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“Only when I walk,” I say. “It’s not too bad.”
He grabs the ice pack from the kit and cracks the package to activate it. Then he gently places it on my knee and stands. “Your calf looks much better. It’s healing well.”
I turn my leg to get a better look at the purple-and-white skin, his initials there now and forever. It takes all I have to smile and nod.
He picks up a plate with a slice of pizza and passes it to me before I reach for the wine and take a drink. “You told me once at a signing that you like supreme pizza, so I had them load it up.”
“It looks delicious, Chris. Thank you.” I’m not lying. The pizza looks as mouth-watering as it tastes, and I devour the whole slice in record time while he picks out a DVD from the stack. Once he settles onWhat Lies Beneathand pops it into the laptop’s DVD drive, turning it on, he begins to eat his pizza, too. By this point, I’ve already started on my ice cream.
Mint chocolate chip has never been my favorite. In fact, it’s probably one of my least favorites, but for this to work, I have to really sell it, and I do.
I scarf down most of my bowl, pretending to watch or care about a movie I usually love. I just need him to leave. I need to come up with a reason for him to walk out of the room for a few seconds.
Just long enough…
“Hey, do you think I could have something stronger than wine today? Like a vodka soda, maybe?”
“I don’t keep liquor in the house,” he says, his mouth full of pizza. “Besides, I thought you were cutting back.” He doesn’t bother looking at me as he says it.
“Oh, right.”Damn.“I just thought since we were celebrating…”
“What are we celebrating?” He quirks a brow.
Thinking quickly, I lift my bowl. “Our second date.”
He grins at me, eyes skimming my body. “This is a date?”
Quickly, I clarify, “Afrienddate. Dinner and a movie. My best friend and I have a standing date like this weekly.”
His smile dims, and he averts his attention back to the laptop. “Have you seen this movie?”
“Of course. It’s one of my favorites.”
He nods, finishing off the rest of his slice. “Mine, too.”
“What’s your favorite part?”
He turns to me. “The bathtub scene, of course. Isn’t it everyone’s?”
“I guess so,” I agree, taking another bite of my ice cream. “Hey, what’s your favorite part in my books? I don’t think you’ve ever told me. What’s the scene that sticks with you?”
He turns to me, setting his bowl down. “My favorite scene in any of yours?”
I nod slowly. I’m tempting fate here, but I have to try. This could be my only chance. “Yes.”
He closes the laptop, silencing Michelle Pfeiffer, and turns his body completely toward mine, thinking. His lips press together. “That’s a hard one. I have so many.”
“You can name a few, if you’d like.”
“No, let me think. I can narrow it down.” He taps a finger to his chin ominously, his eyes searching for something that isn’t there. Finally, he opens his mouth. “Oh! Duh. I should’ve been able to answer this easily. It’s a scene fromWhen Night Falls.”
One of my more recent books. I’m surprised. I assumed his favorite scene would be from one of his favorite books. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah. A hundred percent. The part where the boyfriend is the killer the whole time, but you’resureit’s the best friend. And the boyfriend has taken Nora to a cabin to hide out, so there’s all this tension.”
I swallow, knowing what he’s describing.
“And they’re having sex.” His brows bounce up. “It’s one of your most descriptive sex scenes ever. And then…” His eyes flick to my neck. “He bites her and rips the chunk of her skin out.” He puts a hand to his neck, pretending to tear a portion of his neck, holding his empty palm up, fingers bent as if holding a chunk of flesh. “It was so shocking, so descriptive, so gory. You put everything into that one, I could tell.”
