It made me wonder if his brother had passed away. The desire to ask danced on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it with a sip of soda. Obviously, that would be a personal, mood-killing topic. For whatever reason, this made me think of all the other questions I’d neglected to ask over the last two dates.
“Do you live with your parents still?” I questioned him, and then took a small bite of my pizza.
Sawyer’s face twisted. “That’s a random question, but no. I have my own apartment.”
Relief trickled through me. My mind bounced from question to question as I thought of what I should ask next. Job, that’s what I needed to know. Obviously, he was in the National Guard, but I wasn’t sure if it was a salary job.
“Do you have a job?”
“Is this twenty questions?” He smiled, and took another sip of his water. “If so, I’m game. And yes, I do have a job. You know I’m part of the National Guard. I’m military police. I only get paid when I’m deployed someplace though, and for one weekend a month for training. For my civilian job, I work at a men’s clothing store in Coldcreek called Sharp Suites.”
“I’ve heard of that place,” I said. Honestly though, my mind was stuck on the whole military police thing. I was dating a police officer? No wonder he didn’t make every date about taking me to a bar to get hammered.
My mind drifted to thoughts of what he would look like dressed in his military garb. Oh hell, Lauren would eat this shit up! She had a thing for sexy soldiers that ran nearly as deep as her thing for muscles and tattoos. Thinking this reminded me of my next important question. I knew Sawyer had muscles, but now I was wondering if he had any tattoos to go with them.
“Do you have any tattoos?” I grabbed my drink. Playing with the straw, I stared at him as I waited for his answer. Everything else had been answered correctly, by my standards, and I found myself silently praying this answer would be right too.
Sawyer’s lips quirked into a slow smile. “Tattoos? Is that something you’re in to?”
“I’m the one asking the questions here,” I countered in a failed attempt to deflect how desperately I wanted his answer to be yes.
His brows rose to his hairline at my tone. “Okay. Yes, I do.”
My heart kick-started. Damn, Sawyer was perfect on paper. He didn’t live with his parents; he had a car, a job, muscles, and tattoos. Lauren would be proud I’d found someone bona fide.
I arched an eyebrow. “What of and where?”
There was a serious need to know festering inside of me. He pulled off his jacket, and placed it on the back of his chair. My eyes fixated on him as he pushed up the sleeve of the long John beneath his polo shirt and flashed me a script tattoo along his forearm. Leaning over, I read:
With pain comes strength
Reaching out, I felt along the smoothness of the words without thinking. Was this a military thing, or just a lifelong reminder?
“What made you decid to get those specific words?” I pulled my hand away, and leaned back in my seat, eager to know his reasoning behind it.
Sawyer tugged his sleeve back into place, and shrugged. “It’s the truth. The things that hurt us the most make us stronger in life. It also goes hand in hand with my military training. The pain from pushing myself physically and mentally only helped to make me stronger in the end.”
I had a feeling the words meant more to him in the first aspect than the second.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“Thanks.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek as though he were lost in thought.
“Do you have any more, or is that the only one?”
The trance he was under lifted and his eyes locked with mine again. He grinned. “Are you a tattoo junky?”
“I’m the one asking the questions for the moment, remember?”
“Right, I forgot.” He chuckled. “I have one more. I can’t show it to you in public though, at least I don’t think.”
I tilted my head to the side. “Oh really?”
“Yeah, it’s definitely in one of those you-show-me-yours-I’ll-show-you-mine places.”
“Ah, okay. Maybe some other time, then.” I grinned, liking the flirty tone to his words more than I should.
“I hope.” He flashed me an impish grin.
Dear God, me too. Thoughts of where this mystery tattoo could be spread through my mind like a wildfire. I hoped it was somewhere nice, like somewhere along the sexy V I was positive I remembered him having. My teeth sank into my bottom lip as I continued to think of all the places it could be.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SAWYER
After we finished our meals, I pulled out my phone and tapped on my notes app. Earlier I had jotted down all the dares I wanted us to complete for the night, and had even made a separate note to keep score in. There was only one thing I hadn’t done yet. Set a wager. I couldn’t seem to think of anything.
“I’ve got everything taken care of, except for what we win,” I said. We were standing near the water fountain in the center of the main floor. This was as good a starting place as any. “Do you want to do winner wins something, or loser has to do something?”
“Loser has to do something.” A mischievous look flashed in her eyes, one that made me wonder what was going through her mind.
Eva shucked off her jacket and folded it over her arm, revealing the sheer white, see-through top she was wearing. There was a lacy camisole underneath, which perfectly matched the color of her eyes. I wondered if she’d worn it on purpose so they would stand out more, or if it had been a crazy coincidence. Either way, it didn’t matter. She was stunning.
“Okay. What’s your wager, then?” I asked.
Her lips twisted into a smile. “If you lose, you have to show me your other tattoo.”
“All right.” I enjoyed the fact that she was thinking about where my other tattoo was so much. “And if you lose, you have to let me kiss you.”
It was immature, but I was attempting to keep with a certain theme.
