Work Text:
There are times when people deserve the unfortunate circumstances which befall them, and then there are times where they do not. And even though Constance Contraire could be all things obstinate and vexing, everyone agreed that not even she deserved to be stuck in bed with the flu on the first day of summer.
Even though they saw each other nearly everyday and some of them had been out of school longer than the others, the children (if they could even be called children anymore—Kate was sixteen and Reynie and Sticky were only a few months behind her, and even Constance was maturing in one way or another) wanted to have a feast to celebrate the first official day of summer, but quickly postponed it once the news of Constance's condition became known. And being the kind friends that they were, the remaining three members of the Mysterious Benedict Society not incapacitated by the flu chose to brave the stuffy, sick-infested confines of Constance’s bedroom to keep her company. They decided to rotate in shifts: Sticky was to spend the morning with her, Kate the afternoon, and then finally Reynie the evening, so she had someone to cheer her up all day long. Though Constance complained and griped the whole time, they were all sure she was secretly grateful for their company.
Yet it was on the third day of her confinement that Constance truly began to grow weary of her untimely affliction, and was even more irritable than usual.
“I’m bored,” she announced to Kate, who was currently on shift to keep her company. Kate was standing on her head, her legs pointed straight in the air as though they were trying to touch the ceiling.
“We could play a game,” suggested Kate. “I know Reynie has a deck of cards in his room.”
“I don’t want to play cards,” Constance huffed.
“Marbles?” Kate offered, bringing her legs down to sit upright and grab her bucket. “I’ve got some in here.”
“I’d rather suck my thumb than play a game that dumb,” Constance rhymed with a scowl.
“Okay, then what about checkers?”
“Checkers are for babies,” scoffed Constance.
Kate took no offense at the pretentious statement and simply shrugged. “What do you want to play then?”
Constance sat up in her bed and brought a hand to her chin in thought. Then she grinned slyly. “How about truth or dare?”
Now it was Kate’s turn to spend a moment in thought. When she was younger she would’ve jumped at the opportunity to play any game, but now she hesitated, weighing the possibilities in her mind. On the one hand, truth or dare was a delightfully entertaining game that never failed to thoroughly embarrass at least one occupant of the group playing. But on the other hand, it would be only her and Constance, and Constance was notorious for coming up with the most absurd dares and questions anyone could imagine, meaning Kate was on the receiving end of the embarrassment.
When she still hadn’t responded, Constance sat up on her knees and clasped her hands together, staring at Kate imploringly. “Pleeaasseee?” she begged. “You’re the only one who will ever play with me.”
Kate couldn’t resist her pleading for long, and she finally gave in with a smile. “Sure Connie girl, I’ll play with you.” Her smile grew wider when Constance scowled at the nickname. “But since you aren’t supposed to leave your room until you feel better, let’s stick to choosing dares that can be done in here.”
“I am feeling better,” protested Constance, right as she let loose a loud sneeze. She sniffed and rubbed her nose with a frown. “Fine. We’ll stay here.”
“Good. Now, who should go first?”
“I will,” Constance volunteered eagerly. “Alright Kate: truth or dare? And if you say truth, don’t even think about lying because I’ll know.” She tapped her head and grinned.
Kate shrugged. She was planning on telling the truth anyway, but Constance’s mind reading powers were another reason why not many people enjoyed playing this particular game with her. Kate was ready though. She threw back her shoulders and sat up straight, a confident grin on her face. She was the Great Kate Wetherall, and a silly game of Truth of Dare didn’t frighten her. “Dare.”
Constance folded her hands in her lap and paused to think. “Okay here’s one,” she said a moment later. “I dare you to shout this poem,” she reached under her pillow and withdrew a crumpled sheet of paper, “from the window to whoever’s outside to hear.”
Kate blinked, and then laughed. “Challenge accepted,” she said, jumping to her feet and tightening her ponytail. She took the paper and glanced over the poem before shaking her head, chuckling at how ridiculous it was. “Get ready, world. You’re about to hear a Constance Contraire original,” Kate joked with a wink at the younger girl. She opened the window wide and jumped onto the narrow window sill, balancing precariously as she began to loudly recite:
“ In days so bleak and bland,
It’s easy to understand,
The life of a pickle,
Worth no more than a nickel,
Sold in jars at a grocery stand.
