Incipient A Dark Paranormal Romance - Bianca Scardoni Page 0,27
marriage-and-kids life with him, and I’d accepted that—was good with it even. But was that only because I had lost Trace? Had I subconsciously let that dream die when Trace died? I honestly wasn’t sure anymore. Deciding that it was way too much baggage for me to unpack in one night, I skirted the question altogether.
“I would tell you, but that sounds like a truth or dare question,” I said, directing the conversation back to the game.
An impish smile slowly returned to his face. “Alright, but you know it’s my turn to ask, right?”
I shrugged. “Ask away.”
His eyes filled with dangerous mischief and for some reason, it made my stomach tighten. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” I answered easily because I knew what he was going to ask if I went with truth, and like I said, I wasn’t going there tonight. No siree bob.
He didn’t seem bothered by my dodge. Instead, he wet his lips and said, “Come here.”
Heat fluttered down my chest as I took in the dark glint in his eye. “You want me to come over there to you?” I verified, doing my best not to drop my eyes bellow his neckline. The air was already charged enough with sexual tension without my adding to it by ogling his bare chest.
“That’s what I said.” He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his legs as he eyed me pointedly, as though waiting to see if I would actually do it.
“That’s your dare?” I asked dubiously.
“It’s the first part of my dare,” he answered, his voice husky and deep.
“What’s the second part?” I asked, still not moving an inch.
His grin was all edges and sin. “I’ll tell you when you get here.”
I thought about it for a flat second and then stood up, wearing nothing but my bra and underwear no less, and slowly walked over to him before stopping half a foot in front of his chair.
Unsure of where he was going with this, I waited and watched as his gaze roamed over my body appreciatively, and I let them because it felt good to have his eyes on me that way.
“What’s the second part?” I asked again, my voice coming out far breathier than I’d intended.
He sank back in the chair as those torturous eyes of his crawled up to meet mine. “I dare you to kiss me.”
My breath caught in my throat as I tried to ignore the blitz of butterflies dancing through my belly. Shuttering myself, I crossed my arms and glared at him. “That’s not fair.”
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Why not?”
“You waited until I was down to my bra and underwear to ask me that. You’re cheating.”
“How is that cheating?” A small smile twitched the corners of his lips. “It’s good game strategy.”
“Same difference.” Okay, not really, but I was sticking to it regardless.
“You don’t have to kiss me if you don’t want to,” he said softly, knowing full well that wanting wasn’t the issue here.
“But then I have to take off another piece of clothing.” Which would strategically leave me topless or bottomless.
“I know.” He didn’t even bother to hide his enthusiasm over my conundrum.
Motherfucker. I blew out a breath and tried to ignore his cocky grin. “How long do I have to keep my bra off?” I wondered, weighing out my options now. At this point, I wasn’t entirely sure which option was worse: Parading around the room with my boobs out in front of Trace, or flat-out kissing him. On purpose. Not that kissing him on purpose was bad. It was never bad, and that right there was the problem.
“For the rest of the game,” he answered, halting my inner ramble as he continued to observe me.
My eyes dropped to his mouth and the temperature in the room shot up again. “And the kiss? How long?”
He shrugged like it didn’t matter either way. “I don’t know, ten seconds.”
“Ten seconds,” I repeated and then nodded distractedly. Honestly, that was hardly anything at all. It wasn’t even a quarter of a minute. I could definitely handle locking lips with Trace for a measly ten seconds.
Easy-peasy. I got this.
“Okay…ten seconds,” I finally said, working hard to keep my voice and expression flat, bored even, like it was absolutely no big deal to me even though my heart was already thundering in my chest.
He clenched his jaw and waited as I just stood there and did nothing. I’d meant to close the gap and get this thing over with, but my jelly legs didn’t seem