Eva shook her head. “Such a childish wager.” Her brow arched. “But I like it.”
“Good,” I muttered. “You going first, or should we flip a coin?”
“I’ll go first.” There was a level of excitement dancing in her eyes, which surprised me; she seemed to be more into this than I’d thought she would be.
“I bet you were the type who enjoyed truth or dare when you were little.”
“Damn right. Now tell me my first dare,” she demanded.
I tapped on my phone screen, and scrolled through the list of things I had planned out, second-guessing whether the first one was too bold.
“You have to go into the nearest store and ask for change for a dollar…in pennies,” I said.
Her face scrunched up in a cute way. “Seriously?”
“Seriously,” I insisted.
Eva started toward the nearest store, which happened to be a sporting goods place, without checking to see if I was following. Grinning from ear-to-ear, I dug my wallet out and snagged a one for her.
“Here, you can use this,” I said once I’d caught up to her.
“Thanks.” She snatched it from my fingers, and stepped through the doors.
Waiting outside with a smirk on my face, I wondered what the cashier would think when she asked for the pennies. Part of me wished I had followed her in, just so I could see the serious look I was positive would be plastered on her face when she asked.
Not even a full minute later, Eva came back. She was holding two rolls of pennies in her left hand and there was a wide shit-eating grin on her face.
“Done. How many points do I get?” She handed the pennies to me.
Cramming them into my pocket, I grinned. “Five.”
“All right, so what’s your dare?”
I shrugged. “You have to make one up for me.”
Her lips pursed together in thought. I allowed my eyes to skim her face, searching for any sense of embarrassment at having been put on the
spot, but not finding any. Eva obviously wasn’t the type who embarrassed easily; I didn’t know why I’d assumed she would be.
“You have to find someone with a kid who’s in a hurry, and hand the kid the pennies. Then you have to tell them they have to make one wish for each penny, and then beg the parent to let them do it right now,” she said.
I hung my head back, and laughed. “Awesome.”
“I get to help pick the person, though,” she insisted.
I nodded. “All right.”
We stood beside the fountain for nearly twenty minutes, staring down everyone who passed by. Finally Eva spotted someone who fit the bill—a single woman with two little girls who looked to be about four and eight, pushing a stroller with a baby boy. What the lady was doing with three kids all by her lonesome at the mall, I had no clue, but I thought she was the bravest woman ever.
“Her,” Eva insisted.
Pulling the rolls of pennies out of my pocket, I stepped in front of the woman. “Excuse me, but I have these two rolls of pennies that need to be used up for wishes.” I held them up in front of me, and then crouched down to the little girls’ level. “There’s one for each of you little ladies.” My eyes shifted from them to their mother. Even flashing my best smile, the woman still looked leery of me.
“Um, no thank you. We’re sort of in a hurry,” the woman said.
“They’re wishes. Who’s ever in too big of a hurry to make a few wishes?” I asked, praying she would give in and go with it.
“I wanna make wishes, Mama!” the youngest girl shouted. There was a bright smile plastered on her little face that forced my grin to widen.
“Me too!” her older sister added. Her two front teeth were missing, and I swore I’d never seen anything cuter.
Bending down on one knee, I handed the oldest girl a single roll of pennies.
“Wish away, kiddo,” I said.
“What about me?” the younger one asked.
“You too.” I winked. The second I handed the roll out, she snatched it from my fingers and squealed.
“I don’t know, girls. We don’t really have the time,” the mom insisted. Stress creased the area between her eyebrows.
“Who’s ever in too big of a hurry to make a few wishes, Mama?” The oldest repeated what I’d said before.
The woman held my gaze, her mouth twisted into an annoyed frown. I shrugged, and crammed my hands into the pockets of my coat.
“I guess we could pause shopping for Grandma and Grandpa for a few wishes,” she said. “Let’s take a shopping breather, girls.”
“Yay!” both of them shouted in unison.
The mom turned her stroller around, and the little girls ran to stand at the fountain near Eva. “Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome.” I nodded.
Eva walked toward me. “Done. Five points for you, and maybe even a few bonus ones. I feel like you just did an incredibly charitable before-Christmas act or something. That was intense.”
Chuckling, I pulled my phone out to give myself ten points. I felt as though I had done something incredible right then too. I’d forced the mom to turn a hectic Christmas shopping experience with her kids into a special memory. There was also the simple fact that I really wanted to win this thing being my driving force to add the extra five too. I really wanted to kiss Eva.
“Next,” Eva prompted.
I scrolled through my list, and chose another for her. “Next, you have to go down an escalator while pretending to row a boat.”
She rolled her eyes. “Lame, but I’ll still do it.”
When we found the escalators, Eva stepped on one without hesitation. I watched as she switched escalators at the top, and then nearly lost it in a fit of laughter while she put on the best show of someone rowing a boat I’d ever seen. People stared at her and laughed. It was hilarious. A goofy duck face as though she was focusing hard on what she was doing spread across her face. Just before she was about to hit the bottom, a strained expression as though she was struggling to get to me contorted her features.
“Done. Five points for me,” she boasted.
