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Celebrating

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Pink balloons and streamers, confetti bombs and frosting. It was a tulle nightmare, and it was all because it was her nineteenth birthday. Everyone was outside scattered around the yard at her family home talking in pairs or groups and they'd all showed up for her.

Most girls would be pretending to be embarrassed about this. She wasn't pretending though.

The concessions she made for her family, Ginny sighed in thought to herself. It was only a once a year, she could make it through.

Her mother had gone over the top with her princess theme though.

Nineteen years of being the only girl and the youngest of seven and all that that entailed. Having her brothers getting married off and starting to have kids of their own was supposed to take some of the pressure off her to be the quintessential youngest child.

She wondered when that was supposed to kick in.

Maybe when she turned twenty they would realize how ridiculous all this girly stuff was, and how much she didn't want it.

She never had been one for sitting nicely in a dress looking every bit the doll that her mother had hoped she would. More often than not she wound up covered in mud, just like her brothers.

Her brothers weren't getting covered in mud anymore now either though. Now they were all taking it upon themselves to try and set her up with single men they knew as well. And they all claimed to know the 'perfect' guy for her. She had turned up today expecting the explosions of pink, she had not been expecting the meat market that had been on display for her. Every single one of her brothers and their wives/girlfriends had brought a prospective man for her.

It was mortifying.

Deep breaths and a healthy amount of alcohol was helping her get through it.

The small talk was exhausting after the first ten minutes; two hours into her party and she was looking to escape.

People kept showing up too.

Now she only knew half the people at this party, and she felt like everyone expected her to have chosen a man by the end of the night. It was the Bachelorette, Witch Edition.

Maybe she could give one of these guys a sparkler to indicate her interest, she snorted at the thought. The number of drinks she'd consumed by this point was giving her a bit of a laisse faire opinion of how she was being prostrated before the lot of them.

She had yet to meet a man at this party that gave the impression that they would hit it off. They didn't all seem to realize what they'd been dupped into either. It made her feel a bit all knowing and powerful over these mere mortals with cocks.

She had the Vagina of Power!

That thought made her snort into her champagne flute.

"Ginny," her mother called her over with an overabundance of enthusiasm, "have you met Junior? He's just started working with you brother Ron. Moved here from France, isn't that interesting?"

Ginny pulled herself together and put a polite smile onto her face to give a nod in greeting to the tanned man with the short, gelled, brown hair standing next to her mother. "Nice to meet you." And your beauty products, she added drunkenly to herself silently.

He pulled her hand to his lips and gave a kiss to the back of it. Likely a normal greeting in France, but to her parents that meant that she should have been feeling sparks of interest or blushing prettily.

She didn't. He smelled like cologne, and no man should need to wear that much cologne if he showered regularly.

She thought his eyebrows looked better than hers too, and that would make her self-conscious about her own grooming if they did attempt anything. It was shallow, but there you have it; they could all cross Junior off the list of bachelors right now. No sparkler for you.

"We'll just let you two get to know each other better," her mum said and gave her a squeeze to her elbow.

Ginny watched as her mum and dad walked back over to the buffet table, her eyes narrowed at their retreat. "Have you tried the kabobs?" Ginny asked Junior before he could open his mouth. She placed her plate in his hand and left him there holding what was supposed to be her food, opting to go in the house and try and find someone that she wasn't supposed to be seeing as dating potential.

Like a friend for instance? Had she even seen one of her honest to goodness friends here tonight? Where was Luna?

Now, why was her family so hard pressed to get her set up with someone, you might wonder?

Well, it is because it had been two years since the war and two years since she'd lost her last boyfriend in the final battle. Since that time, she'd been dedicating herself to her studies and to Quidditch and not looking for romance.

It wasn't that she'd had her heart broken, which perhaps she had, but not in the romantic sense. It had been devastating to lose Andrew, but he was never going to be her 'be all, end all'. They wouldn't likely have made it to the final battle, still a couple, if they hadn't needed to lean on each other so much in that last year. He'd been more friend and consoling shag partner than anything by the end.

Her friends and family didn't realize that though.

"Ginny!" a voice called out from the kitchen.

She cringed before quickly downing the rest of the champagne in her glass and pulling on her hostess face again, turning to see that it was someone she considered a friend that had called out to her this time. "Dean!" she smiled in relief. "How have you been?"

