Free Stranded by Jaymie Holland Page A

she again lost all of
her chips.
    “Enough poker.” She put her elbows on the
coffee table, feeling more than a little mellow and tipsy from the
wine. “What else ya got?”
    “I’ve got an idea.” Holden tucked the cards
into its box while Dawson organized the chips. “How about Truth or
Dare?”
    She tilted her head to the side. “How do you
play that?”
    Dawson looked on in interest. “You’ve never
played?”
    She shook her head, then wished she hadn’t.
She’d had enough wine that the movement made her feel a little
dizzy. “No. I don’t even know what it is.”
    “In that case…” Holden looked at Dawson who
gave a nod. Holden smiled. “We’ll play this one the adult way, meaning once we ask the question you can say if you’d prefer a
dare to answering the question.”
    “It’s a little different from how kids play
it,” Dawson said. “In this version, once you know the question,
you’ll have the choice of performing the dare or telling the truth.
But you won’t know what the dare is until the question is asked.
And you have to take the dare once you choose that over telling the
truth.”
    “I’m not so sure about this.” She narrowed
her gaze. “What kinds of dares?”
    Holden shrugged. “Eating mustard.”
    “Putting ice down your pants.” Dawson
suggested.
    “Scream.”
    “Eat a whole half gallon of ice cream.”
    “Lick the floor.”
    Erika made a face. “Lick the floor?”
    “You get the idea,” Dawson said.
    She frowned. “I don’t know…” It sounded kind
of juvenile, but right then she didn’t really care if it did.
    “Have something to hide?” Holden acted
serious, but his lips twitched as if he wanted to grin.
    For the life of her she couldn’t think of a
truth she would care about telling. Not one that they’d ever think
to ask. She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling her unfettered
breasts beneath her arms. “Okay. Fine.”
    “We’ll start easy.” Start easy? What would
hard mean?
    “Okay,” she said slowly.
    He studied her. “Where did you get your law
degree? Truth or Dare.”
    “Columbia.” She turned to Dawson. “Why did
your skiing career end? Truth or Dare.”
    “Shattered my ankle in a skiing accident.” He
shrugged. “It was never the same.” He immediately asked her, “Have
you always lived in New York City? Truth or Dare.”
    “Is this gang up on Erika night?” She wanted
to laugh as she said the words. “You should be asking Holden a
question.”
    Dawson made a brushing away movement. “I
already know his secrets.”
    “And then some,” Holden agreed.
    “This is not going to be a fair game.” She
straightened. “No, I haven’t lived in the City my whole life. I
moved there to go to Columbia and stayed.”
    “Prestigious law school,” Holden said.
    “Since I answered a question, I get to ask
another.” She sipped her wine and then pointed her finger at
Holden. “What was the most mischievous thing you can think of that
you did as a kid? Truth or Dare.”
    Holden laughed and Dawson snorted. “What didn’t we do?” Holden said.
    She watched him, enjoying the way the corner
of his mouth turned up. “Surely there was something you did that
made your mom and dad want to take a paddle to your butt.”
    “Who says they didn’t?” Holden said but had a
mischievous glint in his eye.
    She shook the finger she was pointing at him.
“Well, name something.”
    He looked thoughtful. “One time, Dawson and I
swiped my sister’s Barbie dolls, took all of their dresses off,
shaved their heads, and gave them mustaches with a Sharpie.”
    “We wanted an army and they couldn’t look
girly.” Dawson grinned. “We used twigs and things for guns.”
    “And cut toothpicks in half for knives.”
Holden nodded. “We did get the wooden spoon for that one.”
    Erika burst out laughing. “Your poor
sister.”
    Dawson shook his head. “It took us two months
of chores to earn back enough money to buy her new dolls.”
    Holden,