Page 24 of Falling for Grace

“Did you just shotgun a dude?” Theresa asks.

I shrug. I’m well into my third pint of beer and have a nice buzz going.

“I wanted the dark-haired one anyway,” Theresa declares, smiling. “Nice find, eh?” She waggles her perfectly shaped eyebrows at me.

“So ‘I have never.’ What, are we fifteen?” I raise an eyebrow at her.

She rolls her eyes. “I have to break down your walls somehow, Grace.”

The way she talks you’d think I don’t tell her anything. I do tell her stuff. I spent the first twenty minutes of this evening boring her about my day at work. I just don’t feel the need to open up about my past and what caused me to leave the UK.

“Tonight may be your lucky night.”

We both cackle as the two guys come over. Theresa smiles and ushers the dark-haired one next to her so the one I called dibs on will have to sit next to me.

“Ben, this is my friend Grace. Grace, this is Ben.” Theresa introduces me to the sandy blonde. I stand up and shake his hand as he bends down and kisses my cheek.

“Nice to meet you,” he says, his lips turning up in a half smile. There’s that dimple again. Now that he’s up close I want to high five Theresa. He has a lovely lean build. His T-shirt is fitted snuggly around his torso and arms, his biceps large under it. His skin is tanned and looks surprisingly smooth. The sweet, musky scent of his aftershave washes over me. It suits him.

“This delinquent is my friend, Rob,” he says, pointing to the dark-haired guy, who is now whispering something in Theresa’s ear. The guys settle in, and we make small talk, their southern American accents filling the space. Ben is asking me something I’m really struggling to hear over the loud music. I have no idea what he’s saying and my mind is wandering onto a certain someone else and even more annoyingly it isn’t Danny.

Suddenly, Theresa interrupts: “Okay, so in front of you ya’all will find a tray of shots. Each glass contains something. That something may be good, or it may be gross and bad. It’s simple. We start the game with ‘I have never’. From there we move to Truth or Shot. Dares are soooo childish.”

“Of course, it’s the dares that would make this situation way too childish,” I say sarcastically, and Theresa sticks her tongue out at me.

“Do you know how to play ‘I have never’?” she asks Rob, who is watching her and smiling. In addition to the shots of doom, we also have a pitcher of beer and another has just been delivered.

“I’m guessing we say something we haven’t done,” Ben pitches in.

“Exactly,” Theresa confirms. “If you have done it, you take a drink of two fingers from your pint glasses. Truth be told, I’m very excited to learn more about Grace. She’s a dark horse, this one.”

Ben turns his attention to me. “Is that so?”

I shrug in response, and Theresa jumps in her seat pointing at me. “See, anyone else would say no or deny it. But Grace, she just adds to the mystery by shrugging.”

I laugh. “Girls like to have their secrets,” I say to Ben. “Otherwise where’s the fun and mystery in life?”

He smiles and then taps his nose. “Do you know there are twokinds of secrets?” The rest of the table is suddenly forgotten as I look at his dark eyes, the brown of the irises almost as dark as the pupils.

“Really? And what are these two kinds of secrets?” I ask, leaning towards him. Yeah, I’m totally flirting with him, but I’m feeling a little daring. And hello? Did I tell you? He’s hot.

He leans forward, his mouth coming close to my ear. His breath is warm, causing goose bumps to cover my flesh. “The first is something you hide so deep inside because you don’t want anyone to ever find out.”

Not the route I thought the conversation would take.

“The second is the kind that you really want someone to ask you about, even though you’re hiding it.”

Totally know all about those kind of secrets.

“So, what sort of secrets are you hiding, Grace?” he says, watching me.

I lean back and I find myself momentarily speechless.

“I guess a mixture of them both,” I say honestly. He watches me and takes a sip of his beer. “I’m guessing that I’m having this conversation with someone who also has secrets?” He nods and takes another sip, his dark eyes penetrating. “And what type of secrets are yours?” I ask.

“Number one, for sure,” he says confidently and then changes the subject so quickly I almost get whiplash. “I have never been to Disney Land.”

I look over at Theresa, who has a strange look on her face. I guess my own facial expression must be that of confusion.

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