It’s green skin so course and bumpy,
It’s shape so oblong and lumpy,
It’s easy to see,
How hard life would be,
Being a vegetable so ugly…”
Kate continued for another three stanzas until the poem finally came to an end. She gazed out across the yard and to the street, where a few people had stopped to watch her performance. One man tentatively clapped, before they all slowly dispersed and continued on their merry way again.
Kate turned back around and bowed at Constance, who was chuckling gleefully.
“Simply beautiful Kate,” Constance applauded, still giggling. “You should recite all my poems like that.”
“We’ll see,” Kate replied as she hopped down from the window sill. Once both girls had regained their composure, it was Kate’s turn to ask the question. “Okay Connie, truth or dare?”
Constance steepled her fingers and furrowed her brow, regarding the question seriously. “Dare,” she finally said.
Kate looked around the room before she grinned. “Be right back,” she said before quickly dashing away, out the door and down the hallway. In no less than ten seconds she came flying back into the room, carrying a plate of what looked like gray mashed potatoes mixed with shredded carrots and pieces of pale cardboard. Constance immediately began to moan, covering her head with her pillow.
“Oh please, I just want you to try it,” Kate said with an eye roll. She had recently taken up the hobby of cooking, and had made pot pies for everyone the night before. But Constance had taken one look at the lumpy food and absolutely refused to touch it, despite everyone’s insistence that it actually tasted fine.
“Why do you hate me, Kate?” Constance wailed, staring at the plate Kate handed her.
“You’re the only one who didn’t try it last night, and I want to prove to you that I can cook. You’re just stubborn,” Kate reasoned, though a little irritatedly. Sure, it may not look the most appetizing, but it still tasted fine. “C’mon, open up. I dare you.”
After a few more minutes of cajoling, Constance finally took a bite, shrugged, and then ate the rest. “Not bad,” she finally conceded, setting the plate on her nightstand. “But you seriously need to work on your food presentation skills.”
The rest of the afternoon passed in a series of little, meaningless dares for Kate, since she had yet to choose truth. Kate had been dared to touch the ceiling with her toes, impersonate Crawlings for a solid five minutes, sing the national anthem while flapping like a chicken, and several other odd things that Constance had requested her to do. Meanwhile, Constance had chosen only truth after the first dare. Kate made sure to take it easy on the younger girl though, since she was still under the weather and trying to recover.
Yet there are only so many dares one can do within a single room, and soon Constance began to run out of ideas and Kate grew tired of the younger girls repetitive dares. So at Kate’s next turn, she finally said, “Truth,” in response to Constance's question.
Constance sat up straight, her eyes glinting. “Ooooh okay, here’s a question for you: if you had to eliminate one member of the Mysterious Benedict Society, who would you kill?”
“Constance!” Kate cried incredulously. “Why on earth would you ask me that?”
“It’s only theoretical. And because I’m curious.”
Kate puffed out her cheeks in exasperation as she considered the question. A moment later she answered confidently, “Myself.”
Constance nodded thoughtfully. “Huh, I guess I didn’t think of that. I would’ve said Sticky.”
Kate scoffed in disbelief. “Constance, do you really hate Sticky that much?”
Constance sighed, twisting the corner of her bed sheet around her finger. After several long seconds, she tersely said, “No. It’s...kinda the opposite really.” Her last comment was mumbled so quietly Kate barely heard her, but she understood all the same.
“So...you like him? Or like like him?” Kate asked, fighting off a smirk as she watched Constance squirm in front of her. She had never seen her so upfront and honest about anything like this before.
Constance, who was already vexed with herself for having answered so directly, simply glared at the floor. “I don’t have a crush on him, if that’s what you’re implying,” she said, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the thought. “I may be mature—” (Kate snorted, to which Consatnce decidedly ignored) “—but I’m not old enough to be interested in that stuff . ”
“Then what did you mean?” Kate asked, uncharacteristically still, as though any sort of movement was going to distract Constance from telling her the truth.
