Page 39 of Will (Men of Bird's Eye)

We all watch from the balcony as Hawk runs out into a blanket of snow at the far end of the parking lot. It’s untouched, pristine. He outstretches his arms and falls straight back, then works his arms up and down while his legs move back and forth. He carefully sits up, then stands, so as not to mess up his impression in the snow.

Meanwhile, we’re all laughing our asses off and start applauding him as he races back in. To the untrained eye, that’s a pretty decent snow angel. It’s also probably the largest one I’ve ever seen. The Tanner brothers definitely aren’t slight men. Honestly, Hawk’s angel would probably scare young children.

“You’re going to pay for that,” he says to Derek as Drew hands him fresh warm clothes.

“Worth it,” Derek says, sipping his beer.

All I can do is think to myself:SURVIVED ROUND ONE. ONLY FIFTY MORE TO GO.We make our way back to our seats as Hawk begins looking around the room at everyone.

“My turn,” he says.

I hold my breath for a moment as his eyes pass over me twice. My best friend knows me way too well for this game. Even if he didn’t ask about Derek, he’s got too much information. I would prefer to keep some of my past from hitting the ears in this room. He also knows exactly what types of dares would drive me most crazy. Sure, we’ve never played the actual game, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t well equipped against me.

Finally, he chooses Hanson and the beat of my heart is so hard, it clogs my ears. I can barely hear what Hawk tells him as I suppress a miniature panic attack at the idea of having to confess anything Derek-related to the group.

Hanson must’ve chosen truth because after thirty seconds or one hour of talking, Hanson is choosing Drew and asking her what she wants. Derek’s hand finds mine as Drew accepts her dare of eating a spicy pepper. Everyone knows Drew hates spicy stuff. It’s a pretty good dare for her that involves keeping her clothes on. I might have issued the same one, actually.

She chokes it down like a champ, gulping down a glass of milk after. Then she sets her sights on me. “Will,” she says, smirking. “Truth or dare?”

My heart is going to leap from my chest and suddenly it’s very hot in here. “Um, dare.” It’s the safest play I have. Although, either way, I don’t think she’d throw me under the bus like that. She knows her knowledge extends beyond this game, as do its ramifications.

“Let’s see a kiss,” she says, tilting her head toward Derek, eyebrows wagging. I could kill her and her smug face as she brings her glass of wine to her lips, grinning wildly.

He turns to me, a small smile across his lips. He’s enjoying this, that much I can tell. And why wouldn’t he be? I should be too. I mean it’s a free pass at Derek’s mouth.

“Oh god,” Hawk says. “I’ll have to look away from this one. I just can’t.”

Everyone laughs for a moment as I roll my eyes, and my stomach falls just a little. Derek leans toward me, clearly ready to happily take part in my dare.

This is dumb. No need for me to be freaking out.I push my shoulders back, taking a deep breath.It’s just a kiss. I can do this. No fear.Reaching toward him, I grip the back of his neck and pull him the rest of the way to me, taking charge. I hear someone whistle low but I can’t tell who it is.

The room around us gets fuzzy and all I can see is Derek. His eyes are fixed on me. His lips part for me and suddenly we’re kissing and his hands are in my hair and I’m exhaling against him, his tongue swirling against mine.Mmmm, this is a good kiss.My fingers thread through his hair. It’s a frenzy.

For a moment, everything stops, like we’re suspended in time. And I’ve wanted this for so long, I can’t believe it’s happening. Sure, we kissed at my place and we went on a date. But here, in front of everyone, it feels all too real.

Finally, we pull back from each other, smiles on our faces. He presses his forehead to mine, inhaling slowly. And it’s only then I begin to see and hear the people around us.

“Damn,” Drew murmurs.

Yeah. Damn.

LET ME TOUCH YOUR FIRE

DEREK

Ihad no intention of being so brazen in front of the group. My best hope was for Willette and I to casually skate by this evening and dodge most of the questions and curiosity. This thing is new, and therefore, there’s no need to put unnecessary pressure on it. Sometimes social situations can be exactly that.

But when she kissed me, oh god when she kissed me for her dare, my intentions flew right out the proverbial door. It’s safe to say I had difficulty stopping once we started. And had the dare been more, I’d have done more. No question. Right there in front of everyone. They could’ve taped it and uploaded it to YouTube, and I wouldn’t have cared.

As fate would have it, that wasn’t in the cards on this particular occasion. But damn, I can’t help but think about it even as we retreat to the guest bedroom.

Hanson and Avery are crashing on the couches, we’re in the guest room, Ava is in her newly renovated room, and my brother and his wife are in their newly constructed master suite. Any more people, and we’d be out of space.

The place looks good, I’ll admit. Seems they’re all but done with the exception of a few details. Based on the way he’d suggested I stay with Willette due to the mess, I thought this place would still be wrecked. Doesn’t seem so bad to me. I mean, their guest bedroom surely would have accommodated me. But then again, who knows what this place looked like a week ago.Oh well.

“I had fun tonight,” Will says, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yeah, me too,” I say. “I guess loss of power has a silver lining or two.”

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