"Yeah, I've been doing alright. Gotten a bit published in the Daily Prophet," he told her.

"I saw those! Recognized your work right away." Dean was a talented artist and his caricatures had provided some much-needed comedic relief as the world was attempting to right itself again.

"High praise, I'll take it," he said and tipped his drink in a cheers.

"What brings you here?" she couldn't help asking, needing to clutch at the side of the table to keep herself balanced. Apparently she'd had more to drink than she though she had, the room wasn't spinning, but there was definitely the feeling of being on a boat going on with her brain right now.

"George asked me if I still had a thing for you," he said simply. "Invited me today to see if you were interested. So, how about it?"

She could appreciate that he was so direct about it, but she and he had tried dating before and they were very incompatible. So incompatible that she couldn't stop herself giving a snort of laughter at his proposition. "Sorry," she apologized when he looked taken aback. "Look, I've had about enough of feeling like I'm being auctioned off out there and you know we wouldn't work out. I just want to hang out casually with someone without needing to put up the farce."

Dean wasn't the same guy that she'd known from her fifth year, they'd both been through a lot and had grown up since they'd been a couple, but the fundamental attraction required for them to make a go of anything just wasn't there. She could still read his expressions though and he didn't look very deterred by what she'd said.

"We could always say we hit it off in here and sneak away," he suggested with a shrug.

The sneaking away sounded appealing, the tone in which he said it did not. "No thanks," she turned back around to head for the stairs and ran into someone coming down them.

"Sorry!" the stranger exclaimed, his arms coming around her to stop her from falling on her arse.

"I'm fine," she assured him, placing her hand on the banister and looking up to see who it was that had his arm around her. Then being struck by how green his eyes were.

She didn't know this guy! He looked her age, a few inches taller and with messy dark hair that seemed silky and stuck out at all angles.

"You're the birthday girl?" he smiled nervously.

Awe, that's cute, he's shy.

"Yeah, that's me," she grinned. "Except the pink was not my idea. Actually, the party was not my idea." She frowned and had an image sprung to her mind of her being a petulant child surrounded by all the tacky decorations, stomping her foot like a brat.

That wasn't attractive, she didn't need to behave like a petulant child. Not with Mr. Dreamy Eyes here now to stop her falling on her arse.

He was pretty, where did he come from? She wondered. His arm was still around her, and she was okay with that. Whoever brought him deserved a kudos.

"Her family is trying to set her up," Dean said from behind her.

Oh right, he was still there.

"Surely you don't need them for that," her mystery man said boldly, still smiling down at her with that crooked smile.

"Haven't been out on the prowl much," she admitted. Apparently she didn't need to be out on the prowl either. A woman didn't need to prowl when she was in the arms of a tall, dark and handsome stranger.

And he still had an arm around her! She found herself quite comfortable to stay here with him like this. She hadn't noticed him in the mix with the other men roaming around the property. She was sure she would have noticed him before, but her internal struggle to maintain composure for the sake of her family had been taking up most of her brain power, the remainder of her brain power was telling her to drink more champagne, ormaybe switch to spiced rum.

"Guess I could just pretend to choose the next guy I see and wish everyone a farewell, spend the remainder of my birthday doing something a little less forced," she said, heavily hinting to her stranger here to make the next move and ask if she wanted to get out of here.

"I literally just suggested that," Dean complained behind her.

She decidedly did not move her eyes off of the man before her to roll her eyes at Dean's complaint. She'd made it clear to mystery guy that she wasn't interested in spending more time with Dean, the man before her though, him she wouldn't mind getting to know.

He smelled nice too. It was a subtle hint of hygiene, not like Junior the Cologne Bandit.

"Who did you come here with?" Ginny asked him. Don't have a girlfriend, don't have a girlfriend, don't have a girlfriend, she yelled in her head.

"Er, Bill. He and I were working together on a project for Gringotts. Said that there was a shindig going on and invited me along. Didn't know until I got here that it was a birthday party. Or that I was supposed to be one of many single men here for the birthday girls choosing."

Ginny cringed internally. He'd called her a 'girl', she hated being called a girl; she'd fought in a war, protected a castle, and she'd been of bloody age for two years now.

At least he seemed to have realized what was going on at this party before she and Dean had laid it out for him. Some of the true winners gathered outside seemed to require a piece of parchment and quill in order to draw their own conclusions.

