Chapter Seven
“Round three! Truth or Dare, Emmett?” Grams challenged as Bethany sat down after taking Mom’s dare to do a cartwheel in the snow. Taylor leaned back in his chair at the large, rough-hewn table, knowing exactly what Dad would choose. He always took the dare.
“Dare!” Dad crossed his arms as Grams set the hat on the table. Per tradition, they used Granddad’s favorite straw fishing hat that had a couple of his handmade flies still hooked through the band, which made passing it around a challenge.
Grams poured a hefty amount of Fireball Cinnamon Whisky into a tumbler in front of her and slid it down the table. “Drink up, son!” she said with a grin. “One chug or you lose.”
He downed the amber liquid, winced, wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and coughed. “My God, I love this game.”
“You should’ve made him clean the toilet without a brush like you did that one time,” Bethany complained.
Grams grinned. “That’s a lot more fun after he’s had enough Fireball.”
From past experience, Taylor knew this was true. Last year, by the time they’d reached the fourth round, Dad had been feeling festive enough to sing “My Heart Will Go On” in his best falsetto to Beauregard, which Bethany videoed and promptly posted to social media. Nothing as noteworthy had happened tonight, but it had been fun to watch Uncle Rock take Caitlin’s dare and dance a jitterbug with Aunt Attie to Bethany’s techno pop track. Their dancing had been worse than the music, and that said something. He fought back a grin as Grams passed the hat to Aunt Attie. So far neither his nor Caitlin’s names had been drawn this round.
Attie pulled out a slip and bounced excitedly in her chair, causing her thick glasses to slip down her nose. “I drew Caitlin!”
Bethany had drawn Caitlin’s name in the last round and she’d chosen a dare, probably to avoid any questions she couldn’t answer. Bethany had gone easy on her and had her do the chicken dance while everyone else sang. Red faced, Caitlin had been a great sport, flapping her wings and wiggling, but didn’t have to suffer alone for long. When they got to the second verse, everyone, including Taylor, had gotten up and joined her. By the time they’d gotten through ten or so verses, Caitlin was laughing her head off, wiggling her tail feathers in a way that made Taylor dizzy.
He wondered whether she’d go for dare again or choose truth this time. Part of him hoped she’d pick truth so he could learn more about her. He’d called her boss, Jane, from the jewelers while they resized the ring to let her know he was taking her canine client and her dog walker off the schedule for the weekend. When he’d asked Jane about Caitlin’s history, she wasn’t as forthcoming as he’d have liked, touching only briefly on “Caity’s” crappy family life growing up, a vague mention of an ill-fated marriage to some guy in Georgia, and a short lament over how her friend never dated or did anything fun.
He could almost see the gears turning in Caitlin’s head as she weighed the pros and cons of choosing which way to go. “Dare.” It came out almost like a question.
Attie gave a fist pump in the air. “Yeah!”
Uh-oh. Aunt Attie clearly had already planned this out. Caitlin must have known that too, because she twisted her hands in her lap.
“I dare yooooou…” Attie dragged it out, clearly enjoying herself. “To kiss your fiancé!”
All color leached from Caitlin’s face and her mouth dropped open in disbelief.
“Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!” his family chanted like middle schoolers at a sleepover.
“You’re my favorite right now, Aunt Attie,” Taylor said in a loud voice to cover for his supposed fiancée’s clear lack of enthusiasm for this dare. “Come on, Caity,” he said pulling her to her feet, using the pet name he’d heard Jane use. This was a do or die moment, and he noticed that his grandmother was the only one not chanting. Instead, she studied the two of them with her observant, dark eyes. He had to make this good or Grams would figure it out before they even made it through the first night.
Wrapping his arm around Caitlin’s waist, Taylor pulled her close, and her breath caught. He looked down at her face and knew she was trying to school her features into any expression other than dread. She was doing a terrible job of it but then, something flashed in her eyes. Heat. And his body responded in kind.
“Caitlin’s not one for public displays of affection, but a dare is a dare.” And as he stared at her, it became abundantly clear that this was not daring at all on his part. He wanted to kiss her. Had wanted to kiss her since the moment he saw her stunned face as Beau ploughed toward her full speed and she dripped rainwater all over his apartment floor. He’d wanted to kiss her then and he wanted to kiss her now. His gaze dropped to her lips and he ran his hand up her back, splaying his fingers between her shoulder blades and she took a shuddering breath. Yeah. He really wanted to kiss her. Her tongue darted across her lower lip and he almost groaned. She wanted this kiss. Too bad it was in front of his whole fucking family.
Slowly, he lowered his head, stopping well before their lips met, giving her the chance to back out of the dare. Her whole body was rigid, but after a moment she relaxed. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she closed the distance between them, rising up on her tiptoes and tilting her head as her mouth met his. He was stunned by how warm and soft her lips were. He’d intended to make it a simple peck, but her kiss was anything but simple. He couldn’t bring himself to pull away, especially when her lips parted and her grip tightened on his shoulders. He slid the fingers of his free hand into the back pocket of her jeans, and she threaded her fingers though the hair on the back of his neck and scraped her nails across his scalp, nearly causing him to groan out loud in front of his family. Pulling back, he rested his forehead against hers, eyes still closed, struggling to get his shit together. And then she did something he didn’t expect. She sighed. Sighed like he did when he got home from a hard day’s work and melted into his most comfortable chair. And he couldn’t agree with her more.
Taylor opened his eyes to smiles, including one from Grams.
“Ew!” Bethany made a gagging sound.
“Oh hush,” Mom scolded. “It’s not like I didn’t open the back door to find you with that Carmichael boy from down the street in a lip lock.”
