes back to Star City? Back to his life, back to another woman?"

"First of all, I seriously doubt that he doesn't feel the way you do," Iris said firmly. "I've seen the way he looks at you. We all have. He looks at you like you hung the moon."

"Yeah," Felicity echoed. "He's infatuated with you. I mean, just the other day when we were all down on the beach bonfire, Mary King was in her skimpy pink bikini and she was all over him, but he didn't even notice because he was staring so hard at you."

"But if you don't believe us and you need to know how he feels, you need to ask him yourself," Iris said. "You two need to be on the same page before he leaves."

Laurel sighed. "I know. You both are right. It's just...I just wish the summer didn't have to end. That we could stay here, in this bubble forever."

Felicity smiled sadly at her sister. "I know."

Silence fell over the three women for a brief moment. But Iris wasn't one to let melancholy envelop them for very long, so she broke the silence with a question. "So, Lissy, what have you been up to recently? Other than working your butt off, as usual. I feel like it's been forever since I've seen you."

Felicity chuckled. "I know, I'm sorry. But you know how Barry's in town. I've been spending most of my free time with him."

"Ah, good ol' Barry," Iris nodded. "Has he gotten over his crush on you yet?"

Felicity rolled her eyes. Ever since they were teenagers, Iris and Laurel had held on to this cockamamie notion that Barry Allen had been in love with her. She insisted that they were only friends, and what they had between them was nothing more than sibling love. But it didn't stop the two of them from teasing her about it every so often.

"He never had a crush on me," she said mechanically.

"Oh please," Iris scoffed. "He totally did. In high school he used to look for every excuse to be around you. Remember how he used to spend all those afternoons in the bookstore on your shift?"

"OK, well then by that logic, Oliver Queen's got a crush on me too," Felicity snorted.

Laurel chuckled into her coffee. "Well, if the book cover fits…"

That made Felicity do a double take. "What?"

Her sister shrugged. "I'm just saying, it wouldn't surprise me or anything. Oliver does spend a lot of time at the bookstore."

"Not to mention he spent a lot of time staring at you at the bonfire the other night," Iris added. "You were too busy talking to Barry to notice, but it was there."

"What!" Felicity demanded. "Have you two lost your minds? There's no way!"

"Oh, Lissy," Iris sighed, shaking her head patronizingly. "You've always been terrible at spotting whether someone likes you. It's only to be expected."

Iris and Laurel caught each other's eyes for a brief second, then suddenly the two of them burst into laughter. Felicity narrowed her eyes at the two of them before she tossed the crumpled napkin across the table at her sister.

"You two are the worst," she grumbled.

"When was the last time you were at the Netherfield Beach House?" Barry asked.

Felicity tapped her chin as she tried to recall. "I think it was senior night," she answered. "That lock-in we had after graduation. What about you?"

"Same," he answered. "God, was that the biggest waste of seventy-five bucks."

She snorted. No kidding. The event, hosted by the school's booster club, was billed as one of those once-in-a-lifetime, best nights of your young adult life. Instead she spent the entire night playing go-fish with Barry and avoiding the rowdy "popular" kids who were shooting pool and doing dive bombs into the ocean in the middle of the night.

Felicity pulled up to the makeshift road behind the house, and already it was packed in with cars. A little ways up the hill sat the gigantic house, already lit and emanating all the sounds of a raucous house party.

"Well this should be fun," Barry smiled.

It should indeed, she thought to herself.

Together they got out of the car and climbed the winding walkway up to the entrance, Barry carrying a case of beer under each arm while Felicity lugged the ice. Once they got to the door, Felicity didn't even have the chance to contemplate ringing the door before Iris whipped it open.

"Lissy!" she shouted. She spread her arms wide open for a hug, though one of her hands held a beer.

"Hey, Iris," she grinned as she stepped into it. "Sorry we got here late."

"Yeah, that was my fault," Barry said sheepishly.

"No kidding," Iris snorted. "Well then hurry up. Get in here."

Felicity and Barry stepped inside, and Iris took the ice bags from her. "Here, let's drop off your supplies in the kitchen and get you a drink."

"Where is everyone?" Barry asked as they followed her. Save for a few people standing around in the living room chatting, there was hardly anyone there.

"Outside," Iris answered. "Tommy lit a fire around the pit and they also got out the net. Then there are a few people in the pool, too."

Felicity shook her head. "I have never, in my life, understood why there is a pool here when the house is right next to the freaking beach."

"Preach," Iris said.

