Page 13 of Made for Mayhem

She blinked, surprised, then smiled like she was trying to decide if she should be offended. “Twenty-four.”

I nodded, then grabbed my burger.

Daisy chuckled. “Relax, Grandpa. You’re not robbing the cradle, and this is just for tonight, right? We’re friends of convenience.”

My brow raised, then I chewed and swallowed my first bite of burger. “Grandpa? I’m 34.”

“Well, Daddy felt a little forward, don’t you think?”

I choked on air, coughing hard enough that Gus glanced over from the bar.

Daisy threw her head back and laughed at my reaction, muttering Daddy under her breath before she picked up her burger again.

“Damn,” she said when she swallowed. “This is criminally good.”

“It’s decent.”

“Decent?” She shot me a look of mock outrage, then reached for the tiny dish Gus had set beside her plate. With exaggerated care, she dipped the corner of her burger into the mayo, moving in slow motion. “You know what would make it better?”

“Don’t say it.”

“Maaaaayo,” she sang, taking another dramatic bite and groaning again, just to prove her point.

I leaned back, fighting a grin and failing. “Maybe you’re a child after all.”

“And you’re the burger equivalent of an old man yelling ‘Get off my lawn’.” She licked a dot of mayo from her thumb before slipping it between her lips to get the last of it. A soft little pop sounded as she pulled it free. Just like that, I was shifting in my seat, trying to discreetly rearrange myself beneath the table. “Burgers and mayo is an elite combination.”

She took a sip of her Daisy Cutter, unaware that she’d just knocked the air clean out of me.

“Okay, these questions have gotten a little first date-y, and that’s not what we’re doing here.”

“What are we doing?” I asked, having lost the plot with each passing moment.

“Passing time on a night neither of us wanted to be alone.” She shrugged, like it was just that simple. “Having fun with a new friend. Or, at least, I am.”

“We can’t be friends.” The words came out harsher than I’d planned, and Daisy’s broad smile dipped a little. “At least, for more than tonight. I’m moving tomorrow, and you just got here.”

She shrugged, then grabbed her burger again. “Okay. So just for tonight. Now I gotta get serious with these questions.”

“We’re already playing truth or dare.”

“Sure,” she said. “But I’m changing the rules.”

“That’s not a thing,” I said flatly. “There are very clear-cut rules in truth or dare.”

“Well, it is now.” She took another bite. “Questions while we eat. When we’re done, dares can be back on the table.”

I set down my burger, studying her. “Okay, so what are these new rules?”

“Questions you’d never ask on a first date, but secretly want to,” she said. “Answer the first thing that comes to mind. No clarifying. No follow-up questions. You ask, I answer. I ask, you answer.”

I nodded once. “Okay. I can do that.”

She leaned forward, eyes squinting. “Worst habit?”

“Leaving wet towels on the floor.”

Daisy wrinkled her nose, and I chuckled before asking, “Biggest pet peeve?”