This specimen though, she might enjoy playing with this one. It had been a while after all, and he was really very pretty. "Pretend that you hadn't been brought here for the sole purpose of meeting me, what is your objective opinion?" Ginny asked him leadingly.

She could so easily lose herself in those eyes. Was that a bit of stubble growing on his chin too? Bet he could grow that out in a few days and pull off a really rugged and handsome look. Maybe with a tan and nice button up with the cuffs folded up to the elbows. My, my, what nice biceps you have. What was that? The better to throw you over my shoulder with, my dear? Maybe the shoulder throw could be followed by a smack of my arse before tossing me on a bed.

Okay, maybe that last drink could have waited until after she'd gotten more food into her if she was actually entertaining the idea of ravishing one of these men that had shown up tonight.

"Oh, I, er," he stumbled over his words.

"See, you should just bail with me," Dean said. "At least I know that you would have preferred we go to a Quidditch game than have a pink party."

"You like Quidditch?!" the man asked brightly.

"She's just been signed to the Harpies," Dean told him and stepped closer to the pair of them, sounding like he would have wanted to step between them if it wouldn't look so awkward, or if there was space to do so.

"That's brilliant! Congratulations."

Oh, he had a lovely crooked grin. His teeth were nice, top teeth almost perfectly straight and one bottom tooth just a little sideways.

What the fuck? Who cares what someone's teeth look like?

Merlin, when did it get so hot in here?

"Thanks," she grinned back.

Then there was a moment of silence where the three of them said absolutely nothing and the whole feel of the room got very awkward. His hand on her lower back wasn't moving, not that she minded. In fact, if Dean wasn't still standing there she might have suggested he move it lower and see if he could tell just how toned her Quidditch training had made her muscles in her derriere region.

This was getting too awkward. For everyone. Green Eyes here clearly needed a bit more gentle nudging and Ginny wanted to see if he could catch a hint.

"Right, well, I'm going to sneak out then. Nice to meet you, friend of Bill's," Ginny said after heaving in a deep breath and making sure that her chest was just a little more accentuated.

"Oh, you're leaving?" he cocked his head at her.

"Yes. Did you want to come?" she asked, detangling herself from him and heading towards the fireplace, pointedly grazing her fingers along his until they were no longer touching.

"I wouldn't want to be rude," he said, the smirk on his face was telling her he didn't mean that in the slightest.

"I don't think they'll notice you leaving. I don't think they'll notice me leaving," she told him wryly.

He looked between she and Dean, then over to the fireplace.

"Come on," she coaxed, "where's your sense of adventure?"

That sparked a light of interest in him and he followed her to the fireplace. "Bye Dean, I'll catch up with you another time," she told him brightly.

"Sure," Dean shook his head and grabbed another drink off the table in the kitchen before he wandered out to the backyard in disappointment.

"Where are we going then?" mystery man asked.

"Hogsmeade," Ginny told him. "Have you ever been to the Three Broomsticks?"

"Of course," he nodded.

"Great, from there we're going to sneak into Hogwarts."

"What? Why?"

"I feel like it," she replied simply.

He paused but didn't look deterred. He took a pinch of Floo powder and stood back, waiting for her to go first.

They passed through the bar with no more than a nod at Madame Rosemerta. Ginny thought it said a lot about him that he was willing to follow her to a random location.

"So, you work for Gringotts?" she asked.

"Yeah. Have done for two years. Just finished up with my overseas apprenticeship and now I'm based in London for the next while."

The fresh air out on the street felt lovely on her bare arms and legs and she took in a deep breath of it through her nose. It was so much more crisp this far north. "And do you like it?"

"It's well more difficult than I thought it would be. I went into the Curse Breaker world thinking it would be one adventure after another and pictured me sitting around a campfire every night exchanging drinks and stories with my coworkers."

"And it has not met your expectations?"

"No," he chuckled. "It's been reading books after books, deciphering runes and digging. Oh Merlin, the digging," he moaned with a laugh under his complaint.

Ginny couldn't help but giggle at that. "I remember Bill complaining about that too." She'd been nine then and remembered Bill coming home after his first year of his apprenticeship and his arms had gotten huge. There was a lot of manual labor involved in the first few years of Curse-Breaker training.

