“Hey, guys, should we play?” Sally interrupted and tapped Cody on the shoulder. “And if you pick Mila’s name or she picks you, you guys can just pick again.”
“Fine,” Cody said with a huff and then gave Sally a warm smile. “You’re looking pretty tonight, Sally.”
“Thanks.” She practically beamed at him.
“Let’s all have a seat,” TJ said and I felt him brushing past me. “Oh, sorry,” he said and stopped as his hand slid down my back and rested on my ass.
“Sorry for what?” I asked, confused as I looked up at his smoldering gaze.
He bent down and whispered in my ear softly. “Leading you down the wrong path.”
“What wrong path?” I asked, my face flushed from his close contact.
“The one that will have you blushing and your brother cussing,” he said again lightly and I felt him give my ass a quick slap before he walked away and sat down next to the fire. I stood there feeling confused and turned on, and wondered what he had planned. It definitely seemed like he was coming on to me, even though he was still teasing me and driving me crazy. And even though he was here with Barbie and doing heavens knew what with her. TJ seemed hell-bent on teasing me and I didn't know if he was deliberately playing me to make me feel embarrassed or if he was going to carry through on his word. I knew that in my heart of hearts, I wanted him to follow through on everything he was saying. My ass was still tingling from his touch and I wondered how far he was going to take it. I already knew how far I was willing to go.
***
"Truth or dare, Mila?” TJ's voice was smooth as he looked at me.
"I don't know." I looked over at Sally and she shrugged. She didn't know what to tell me to do and I didn't know what to do.
"Come on, sis," Cody said, sounding like he was already half-drunk. "Pick truth. I want to find out all your secrets."
"Dare," I blurted out loudly, feeling panicked. What if he asked me about TJ? How embarrassing would that be? So, everyone, I’ve had a crush on TJ Walker for years and I came up to the lake house this year with the plan of seducing him. Yeah, that would go down really well. TJ would most probably laugh and say he knew it all along and then Cody would call my parents and get me sent to some convent in Italy or something.
"Okay, pick a name out of the basket," TJ said with a grin. “And then pick the dare out of the dare basket.”
"Okay," I said softly, hoping that the dares we’d all written and put in the basket weren’t too crazy. I mean, one of my dares was for people to kiss for two minutes, in the hope that I could kiss TJ, or Sally could kiss Cody. I put my hand in the first basket and picked out a piece of paper with a name on it. My heart skipped a beat as I opened it up slowly.
"I hope you picked me, darling," Troy said, his eyes gleaming at me. I ignored his face as I unfolded the paper. He was really getting on my nerves. I wasn’t sure what sort of game he thought he was playing. He was paying more attention to Barbie, and I think it was clear to everyone that he thought her almost-naked breasts were far superior to my covered-up ones. Not that I cared. All I could think about was TJ and the way he’d been staring at me all night. My eyes read the paper in front of me and my heart stopped beating for a second. I tried not to grin as I read TJ's name in short, clean black handwriting.
"Who did you get?" Sally asked excitedly. I think she could tell from the sudden change in my demeanor that it was TJ's name in my hand.
"I got TJ," I said with a fake scowl, pretending that I was upset. I looked over at Sally and she winked at me and made an ‘ohlala’ movement with her mouth.
"Ooh," Cody said with a laugh. "I hope you guys get my dare. You'll have to go and get more beer from the grocery store."
"That's not a dare." I rolled my eyes at him as I put my hand in the dare basket and pulled out a piece of paper. I was hoping it wasn’t something too crazy and absurd. I would be happy with a kiss. Maybe even a French kiss. Maybe even being handcuffed together. That would actually even be kind of exciting. I unfolded the new piece of paper and I could feel my skin burning as I read it. I felt a sudden surge of excitement and shame. This could not be right, could it? Who would have made a dare like this? I just didn't understand why someone would write this as a dare. Then I looked at Barbie and I realized she would die for the chance to do what she’d written.
"Read it aloud, Mila," TJ said, staring at me with a weird look on his face. I stared into his eyes for a few seconds and swallowed hard. He looked way too serious, way too sexy, and way too out-of-my league. I’d be happy with the kiss, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to go completely naked.
"I'm not doing this," I said, my face red as I wondered if I’d shaved recently and if my boobs would look saggy in the moonlight. Saggy, wet boobs were not the same as boobs pushed up in tight lingerie as I lay on the bed with my hair hanging in my face.
"You have to," Cody said as he swigged from his beer. I wanted to slap him. If he knew what the dare was, he wouldn’t be saying that. No siree.