Coming Home(39)

“Well, it’s really a man’s game anyway, so…”

“If you mean because it’s moronic and requires no thought, then I agree.”

Danny burst out laughing as he said, “Jesus Christ! Below the belt, point deducted!”

Leah smiled. “We used to play Never Have I Ever.”

“Eh,” Danny said. “Truth or Dare was better.”

“That’s not a drinking game.”

“Sure it is,” he said. “At least, we played it as one. If you don’t want to do the dare, you have to drink.”

“Oh, so kind of like Grilled?”

“What the hell is Grilled?” he asked.

“It’s like what you described, only more truth than dare. You ask someone a question, and they answer. If they don’t want to for whatever reason, they have to drink. People would intentionally ask the most personal and embarrassing questions to try and get you to drink, because by the end of the game, everyone is so drunk, they’ll basically answer any question thrown at them. Definitely a quick and dirty way to get to know someone.”

There was a beat of silence before he said, “So let’s play.”

“What, now?” she said with a laugh, lying back on her pillow. “We can’t. It wouldn’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because if we aren’t drinking, there’s no penalty for not answering. What would be the motivation to answer?”

“Hmm,” he said. “Well, what if we only get one pass? If you can only pass once, you won’t be so quick to use it.”

“One pass?” Leah said uncertainly.

“What’s wrong? You got a lot of skeletons?” he said with that maddening cool amusement that instantly had Leah picturing his dimples.

“Two,” she said. “Two passes.”

He chuckled. “Fine, two passes. You’re up first.”

“What? Why?”

“This is your game. I’m just a rookie,” he said, and Leah sighed.

“Okay…how old are you?”

“Twenty-eight. My turn?”

“Yup,” she said, shifting onto her side to turn off her lamp.

“Okay. How old are you?”

“How original,” she said, switching the phone to the other ear as she lay back down. “I’m twenty-seven. What’s the worst injury you’ve ever had?”

“Easy,” he said. “Broke my leg when I was seven. The bone came through the skin.”

“Ohmygod,” Leah choked out. “Stop! Ugh!”

“You asked!”

“Yeah, but I had no idea it would be that disgusting! Blech! Can you just tell me how the hell you did that? I don’t want to know anything else about it.”

“Me and my friend were playing superheroes. We thought we could jump off his deck.”

“Did your friend get hurt?”

“I went first.”

She nodded. “Your friend’s a smart boy.”

Danny laughed before he said, “Okay, my turn. If you could spend a day with anyone in the world, who would it be?”

Leah’s smile fell a little before she cleared her throat. “My mom. My turn,” she added quickly. “What’s a talent you have that not a lot of people know about?”

He chuckled suggestively, a low rumbling sound, and Leah felt a surge of heat run through her veins. She kicked her covers off as he said, “Hmm, I’m gonna keep it PG for now and go with that I can sing.”