"I do enjoy the puzzles though," he admitted. "We're given these series of different puzzles to figure out and it gets our brains thinking in all sorts of directions so we can try to work out just how different wards need to be lined up and booby traps and such. Those can be fun."

"I wondered about trying to be a Curse-Breaker myself for a bit," Ginny told him, enjoying the crunch of the gravel under her shoes as they walked along the path.

"Yeah? What happened to change your mind then?"

"I fucking hate Runes," she said simply.

He let out a bark of laughter that she joined in on.

"I was pretty shit at Potions and Transfiguration too," she admitted with a smile. "Got my NEWTS in Charms, Defense, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology, and, if you can believe it, History of Magic."

"Why is that an 'if you can believe it' statement?" he wondered.

"Well, we had a ghost professor for History of Magic and he was bloody boring. Droned on and on about Goblin Rebellions and Witch Trials in the most monotonous voice you ever heard. Most students dropped his class after their obligatory OWLS. I only kept it because I needed a certain number of classes and that was one where I could get my other assignments done and do all the reading on what I hadn't paid attention to later. Well, as it turned out, what he droned on about for NEWT students was actually interesting! Go figure," she shrugged.

"So, what? You had five years of Goblin Rebellions and then he started teaching everything else?" he asked, astounded. "Not even about the Hogwarts Founders or anything?"

She shook her head. "Honestly can't remember a single interesting thing said in that class until my sixth year." Her head was starting to feel a little less fuzzy as they walked along the path and she wondered what exactly they might get up to when they did reach the school.

Could they even get passed the wards at this time of year?

She wondered if there was still the stash of illicit substances kept behind the Shrieking Shack. Might be nice to keep her buzz going.

"Even I learned about the founders of Hogwarts," he told her. "And Illvermory, and Durmstrang and all the other famous Wizarding schools around the world."

"Where were you educated?" Ginny asked him.

"Home," he stated. "Mum and dad travelled a lot for work and wanted me with them. I don't have any complaints about that. Saw a lot of the world and it wound up giving me the perfect resume for my chosen profession."

"There are studies that say that the average person will have three careers in the course of their lives."

"Oh yeah? And what is yours after being a Quidditch star?" he challenged teasingly.

"Sex worker," she told him off the cuff and gestured to herself. "Can't let all this work I put in with toning up be for nothing in the end, can I?"

He knew she was joking and decided to play along. "Yeah, and by that point you'll have the fame behind your name as well, so you'll be able to charge more by the hour."

"Think I'll be worth it?" she asked saucily.

"Haven't a clue. I've only been able to put my arm around you the one time."

"Well, it was there for a while," she pointed out.

"Maybe I'll be able to tell better after a snog."

"Oh, bold of you to assume you'll be getting a snog," she grinned at him.

"You're right. A snog might be a stretch, but you need a birthday kiss at least, don't you? It's tradition."

"That's true! Best get that one out of the way so we can focus on our adventure," she told him, then stepped in front of him and reached up on her tip toes to give him a kiss on the lips that lasted for all of a two count: not nearly long enough in her opinion.

She didn't give him enough time to prepare for it either. Ginny liked having the element of surprise. His hands had been on the way to her hips when she pulled back and continued leading them up the road towards the Shrieking Shack. He took another moment before he caught up with her.

"Was it everything you hoped for then?" he asked.

"The party? No. In all their planning it seems they failed to invite my actual friends. It was a sea of men I didn't know, and some I did, unfortunately." She knew he'd been asking about the kiss but she couldn't show him her whole deck of cards before he started laying some down as well.

He was game to play along with that.

"Invited some ex-boyfriends then, did they?"

"Yep. Dean was one of them. Ah, to be fifteen again," she said wistfully in jest.

"Oh yes, that's when we make the best of our bad decisions. For me, I remember it was a Muggle girl named Sheila. We were living in Boston then and she lived at the end of the block. She just seemed to have so much confidence and all the guys were wrapped around her finger, including me," he chuckled. "So young and stupid."

"No longer have a thing for confident girls then?" she raised her eyebrow at him.

"No, more for feisty and adventurous women," he winked at her. "One's that play Quidditch preferably."

She was glowing with a sappy happiness on the inside at that. He called her feisty and adventurous, but he'd also called her a woman. The man was racking up some serious brownie points.

They'd reached the point of the road where they needed to branch off and go into the woods a bit to get to the shack. "And so begins our adventure," she told him, now walking backwards and gesturing for him to follow her.

