Arrogant Boss

“Never Have I Ever,” I said. Sitting here, with him staring at me like that, I couldn’t think of why I’d been nervous. He made me more feel more powerful than anyone ever had.

Julian smiled crookedly. “Ladies first.”

“Never have I ever injured myself when trying to impress a girl or a guy.”

Julian took a sip of his coke with a long-suffering look, and I motioned with my hand, making the universal sign for and?

He sighed. “Fine. I attempted a skateboard trick in front of a girl I had a crush on when I was eleven. Ended up breaking my wrist. My right wrist.”

“Wow. That must have been very painful.”

“I spent the next five weeks getting out of every school assignment because I couldn’t write with my left. Not legibly, at least.”

“Did you at least get the girl?”

“No. She ended up going to the school disco with my best friend.”

“Poor baby,” I murmured.

“I’ve since made a full recovery,” he informed me. “Both my heart and wrists are intact.”

“Glad to hear it. Your turn.”

“Never have I ever fallen in love at first sight,” he declared, and didn’t drink.

I sighed and took a sip of the frosty, sweet drink.

Julian’s eyebrows rose. “Wow. Really, Ace? I figured you’d be more of a get-to-know-the-guy kind of girl. One to take it slow.”

I patted the space next to me on the bed. “Come here and I’ll tell you.”

The bed sank as he took a seat next to me, and I scooted up further, sitting cross-legged against the headboard. “It was with my first crush, Dustin. He was in the year above me in school and when I saw him at a roller-skating party, I was lost. I knew I had to be with him, at all costs.” I shrugged. “Young and foolish.”

Julian was smiling that soft, secretive smile, the one that made my chest hurt. “That’s cute, but could you really qualify that as love?”

I wagged my finger at him. “You wouldn’t dare say that to fifteen-year-old me. I wrote his name on every page of my notebook and thought I knew exactly what love was. Dustin and I would grow old together.”

“I’m glad you didn’t.”

“Me too,” I said. “He later dropped out of high school and got a girl pregnant when he was seventeen.”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.” I swiped a hand across my forehead dramatically. “Dodged a bullet there.”

“On to better and bigger things.”

I couldn’t help myself. “Bigger?”

Julian’s eyes turned flat with surprise and desire. He put his drink down and turned to me fully. I was struck again by how large he was, how much physical space it felt like he occupied. The bed felt small with him sitting on it. “I want to play another game.”

“You do?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Truth or dare. If we’re going to play these games, we might as well go full high school.”

“Alright. But I warn you-if you dare me to run through the lobby half-naked, shouting something obscene, I won’t. I’m a rule-breaker like that.”

Julian’s lip curled into a crooked smile. “Trust me, I would never dare you to undress in front of people.”

I took a long sip of my drink to pad my suddenly parched throat. “Alrighty then.”

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I said.

“When was the last time you were in love?”

“Wow. When you said truth, you really meant, like, truth.”

“You’ll be able to return the favor soon enough.”

“It was with my last boyfriend. It ended years ago.” It wasn’t a difficult question. James was the only one I’d really been in love with, although I supposed it had been a form of puppy love. We’d dated from the age of nineteen to twenty-two, but I was such a different person by the end that I’d forgotten why we had ever liked one another.

Julian opened his mouth but I stopped him. “No, it’s one question per turn.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll play nice.”

“Good.” I traced the rim of the daiquiri glass. “Last time you were in love?”

“Very original.”

“I felt inspired.”

Julian glanced out of the window to the dark city beyond. “It’s honestly been a while. My last relationship, too, I suppose. It ended a couple of years ago.”

I nodded. “So we’ve established that.””Truth or dare?”

“Truth. Hey, I don’t feel like moving from this room. Can’t we just declare that we only do truth?”

He gave me a crooked grin. “Or we just say that all potential dares must be limited to this room.”

Heat swept through me at his gaze, at his words. “Mhm,” I said. “Clever addition.”

“I’ve been known to have smart ideas on occasion. Tell me honestly, then. What was your first impression of me? Right off the bat, when we met at that club.”

I looked down at my drink, choosing my words wisely. “Honestly? I thought you were an asshole.”

He laughed. “Yes, you made that clear.”