Rocco shook his head while the three of them laughed.
They went around, keeping the never-have-I-evers fairly tame until Dario grinned and looked directly at Rocco. “Never have I ever been handcuffed.”
“Okay, okay, very funny,” Rocco said as he took a drink.
“Oh my,” Celeste said, clapping her hands.
“Really?” Dario chimed in.
They were looking at Nico.
Rocco did likewise. Damn if she didn’t have a poker face.
Turning to Dario, he pointed his thumb at Nico. “Did she take a drink?”
If they were ever to put an image of what it meant to grin from ear to ear in the dictionary, Dario’s face right now would be it.
“She did,” he said.
Rocco’s heart began to beat in a funny way as though it were uncertain which way it wanted to go. Did it want to slow down and make everything around him, including himself, absolutely still? Or did it want to push the gas to the floor and hurl headlong full throttle?
He leaned toward her, grinning. “Care to share any details?”
She mirrored him. “Do you?”
He shrugged. “It was a misunderstanding. A couple of guys got into a fight at a bar. I was an innocent bystander. But when the police arrived, they handcuffed me too until the bartender told them I wasn’t involved.”
He waited for her to say something, but she didn’t. She just nodded.
It was his turn.
He could smell that scent. He felt a jolt between his thighs, which told him his heart wanted to race.
Looking at her, and only at her, he said, “Never have I ever been handcuffed while in bed.”
What was that look in her dark eyes telling him? He felt as though they’d ventured somewhere that might be painful to her, somewhere she didn’t want to go. And then just like that, she blinked, her eyes glittering as she grinned playfully, lifted her glass, and took a drink.
“Interesting,” Celeste said.
“Very,” Dario added.
Anyone else looking at the table would have said they were enjoying themselves and the mood was joyful. But he couldn’t forget the painful look in those dark eyes just before she’d turned on that sparkling smile like a spigot.
“It’s getting late,” Rocco said. “Maybe—”
“It’s not late,” Celeste cried.
Rocco’s eyes shifted left, but Nico’s eyes quickly darted away.
They went around again, and everything seemed fine. They were all having a good time, including her.
I must have misread that look.
Celeste dealt Dario a blow when she saidNever have I ever cried watching the filmTitanic, forcing him to reluctantly take a drink.
But Dario paid her back.
“Never have I ever blamed a fart on a pet.”