"You really think you'll be able to sneak us into Hogwarts and have a wander around?" he asked after a minute of walking through the woods.

"No. We'll be able to get onto the grounds at least, I don't know about into the castle."

"Then why are we doing it?" he laughed.

"Isn't it enough to simply spend time with me? Why question it?" she teased. On a more serious note she added, "I didn't actually have this planned out. I'm making it up as I go. Where I'm at right now is; we get into the shack, find the inevitable stash of drinks there, sneak to the Quidditch pitch at the school and climb to the tallest point in the stadium, then sit back to watch night descend and the stars come out while enjoying said drinks."

There was another moment of silence that passed between them where the only sound was of their footfalls breaking the twigs on the ground.

"You know, that sounds pretty perfect."

She led them passed the gate and around to the back of the shack where there was a panel that could be removed to let them into the building. With one hand on it she turned back to look at him.

"What?" he asked.

"The sun is about to set and I wanted to get another good look at those lovely eyes of yours before I lose my opportunity to enjoy them."

They were the most brilliant emerald eyes she'd seen. Even through his glasses they shone brightly. He also didn't look the least bit bothered about standing here in the setting sun outside with her for a few more moments.

His eyes narrowed a bit as his smile grew wider, but then they came closer to her as well. Next his mouth was on hers again. This time she wrapped her arms around his neck and let him take the lead in giving her a nice, slow, thorough snog that had her insides warming up and this wave of satisfaction rolling over her.

Her head felt lighter as he kissed her. The subtle sensation she generally experienced from alcohol, the light buzzing, it was due to him right now. And it felt wonderful.

Again, she was the one to pull back, this time after a full minute of enjoyment.

"Well, I can hardly appreciate your eyes if they're closed now, can I?" she smiled.

"And I could hardly appreciate that kiss you gave me earlier when it was over too quick, could I?" he countered.

She hummed happily at that response. "So, how was it then?"

"It was alright," he shrugged.

"Alright?" she asked and took a step back.

"Yeah. Just alright. I think I'll need to give it another go, or ten, to draw an absolute conclusion."

Ginny let out a laugh. "Oh, good response. That trick work all the time?" She turned around and pulled the panel back to let them in, creeping in first and he followed in behind her. It was a bit of a tighter squeeze for him.

"First time I used it. Good to know the line worked though."

"Yeah, what girl doesn't want to be used as a test subject for pick-up lines," she told him wryly.

"So, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" he teased.

"Oh, you know the best girls are a little bit of trouble," she teased right back before leading the way to the main room and going to the corner that had a cloth tarp covering a corner cabinet and opening the door to see there was a bottle of Ogdens Firewhiskey that had at least ten shots still in it.

He was looking around the room at all the busted furniture and molding walls. "Nice little clubhouse you have here."

"It came in handy a time or two. Not easy to get to from the grounds but we knew there was an entrance to Hogsmeade there and I figured out how to get through it on a dare."

"How did you know there was an entrance there if it was hard to get to?"

"Two of my brothers found a map of the school and it showed there was. It's under a tree that'll wallop you if you get to close or don't know how to freeze it still."

"So, you really are an adventurous one, aren't you?"

"Willing to take the risk if I think the payout might be worth it."

There was just enough light in the room to see he was grinning at her. "Think I might be worth it then?"

Ginny made a point of looking him up and down, "might be."

His grin grew wider and she knew she had the same expression on her face too.

"Come on. We have to go through a tunnel down the stairs now."

They passed through the tunnel in silence and Ginny carefully searched the dirt wall to find the inner knot on the tree that would cause it to still and allow them to climb up and sneak out. She had to take his hand to lead him away from the tree and out of its range when it started moving again. He though wasn't paying much attention to their immediate surroundings; he was staring up at the castle.

"It's pretty magnificent, isn't it?" he said wistfully.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I remember how much I couldn't wait to go here when I was little. One by one I had to watch my brothers go off to school, and they'd always come back with these tales of adventure and new friends, sneaking off to get into trouble and such. Then it was my turn, and it was brilliant, for the first few years at least." She heaved a sigh. "Then the war properly started and things got bad, badder, worse."

"I know," he frowned. "I was in England for that. We moved back to help with the war effort."

