He'd thought he might have the chance on the way here, but then Grace made it obvious she wasn’t interested in being anything more than friends.
"So, Damon," Riley pulled him from his thoughts. "I hear you and Grace got trapped in an elevator last Friday."
Grace sucked in a sharp breath beside him, and her whole body seemed to tense.
Assuming she was afraid he’d tell his cousins about their kiss, Damon fiddled with his napkin while he decided how much to tell. And how much he'd let them pry from him.
"That’s right."
"Well, give us details." Riley leaned forward in her seat. "Tell us the story of how you two met."
The story of how we met.
If he and Grace were a couple, the unusual way they met would be a cool story.
"There's not much to tell." Damon gave a casual shrug despite the lie. "Grace rushed into the elevator carrying a massive gift basket just as the doors were about to close. I hit the main floor button, and the elevator started to descend. Then it suddenly jerked to a stop and went dark. Like pitch-black dark."
"That must have been terrifying." Paige pressed her hand to her chest.
"Grace thought so, because she screamed and grabbed my arm in a death grip."
"I did not."
"Did you or did you not grab my arm?" Damon dared her to disagree with him.
"Yes, I grabbed your arm, but I didn't scream."
"I'm pretty sure I remember you yelping."
"Yelping and screaming are not the same thing."
"They're not." Paige sided with Grace.
"That death grip thing is no joke, though." Gabe winked at Paige as he rubbed his chest.
"What was I supposed to do? I was falling!" Paige gave an exasperated huff. "Besides, you had caught me anyway. I was just making sure you didn't drop me."
"I'd known the woman for less than five minutes and she threw herself into my arms." Gabe's voice remained teasing as he and Paige shared a private memory.
"Why have I never heard about this?" Surprise registered on Riley's face.
"Me either." Grace studied Gabe.
"Just be glad she didn't knee you in the groin," Daniel said in a dull voice.
Laughter erupted around the table.
"Oh no." Riley wagged a finger in the air. "We're not hijacking Damon and Grace's story of how they met." Then she pointed at Paige and Gabe. "But I want to hear all about your meet cute."
"So what happened after the lights went out?" Paige asked.
Damon looked at Grace, giving her the opportunity to tell the story.
"Go ahead." She motioned to him. "But don't worry, I'll correct you if you get it wrong."
"The lights came back on within a few seconds, but they weren't the regular lights, they were just these flat, little, disc-like things that were so dim, Grace looked like a shadowy basket-wielding blob."
"A blob?" She rolled her eye at him. "Really?"