Constance continued to glower at the floor, not bothering to lift her head. “I mean he’s probably my best friend, but it’s just so easy to tease him I can’t help it. I actually really like spending time with him, and annoying him kinda pleases me.” She grinned slyly. “It pleases me a lot actually. But it’s just easier to act like I hate him rather than be sentimental about it, y’know?” She finished with a shrug, then lifted her eyes to fix Kate with the stoniest stare she had ever seen the young girl make. “You are not to repeat a word of this, understand?”
Kate crossed her heart and nodded seriously. “Mum’s the word,” she vowed.
Constance seemed satisfied with her promise, and sat up straighter in her bed. “Good. Now it’s my turn: truth or dare?”
“Wait a sec, I technically never went,” Kate pointed out, stretching her legs and flexing her fingers, finally moving around again. “You told me all of that without my asking.”
“But I say it was enough to count as your turn, and that’s that. Now, truth or dare?”
Kate saw no point in trying to argue, so she simply replied, “Truth.”
“Okay, since you brought it up—do you have a crush on somebody?” Consatnce asked, grinning mischievously. “I’d love to know who’s captured the heart of the Great Kate Weather Machine.”
Kate chuckled. “I think you’ll find yourself disappointed, Connie girl. I’ve never felt that way about anyone.”
Consatnce’s expression was unreadable. “Trying thinking real hard,” she urged.
Kate shrugged and stood up. She was sure thinking about it wasn’t going to spark any sort of new revelation within her, but she humored her friend anyway. As she wandered over to the window and stared outside, she wracked her brain, trying to think of instances in which she felt something more than just friendship toward anyone, but was coming up short. What did liking someone even feel like, anyway? She had never been too interested in any sort of romance before. She always thought it would hinder her ambition to become a secret agent like Milligan.
Though to be fair, Milligan had fallen in love with her mother at some point in his early spy years, so perhaps romance wasn’t too much of an interference.
Her musing was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a figure entering the courtyard below her. A smile lit up her face as she recognized the figure to be Reynie, having evidently just returned from the Stonetown library (seeing as he carried a new book under his arm).
“Hey down there!” she called to him, trying to refrain from laughing at the way he jumped at her voice. He looked up at her and waved.
“Hey, Kate!” he called back, giving her an easy smile. “I’m on my way up to take my shift with Constance. How’s she doing?”
“Peachy keen,” Kate replied breezily, throwing a wink back at the younger girl. She turned back to Reynie. “Y’know, you’d save about six minutes and twenty-four seconds if you just climbed the side of the house and came in through the window instead,” she informed him.
Reynie laughed. “I suppose I could, though you’d have to factor in probably five more minutes of me working up the courage to do it, four of me simply trying to find a way off the ground, and then maybe another hour of me in the hospital after I fall and break my wrist.”
Kate couldn’t help but laugh, her lips involuntarily stretching into a wide smile. “Don’t worry, I’d lasso you with my rope and pull you up before you fell too far.”
“Much obliged. See you in six minutes and twenty-four seconds.” He shot her another smile before he disappeared inside the house.
Kate backed away from the window and turned back to Constance, still grinning. Reynie’s jokes were mediocre at best, but he never failed to make her smile. “Where were we? Oh right, the question!” She shook her head and sat down on the floor again. “Sorry Constance, but my answer is still the same. I don’t think I’ve ever seriously had a crush on anyone.”
She waited for Constance to say something—to protest, to agree, to anything —but she simply stared at her with wide eyes, as though Kate had just revealed to her the eighth wonder of the world.
“Constance…?” Kate trailed off, waving a hand in front of the girl’s eyes.
“You really have no idea, do you?” Consatnce finally said, a slow grin forming across her lips. “You’re totally clueless!”
Kate furrowed her brow. “Clueless about what? What do you mean?” Even though Constance’s words were a complete mystery to her, she couldn't help but feel a strange itch in the back of her mind, like she should know what her friend was talking about, but had yet to recognize it.
