Page 59 of Daring the Hockey Player

He shakes his head and laughs, his hair falling across his eyes. "Right, I forgot. Bigger nerd." He points at me and smiles.

"And?" I'm waiting for him to elaborate. He likes this game of teasing me, not giving me anything real in terms of answers. The truth is that I don't mind it, either. I relax when I'm around him, especially when he's joking around and playful, like two friends who've known each other their whole lives.

"Twenty questions?" He grins at me.

"No!" I laugh and smack his arm. "Just tell me."

"Okay, how about you ask a question, I answer it? And vice versa. Back and forth."

"So, like truth or dare without the dare?" I ask.

"I wasn't thinking of it as a game, but yeah, if that's what you want to call it." He grabs a handful of bags to put the textbooks in, but he can't fit too many, or the bags will tear far before he'll have trouble lifting the bag.

"You asked your question. I'll answer. I enrolled at NYU to study literature."

"Nerd," I say, teasing him. I help pile the textbooks into several different bags.

"My turn," Jasper says. While I put the textbooks into the plastic bags, he goes through the pile of fiction books, deciding which to donate and which to put onto a bookshelf in his bedroom. "What's the real reason you wore the Island Brewers jersey during the second period of yesterday's game?"

That's his question?

"I told you, and I meant it. Some jerkwad spilled beer on the jersey that you gave me. It was wet, and the ice arena is cold. It wasn't a great combination. I wanted to buy an Ice Dragons jersey with your number on it, but the line was crazy long. Besides, it got your attention," I say with a shy smile.

"You always steal my attention during a game," he mutters.

"My turn. What's in the bag that you bought for me?"

Jasper grins and rolls his eyes. "You can't let it go. Do you not like surprises?"

I press my lips together as I finish with the stack of textbooks. "I like some surprises, but I also get nervous when I don't know what the surprise is." There's no way that he hasn't seen my nervousness and anxiety kick in.

"That's fair," Jasper says.

"And? You didn't answer what was in the bag."

Jasper inhales sharply, his breath catching in his throat. "You noticed my avoidance of the question. How about we each get one that we don't have to answer?"

I can live with that. "Fine. Okay, next question—"

"It's my turn," Jasper says.

"No, it's most certainly not. You asked if I don't like surprises. Ergo, your question. The next one, I ask."

He grumbles under his breath. "Hit me with it."

"Have you ever thought about me, not as a sister, as like—" I pause, trying to ask without saying the actual words.

"You mean romantically?" Jasper is careful in his confirmation of the question.

I should say yes, that's what I meant, but it isn't. And this could be my only chance to lay all our cards on the table.

"Sexually."

Jasper stands and dusts his hands on his pants. He's looking anywhere but at me. "That's enough of that game," he says and skirts out of the bedroom, past me, and over the bags of books.

I curse under my breath and pinch the bridge of my nose. I went too far.

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