"Were you at Hogwarts for the battle?" she asked, unable to remember seeing him there in all the chaos.

"Yes, but we went to London immediately after because my parents were part of the Wizengamut and there was some destruction and help needed in the city as well."

"Wizengamut?" she asked, floored at this new piece of information. It was a little late to be asking this, but she figured now was as good a time as any. "What's your name?"

He looked back down at her and hesitated. "Two out of ten first?"

Initially she didn't know what that was supposed to mean, then he was kissing her again and she didn't care. There was no way that he could think this one was just 'alright'. It was fantastic.

'Two out of ten', she realized, as in he wanted to properly kiss her at least ten times before the night was over and here was their second. It was better than their first too.

By the time he pulled away she wasn't all that bothered what his name was.

"I'm-"

"Three out of ten," she said abruptly, pulling him back to her. There was a tree only a few steps behind her and she pulled him towards it, backing up until she was pressed against it with her one hand in his hair and their bodies as close as possible. There was a 'thunk' as she dropped the bottle to the ground so she could wrap her other arm around his shoulders.

His lips didn't just stay on hers this time, they travelled down her neck and to her collar, a spot that had her moaning and her head rolling to the side to give him more access.

This time when he pulled back it took them both a moment to catch their breath and allow their heads to clear.

It was dark out now too and she couldn't make out his eye color anymore, just the dreamy expression on his face.

"Harry," he told her. "My name's Harry Potter."

Ginny was dumbstruck.

The Potter's were a big family in the Wizarding world. Their names were in the paper all the time but there wasn't ever a photo. Harry had even been listed as one of the most eligible bachelors, top ten in the world as soon as he'd turned of age. They were incredibly well off with a lot of influence.

"Well," she said and gave a dry swallow. "None of the articles mentioned how brilliant of a snog you were."

Harry snorted a laugh. "I wasn't willing to give them a quote, let alone tongue the journalist."

Ginny muffled a laugh herself. She could do this though, continue on with their evenings plans as though she hadn't just learned who he was, keep thinking of him simply as the dishy guy that worked with her eldest brother.

The one that snogged her so wonderfully that last time that she was now wet and wanting.

She bit her lip and forced herself to look over towards the Quidditch Pitch, nodding in its direction. "That's where we're headed."

He let out a breath of relief. "Lead the way."

She picked up the bottle and they made their way across the grounds, making sure to stay as close to the forbidden forest as they could in case someone in the castle looked out. It was summertime but there were a few professors that called the castle their permanent home. Hagrid too would still be working year-round to maintain the grounds.

Ginny led him into the stadium and up through the flight of staircases that would go to the highest seats, with their seats facing away from the castle in case someone were to look out the window and notice them there.

She chose the second last row of seats and settled down with her elbows resting on the bench seats behind her. "I played my first proper game of Quidditch here when I was thirteen," she told him, getting nostalgic just seeing it all again. "The only position available was Seeker and I was the quickest person at try-outs."

"I take it that means that isn't the position you've been hired for with the Harpies," he deduced from the inflection in her voice.

"Chaser," she confirmed. "Had to wait until my fifth year to get that position. Captain said she wished she'd placed me there sooner, but our new Seeker was still not as good as I was. Wound up winning from goals alone in a few matches," she told him proudly.

"I look forward to seeing you in action then."

There was a bubble of giddiness that came out of her then. "I still can't believe it, you know? I've wanted to play professionally for so long and now I'm on the bloody Holyhead Harpies!"

"It is impressive," he smiled and reached over her to grab the bottle on the bench on the other side of her and uncapping it to take a drink, then raising the bottle in offering. "To you. In honor of your birthday and starting your dream job."

She took the bottle and had a drink for herself. "Am I going to see you again?" she asked him straightforward.

He seemed surprised at the question. "I'd like that. Sort of thought that was where this was heading. I already like you quite a lot and I've only known you for an hour."

"Has it only been an hour?" she asked in surprise.

"Roughly, yeah," he laughed.

"Only averaging three snogs an hour, huh?"

"Think we can do better?"

"I think we can make it two an hour, but we'd have to stretch them out for a really long time," she told him boldly, passing the bottle back to him again.

He took another drink from it and set it down. "I'm up for that challenge."

As he leaned down to close the distance between them again she realized that she was going to owe her family a big thank-you tomorrow.

That party was a great idea.

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