“No and no.”
She set her shoulders and spoke just above a whisper but with firm words. “It was a dare.”
Her meaning came over him slowly like the first drifting flakes of a snowstorm. It—the kiss, she meant—had been a dare. It made him feel… grumbly. But also… he didn’t quite believe her. Panicked hands fluttering about him. Her demands that he not be hurt. Then the kiss. Didn’t seem like a dare.
“Someone dared you to fell me, then kiss me?” he asked.
“Just kiss.”
“So, you took advantage of me when I was down.”
She picked at the dead blades of grass between them. “Seemed an opportune time.”
Hadn’t seemed like opportunity. Hadn’t tasted or felt like that. Had felt like desperation. Had tasted like relief. Had seemed like desire.
They stood at the same time, and he gathered the skates, slung them over his shoulder. They wandered up toward the house.
“Do you think anyone saw?” He shouldn’t poke the bear. But he wanted to. No clear reason why, just the impulse to poke, poke, poke.
“If they did, they would have seen us fall, catch our breath for several seconds, then stand once more. Nothing more. And if they did happen to see more from such a distance and such an angle, it would merely secure the rumors about us, a happenstance that has benefited us both.”
He scratched his jaw. “True. Lady Gee?” Time for another poke.
“Yes?”
“I was dared, too.”
She stopped walking, darting a closed look at him. “To do what?”
“Same as you.”
She started toward the house once more. “We’ve both accomplished the dare then and can leave our tormentors to rot.”
He chuckled. “Sarah?”
She nodded. “Xavier?”
“Yes. But Lady Gee?”
“Yes?” Was that irritation he heard in her voice? Perfect.
“I’ve not completedmydare yet. You kissed me, but you stopped kissing me before I could kiss you back.”
“That is an unnecessary differentiation. We were both involved in the kiss.”
“It’s quite a valid differentiation.”
“What do you mean by it, though? That you intend to kiss me again? In order to complete your dare?”
He wiggled his eyebrows and lengthened his strides. Of course, he didn’t. He couldn’t. But it would be fun to let her think so.
Not as fun as kissing, though…
She chased after him. “Josiah. Tell me. Do you insist on completing the dare?”
He kept walking, longer strides, faster, until she was running after him, skirts raised for greater ease of movement.
“Josiah, get back here and answer me!”
