Page 12 of The Dare

“And what passes for improper on the west coast?” I ask, noting the way his top lip twitches when he’s being cheeky.

“Well…” His entire demeanor shifts. Eyes narrow. Breathing slows. Conor licks his lips. “If I weren’t a gentleman, I might try something like pushing your hair behind your ear.” He skims his fingertips through my hair. Then down the column of my neck. Just a gentle whisper of skin-to-skin.

My neck erupts in excited little bumps and my breath catches in my throat.

“And dragging my finger across your shoulder.”

He does so, quickening my pulse. An ache builds inside me.

“And skimming along until—” He reaches my bra strap. I hadn’t realized it was exposed with my V-neck sweater hanging off my shoulder.

“Alright. Down, boy.” Regaining my wits, I remove hishand and adjust my sleeve. Jeez, this guy should come with a warning label. “I think I get it now.”

“You’re ridiculously attractive, Taylor.” This time when he speaks, I don’t doubt his sincerity, if perhaps his sanity. I suppose someone like him doesn’t get around so much by being picky. “Don’t spend any more time believing otherwise.”

For the next few hours, I don’t. Instead, I give myself permission to pretend that someone like Conor Edwards is actually into me.

We lie there in the ridiculous cocoon of Rachel’s stuffed animal collection, talking as if we’ve been friends for years. There’s surprisingly no shortage of things to say, no lag in the conversation. We move from banal topics of favorite foods and our mutual appreciation for sci-fi movies, to more serious ones, like how out of place I feel amongst my sorority sisters, to hilarious ones, like the time his sixteen-year-old punk-ass self got drunk after a road game in San Francisco and dove into the bay with the intention of swimming to Alcatraz.

“Fucking Coast Guard showed up and—” He cuts himself off mid-sentence, yawning loudly. “Shit, I can barely keep my eyes open.”

I catch his contagious yawn and cover my gaping mouth with my forearm. “Me too,” I say sleepily. “But we’re not leaving this room until you finish that story because holy shit, you were one stupid kid.”

That triggers a wave of laughter from the Norse god beside me. “Not the first time I’ve heard that, and it won’t be the last.”

By the time he finishes the story, we’re yawning on a loop, blinking rapidly to try to stay awake. The stupidest,drowsiest discussion ensues as we attempt to find the strength to get up.

“We should head downstairs,” I mumble.

“Mmm-hmmm,” he mumbles back.

“Like now.”

“Hmmm, good idea.”

“Or maybe in five minutes.” I yawn. “Five minutes, yeah.” He yawns.

“Okay, so we’ll close our eyes for five minutes and then get up.”

“Just rest our eyes. You know, eyes get tired.”

“They do.”

“Tired eyes,” he’s muttering from beneath thick lashes, “and I played a game tonight, got a bit bruised up, so let’s just…”

I don’t hear the rest of his sentence, because we’ve both fallen asleep.

4

TAYLOR

KNOCK.

Knock.

Knock!

KNOCK!

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