“You dirty cheater.” He clutched his hand to his chest, feigning shock.
“Drink up,” I teased.
“Alright.” He took a drink of his wine. “I see how this is going to be. Never have I ever baked a cake.”
“Jaxon Slade,” I said with mock surprise. “The audacity.” I took a long sip of my wine. “Fine. Never have I ever been arrested.”
“Me either.” He took a handful of almonds off the board. “Now, if we had been playing this game with Luca, he would have had to drink.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep. He got mouthy with a bodyguard once when he was acting like an idiot at an afterparty a couple of years ago.” He tossed a couple of the almonds in his mouth. “Disorderly conduct. Cash convinced the guy to drop the charges, though.” He paused thoughtfully for a moment. “Never have I ever gotten a tattoo.”
I took a long swallow of my wine.
“You have a tattoo?” His eyes widened with surprise.
“One.” I pulled my T-shirt down and brushed my hair to the side, exposing the back of my left shoulder to him. “I got it for my birthday last year.”
“It’s beautiful.” He leaned in, the roughness of his fingertips sending chills down my spine as he lightly traced the outline of the rose that was drawn in a crisp black line. “Does it have a special meaning?”
“It was kind of my gift to myself after Ben left,” I admitted. “He gave me the divorce papers a month before my birthday, and I felt lost. I guess I still feel lost sometimes.” My eyes met his over my shoulder. “Anyway, he hated tattoos and never wanted me to have one. He always said they were unattractive on a woman. So, this was one of the first things I did for me. It symbolizes my new beginning. The thorns represent the hurt I’ve been through, and the three leaves represent the constants in my life: myself, Ella, and Grace. The rose itself is the new beginning. It’s where I hope I end up, and they’re my favorite flower.”
“But not the red ones,” he said matter-of-factly.
“How did you know that?” I analyzed him.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and popped a grape in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. “Red roses seem too basic. You’re different.”
“You’re not wrong.” I grinned. “I love tequila sunrise roses. They’re a lot harder to find, though. They’re yellow at the center, and they fade out into shades of peach and orange and fiery red.”
“A lot like a sunrise.”
“A lot like that.” I picked up a pretzel from the board. “Never have I ever lived outside my hometown.”
“Really?” He took a pull from his glass.
“True story. I mean, I do enjoy traveling when I’ve had the chance to do so. Ella, Grace, and I take a yearly girls trip and that sort of thing, but I’ve never really seen myself living outside of Nashville or at least not outside of Tennessee. I love it here.”
“I feel like I’ve done nothing but live on the road,” he replied. “I’ve still got a place in Louisville, but I’m hardly ever there. I would love to settle down and stay somewhere for longer than a couple of weeks at a time.”
“I can’t imagine how hard that is.”
“It’s not like I have much to go back to. Louisville is the place I live,” he said, “but it’s not home.”
“Where is home?” I looked at him thoughtfully.
“That’s to be determined.” A solemn expression settled on his face before he grabbed a cookie, taking a bite. “Snickerdoodles are my favorite. Did you make these?”
I couldn’t help but notice how swiftly he changed the subject, but I didn’t want to press the issue. “Of course.”
“Damn, Liv,” He took in a deep breath. “Is there anything you can’t do?”
“Change a flat tire,” I answered flatly. “There was an incident this past spring. You can ask Ella. It ended with both of us covered in dirt on the side of the interstate, and we still had to call AAA. Almost put my eye out with that wrenchy thing.”
He choked out a laugh. “Could you mean a tire iron?”
“All I know is it looks like some sort of medieval torture device.”
