She was lying in his arms, breathing heavily. Her head was on his shoulder, her left hand on his broad chest. Both of them were thinking the same thing; Things can’t possibly get any better than this.
They lay there in silence, thinking about what happened between them. Finally, Melina asked the question both of them were thinking of; “What happens now?”
AJ just sighed. “I don’t know, baby. The only thing I know now is…I don’t regret what we’ve done.”
She looked into his eyes and smiled. “I know. I don’t regret it, either.”
Suddenly, she got an idea that made her start chuckling to herself. He looked at her like she was crazy and asked, “What’s so funny?”
“I just got an idea of what we could do now.”
He gave her a seductive smile and whispered in her ear, “What do you wanna do?”
She gave him a devilish grin, preparing to hear him complain. “How about truth or dare?”
He groaned in disappointment, but thought of the possibilities and perked up. “Okay. Do you wanna ask first, or should I?”
“I’ll ask first. Truth or dare?”
“Hmmm…truth.”
“When was it you first knew that you loved me?”
That was a tough question. He couldn’t bring himself to tell her about the dreams, but he wanted to give her the most honest answer he could. “When we were in the hotel room together on your birthday. You were looking at the CDs me and the Boys gave you.”
“Really? I had no clue.”
“It’s true. Now, truth or dare?”
“I’ve gotten in trouble with dares, so truth.”
“Okay; when did you first realize you loved me?”
She lay there and thought about it for a moment, then answered. “The first time you kissed me. I mean, I felt this—this shock, like lightning or something. You felt it, too; I could see it in your eyes.”
“Then why did you walk away?”
Here she looked in his eyes. “Honestly? I was scared of loving you. I mean, after Justin left-” she felt him tense up at the mention of her ex’s name but continued, “-I lost all trust in everyone around me. I didn’t even trust my best friend, and that’s pretty low. It was probably the most depressed I’ve ever been in my life. He tried to call me, but I couldn’t bring myself to talk to him. Finally, I got sick of it and changed my number.”
“You did? Man, he must’ve really been desperate; wait a sec, he was, seeing as how he let someone as incredible as you go.”
She blushed a little at the compliment, then finished. “Then, I met you and the guys, and even though you didn’t know it, all of you taught me how to trust again. And after a while, you taught me how to love again. I thought I’d never care about someone as much as I did him again, but you showed me how wrong I was.”
AJ was surprised by this sudden release of her feelings, but he didn’t judge her. Her voice shook him out of his thoughts. “Okay, it’s your turn. Truth or dare?”
He felt a little braver, so he said dare. At this word, she slowly moved her lips close to his ear and whispered, “Dare to make love to me.”
All he could do was close his eyes and kiss her as they made love a second time.