Page 29 of To Go
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “I need to see if Daphne’s plan goes well anyway.”
I let her set up the show while I quickly toast some bagels and grab some fruit from the fridge. I settle in next to her and eat half a bagel in one bite.
“Impressive appetite there, sir,” she mocks.
“You don’t know the half of it, sunshine,” I say, fixing her with a smoulder. I revel in the way her cheeks tinge pink as she glances away before I focus on the show in front of me.
We get all the way to the third episode of season two before I can’t take it anymore. It’s my favourite show, but even I have limits. It’s late afternoon and the snow shows no sign of letting up. It’s a good thing I had gone out for those groceries yesterday—not only because I probably saved Stella from freezing to death, but also because there’s no way to get anything or go anywhere as it is.
I turn off the show.
“Hey! I still don’t know what the heck pall-mall is!” she shouts at me, lobbing a throw pillow in my direction. It’s a good thing her aim is shit though. It flies right past me, onto the floor. I swing my head over to look her in the eye, and I give her a devilish grin.
“Truth or dare, sunshine?”
Chapter 9
Stella
Oh. My. God. I can’t believe this is happening.A manic smile spreads across my face, and to his credit, he only looks a little bit alarmed at my reaction.
“Truth,” I declare, because you can’t do dare right out of the gate. It’s simply not how these things are done.
“What would you have done if I wasn’t here to let you in yesterday?” James asks the question so seriously. It’s sweet how concerned he is, even though he’s trying to look intimidating.
“Probably camped out in the hallway, called Hazel or Beck to come help me? Not sure.”
“You almost walked right past the place,” he accuses.
“I was so focused on not falling over and staying warm, I didn’t see where I was.”
“And look how that turned out for you.”
“Excuse me! Is this truth or dare, or truth and judge?”
“I’m not judging.”
“You so are.”
He sighs, clearly regretting a lot of his recent choices. “Your turn.”
“Okay, truth or dare, stud?” He raises an eyebrow at the nickname. I’m goading him and he’s not stupid enough to not realize it.
“Truth.”
“Why won’t you tell your parents you don’t want to run the company?” He stares at me emotionless.
“Dare.”
“Nope! Can’t switch now!” I smile at his frustration.
“It’s not done. In our family. All the eldest sons have run it for the past few generations.”
“So, you’re afraid to disappoint them?”
“Not really.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
