Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(25)

Caden braced his elbows on his knees so he could lean closer. “Want to play twenty questions?” he asked.

She smiled, knowing he was trying to distract her and appreciating the heck out of the gesture. “Are there still questions left we haven’t asked each other?”

“Probably,” he said. “For example, I don’t think I’ve ever asked you your favorite sex position.”

“No laughing,” Heath said, as Makenna tried to hold back her humor. Heat filled her cheeks. “Also, TMI. However, I like TMI, so feel free to answer, Makenna.”

Since the needle was away from her skin, she did laugh that time. “Okay, so maybe there are questions we haven’t asked.” She winked at Caden as Heath got back to work. “And, to answer the question, the second part of the night on my floor.”

Caden’s gaze went molten. He flicked at the spider bite piercings with his tongue. And that had parts of her going molten, because she knew how freaking talented that tongue was.

“Yours?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.

“The same night, but the first position,” he said, flicking at his piercing again. So, his favorite was her on top of him. That had been hot too. The position gave her a fantastic view of so much of his ink and all of his piercings, not to mention his darkly handsome face as she took him into her body again and again. She could still hear his voice saying, Ride me, Makenna. Use me. And just the memory made her need to squirm in her seat.

“What’s your favorite holiday and why?” she asked.

“Thanksgiving,” he said immediately. “Because this Thanksgiving was the best of any holiday I’ve had in years. Almost the best I can remember.”

Aw. That answer hit her right in the chest and made those words want to jump off her tongue again. “Mine has always been Thanksgiving, too. Although Christmas is a close second. Those are the holidays that always bring family together again.”

Caden nodded. “What is one thing you’d change about your life if you could?”

She studied him for a moment, wondering if this was just a playful question in the game or if he was still wondering about her feelings for Cameron. But the answer was an easy one. “I wouldn’t change anything about my life.”

Eyebrow arched, he gave her a skeptical look. “There has to be something.”

Makenna thought about it for a long moment, then took a few seconds to breathe through another sensitive patch of skin. “Um, then, I would’ve wanted my mother to have lived longer so I could’ve known her. But then, honestly, if she had lived I wonder if my relationship with my father would’ve been as close. I would hate to lose that. Do I get to ask that one back?” She didn’t want to put him on the spot in front of Heath, but he’d asked the question and had to know she’d want to ask it of him, too. That was how they’d played this game in the elevator that night, the game that had helped bring them so close together.

He gave a tight nod and waved a hand at himself. “I’d get rid of the anxiety and the claustrophobia and all that bullshit.”

“I get that,” she said, hating that he wanted to change anything about himself when she loved him so much just as he was. She didn’t want perfect, she just wanted him. In all his gorgeous, funny, considerate, and sometimes angsty glory. “But you do realize, if you hadn’t been claustrophobic the day we met, you might not have asked me to talk to you in that elevator. You might not have needed my help, and then we might not have gotten to know each other.”

He tilted his head, his eyes narrowing in a way that brought out the harshness in that utterly masculine face. Finally, he gave her another nod. “Fair enough. Your turn.”

Wanting to lighten the mood, she thought of something funny to ask. “What’s your favorite line from The Princess Bride?” She was already smiling as some of her favorites came to mind. Funny movies of all kinds was their thing.

Caden grinned. “When Vizzini says, ‘Inconceivable!’ And Montoya says, ‘You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.’ Oh, or maybe when Vizzini says, ‘Stop rhyming and I mean it,’ and Fezzik replies—”

“Anybody want a peanut?” all three of them said in unison. The needle pulled away from her skin and they all laughed.

“There are too many good ones in that movie,” Heath said.

“It’s true,” Makenna said, her cheeks hurting from smiling. “I like the priest who pronounces ‘marriage’ as ‘mawage,’ and of course the classic, ‘My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father—”

“Prepare to die,” they all said again to more laughter.

The questions went on for a long while. They talked about silly stuff like favorite ice cream flavor, what they’d eat for their last meal, and what other countries they’d want to visit, since neither of them had ever been outside the States. They asked about more serious stuff like what job they’d want if they couldn’t do their current one and what the top items on their bucket lists were. As always, the conversation was fun and engaging, animated and moving. They’d always given great talk.

“I’m about two-thirds done,” Heath said. “Let’s take a little break.”

“Okay,” Makenna said, standing up to stretch. She was tempted to look in the mirror, but she really wanted to wait to see the finished tattoo.