Truth or Dare by Mira Lyn Kelly Page A

simple T-shirt-and-sweats handoff followed by a few words of gratitude—not necessary.
    So she wasn’t entirely clear on how those last moments had gone down prior to falling asleep. And after waking, she might have been a bit more touchy-feely than normal. So what? Tyler would assure her she had nothing to burn with shame over. That she hadn’t actually been feeling him up the way she was pretty sure she had been. And that everything with their precious new friendship was still on the up-and-up.
    At the top of the stairs, she went to his door and knocked.
    This would be fast. Painless.
    He’d make a crack about her laying off the sauce. About the hives being an improvement. Something. She’d give him the finger. But in a half-affectionate, you-know-how-grateful-I-am kind of way.
    No meaningful talk.
    No heartfelt embrace.
    No Enrique Iglesias singing in the background about being her hero, baby.
    Ty’s heavy tread sounded as he approached the door. The lock tumbled and her belly followed suit.
    That hot rush through her veins wasn’t anticipation. It wasn’t excitement to see him.
    Definitely not.
    It was nerves over the justifiable concern she’d drooled on his stomach. Snored. Or elbowed his ’nads as she flopped around…asleep in his lap…while he’d sat there with his arm resting against her in a way that made her think maybe he hadn’t minded too much.
    The door swung open and Tyler greeted her with her favorite smirk and a wicked glint in his eyes. “Morning, gorgeous.”
    He was joking. The tightness when she rolled her eyes reminded her of what the mirror had solidly confirmed. Gorgeous wasn’t on the menu for today. But instead of delivering some snappy comeback, Maggie found herself off balance and out of sorts. Too caught up in the sight of him standing in front of her, and the nervous flutter starting up in her belly with frenetic vigor, to do anything more than give herself a mental slap.
    Because suddenly, she knew what her absurd reaction to their close proximity was about. What had been quietly, insidiously building since their first date.
    God,
maybe even before.
    She recognized the signs from all those years ago. The rush of excitement and prickly awareness whispering over her skin every time Tyler was around. And when he wasn’t, the sense that somehow she was waiting, almost holding a bit of breath, anticipating when she’d see him next and finally be able to breathe right again. The distracted thoughts. The reading into every casual, inadvertent action…the
denial.
    This was a crush.
    And that was the dead-last thing she needed getting in the way of their burgeoning friendship.
    What was she going to do with a crush? She wasn’t interested in a relationship. Had sworn up and down to Tyler she wouldn’t fall for him. But now, here she was, blinking up at the man who was making her tongue-tied and her heart beat too fast.
    “You want to come in?” he offered, without any apparent awareness of her distress. “I’m assuming you’re here about the whole undying gratitude thing. I know you’ll never be able to thank me enough, but I’ve got a few minutes if you want to try.”
    Pull it together, girl.
    This was not the time for awkward staring.
    Forcing some sass she didn’t feel, Maggie handed over the clothes she’d washed and the plastic sleeve of powdered sugar Donettes she’d picked up that morning. “Yeah, thanks for the good time, but I’ve got to scoot.”
    Tyler nodded.
    “There’s this thing. I’ve got to get to.” She tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. The lie, because
thing,
what thing? “So I have to go. But I really do appreciate what you did.”
    “Okay, Maggie. See you around.”
    “See you.”

Chapter Ten

J ANUARY
    The thing about crushes was, they were hormone-spawned, pheromone-driven, chemical things. And unlike their more mature cousin,
love,
which was really something to worry about, crushes were notoriously fickle and generally sported