I wiped the tears from my eyes, and entered in her points. “That was great.”
“You’re next, and I’m amping this game up some.” She placed her hands on her hips, and glared at me. “Does this mall have a bookstore? I haven’t been here in so long, I don’t remember.”
“I think so. On the second floor.”
“Good. When we find it, you’re going in and asking the cashier where their Kama Sutra books are. Then you’ll proceed to tell the cashier it’s because you really need to learn some new moves.” She flashed me a wicked grin, and all I could think about was how sizzling hot I found her.
Eva was taking this game in stride. I loved that.
I licked my lips. “Okay, I can do that. Am I buying it so we can try some moves out later?”
Bold. It was a very bold question, but I was unable to keep it from passing my lips.
“It’s a distinct possibility,” she said.
The second the words left her mouth, my pulse could be felt in the crotch of my pants, and a slow grin spread across my face as my head filled with sexy images of her and me. We hopped onto the escalator that led to the second floor. Eva leaned against the handrail, and eyed me. I swore she knew what was spinning through my mind, but she never once called me out.
It didn’t take us long to find the bookstore on the second floor. I stepped inside, ready to complete my dare, and realized the cashier behind the counter was a woman in her seventies. This was going to be embarrassing as all get out.
Eva followed me inside. “I have to watch this one. I bet your face is going to shift through twenty shades of red asking that sweet-looking old lady where she keeps the Kama Sutra books. Oh, and don’t forget you have to say the last part too—that you need it to learn some new moves. If you don’t, you’re only getting two points.”
“Ruthless.” I shook my head. “You’re ruthless, Eva Bennett.”
She folded her arms across her chest. “No, I’m just playing the game you created…only I’m playing it better than you. I did warn you I planned on amping this up, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, you did,” I agreed. “Fine, here goes nothing.”
Walking across the worn carpet toward the woman who looked so much like my Great-Aunt Martha it wasn’t even funny, I gathered my courage to say what needed to be said. Suddenly, I was fourteen again, hoping I could follow through with whatever embarrassing stunt my brother had put me up to.
“Hi, can I help you with something?” the elderly woman asked, pulling her reading glasses away so she could better see me.
I flashed her a charming smile, but I was positive it would do nothing to lessen the shock factor of my next words. “Actually, yes, you can. I’m looking for some Kama Sutra books. Do you sell any? I um.” My throat seemed to close up as I struggled to get the last few words out in order to complete the dare. “Really need to learn some new moves.”
My cheeks flamed, and I heard Eva struggling to stifle her laugh from somewhere behind me. The lady at the register didn’t appear to be shocked by my words in the least bit. In fact, she glanced over at Eva, and then shifted her gaze back to me.
“She looks like she might be a handful in bed; I can see why you’d want a book to learn by with that one.” She nodded in Eva’s direction. “I’m sure you’re worried about being able to keep her satisfied.”
My jaw slacked and the snickering Eva had been trying to dim down quieted. The woman slipped from her chair behind the counter, and motioned for me to follow her. I glanced over my shoulder at Eva as I did so, and took in the stunned expression on her face I was sure mirrored mine.
Following the old woman into the back of the store, my heart raced. This woman was about to show me were all the manuals on sexual positions were located. This was nuts.
“Here you are, sweetie.” She paused in front of a shelf with maybe six different Kam
a Sutra books resting on it. She reached for one in the mix, and held it out to me. “This one is the better of the few.”
I nodded, but didn’t utter a single word. There was no way I wanted an explanation as to why she felt that particular book was the best out of the bunch.
“My Ralph and I found it to be the easiest for beginners,” she added, giving me an answer to the question I hadn’t wanted to ask.
“Oh, all right. Thank you.” I took the book from her fingers, eager for this moment to be over. “I’ll take it.”
As I exited the store with Eva at my side, I handed the book to her and pulled out my phone.
“I just racked up some serious points with that one.” I tapped in another ten points for myself. “There’s no way you could catch up to me, especially not with the lame dares I have left on my phone.”
Eva flipped through the pages of the book. Her teeth were sunk deep into her bottom lip, and her brows were drawn together in complete concentration as she eyed the pages.
“That’s fine. You win,” she said without looking up. She flipped to another page. “I can’t believe some of these moves. How in the hell are you supposed to twist into these positions?”
“You do Pilates. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
She laughed and handed me the book. “I wasn’t meaning me. I meant you. Look.”
Just the simple fact that she was referring to her and I doing the crazy moves together made the crotch area of my jeans tighten. I took the book from her fingers, and skimmed over the crazy little cartoon-looking drawings. Some of the positions weren’t all that difficult looking. In fact, I’d done a few of them already, but never realized there was a name for it. There were a few that looked too fucking weird though, even for me.
“I don’t know about that one.” I shook my head, and pointed to one called She Bang. “It just looks totally wrong.”
“Um, yeah. That looks like something a lesbian couple would do,” she agreed. “Let’s go to the smoothie place and browse through this thing. We can make a note of the ones we’ve already tried before, because I think I’ve done quite a few of them.”
Forget You Page 9