Temporary Truce
Delaney
My turn was finished, but I was still holding the dice. I hadn't even realized I was clutching them until Maddox glanced at my hand.
It was his turn to roll, but apparently, I was holding his dice hostage until he responded to my comment about this not being fair.
I'd meant it to come out as a joke.
But I now realized something.
I wasn't joking.
Every time the conversation turned to him, he managed to redirect it straight back to me. It was subtle enough that I hadn't quite noticed. Or maybe I had, and I'd been too flattered to mention the imbalance.
He really was a great listener.
So of course, I felt guilty when he calmly asked, "Unfair how?"
I summoned up a smile. "Do you realize I know nothing about you?" I glanced around. "Well, except for where you live and that you enjoy board games."
This made him frown – not a big frown, but enough to make me feel ungrateful for everything he'd done. It wasn't just dinner and coffee. He'd listened to me whine about my problems with more patience than I had any right to expect.
I mean, it's not like he was my boyfriend.
The idea was ridiculous, anyway. We clearly lived in two different worlds.
But there he was, sitting across from me, looking unfairly handsome while acting like it was utterly normal to ask all kinds of questions without answering many in return.
Then again, this wasn't the only thing that was lopsided.
So when he didn't respond, I felt compelled to say, "Is this where you point out – and honestly, you'd have a point – that I'm the one who's been unfair by letting you buy dinner and coffee when I didn't even pay for your shirt?"
He shook his head. "I already told you. You don't owe me anything."
"So…by that logic, you don't owe me anything either. Like…you're sharing all the food, and I'm sharing all the secrets?" I tried to laugh. "So it all balances out?"
"Nice logic," he said. "Except this isn't transactional."
"I never said it was."
"Sure you did." His gaze met mine. "But you want the truth?"
I nodded.
"Maybe I've been putting it off."
I tried to be optimistic. "Maybe?"
"Alright. Scratch the maybe."
So much for optimism. Bracing myself, I asked, "So you're hiding a deep, dark secret, huh?"
He gave me a faint smile. "Who says it's just one?"
Yikes. Before I could overthink it, I dropped the dice onto the board, got to my feet, and moved around the coffee table to sit near him on the couch.
Maddox glanced at the dice. "So, you surrender, huh?"
"What? No." I scoffed. "But you can if you want."
"Not a chance." One corner of his mouth twitched. "I'm not surrendering anything."
At that hint of a smile, something eased in my chest. "So…a temporary truce then?"
His mouth tightened. "You won't be calling for a truce once you hear what I've got to say."
I almost groaned. "Oh, my God. You're married, aren't you?"
His expression blanked for half a beat before he started to chuckle.
I studied his face. "Is that funny because you are? Or funny because you're not?"
He leaned back against the couch. "I'm not married."
Obviously, there was more to this story. "So…divorced?"
"Almost."
"Wait…how can you be almost divorced?" My stomach sank. "Unless you were hedging about not being married? Like…you're separated or something?"
"No hedge," he said. "Never married. And if I were, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you now." He held my gaze for a long moment before asking, "And you wanna know something?"
Something in his eyes made my heart flutter. "What?"
His voice softened. "It would've been my loss."
My mouth opened and then closed, because I had no response – well, nothing except my blush, which burned my cheeks even as I finally asked, "Are you teasing me?"
"Would it scare you if I wasn't?"
I gave it some thought. "Honestly? I think I'm a little scared you are teasing me."
"Don't be. I meant what I said."
For one dangerous second, the look in his eyes almost made me forget how this conversation had started, with me pointing out the imbalance in what we knew about each other – as if he had something to hide.
I swallowed. "So these secrets of yours…how bad are they, exactly?"
"I'll let you decide. Which one do you want first? The one about the cancelled wedding? Or the one about the favor for a friend?"
I gave it some thought. "That depends."
"On what?"
"Just tell me…you didn't help a friend bury a body, did you?"
"Hell no." The corners of his mouth lifted. "You don't bury them. You toss them in Lake Michigan. What, you didn't know?"
Without thinking, I reached out and gave him a playful swat on the shoulder, which was a huge mistake, because even though the contact was brief, it was still long enough for me to notice that his shoulder was very hard.
And muscular.
And warm to the touch, even through his shirt.
Our eyes locked, and I leaned toward him a fraction, only to pull back when I realized I was like two seconds away from climbing onto his lap – and without getting answers, too.
He'd mentioned two secrets – one about a cancelled wedding and another involving a favor for a friend.
Call me predictable, but from the start, I'd known exactly which one I wanted to hear first – and it wasn't about the friend. "Okay…since you asked, I wouldn't mind hearing about the wedding."
"Cancelled wedding," he corrected. "It's no wedding if it doesn't take place."