Page 50 of Reluctantly Married

After silently reading her paper, a smile crossed her face. “If you could dare your date to do one thing, what would it be?”

“Hey, that’s not fair. This is supposed to be about sharing.”

Her brow arched. “It’s a trust exercise. Don’t you trust me?”

“Not with that devilish look on your face.”

Her laughter carried through the room. “Hey, the paper only asked what I would dare you to do. It didn’t say you had to do it.”

He wiped his brow in pretend relief. “Good. Because I haven’t forgotten the karaoke contest.”

“You weaseled your way out of that, if I remember properly. Got a standing ovation.”

“I have mad skills.” He gave her a sexy grin, and she blushed.

“Okay. Your dare would be…” She looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “To spike your hair in a mohawk.”

“That’s it?”

“And wear it on our morning show.”

He laughed. “You know how to dare.”

A smug look formed on her face. “You are talking to the reigning champion of the sixth grade truth or dare tournament.”

They continued to take turns with the box, a silent understanding passing between them to evade the questions they didn’t want to answer on the air. When their food arrived, they only had two pieces of paper left.

Adam motioned to the box. “I guess these will have to wait.”

A frown crossed Megan’s face. “No way. I’m getting this over with so we can enjoy the rest of our date.” She pulled out a paper and uncurled it, then grimaced. “Share your most painful childhood memory.”

The display of emotion that played out on Megan’s face brought out a desire in him to protect her. She shouldn’t have to talk about things like this in front of millions of people. What right did Leon have to do this? He was about to say something, but she smoothed out her features and smiled. “Probably the time I crashed my bike and skinned both knees. Took a week to heal.” She crumpled the paper and pushed the box toward him. “Last one’s yours.”

He took the paper and unfolded it. “Tell your date about your first kiss.” He groaned and tossed the paper into the pile in the middle of the table. “Of course, it had to be that.”

“What? It can’t be that bad.”

He sucked in a breath and leaned back in his chair. “I’m afraid it is.”

“Well, you can’t stop there. You have to spill it.”

“Okay. I was in third grade. My best friend Jeffery dared me to kiss Emily, the prettiest girl in class. I told him I wouldn’t do it, but then he double dog dared me to.” He kept his face straight to show the seriousness of the situation.

“Oh, no. You can’t back away from a double dog dare.” Megan picked up her water and took a sip. “What did you do?”

“Of course I had to do it, or forever be branded as a coward.”

“Naturally.”

“So, during recess I told Emily there was a cool frog out behind the school. She didn’t seem interested.” He shrugged. “I guess girls don’t like frogs. Who knew?”

Megan snorted. “You really thought that would work?”

“What can I say? I was eight. When I changed it to a kitten, she perked up. She followed me, even though we weren’t allowed to leave the playground.”

A smile tugged at Megan’s lips. “You rebel.”

“I definitely was. And after we got out back, and there was no kitten, Emily turned to leave, and I panicked. I said the first thing that popped into my head.”

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