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Roman shrugged one shoulder. “The Tricking, apparently.”
Shay closed the distance between them and sat down beside him. Roman didn’t move; he just kept staring at the sky. Shay took a risk for a second time that evening and rested her head against his shoulder. His skin was cooled by the night breeze.
The gesture broke Roman’s trance, and she felt him glance down at her. “You’re very hot and cold,” he observed.
“So are you.”
He looked up at the stars again. “We balance each other well, then,” he murmured. “When I’m cold, you can be hot, and when I’m hot, you can be cold. How does that sound, Miss Thief?”
She smiled. “Really good.”
She studied the stars with him for a few minutes, his shoulder shifting under her cheek whenever he breathed. She found it comforting. Wind whistled through the palms, and far off in the desert, crickets chirped.
After another few minutes of listening to the sounds of the night, galaxies wheeling above them, she said, “Truth or lie?”
Roman tore his attention off the sky and blinked down at her. “What?”
“It’s a game Anna and I used to play.” She smiled wistfully. “I’ll say something, and you can guess if I’m lying or telling the truth.”
It took him a moment, but Roman said, “Okay.”
“I dropped out of school when I was in eighth grade. Truth or lie?”
Roman’s answer was immediate. “Lie.”
“Nope, it’s the truth!” She tipped her head back to grin at him.
“You’re a dropout?”
“Sure am.” She said it with pride; she’d hated school. Anna was the studious one with straight A’s. Shay had barely passed any subjects outside of sewing and art class.
“Alright, truth or lie,” Roman said. “I didn’t drop out.”
She squinted up at him as he looked down at her. “Lie,” she decided.
“Truth.”
“Damn.”
“I graduated.” He looked up at the stars again. “And I’m damn proud of it too.” His lips spread with a proud smile that made Shay’s chest warm with affection. “Your turn.”
Shay brushed a piece of gravel away from her thigh, and it rolled into the pool with soft clacks. “I don’t have any friends,” she whispered.
“Pfft—that one’s easy.” He flicked her in the nose. “Everyone knows that, Shayla.”
She slapped his muscular thigh. “Jackass.” She snickered, and he laughed too. His was quiet and short-lived, but it was still a laugh. Shay hummed as she thought of another one. “I didn’t expect to get along so well with you. Truth or lie?”
“What are you talking about, we don’t get along,” he teased, his grin so big it showed off that elusive dimple. “Lie,” he declared.
“I’m going to pinch you.”
“I’ll bite.”
Her smile made her cheeks hurt. “Your turn.”
The humor on his face vanished as if a light had been switched, and the gold in his eyes darkened as he stared out at nothing.
Shay dragged her pinkie up his thigh, the denim of his pants tickling the pad of her finger. “Roman?” She watched as his throat shifted, his chest shaking with an inhale.
