Truth or Dare Read Online Free Page A

get somewhere between North Honore and West Evergreen and he rounds the corner, all arrogance and obnoxious look-at-me everything else.”
    “Every day? That sucks. So what do you do, just ignore each other?”
    “I wish. From the minute he hits Milwaukee, it’s eye contact.”
    Ava slanted a questioning look over at Maggie, but her scowl held firm as she returned her focus to Apartment Three.
    “And then at the very last minute when he passes, he gives me this smug smile like he knows just
exactly
how deep he’s getting under my skin. He’s like some toxic spill taking up real estate in my mind. I don’t like him. I don’t want to think about him. Know about him. Have to talk to him—”
    “Or watch him stretch after working out.”
    Maggie shot Ava another warning look, reaching for a piece of Booty. “It’s my window. I’m not going to let him keep me from standing by it.”
    “No way.” Ava tossed another bite in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. “It’s funny, though. I don’t really remember us doing this much window staring before he moved in and started contaminating the view. Oh, I like it when he rolls out his shoulders like that.”
    Maggie nodded. “Me, too. But he’s such an ass. You know he actually made me laugh in the hall again last week.”
    Ava fake gasped, but then for real choked on the bite she hadn’t quite finished. After a bout of coughing and eye watering, she pointed to the window and wheezed, “Bastard. He did this to me.”
    Maggie gave her an adoring look filled with genuine gratitude. Ava went to the kitchen for some water and Maggie leaned against the window frame, studying the blight upon her walkway. The undeniably built blight who was loosening up by swinging his arms at chest level, forward and back. Forward and back in a motion that pulled the sweat-soaked fabric of his white, moisture-wicking, tight-enough-already shirt taut across the ripped muscles of his back so she could see the flex and bunch of each one, the twin channels running alongside his spine.
    Total wet T-shirt contest stuff. And totally annoying.
    Ava came back carrying a half-drunk glass of water. “So any prospects for this month?”
    As a rule, the topic of whether Maggie had scrounged up a date was met with grudging reluctance and a put-upon attitude. The dating thing was strictly for Ava’s benefit, and Maggie tried to think about it as little as possible. But today was different. Today the topic was met with a grin. A big one.
    “As a matter of fact, yes. You remember when you broke your wrist two years ago and we—”
    “Oh my God! Hot Doc?” Ava demanded, bouncing so hard her water nearly spilled. “He was
so
into you.
Pulleeease
tell me it’s Hot Doc.”
    Maggie nodded. “Ava, he’s seriously perfect. Like, everything I’m looking for.”
    Ava bit into her lip, clutching her glass to her chest with both hands. “Tell.”
    “Obviously he passes the usual rigmarole. No cats. Employed. A reference in the form of his sister, whom he was actually giving dating advice to when I ran into him. Laughed multiple times. And his schedule at the ER is so nuts, the soonest we were able to book something was the thirtieth!”
    Ava’s smile had gone a little stale and Maggie shifted uneasily on her feet. “What?”
    “I guess when you said he was perfect, I thought maybe you were sort of excited about going out with him.” She sighed. “For real.”
    So maybe this wasn’t the right time to share what Maggie had considered the best part. The guy was scheduled to leave on some two-month medical exchange just three days later. Instead she promised, “I’m open to the possibilities.”
    It had to be enough, because it was all she had.
    Sighing, Ava turned back to the window. “It’s what we agreed on.”
    “So who have you got?” Maggie asked, glaring at Apartment Three, who looked to be finishing his cool-down as he turned around, providing her with an unobscured view of the front of