“Yeah, three brothers, but I’m the eldest.”
“Your poor mom.”
He chuckles. “Oh yeah, we were a wild bunch. Growing up, the pranks we pulled on her.” He shudders, and I can’t help but grin. I love hearing these types of stories, even if it pains me that it wasn’t what I had.
“I don’t believe you. I haven’t met your brothers, so I can’t comment on them, but you don’t seem the type to put a foot out of line,” I tease, imagining him as a young boy.
His eyes gleam at that before saying, “I wasn’t always so”—he rubs the back of his neck before continuing—“stiff.”
“I like stiff.” I pinch my lips together to hold back a laugh before I give him a wide, open smile.
He smirks, knowing exactly where my mind has gone.
“Probably the wrong word to use. Let’s try that again. Rule abiding.”
I smile, but I’ve had enough family talk for the evening. I want to bring his young Marc out and have some fun. He’s been on my mind so many times, and this is the first time I’ve been able to act on it, and hell, I deserve to live a little too.
To just once kiss those lips I’ve been dreaming of tasting; grab onto his muscles I’ve been twitching to touch, and feel the warmth of his skin against mine.
Yeah, I need this with him…now.
“Truth or dare?” I ask.
He leans back, narrowing his eyes at me. His smoldering look is making my belly swarm with nerves and excitement.
“Dare.” He sips his drink, staring into my soul over his glass. Getting to know each other seems to have made the electricity between us hit another level. Maybe it’s that we both admitted that we are attracted to each other, but either way, I need to think of a dare; I wasn’t expecting that.
As moments pass, I try to get some air into my lungs. They seem to be constricted.
“I dare you to…” All the dares I’m thinking of involve me in some way.
Take a tequila shot from my stomach and suck the lime slice from my mouth.
Take an ice cube between your lips and run it over my body, starting at my lips.
Pour your drink all over my chest and use your tongue to clean me up.
Yeah, my mind has gone way off track.
He smirks, as if reading my flustered thoughts. I simply can’t think of a dare without me.
My brain is all misfiring about how much I want to lean over and capture his lips. I wonder what they would feel like and what he would taste like. His hands tighten around his glass as he watches me. They would have the power to destroy me, and fuck, I can’t lie. I want that so fucking much. His hands on me and me getting lost in his toned body for the night, ridding my bad memories of Christmas. Could he replace the pain, or would he leave me aching for him? Exchanging one heartbreak for another?
I sip my drink before lowering it to the wooden table and cradling it in my hands.
“I can’t think of one…” I say with a soft shake of my head.
He raises a brow. “Hmm, well, how about the truth?”
It doesn’t help, but I ask the first thing that pops into my mind. “What are you thinking?”
“Right now?”
“Mm-hmm.”
His gaze drops to my lips, and I hadn’t realized I was nibbling them until now. I let go of my lip, and his eyes meet mine again.
He clears his throat and says, “How much I want to kiss you.”