BooksBarbecue
Back First Comes Love
Chapters (92)
  1. First
  2. Love Connection
  3. Zero
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. One Month Later
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Six Months Later
  21. Sixteen
  22. Seventeen
  23. Eighteen
  24. Nineteen
  25. Twenty
  26. Twenty-one
  27. Twenty-two
  28. Twenty-three
  29. Twenty-four
  30. Six Months Later
  31. Twenty-five
  32. Twenty-six
  33. Twenty-seven
  34. Twenty-eight
  35. Twenty-nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-one
  38. Thirty-two
  39. Thirty-three
  40. I Have Never
  41. One
  42. Two
  43. Three
  44. Four
  45. Five
  46. Six
  47. Seven
  48. Eight
  49. Nine
  50. Ten
  51. Eleven
  52. Twelve
  53. Thirteen
  54. Fourteen
  55. Fifteen
  56. Sixteen
  57. Seventeen
  58. Eighteen
  59. Nineteen
  60. Twenty
  61. Twenty-one
  62. Twenty-two
  63. A Christmas Date
  64. One
  65. Two
  66. Three
  67. Four
  68. Five
  69. Six
  70. Seven
  71. Eight
  72. Nine
  73. Ten
  74. Eleven
  75. Twelve
  76. Thirteen
  77. Fourteen
  78. Fifteen
  79. Sixteen
  80. Seventeen
  81. Eighteen
  82. Nineteen
  83. Twenty
  84. Twenty-one
  85. Twenty-two
  86. Note from the Author
  87. Sneak Peek – To the Stars and Back
  88. Two
  89. Three
  90. Four
  91. Also by Camilla Isley
  92. About the Author

“Never have I ever”—I think for a second—“had someone slap me across the face.”

Richard gives me a wicked smile and lifts the glass to his lips.

“Ow. Deserved?”

“Some of them.” He shrugs. “I have never… worn a jade dress.”

“That’s not even something daring.”

Richard raises a mischievous brow. “I wouldn’t call the dress you wore in LA not daring.”

I blush and drink. “Never have I ever… attended boarding school.”

“What’s daring about boarding school?”

“You tell me.”

With a naughty grin, he drinks. “I have never… woken up not knowing where I was.”

I scowl and drink. This is too easy for him. “Never have I ever… punched someone.”

The boss drinks.

“Did they deserve it?”

“Oh, yes. I have never…”

Richard and I both guess the next three until the tequila in my system makes me bold enough to step up the game a notch. “Never have I ever… been left at the altar.”

Heart pounding, I wait for his reaction. Richard gives me a long stare and lifts the glass to his lips.

“So it’s true,” I say.

“Wouldn’t have drunk otherwise.”

“How did it happen?”

“Easily, she changed her mind mid-ceremony. My turn.” Richard makes it clear that’s all I’m going to get of his backstory. “I have never…”

After a few more rounds of the game, I’m about to reach the point of no return, so before I’m irredeemably drunk I surrender. “Okay, okay. You’ve made your point. I’ve become bad enough to lose at this stupid game. But if I drink another shot, we both know where it ends, and it’s not pretty. We should play a different game.”

Richard flashes me a molten stare, and for a second I’m left breathless. “Truth or dare?”

I don’t know why, but the truth part seems scarier than the dare. So I say, “Dare.”

“Don’t move.”

I sit rigidly in my chair as Richard bends his head towards my neck until his mouth is barely an inch from my collarbone. He inhales. There’s no touching. Only the faint caress of Richard’s breath on my skin. But it’s enough to send a shiver down my spine.

“Nice perfume,” he says, standing back up.

Mouth dry, I ask, “Truth or dare?”

“Dare.”

“Show me your tattoo.”

Richard undoes the top three buttons of his shirt, moving the fabric aside to expose his left collarbone where a small, black infinity symbol is tattooed on his skin. The little symbol stands out on his marble-like skin and it’s made of words. I lean in to read, getting a peek of his toned chest as an extra perk. I swallow, concentrating hard on the tiny words and not his pectorals. Depending on where one starts reading the writing says, “Love the life you live,” or “Live the life you love.”