If You Dare

by Sandy Lowe

  “Is one that welcomes people from all walks of life.” Archie leveled her with a stare.

  Lauren said, “I hope it does. That’d make a nice change.”

  She looked about to say more, but Emma squeezed her hand this time. “Let me.”

  She squared her shoulders and looked Archie directly in the eyes. Here goes nothing. “I want to be clear that while we will agree to keep any conversation regarding sex of any kind age-appropriate, and I will maintain professionalism in my role as librarian, neither of us will hide, deny, or otherwise be silent about the fact that we’re gay and kinky.”

  “Sexual matters ought to remain private.” There was so much stiffness in Jasper’s words, they could’ve up and walked themselves over to her.

  She bit her lip. Jasper was an institution in Sunrise Falls, a war veteran, and tough as nails. He’d been on the council longer than she’d been alive, but he’d always been fair. She counted on that now. She crossed the room and put a hand on his shoulder. “You have my word we’ll be discreet and appropriate. But I won’t agree to keep it a secret. For some, kink is an identity as much as gay or trans or Christian. Yes, it’s about sex. But it’s also an expression of who we are as individuals. It’s likely we aren’t the only ones, and I’d like to be honest about it so Sunrise Falls can really be a place that’s welcoming to everyone. Even people who don’t fit in anywhere else.”

  Jasper’s flint blue eyes bored into her, his mouth thinning into a straight line. She was sure he was about to tell her to go to hell and take her job with her.

  “Please.” Emma gave it one last try. “Don’t ask me to live in shame. Don’t ask anyone who might be a non-something feel as if they’re the only ones, and they can’t have a home here.”

  Slowly, Jasper nodded. He glanced at Archie. “I like you, Emma. You have pizazz. You’ve served this town well for years, and you deserve a chance. This is it, young lady. Let’s make Sunrise Falls a town we can all be proud of.”

  As she had done only minutes earlier, Archie smiled and stuck out a hand to Lauren. “Welcome home. I hope you both decide to stay.”

  Emma ran to hug Lauren, laughing and so very, very in love. She wasn’t going to lose her job. They were welcome to stay. The council wouldn’t expect them to live in shame or judgment. Their future was an adventure she couldn’t wait to start exploring. They’d done it!

  It wasn’t until they’d all turned to leave, that she realized sometime in the last ten minutes the Cupcake had left the room, and no one had noticed.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  “So, wait, you waltzed in there, told Emma you loved her, came out as kinky, and Archie said welcome home? No fucking way.” Roxie’s mouth gaped comically.

  Lauren grinned and kicked back in her chair. New Year’s Eve celebrations were in full swing, and Grumpy’s was the place to be. Almost every table occupied, and the noise level on par with a rock concert. Most of the noise centered around the TV over the bar. A dozen guys had their eyes glued to the screen and their fingers wrapped around sweating bottles of Bud Light, as if the game replay were the Second Coming and Jesus was the quarterback.

  She watched Emma maneuver her way through the crowd, balancing their next round of drinks. Emma caught her looking, and her smile lit up the world. Well, it sure lit up Lauren.

  Everything about her from the top of her head with its glorious dark hair falling in messy waves around her shoulders, to the tips of her knee-high leather boots, was insanely sexy. Emma had a knack for dressing sexy, even in the most inclement weather. And what was underneath all those clothes was even hotter.

  But the best part? Emma was all hers. Her forever. Her surrender.

  She waited for Emma to put their drinks down, and then tucked two fingers into the belt loop on her jeans and toppled Emma into her lap, just because she could. “Yes, fucking way. My girl has pizazz.”

  Emma laughed. “It’s actually not much of an exaggeration.” She cupped Lauren’s cheek and planted a smacking kiss on her lips. “My hero.”

  Roxie threw a balled up napkin at them. “Get a room.”

  “Oh, we plan to. We have a whole house of them and all the time in the world.”

  My forever and ever and ever.

  Lauren kissed Emma again, prompting Roxie to cover her eyes. She peaked through her fingers to see if they were done. “You guys are real sweet, all disgustingly in love, but give a poor single girl a break already, would you?”

  Lauren did her best friend duty and let Emma slide into her own chair. “Sorry, Rox. We can’t help ourselves. We’ll try to keep it PG.”

