Page 46 of Second Time Around

She’d had too much champagne. That was the only explanation for the thought that struck her and the fact that she spoke it out loud. She leaned toward him and dropped her voice. “If you answer honestly, I’ll go to the ladies’ room, take off my panties, and slip them in your pocket on my way back to my seat.”

She heard him inhale sharply. Then his eyelids hooded the blaze in his eyes. “Who judges whether my answer is honest?”

“I do.” She gave him a sidelong smile.

“That seems like a conflict of interest, but I’m counting on your integrity.”

“Okay, let’s hear it.” She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she figured it would be interesting.

“You.”

She straightened in her chair. “Wait, what?”

“Youmake me impatient.”

“That requires clarification.” She had no idea what he was going to say next.

“You reminded me of my younger self. Before I became a titan of industry.” He repeated her phrase with an edge of sarcasm. “Before I made the decision to sell out.”

“You didn’t sell out.”

He waved a hand in dismissal. “I won’t deny that I enjoyed the challenge of building Ceres but it wasn’t my passion. You’ve made that clear to me.”

“I have?”

“You fought for what you wanted against the most difficult of opponents. Your parents.”

“You didn’t go to law school.”

“No, but what I did, I did to impress my father, to show him I could succeed without him. I was still playing by his rules, following his definition of success.” He leaned in. “You didn’t allow your parents to warp your vision.”

“But you won. I lost.”

“You made it to Brunell for two years. That is a victory.”

All she’d been able to see was the debt it had added to her suffocating load, but maybe he wasn’t completely wrong. Those two years at college had opened the world to her. If she hadn’t left Macungie before her parents fell ill, she might never have considered living anywhere else. Brunell had given her the idea of striking out for the big city ... and the confidence to take the risk.

Her world seemed to tilt and then right itself, but with a new perspective, one where she saw herself as a bold adventurer rather than as a debt-ridden failure. She had gotten herself out of Macungie. She had survived in one of the world’s most demanding cities. She was eating dinner with a billionaire CEO.

“Thank you,” she said, feeling dizzy with a sense of her own power. “I needed that.”

Now she just had to hold on to this new idea of herself.

“No matter what success I claim for myself, I began with more than most people. You remind me that if a dream was easy, it wouldn’t be worth dreaming.” Will dropped his gaze to his hands where they layon the table. “I have too many regrets. It’s time to replace them with new dreams.”

The waiters arrived with a new course, and Kyra was reminded that this conversation had started as a sort of dare. Somehow it had turned into something real, something that had changed her.

She’d missed most of what the maître d’ said, retaining only that it involved lobster, which was fine with her.

As soon the waiters left, Will leaned forward. “I believe I upheld my end of the bargain.”

His eyes glittered hotter than the candle flames, and she sucked in a breath. She’d never done anything like this before. The idea had come from a story her fellow bartender, Cleo, had told her late one night when they were cleaning up. Kyra had thought it sounded hot and sophisticated, but she’d never imagined a situation where she might carry it out in reality. However, a deal was a deal.

“Your answer lacked specific detail but it was honest,” Kyra said, putting her napkin on the table and picking up her purse. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. If you eat my lobster, you forfeit the panties.”

Will laughed, a low rasp of amusement and anticipation. “I won’t even eat my own until you return.”

She stood and glanced around to see where the restrooms might be. The maître d’ glided over immediately. “The ladies’ room?” he asked. When she nodded, he turned toward the lounge. “I’ll show you.”