“I will go first since I chose the game. Sacrificial lamb. I will take... truth. Ask me whatever you want.”
Sitting there with her offer twirling in my head, I go blank for a moment. I want to know a thousand things about her. She was right—this is the easiest way to find out about each other. Discarding half a dozen questions, I land on the most obvious.
“What brought you to Driftwood?”
Quirking a brow as she washes out a glass, she hesitates. “I had nowhere else to go. My mother died a few years ago, so I hit the road to handle my grief. It made it easier for me, having no one to call home to, no one wondering, nothing waiting for me to come home. Once I had gone to all the places I wanted to go, I realized I had nowhere to come home to.”
Knowing she lost her mother, went out into the world alone, and had nothing much like I do makes an ache burn in my chest. I can do it but someone so sweet, so lively, she should never be alone or have no one. I tell myself maybe this can be her home, not the bar, not even Driftwood... maybe I can make this place a home for her.
“That is... that is brave. Going out on your own. Facing that alone. You dodged the truth, honey,” I tell her with a smirk. “Why Driftwood?”
“You got me,” she smiles back, her cheeks flushing rosy. Gosh, she is the most adorable thing. “Some of my girlfriends from high school came here to protest you lumberjacks. Not much of a protest because Quinn married herself a hot lumberjack.”
“Oh yes, I am aware of those girls. Caused quite a ruckus up there.”
“That is what they do,” she shoots back, sliding a drink down the bar to a waiting customer. “I am a little less... rowdy than those girls.”
“Pretty sure that remains to be seen, honey,” I tease with a wink.
“He has jokes,” she teases back with an adorable smirk. “Truth or Dare, big guy?”
“Truth. That gleam in those pretty eyes has me afraid to do a dare just yet,” I answer honestly, sipping at my beer again.
There are a few other patrons here at the bar, but she has focused her attention on me. I welcome it. There is something about her, about how she looks at you with intent eyes, how she listens with interest. It makes you feel heard, it makes you feel seen. I never thought I wanted either, but with her, I want it all. I want her to know me and I sure as hell want to know her.
“Oh, wise man. Wise man. Truth.... let’s ease in here. Same question. What brought you to Driftwood?”
“Mack Felle did, quite literally,” I answer as I look back at the past for a moment. “I was lost. Retiring from the military was not a choice. I got hurt on my last OP, so they gently pushed me out. Being a Marine was the first thing that made sense to me. Mack was one of my squad leaders, so he called me to come settle here with some of our other buddies.”
Scout stuns me, reaching out to cradle my jaw in her soft hand. Tipping my head up, she forces my gaze to hers. Something inside of me snaps. The bow tied neatly around little piles of worries, fears, troubles inside of me. It breaks as she stares across the bar, her eyes shimmering.
“How dare you call me brave? I know nothing about being brave. You do. Anyone who gives up their freedom, their spirit, to protect the rest of us fools, they’re the bravest souls in the world.”
Touched by her kind words, I am stunned to feel tears in my eyes. I joined the Marines because I had nothing else. It was the first time that I was good at something. I was not a natural born leader, but they made me one. It made me grow up, let go of some of those tidy stacks of fear and doubt that I tuck away inside myself.
“Thank you. I am not sure how brave I am, but I will take that.”
“Good. All this talk about being brave... I am choosing a dare now, sugar. Hit me with your worst. Or will it be your best?”
Watching her for a moment as the amber light from the setting sun lights her up, I can think of a thousand things to dare her. Each of them is a little cruder than the last. I rein myself in, clearing my throat as I swallow back some filthy words I am not prepared to let her hear.
“How far can I go, Scout?”
My eyes drop to her mouth, to that pretty, pink, plump mouth. I have already thought about that mouth a hundred times. Scout bites her lip as if she has every idea of what I am thinking about. It must be written all over me. I watch as that pretty mouth turns up in a teasing smile.
“How farcanyou go, Sebastian?”
Glancing to my left, then right, I see we’re almost alone now. No one would even notice. If they did, I don’t think I would care. Reaching across the bar, I cup the side of her face, rubbing my thumb over her pouting mouth. A little sound hums against my thumb. Jesus, I’m done.
“Would you dare to let me kiss you?” I rasp, my throat itchy, my heart thundering. Staring at me in the dim light, she nods her head. Just once.
Pulling at her jaw gently, I lean over the bar separating us. I smell her sweet scent, inhaling it deep as I brush my mouth over hers. Scout lets out a soft whimper as I lick her pink lips, then push my tongue inside her mouth. Her warm, wet tongue is waiting to lick at mine hungrily.
It is the single deepest, wettest, hottest kiss of my life.
I promptly decide she will be the last woman I ever kiss.
Chapter Four