Taylor barked a laugh and Bethany blushed so hard she almost turned purple. “Ew!” he mocked, and she flipped him the bird, which made him laugh even harder.
While the laughter and talking died down, he reached over and laced his fingers through Caitlin’s. This time, she didn’t pull away. What would he not give to be alone with her right now so that they could talk. Maybe kiss her again without an audience. Maybe do lots of things without an audience. No. He’d made an agreement. No fooling around.
“Emmett’s next,” Attie said, sliding the hat to him.
Dad pulled out a slip of paper and grinned at Taylor. Shit. Dad’s dares were challenging. Usually super disgusting or involving hot sauce…or both. “What’s it gonna be, son?”
With anyone else, he’d have taken the dare. Not with Dad. Hopefully, this wouldn’t be too embarrassing. Caitlin seemed to be hanging in after that kiss—but he didn’t want to have to answer anything off-color in front of her. “Truth.”
His father’s face dropped in obvious disappointment and he placed a bottle of Demon’s Brew Hot Sauce he’d been hiding under the table in front of him. His mother elbowed Dad hard in the ribs and he cleared his throat. “Your mom and I made a deal that since you are being so tight-lipped, that whichever one of us got you to choose truth would ask you to tell us how you met Caitlin and how you proposed.”
“That’s two truths!” Taylor protested, giving a beseeching look to Grams, who was the judge of every game. Depending on how many more rounds they played, he wanted to spread all the choice news out to keep them from asking the question about what he was doing when he wrecked the family minivan the night of his senior prom for the tenth consecutive year. The story was a family favorite, and one he’d rather not recount in front of Caitlin, that involved the perils of driving while distracted by your prom date.
“Stop whining and get to truth-ing, Taylor Blankenship,” Grams replied.
“Dish!” Attie shouted, raising her wineglass.
“Dish, dish, dish…” The rest of the family joined in the chant.
He held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Quiet down and listen up while I tell you the story of how I was knocked flat on my ass by a total stranger.”
…
Caitlin rubbed her thumb over her bottom lip again, still trying to shake the sensation of Taylor’s kiss. There hadn’t even been any tongue, but that kiss had rocked her more than any she could remember. As his family quieted, Caitlin held her breath, half thrilled, half horrified as Taylor launched into his story. Their story. A complete and total fiction. Just like their kiss had been.
“It all happened very recently,” he started.
“How recently?” Bethany asked.
He gave her a quelling look. “Hold all questions until the end. No interruptions or I’m clamming up.”
Bethany made a zip-her-lips motion. As Caitlin looked around the table, everyone was leaning forward expectantly, as if Taylor were reading a book at a kindergarten storytime. She shifted in her chair, hoping nobody could hear her heart hammering.
Taylor cleared his throat, obviously enjoying the power of having 100 percent of everyone’s attention—the polar opposite of her roommate, Fiona, who would shrink up and wither away were she the focus of this many eyes.
“It all happened very recently, as I said before.” He shot Bethany a look. “I was running late for work because Beauregard had swallowed a foreign object. I was trying to catch him, which, as lazy as he is, you’d think would be an easy thing.”
As if on cue, Beau stopped snoring and lifted his head from where he was sprawled out on a rug in front of the fireplace, then drifted back off to sleep.
“But catching Beau’s not easy if he doesn’t want to be caught,” Taylor continued.
“Like you!” Bethany said. The rest of the family gave her warning looks. “What?” She said. “I’m only saying what all of you have complained about for freaking ever! Taylor never dates seriously because he doesn’t want to get caught.”
“Well, he’s caught now!” Rock said, saluting him with his coffee mug. Caitlin sunk lower in her chair. Without looking at them, she could feel his family’s eyes on her. As if he could sense her unease, Taylor reached under the table and covered her hand with his, which sent her sitting bolt upright from the unexpected contact.
“Caitlin works for Animal Attraction, Beau’s dog walking company. We’d never met in person because she would arrive after I left for work. Well, one day, just like every day, she unlocked my door and came on in, assuming I’d already be gone, but I wasn’t. I was chasing Beau around my living room wearing nothing but a bath towel.”
A collective “woo-hoo” came from the group, and as she remembered him hurdling the couch clutching that towel, she almost gave a woo-hoo of her own.
“So she got a look at the goods and decided she’d keep you!” Grams said.
“No. I got a look at her and decided…” His eyes met hers and she nearly gasped at the sincerity in the dark brown depths. “I decided that if I didn’t get to work I was gonna get my towel-clad ass fired.”
Laughter erupted, and Caitlin couldn’t fight her smile. Nor could she deny the guy was charming. And fun. She hadn’t had fun in a long time. Again, she ran a finger over her bottom lip.
“No, seriously,” he said holding up both hands. Once everyone fell silent again, he continued. “Grams told me that when she met Granddad, she just knew. That it was like a lightning strike that short-circuited her brain, making it where she couldn’t think of anything else. I took one look at this woman, drenched from rain, boots covered in mud, and I knew.”
For a moment, he held her eyes and Caitlin could almost believe his total crock of…
“Nah! You were just horny!” Rock shouted.
Laughter again.
“Yeah, that too,” Taylor agreed. “But then, she basically told me to take a hike—”
“You go, Caitlin!” Bethany made a fist pump in the air.
“—and that got me curious.” His focus looked far away, almost like he was really buying into his own fairy tale. His gaze moved to her lips. “And then I kissed her for the first time.”
The table fell silent and Caitlin was sure her heart would win its fight to bust out of her rib cage when his eyes met hers. After a silence that felt like it stretched on forever, a furrow creased his forehead.
“And?” Grams demanded.
Never taking his eyes off of hers, he whispered, “Lightning.”