“It was funny!”
“I hurt myself!”
“You survived. And trust me, if you could have seen the way your arms flailed when that rope broke, sending you into the water right there off the shore, and the way you flopped into the shallow water like a fish…” He started laughing again at the memory of it, so much so that he couldn’t speak for a long moment, and I took the cinnamon stick out of my eggnog and chucked it at his head.
That made him laugh harder.
“And the sound you made,” he said when he finally caught his breath. “Sounded like a cat in heat.”
I joined in his laughter then, because even though I did hurt myself that day, I’d dragged us and a group of our friends down to the lake to party, it was pretty funny afterward.
“Wasn’t that the same day that Jenny tried to dare you to kiss Tabatha?” I asked, squinting through the rum haze swimming in my head as I tried to remember.
“Oh, shit,” River said on a chuckle, then he let out a low whistle. “Sure was. You were not happy about that.”
“Hell no, I wasn’t. That little tramp, she knew exactly what she was doing. Tabatha had the hots for you all through high school. She never did care that we were together.” I shook my head. “Just waiting for her chance.”
“Well, you didn’t let her take that chance, if I remember correctly,” River said with a shit-eating grin. “Because I’m pretty sure you said something along the lines of in your dreams, Flabby Tabby and then you straddled me and made out with me right there for everyone to see.”
I smiled proudly. “Had to remind those girls who had your heart.”
River’s eyes crinkled more with his grin, and maybe a little from the rum, too. I’d lost count of how many spiked eggnogs we’d had. All I knew was that they had gone from a nice, smooth, proper mixture, to something closer to all rum with a splash of nog on top.
I took a drink from my glass, still smiling at the memory. Then, an idea struck me.
“We should play now.”
River cocked a brow. “Play what?”
“Truth or dare.”
His smile turned into a frown, and he looked down at what remained in his glass, finishing it off before standing. He was already heading to the kitchen to refill when he said, “Aren’t we a little old for games?”
“Age is just a number,” I argued, hopping up from where I’d been sitting crisscross on the floor. I drained what was left of my own nog in the name of refilling at the same time as River, though he’d had a sip left in his and I’d had half a glass.
He smirked at me when I slid my glass next to his just as he was pouring the rum.
“Come on,” I insisted. “It’ll be fun. And tell you what — I’ll even give you a skip. If I ask you something you don’t want to answer, or dare you to do something you don’t want to do, you can use it.”
A heavy breath came from his throat as he poured.
“Pleeeease,” I added, batting my lashes.
He peeked at me with a grin, and then shook his head. “Fine. But I want two skips.”
“Baby.”
“Hey, I just know how dirty you can play this game, and I’m not trying to go streaking in a snowstorm.”
“Aw, dang it — you took my first idea!” I winked with the joke, pulling the eggnog from the fridge to top off our glasses.
Once we had our refills, we sat back down in front of the fire on the pillows we’d laid out there, and Moose curled up beside me again, wagging his tail gently when I rubbed the fur on his neck.
“Okay, truth or dare?” I asked when we were settled.
River laughed. “You’re so excited. You look like a kid who just got turned loose in Disneyland.”
“Answer the question.”
Another laugh. “Truth.”
“Lame,” I teased, but then I tapped my chin, looking up to the ceiling as I thought of a question. “Oh! I know.” I pointed my finger at his chest. “That one day that I walked in on you in our bedroom and you were all out of breath and naked, had you really just finished a workout and you were getting in the shower, or were you masturbating?”
His eyes went wide as saucers, and he barked out a laugh. “I can’t believe you remember that.”
“Answer the question, mister.”
“Both.”
I arched a brow. “Both?”
“I had just worked out. And I was getting in the shower,” he said, smirking. “But I also might have had a little one-on-one time in-between those two things.”
“I knew it!” I giggled. “You were so jumpy when I walked in. Also, no fair, didn’t invite me to the party.” I stuck my bottom lip out in a pout.
River just laughed me off, taking a big drink of his nog. “Your turn. Truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
He shook his head like he already knew. Then, after a long pause, he said, “I dare you to take a shot.”
“Done.”
“Of gin.”
At that, I grimaced. “Riverrrrr…noooo.”
“Does that mean you’re using your pass?”
I narrowed my eyes, determined when I stood. “Hell no. Pour the shot, big boy.”
He did, and I took it, and promptly had to cover my mouth and squeeze my eyes shut to avoid vomiting. Once the terrible liquid had settled in my gut, I chased it with some water and a little eggnog before it was River’s turn again.
This time, he chose dare.
“I dare you to stick your bare ass to that window and hold it there for sixty seconds,” I said, pointing to the window on the other side of the Christmas tree. Sure, it was dark. And sure, no one lived close enough on either side of River’s cabin that anyone would see.
But I knew that window was freezing cold.
River groaned, looking up to the ceiling.
“You can pass,” I teased. “If you’re too chicken.”
“You wish,” he said, and then he hopped up off the floor, and without another ounce of hesitation, he yanked his sweatpants and boxers down in one strong pull.
“River!” I said, laughing as I shielded my eyes.
“Just doing my dare.”
I laughed again, shaking my head, and I swear I only peeked a little through the slits of my fingers as he walked away from me, watching each glorious muscle of his toned ass move with him.
When he got to the window, he turned to face me, using his hands to shield his member. “Alright, you can look, ya big baby.” He chuckled. “Not like you haven’t seen it before.”
I rolled my eyes once they were uncovered, and then with a deep breath, River leaned back until his ass was on the window.
He sucked in a breath, eyes shooting open wide. “Fuck me, that’s cold!”
I cackled, and that laughter stayed with me for the whole sixty seconds as he bounced a little, squeezing his eyes closed, cursing over and over, all the while holding his junk and pressing his ass against that window.
I may have counted slower than necessary, but once I hit sixty, he hopped back over to his pants and pulled them on quickly while I looked away, keeping my eyes on my eggnog, instead.
“That was just cruel,” he said when he was clothed again, standing and holding his butt toward the fire. “Laugh while you can, because I’m going to get you back. Truth or dare?”