Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Finally, she smiled. “What makes the difference between an okay kiss and a really good one?”
“That’s easy. Who you’re sharing it with.”
Kyle rolled his eyes at my answer, but Tori seemed to like it.
“You go next,” Kyle said to Lucas. They’d known each other for over five years and still didn’t use each other’s names if they could help it. Yep, we were one big, happy family.
“Truth or dare?” Lucas asked Tori.
“Truth.”
He thought for a moment. “What’s something a guy does that makes you melt?”
“Ooh, interesting.” She smiled, like one of her future students had just raised his hand to ask a good question. “There are lots of things, but… well, sometimes if a man looks at me like I’m the only person in the world, even if we’re in a crowded place…” She trailed off, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face. “Especially if we’re in a crowded place.”
“Good answer,” Lucas said. There wasn’t much doubt why he liked it—he basically always looked at Tori that way.
“Truth or dare?” she asked him.
“Dare,” he said, to my surprise. Maybe he was afraid that Tori would ask him something he wasn’t ready to admit to.
The gleam in her eyes showed she was ready for it. “Sometime this week, I dare to you to give me another foot rub.”
Kyle sat up straighter. “Another one?”
“It’s a deal,” Lucas said, and he returned the smile Tori beamed at him.
We all turned to Kyle.
“Ladies first.”
Tori studied him, and I could almost hear her brain cycling through the possibilities. Twice she started to ask something but stopped each time. Finally, she said, “This is hard.”
Kyle smirked. “Maybe because you’ve been asking me questions non-stop since you’ve met me.”
“That’s what good tutors do.” Lucas bristled.
“Not the kind she’s been asking me.”
Tori smacked him on his arm, and that seemed to help her decide. “If you had to make out with one guy on your baseball team, who would it be?”
If she’d hoped to embarrass him, it didn’t work.
“Baxter,” he said. Then he shrugged. “He’s the second best-looking guy on the team. Do I need to tell you who the best-looking one is?”
She shook her head, a smile on her face. “Not unless that’s the question you’re going to ask me.”
“You haven’t told me if you want to choose truth or dare yet.”
“Truth.”
Smart woman.
Except Kyle looked pleased with her answer. That couldn’t be good. It suddenly dawned on me that it was no coincidence that he’d chosen to go last.
“If you had to pick one of us to be your boyfriend, who would you choose?”
Tori reeled back, as if slapped.
“Uncool, dude.” He had no right to put her on the spot like that.
Tori’s mouth hung open as if she’d forgotten how speaking worked.
“You don’t have to answer that,” Lucas growled. As if he wasn’t dying to know the answer. But as always, he put her needs over his.
“She’s a grown woman,” Kyle muttered. “She doesn’t need a guard dog.” He looked at Tori, his eyebrows raised. “Well?”
“Can I use my safeword?” she said at last.
“Nope. My question made you feel uncomfortable, not unsafe.”
“That’s not—” She trailed off, looking confused.
Kyle smirked. “You could always switch to dare.”
It was like seeing a car about to cross over the median into oncoming traffic and not being able to stop it.
But it was too late.
“Okay, I choose dare,” Tori said. Completely unaware that the entire game had been orchestrated by Kyle to reach this point. But I couldn’t blame her—I didn’t catch on until it was too late, either.
Shit.
This wasn’t good.
Lucas knew too, and he looked like he was about to murder Kyle, who hadn’t—yet—done anything wrong.
Yet.
Kyle leaned back in his chair, reaching a new level of smug arrogance. He drew out the moment, likely enjoying Lucas’s anger. Or just enjoying having Tori exactly where he wanted her.
I just hadn’t figured out where that was yet.
“This dare isn’t for now. It’s for Sunday night.”
She swallowed hard, and I realized that meant something to her.
“What’s on Sunday?” I asked.
Kyle smirked, leaving it up to Tori to answer.
“Our date,” she said quietly.
“Your what?” Lucas said sharply. For such a smart guy, he sure as hell played right into Kyle’s hands a lot. At least when it came to Tori.
“Yes.” She didn’t meet any of our eyes. “We, um, a long time ago, we agreed to go on a date.”
“And how did he get you to agree to that?” I asked.
She shrugged, her cheeks turning pink.
“I asked her,” Kyle said. They exchanged a quick glance.
Oh yeah, there was definitely more to the story than they were letting on.
But then Tori caught my eye, and while she didn’t look as excited as she had a few minutes ago, the look on her face clearly wasn’t “Jayden, save me from this brute.” So I let out the breath I’d been holding.