The Heart Knows What the Heart Wants by Lori L. Clark Page B

turned white. Here it comes , she thought. "What about last night?"
    "There's nothing going on between Kelsey and me," he blurted.
    She hadn't expected that and glanced sideways at him. "Kelsey?" she asked.
    "The girl who was talking to me at the store last night when you ran out of the place like a scalded cat," he said.
    "I did not run out!" she huffed, narrowing her eyes at him.
    "Whatever," he paused, "Kelsey and I had a thing once. But she wasn't as much fun after I stopped drinking. I got clean. She didn't. Now, she just annoys the fuck out of me. I've told her I'm not interested, but, I guess she knew a good thing when she had it."
    Star laughed. "You are so conceited, you know that, right?"
    Shane shrugged his shoulders. "Nah, I'm not really. I just like messing with you. I figure if I tell you how great I am, you'll agree with me, eventually."
    "Keep telling yourself that," she said. She chewed on the inside of her cheek and decided if he wanted to talk about the nightmare, he'd have to be the one to bring the subject up. She made up her mind not to mention anything. It was probably an isolated incident, and he'll be back in his own apartment tonight. No harm, no foul.
    "I've got an idea," he said after several moments of silence.
    She peeked sideways at him and swore his blue eyes had a devilish glint to them. "I can hardly wait to hear this," she said, rolling her eyes.
    "Let's play a game," he offered simply.
    "A game? What kind of game?" she asked.
    "Let's play twenty-one questions."
    "Seriously? You want to play twenty-one questions with me? What if I don't want to answer your questions? Can we do it like truth or dare, so I can choose dare instead of answering something I don't want to answer?"
    "That might be even more fun," he said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Seriously, if I ask something you'd rather not answer, just say 'skip,' and I'll save that one for another time. Same goes for me."
    She tucked an unruly chunk of hair behind her ear and thought about the myriad of ways this little game could go places she didn't want to go, yet admittedly, the idea had her intrigued. She did want to know more about him. "I guess we can do that. Though I have to warn you, I doubt there are twenty-one interesting things about me to tell."
    "Let me be the judge of that." He smiled and pointed to the road ahead. "You'll want to take a left up there at the stoplight."
    About a bazillion questions invaded her thoughts. The things she wanted to know about him momentarily overrode her fear of the questions he might ask her. She pulled Neona's Jeep into the Super Wal-Mart and parked.
    Once inside the store, he chuckled. "Be forewarned. I like to do and say embarrassing things whenever I shop at Wal-Mart. You may never want to go shopping with me again."
    "Duly noted," she said. She tugged out a cart and pushed it toward the grocery section, snickering to herself. "I should probably tell you , I've been thrown out of three Wal-Marts for that very reason."
    They walked side-by-side, tossing items from Neona's list into their shopping cart. "So, about our game of twenty-one questions," Shane said as he studied the packages of pecans. "Personal stuff or random-ass boring shit?"
    She tilted her head sideways, contemplating his question. "Define 'random-ass boring shit'."
    "You know, like, what's your favorite color?" He threw a large bag of pecan halves into the cart. "Booo-rrring."
    "Purple," she said matter-of-factly. "That leaves you twenty more."
    "Oh, hell no. That does not count as one of your questions!" Shane protested.
    She blew out a noisy breath. "Fine. I don't care what you ask me. If I don't want to answer, I'll just say 'skip.' Or, make something up."
    "Not fair. One of the stipulations of the game is that you have to be completely honest with your answers. Otherwise, what's the point?" he reasoned.
    "Have it your way," she mumbled.
    "Glad you're finally seeing things my way," he told her.
    As they passed a