Page 6 of Made for Mayhem

“Dare.”

She looked back at me in surprise, a slow smile spreading over her face. “I should have known you’d be a dare guy.”

“So.” I pushed my hood back and lifting my hat to readjust it over my hair. “What is it?”

Her shoulders angled toward me, turning her back to the train whistling down below us. “I dare you to spend the night with me.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline, and her hands quickly covered her face.

“Not—” She waved a hand between us, cheeks flushing. “Not like that. I don’t mean sleep together or anything. I—” She stopped, exhaled. “I’m very bad at this.”

I tucked my chin, trying to hide my amusement, but also more than a little intrigued by whatever she was offering.

She peeked up at me, clearly mortified. “I mean. You’re very hot. Objectively. But this is not me hitting on you.”

A smile slipped out before I could stop it.

“Objectively,” I repeated.

“Yes.” She waved a hand over my body. “Tall, dark and handsome really does it for a lady. Everybody’s type. Not my type, but you know, other people’s. I’m not making this better, am I?”

“No.” I was glad my beard hid how big my grin had spread, not wanting to further her embarrassment past this gentle tease. “I can’t decide whether I’m flattered or insulted.”

Daisy made a little mock frown, nodding her head back and forth. “On second thought, a Craigslist roommate and my inevitable murder sounds pretty good. So I should⁠—”

She jerked a thumb over her shoulder toward the train station, and I reached out to grab her arm, letting my big hand circle her dainty little wrist.

“I would love to spend the night with you, Daisy.”

Her big blue eyes tipped up toward me, glancing back and forth between my own, looking for a hint of sarcasm. I slid my hand down her forearm until her small hand was in mine, then traced a thumb over the back of her hand. Even this small touch with the sleeve of her shirt between us was enough to make my heart race. Not like before when panic was on the horizon, but like the beginning of a hockey game, where I knew this was about to be the night of my life.

“Now I believe it’s my turn,” I said, my voice a little rougher. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” she whispered, not breaking eye contact.

“Do you like cheeseburgers?”

Instantly, her face split into a wide grin, eyes alight with so much life it felt a little bit like staring at the sun. “Why, yes, Huddy. Yes, I do.”

2

I was a liar. A big ol’ lying liar, waiting for my pants to spontaneously combust the moment I said the man in front of me was not my type. Because wow.

Huddy still held my hand, tugging me further down the street and away from the train that would take me to my apartment. It was a little odd, holding hands with a virtual stranger, but he gripped it like maybe he needed the connection. And I couldn’t seem to pull away.

I’d always been impulsive and a little too trusting, but the stern set of his jaw and his eyes scanning the streets felt protective in a good way, not in a I-might-still-rob-you way. Heat radiated off him, a steady comfort I had no business craving so much.

“Where to?” I asked belatedly, my brain scrambled by the expanse of Huddy’s broad shoulders. He was a foot taller than me and his long strides showed it. I hustled to keep up, not quite ready to drop his hand either.

Huddy tipped his head down to look at me. “You good with a hole in the wall?”

His hazel eyes were rimmed in gold under the streetlights, showing a mix of kindness and humor that had me weak in the knees. Most of his face was covered in a dark beard that seemed a little unkempt, but it did nothing to detract from the city-cowboy thing he had going for him. Dark hoodie, dark hat, dark jeans that were plastered to muscular thighs, leading down to worn-in cowboy boots that seemed more than a little out of place for Chicago.

He was a conundrum, and I was somehow incapable of looking away.

“Sure,” I said, a beat too late. Despite the bitter wind I should have seen coming—this was the Windy City after all—my cheeks warmed with a blush that probably spread all the way down my neck. “I’m easy.”

With his hand in mine, I felt the rumble of his laugh, even though he didn’t make a sound, just enough to realize what I’d said.