Page 21 of Incipient

He licked his lips and cleared his throat. “Dare.”

“Seriously?” I scoffed at him because this wassooonot going the way I thought this was going to go. “I thought you said we were going to share secrets,” I pointed out without even bothering to hide my disappointment.

“We are.”

“Are we? Because so far we’re just taking off our clothes and getting drunk together.”

“I know.” His dimples deepened as his wolfish grin reached all the way up to his heated eyes.

“Trace,” I whined.

“Alright, fine,” he said as he widened his thighs and let his gaze sweep over me again. “Truth.”

I smiled victoriously. Okay, so it wasn’t an actual victory, but I was taking the win anyway. “How do you know we’re going to end up together?”

“Wow, you just went right for it, eh?” He ran his hand along his jawline and then pushed back against his chair again. “My mother’s a Seer,” he answered coolly, and my eyes immediately doubled in size. “Not a fullblood, but enough to pass some of it down to me.”

Tension coiled up my spine as I processed that.

“So, does that mean you can like—” I swallowed past the dryness in my throat as this brand-new information sank all the way in. “Seethe future?”

A wry smile stretched across his face. “That sounds like another question,” he pointed out, letting me know he wasn’t going to make it that easy for me to extract all his secrets.Fucker!“Truth or dare, Jemma?”

Liking where this was going, I figured it was only fair that I threw him a bone, too. “Truth.”

His easy smile widened, deepening his dimples as he pinned me under that smoldering gaze of his. “Were you in love with me before my accident?”

A burst of air rushed out of me as I sat there stunned. I knew he wasn’t going to make it easy for me, but I really wasn’t expecting a full-blown grenade to the face right off the bat. I mean, I kind of thought he would ease into it, you know, get to know each other first.

Shifting uncomfortably on the bed, I toggled back and forth between my options. I could either skip the question altogether, which would both tip him off anyway and land me sitting in my bra and underwear, or I could admit what he probably already knew anyway.

Doing my best not to shrink away from his stare, I answered his question. “Yeah…I was in love with you.”

“Was…” he repeated quietly, his probing eyes all but liquifying me under their weight. “As in, you’re not anymore?”

“That’s another question,” I reminded him, because two could certainly play that game.

He dipped his head in a nod, but there was something dangerous brewing in his eyes now. Intrigue. Determination. Like he’d spotted his mission and was gunning straight for it.

A crash of thunder exploded outside the windows, making the lamp flicker on the desk behind him.

Enjoying the charge in the air, I wet my lips and asked, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” he said, eyeing me with purpose, as if to let me know he expected me to follow suit again.

“Are you able to see the future?” I asked with bated breath.

He filled up both shot glasses and my shoulders sagged, assuming he was going to dodge my question. “Not everything and not always. It comes and goes, usually just bits and pieces, but enough to know it’s a vision.”

“Wow.” Mindlessly, I scooped my hair up and pulled it to one side of my neck. Trace watched, his eyes bouncing below my neckline before returning to my eyes. “And you saw us together? Like, what? Married or something?”

“My turn,” he said, making it clear he wasn’t going to be giving me any freebies. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I answered fervently, wanting to keep this part of the game going. This was, after all, the purpose of agreeing to play it in the first place.

He leaned forward on his knees and pinned me under his fierce gaze. “Are you still in love with me?”

My pulse exploded in my neck, throbbing so wildly that I was sure he could see it.

---