  “Although, we don’t have to keep it PG, if say, someone is curious about kink, or a teen needs to talk about coming out as queer. We’re out, and proud, and as in love as Jane and Rochester.” Emma picked up her drink and took a delicate sip, smiling at Roxie’s over-the-top expression.

  “If I didn’t trust the both of you, I’d swear you were lying. I cannot believe old Jaspy said you could be open about the kink thing.”

  “Discreet and appropriate.” Lauren grinned. “But open.”

  Roxie toasted her. “You haven’t done too bad for a homewrecking slutface. You should listen to me more often, especially when I dare you to sleep with the woman of your dreams.”

  “That dare was a terrible idea,” Emma said. “I almost didn’t forgive her. No more dares.”

  “None? That would be a shame,” Lauren said.

  No more going to bars to pick up women. Unless Emma was there, too. Maybe. Hell, no maybe about it. She had methods of convincing her that were more effective than any interrogation technique the CIA could come up with. Emma would enjoy being persuaded. One day they’d make it to Kink’s and then…

  Before her mind could wander too far down that inappropriate-for-a-public-venue avenue of imagination, a menu airplane hit Emma on the cheek.

  “Gross, gross, gross,” Roxie said.

  Lauren laughed. “We could play truth or dare right now.” There were so many things she wanted to see if Emma would dare to do. So many daring possibilities to explore together. “I dare you to—”

  “Whoa!”

  Roxie’s next airplane menu missed Lauren and hit someone behind her. She turned around to find Ashton Kutcher standing awkwardly by their table.

  “God. Sorry,” Roxie said like she’d just hurled a brick at him instead of a paper menu. “Are you okay?”

  “I dare you to kiss him better,” Lauren murmured, covering her comment by sipping her drink.

  “I’m fine, but your aerodynamics are terrible.” He scooped the airplane off the floor. “If you fold the wings like this, it will have more forward momentum. Though, obviously, cardboard is better. This paper is too soft to hold the shape for long.”

  Emma grinned, her lips twitching in a way that said she was trying not to laugh.

  Ashton the aviation geek was pretty adorable.

  Roxie was going to eat him alive.

  He placed the now wilting airplane in the center of their table and smiled at Roxie, who blushed. Then executed a superlative hair toss.

  He said, “Would you like to dance? I didn’t catch your name last time. I’m Patrick.”

  “That memorable, am I?” Roxie quipped, getting to her feet so fast she almost knocked over their table.

  “I hope I find out.” Patrick took her hand and led her to the dance floor.

  Emma tipped her head to watch them walk away. “Oh my God, he is so cute. She’s not going to be single for long.”

  “But who is that guy? Is he good enough for her? What are his intentions?” Lauren slung an arm around the back of Emma’s chair and caught a lock of her hair, twining it around her fingers.

  “I hope his intentions are very, very dirty. It’s the nerds you have to watch out for. They’re always the ones with the filthy imaginations.”

  “I have personal experience to validate your claim. Nerds are definitely sexy, especially in stockings and knee-high boots.” />
  “Stop that.” Emma laughed when Lauren tried to tug her back into her lap.

  Without Emma to distract her, Lauren frowned at who-the- hell-was-Patrick-anyway?

  “Best friends have sex too, you know. Roxie deserves some fun, and Pat’s a good guy.”

  Lauren sighed. “I suppose I’m going to have to start meeting and, God forbid, hanging out, with people in town.”

  Emma linked their fingers together and leaned in for a kiss. “You are. Starting with the New Year’s Day 5K tomorrow. I signed us up last night.”

  “Running?” Lauren stared. She couldn’t have heard right. “You signed me up for running? Around town? With people watching? In the middle of winter? I thought you loved me.”

  “I love you so much I signed us up for every town event I could think of. But I’ll make it up to you in very nerdy filthy ways,” Emma said.

  Lauren’s heart all but pitter-pattered at the promises woven into the words. She downed her drink and pulled Emma to her feet. If she had to go running in the morning, she wanted a double payment in advance.

  Time to go home. Just a couple of kinky queers in love about to dare for a lifetime in small town Sunrise Falls.

  About the Author

  Sandy has a master’s degree in publishing from the University of Sydney, Australia, and is the senior editor at Bold Strokes Books. She’s the author of Party of Three and If You Dare and is hard at work on her next draft.

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