They got to the kitchen where they dumped the ice and the beer. Then Barry grabbed two bottles, knocked the caps off both and handed one to Felicity.

"Thanks," she beamed, taking the bottle from him.

"My pleasure," he smiled back.

Together, the three of them weaved through the massive house to the back deck that overlooked the ocean.

If the inside of the house was quiet and subdued, the outside was anything but. It seemed like half the town was gathered outside, either on the deck eating food fresh off the grill or playing sand volleyball. There were also huge speakers set up strategically throughout the area, playing loud, nondescript party music.

"Wow," Barry said. "Laurel wasn't kidding, was she?"

Felicity shook her head. "No, she certainly wasn't."

Iris abandoned them for someone who called to her on the deck, so Barry and Felicity wandered off onto the beach area, where Laurel and Tommy were sitting by the makeshift sand volleyball pit.

"Lissy!" Laurel called when she saw her sister. "And the one and only Barry Allen!"

Felicity plopped down next to her and gave her a one-armed hug. "Wow, Tommy, you really went all out with this thing," she told him.

"I had to," he said solemnly. "It's the end of summer. We have to celebrate it."

"Yeah, by making sure we'll all hungover tomorrow," Laurel teased.

"Well yeah," Tommy answered, as if the answer was obvious. "How else are we supposed to celebrate?"

The volleyball pit opened up for a game, and Tommy and Laurel immediately stood up. "What do you say, Lissy?" Laurel asked. "Want to play us?"

"Maybe later," she answered. "Barry and I are going to see what's going on with the food situation."

"Suit yourself," Laurel shrugged.

Once she was gone, Barry and Felicity booth stood up and wandered back to the grill, where a guy in a uniform stood, carefully turning over hot dogs and brats, burger patties and kabobs. If it was a grill food, it was there.

"Good lord," Felicity breathed. "This much food could feed the whole town."

"That was the point," a voice said behind her.

She turned around and much to her dismay, Oliver Queen stood behind her, holding an empty plate and waiting to pass through the line.

"Oh," she said. "Hello."

Barry turned as well, already holding five skewers in one hand and a plate full of bratwursts in the other. "Mr. Queen!" he said in excitement. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Well I am staying here," he pointed out.

"Right, of course," Barry nodded quickly. "I knew that."

Oliver looked down at Barry's spoils, then glanced back up with a quirked eyebrow. "Think you've got enough food there?" he asked.

Felicity felt her stomach clench with protective anger. Barry had always been the kid who could eat for days and days without gaining a single pound. And yeah, that always annoyed the shit out of her, but he was her friend and she wasn't about to let Oliver Queen make fun of him in that condescending, asshole-ish way of his.

"Oh," Barry said, looking down as well. "Um, yeah. I tend to eat a lot."

Oliver didn't say anything and Felicity felt her ire growing with every silent moment.

"Well we're going to go eat," she said, breaking the quiet after a long pause. "See you around."

"Felicity, wait."

She and Barry paused in their escape, and she turned with an expectant face.

"I'm on the hook to play a few rounds of volleyball with Tommy and Laurel," he said. "I was wondering if you would be my partner."

To say that Felicity was surprised was really an understatement. It was almost like Nikola Tesla himself descended from the high heavens a la Mufasa from The Lion King and scolded her for running away from her responsibilities.

So in other words, it was completely and utterly baffling.

And her shock was precisely why Felicity found herself saying, "Sure."

With a nod, Oliver abruptly turned and walked away, leaving a stunned Felicity and Barry standing there, the latter slack-jawed.

"What the hell was that?" Barry asked when he finally recovered his powers of speech.

"I have no earthly clue," Felicity answered, still staring after Oliver Queen's back.

Eventually the two of them walked over to the side of the deck where everyone was eating and talking. Felicity took a seat next to Iris and told her, with some lingering confusion, that she was going to be Oliver Queen's partner in the next game, and Iris took in the announcement with mild surprise.

But truthfully, Iris had always had a sneaking suspicion that Oliver Queen had much deeper feelings for her dear friend that he might let on. Of course, Felicity would have laughed her out of the room if she earnestly shared her opinion, so Iris kept it to herself.

Twenty minutes later, Oliver called her name from the pit, and Felicity fought the pit of dread in her stomach as she stood.

"You want me to come with you?" Barry asked.

"Nah, it won't take that long. You know how competitive Laurel can get," Felicity replied. "You stay here. Enjoy the non-awkward company."

"Thanks for taking that bullet for me, Lissy," he grinned.

