Damn him. He’s right.
“But I tell you what, I’ll give you an out after the game if you really want it.” And just like that, the discussion is over as he lifts the card, scanning it. His eyes meet mine again, that grin making my insides flip. “Hg is the chemical symbol for which element?”
A loud cackle flees my lungs as I peek over at my brothers and friends, each of them with matching smug grins as we write our answer. “Like shooting fish in a barrel,” Savannah exclaims.
“That’s because we’re a table full of nerdy doctors and nurses.”
I nudge my shoulder into Carter. “Should I throw it?” I ask, already writing mercury down as the correct answer. It isn’t in me. I couldn’t do it if I wanted to. I’m way too competitive and anal-retentive for those kinds of shenanigans. It’s annoying that Mr. Sexy Voice was able to pick up on that within seconds of talking to me. Clearly, I’m more of an open book than I like.
“Alright. Are you ready to go over the answers?”
A loud whooping cheer fills the bar as he goes over the answers to all the questions he’s asked tonight. And when he’s done, he saunters across the room once more, lifting my card out of my hand. He reads over all my answers one by one.
“You got them all right.”
I nod. I already knew that. I know where the highest waterfall in the world is. I know the third sign in the Zodiac. I absolutely know who discovered Penicillin. I know what name Sean Combs is better known by. None of the questions he asked were much of a challenge. I am Wikipedia and an encyclopedia’s cooler love child. My fascination with all things factual has only grown over the last three years but we don’t talk about why that is.
Without a word, he takes my hand, hauling me up out of my seat and resting a hand on my hip as if to steady me. “So what do you say to my offer?”
I push his microphone down to his side. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Trying to get you to agree to that midnight kiss. I figure if I get everyone in the bar in on my plan you won’t say no.”
“You went to all this trouble just for a midnight kiss from me?”
“No. The kiss is just the start. I’m hoping you’ll give me your name and number. If I’m really lucky, you’ll go home with me and then allow me to make you breakfast in the morning.”
I stare at him, utterly dumbfounded.
“What do you say?”
I gnaw on my lip. Who asks something like that of a complete stranger?
“I watched you come in tonight. You started dancing with your friend. Then eagerly dove into this game. I watched you the whole time because I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I don’t even care if your brothers are glaring at me. I think you’re worth the risk.”
I shake my head. His honesty is a bit too powerful. I’m not accustomed to it from men like him. “You don’t even know me.”
“So let me get to know you.”
“I think I should go home instead.”
“I think you should stay here with me.” His head dips ever so slightly, his eyes bouncing down to my lips where they linger for a hellishly long minute before they find mine again. “I never approach women. Ever. Yet I came over to talk to you and now here you are.” He grins, finding my lips once more. “It’s like it’s fate or something.”
His long fingers splay along my hips, inching upward until they’re practically wrapped around my waist. A shiver unexpectedly engulfs my body. He grins, his lips now hovering over mine. I taste the whiskey on his breath. The hint of cinnamon that’s nearly lost beneath it.
I have no idea what I’m doing right now.
But I don’t think I want to stop either. There is something about him drawing me in. Something exciting and daring. Tomorrow my life is going to be so very different than it is now. It’s New Year’s Eve. A night to throw caution to the wind. Possibly literally in this case.
What the fuck do I have to lose? It’s not like I’ll ever see him again.
“Don’t leave,” he whispers, his nose brushing against mine. “You’ll always wonder about me if you do.” It’s like he’s reading my mind. I will always wonder if by saying no to tonight I made a mistake. He shuts off the microphone and sets it down on our table. Then his now free hand dives into my hair. “Come on, Angel. Say yes to me.”
I stare up into his oh-so-blue eyes and contemplate my next move. “It’s only tonight.”
He watches me closely. “Can I ask why?”
“You’re insane. I mean, who does something like this? Who walks up to a total stranger and says those things? Who announces to a crowded bar you want to kiss me and get my name and number?”
“Me. But I’ll prove you wrong and you’ll stay.” He says it so simply. Like that’s just really how it is. I start to tell him that it truly has to be one night, crazy aside, when people begin to shout, ten, nine, eight… he cuts me off with, “It’s a new year.”
“Just about.”
“I want to go into it kissing you.”
Two, one. Happy New Year!
“Then do it. And after you can take me home.”
A smile lights up his face right before his lips crash into mine. Now both hands are framing my face, holding me impossibly close as he consumes my mouth in a soul-splitting kiss I don’t want to end. His tongue invades my mouth, tangling with mine, and my knees nearly give out beneath me. Holy Christ, Mister Sexy Voice can kiss. He groans into me, angling his head and deepening the connection, his hands slipping from my face back into my hair where he holds me tight.
Pulling back, he nips at my bottom lip. “Fuck.” He licks his lips, tasting me on them. “I can already guarantee one night with you won’t be nearly enough.”
Except I already know one night is all we can ever have.
1
RINA
Three Years Later
“You’re coming tonight, right?” Margot asks as she picks at god knows what on her scrub top only to scrunch up her nose. “Shit, I think that’s blood. And obviously not mine.”
I scrunch up my nose too. “Gross. Go sanitize.”
She nods as she walks over to a wall station of Purell and lathers her hand in foamy alcohol. “You didn’t answer me. You look nice. Like really insanely pretty and I’m not saying you don’t normally look pretty when we go out, but you look especially pretty tonight. Did I miss a text or something that declared this was a dressing-up occasion because I did not bring anything other than jeans and a T-shirt for this?”
“Believe me, I’d be wearing the same right now if I could get away with it. These shoes are already pinching the hell out of my toes. I’m having drinks with my parents first.”
“Oh,” she remarks, checking her work phone before her large brown eyes slide back up, a curious twist to her lips. “How come?”
I get her surprise. Other than our bi-monthly Sunday family dinners, I don’t meet up with my parents often. It’s not because we’re not close, because we are. It’s just that we’re all insanely busy. I’m a nurse. My father is a doctor as are all of my brothers. My mother runs our family foundation and is on the board of about a dozen charities. The Sunday dinners are an act of heroics to get everyone’s schedules aligned and it’s simply because my mother will not tolerate any of us being a no-show.