Page 15 of Afraid to Hope

“If I have to.”

Hmm.“Why green?”

“It makes me think of life. Rebirth. Spring.”

“Your eyes are green sometimes.”Oh damn.

Bane didn’t react as she thought he would, remaining straight-faced, but his eyes changed. To a dark green. “Why red?”

“I’ve always been drawn to it.”

“It’s the color of power and determination.”

“Yes.”

“It also represents love and passion. Are you a passionate woman, Doctor?”

“Your question is inappropriate.”

“Mm. I don’t know. I am your husband. I should know.”

“You are playing my husband in name only.”

“My role could evolve into something more. First kiss?”

“Seriously?”

“Okay, I’ll go first. Her name was Grace and we were twelve. Summer, at the creek, behind her family’s barn.”

“Just a peck?”

Bane laughed at that. “Yeah. I was as sure as fuck she could feel my heart jackhammering though my lips. She pushed me in the mud afterward and ran away. Humiliating.”

Natasha giggled, fascinated by his admission, never imagining this strapping, gorgeous man could ever have been nervous, even as a boy. She opted for a safer question. “Would you rather go on a hike or see a movie?”

“Hike. You?”

“Hike.”

Bane circled back. “First kiss?”

Natasha broke eye contact and swiveled the armchair from side to side. “It was far later than yours.”

“Sixteen?”

“Just leave it,” she said, prickly, embarrassed that she had been twenty and it was a meaningless, sloppy, mess with a guy she didn’t know at a wild party.

Bane frowned at Natasha’s reaction. “City or country?”

“I enjoy both. You?”

“Country.”

“Have you always been so brash?”

“If speaking my mind is what you’re referring to, yes.”

“I find it offensive, Mr. Rua.”

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