Page 54 of False Start

“I’m glad you’ve warmed up the idea.” The teasing fell from his voice.

“Doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice. You snuck up on me.”

It only took two days in a car, but I liked Trent. I couldn’t admit it to him, but I at least could admit it to myself. And if my heart sped up a little when he got near, that was incidental. A weird harbinger of anticipation and nothing else.

“I have that effect on people.” His smile faltered, his fingers dropping from my hair. He cleared his throat, sitting up and pulling his arm off the back of the seat. “So, what other games do you have up your sleeve?”

I sank into the corner of the booth, taking another sip and regaining my footing. “I’m not here to entertain you, Texas. You want to play games, you come up with something yourself.”

“Truth or dare?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve heard of people emotionally stalling when they got famous, but weren’t you like twenty-two when you got drafted?”

“Well, first off, I was famous way before I hit the NFL. Second, I am a very mature twenty-five-year-old.”

“Compared to who?”

“Come on. It’ll be fun. Consider it a team-building exercise.”

“I’m just picking truth.” My cheeks burned. I hadn’t played truth or dare since middle school. Trent was right about one thing: I didn’t have many friends. Now or then. My single experience with truth or dare ended with Derek and me playing “Seven Minutes of Heaven.” He blurted out that he was gay one minute into it.

“Suits me just fine, but I always pick dare, so be ready.”

“I’m going to dare you to go home and let me finish this race alone.” I shook my head, feigning exasperation.

He clutched his chest. “Do you need another drink before we play?”

I swiped my half-full glass out of his reach. “No. Last I checked, I’m driving in the morning, so you get two questions and then it’s back to the motel. So, truth. Get it over with.”

Trent screwed up his face. “Alright. I’ve got a good one.”

“Why does that sound so ominous?”

His green eyes narrowed. “Have you thought about kissing me?”

I sucked in a lungful of bourbon, my chest spasming in a cough. “What? No. Absolutely not.”

“Liar.”

“I take back everything I just admitted to. We’re officially not friends, never gonna be friends, and I’m certainly not thinking about kissing you.”

“We have chemistry,” he said. “Isn’t that what Ashley told us at that first interview?”

“Siblingchemistry. Did you miss that part?” I sighed. “We’ve got three more days of racing. Please don’t tell me this is your way of telling me you have a crush.”

“No.,” he blurted out.

I flinched, surprised how much the knee-jerk response stung.

“I mean, clearly, we’re not into each other. I’m just curious.” His voice softened. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip, andGod help me, for a millisecond, I did think about kissing him. I pushed the thought away. “And maybe it’s been a while since I kissed anyone or got la?—”

“Ew. No. Please stop. I’ve already seen you with your pants off today.”

“You’ve got to be curious.”

“Not even a little,” I lied. Now that the seed had been planted, I admitted to myself that I was a little curious. Slightly curious. Diet curious. Maybe it’d crossed my mind, just for a millisecond.

“Your loss.” He threw back his water. “I’m a great kisser.”

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