Taking a deep breath, Felicity walked off the deck and toward the pit, shedding her shorts and her T-shirt as she went to reveal her favorite electric blue bikini. Once she reached Oliver, she saw him staring at her with a strange intensity in his eyes. Sure, she was wearing a scant bikini, but the way he was looking at her made her feel like she was standing naked in front of him.

She couldn't decide if that made her feel uncomfortable or oddly exhilarated.

"You ready to get creamed, Lissy?" Laurel called from the other side of the net.

"You must be talking to Tommy," she answered, "because it's the two of you who are going down."

"In your dreams, my dear," she smirked.

Tommy grinned wryly at his friend. "Ollie, do you get the feeling that we're going to end up the casualties in this game?"

He didn't reply. Instead he reached behind his neck and pulled the back of his shirt upward until he was completely bare-chested.

That stopped Felicity right in her tracks.

It almost wasn't fair, she thought distantly to herself, as she gazed at his glorious upper body. His back and chest and abdomen looked like they were chiseled by the gods themselves, the smooth planes of his muscles showing off just how strong and agile he was. Coupled with his incredible face, he had the ability to break anyone's heart just by smiling at them.

Luckily for Felicity, it had yet to happen. After all, robots were incapable of smiling.

"Are you ready?" he asked her.

Startled from her staring, Felicity looked up and gave him a quick nod, fighting the blush that overtook her cheeks.

With that, they both turned to face their opponents who had first serve.

They were pretty well-matched at first. Laurel sent up the serve and Oliver jumped high to send it back over the net. Then Tommy set it and Felicity dived to save it. With a hard spike, Oliver embedded it back into the sand.

"Yes!" Felicity crowed, pointing her gloating smirk at her sister. Oliver, on the other hand, was silent. Because of course.

They played three more rounds. Laurel and Tommy both gained a point while Oliver and Felicity gained two more.

"What's with you?" she finally asked after an impressive bit of teamwork on their part ensured that the ball didn't hit the sand on their side and ended with a point in their favor. "We're winning!"

"I'm aware," he answered.

"Well then why aren't you celebrating? Come on, we're creaming them!"

"I knew we would," he said simply. "Celebrating an assured victory seems cruel and unnecessary."

Felicity didn't know whether to laugh at the subtle shade he threw at the other team or throw up her hands in exasperation. Honestly, all she wanted was a human reaction out of him. Just one. Maybe even a smile or a high five.

Instead all she got was a half-hearted shrug and an unflappably stoic expression.

The game continued. Felicity and Oliver held on to their lead until the very end. With Oliver's one last spike, Felicity threw her arms up in the air and stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"In your face!" she shouted.

"Whatever!" Laurel scoffed. "We totally let you win!"

"Oh yeah right!" she jeered. "Just admit it, we beat you because we're the better team!"

In her euphoria over winning, she turned to her partner and held her arm up. "Come on, Queen! Give me a high five!"

Suddenly, there it was. The brief, fleeting glimpse of humanity she craved to see in him manifested itself in a look of complete and utter surprise. Reluctantly, he lifted his hand and Felicity slapped it with her own, practically high from two victories.

"We make a good team, Queen," she said. In that tiny, snow globe of a moment, she had forgotten what he'd said about her when she first met him. She'd forgotten about his coldness, his lack of feeling, his taciturn personality.

In that moment, he was a partner, and they won.

"Yeah," he answered, the corners of his lips turned upward ever so slightly. "Yeah, I guess we do."

It wasn't a real smile, but it was the closest she'd seen ever since she'd met him. That centimeter of lift completely transformed his face, turning it from heartbreaking stone to breathtaking beauty. Felicity was ashamed to admit that it made her heart thud in her chest.

God, if the tiniest of smile made him look that handsome, just what kind of effect would he have with a full-blown grin?

"Lissy!"

The shout of her name broke the spell. A flood of heat rushed to her cheeks and she turned to find the source of the shout. It came from Iris, who stood on the deck, waving a tiny white ball around in the air.

"Get your butt over here! We're playing beer pong!"

"Coming!" she called back.

"It seems that your partnership is a hot commodity," a low voice said behind her.

The skin on the back of her neck raised at the sound. She didn't turn around because she knew who it was, and she didn't want him to see just how red her face was at the moment.

"I happen to be an exceptionally good partner, that's why," she answered. "It was nice playing with you, Oliver."

With that, she scuttled away from him, desperate to find refuge from his unsettling presence — even if that refuge came in the form of ten red Solo cups filled with beer.