Constance was now cackling with glee. “Oh, this is just too good!” she said, excitedly rubbing her hands together. “I can’t believe I didn’t see the signs pointing to this.”
“To what? ” Kate cried in exasperation, utterly confused by now. A weird feeling was starting to rise up in her chest. Was it nervousness? Frustration? Both? Kate couldn’t tell, but it was making her uneasy either way.
Constance shook her head. “Later,” she said. “We gotta finish our game. It’s your turn.”
Kate pursed her lips, drumming her fingers against her leg. “Okay, truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Constance replied with a smirk, clearly trying to evade Kate’s impending questions.
Kate returned the expression with a smirk of her own. “Then I dare you to tell me what I’m so clueless about.”
Constance scowled. “You can’t do that!” she objected. “This is treason!”
“Don’t be dramatic. Please, I just wanna know!” Kate fixed her with her best puppy dog eyes, hoping to wordlessly convey her desperate desire to know what Constance was refusing to tell her.
Constance sighed. “Are you really sure? You won’t believe me if I tell you.”
“Just tell me!” Kate insisted, rising up onto her knees.
Consatnce stared at her before she eventually gave a single nod. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she reminded sternly, “but while you were thinking about whether or not you had a crush on anyone, I looked into your thoughts—just to make sure you were telling the truth,” she defended herself at Kate’s look of indignation, “—and I felt these...emotions, emanating from your mind. Happiness, giddiness, adrenaline, excitement, and so on. At first it was pretty subtle, and buried pretty far back, but as you were talking to Reynie they got stronger and stronger, until I realized that Reynie was the one stimulating them, and that long story short—,” she smirked at Kate, “—you lied to me, because you have a serious crush on our very own Mr. Muldoon.”
Kate blinked, her mouth falling open. Surely Constance was just kidding, right? But when Constance didn’t start laughing or making fun of Kate for being so gullible, Kate realized her friend was completely serious. But that was impossible—she didn’t like Reynie in that way! And if she did, she would certainly know and recognize the fact herself, wouldn’t she?
“No, no, I think you’re way off the mark here, Connie,” Kate protested with a strained smile. “There’s no way—I mean, I like him but not like—I can’t imagine, I just—” Kate broke off, jumping to her feet and pacing across the floor, her stomach fluttering in a very un-Kate like way. Her palms were getting sweaty just thinking of the idea, and had she not been so preoccupied with the stream of uncertainties and denials coursing through her mind, Kate would’ve laughed at her own behavior. She could stand down Ten Men and all their horrifying gadgets without so much as breaking a sweat, but the thought that she might have a secret crush on her friend left her a nervous wreck.
“You sure about that?” Constance asked, clearly enjoying Kate’s turmoil. “You don’t have any feelings for him whatsoever?”
“Of course not,” Kate replied, though her voice wasn’t as confident as she would've liked it to be. “I think I’d know my own feelings, thank you very much.” She spun around to face Constance. “I’ve never considered him as anything else, and all I feel for him is friendship, just like I do with Sticky and you.”
Constance wrinkled her nose. “Suuuuure,” she said sarcastically, giving Kate a conspiratorial wink. “But that’s too bad, because I think he definitely has feelings for you.”
Kate nearly choked. “W-what?”
“I’m good at reading people,” said Constance smugly. “I can see how he lights up everytime you so much as look his way. Plus, there was one time I read his mind and he—”
“ Anyway , moving on,” Kate said hurriedly, trying to steer the conversation away from her and Reynie and feelings and love. She couldn’t handle all this information all at once. “Back to the game. I think it’s your turn to ask?”
After glaring at Kate for clearly trying to change the subject, Constance finally shrugged. “Fine. Last one: truth or dare?”
“Dare,” Kate replied. She’d had enough truth for one day. But when she looked over at the devious grin growing on Constance’s face, she had the feeling that she might have been better off with choosing truth.
“Alright. My last dare for you is when Reynie walks through that door, I dare you to kiss him. Like a real kiss—on the lips.” Constance then smirked, evidently satisfied with herself.
Kate, meanwhile, was rendered speechless for the second time within the last five minutes. Finally she sputtered, “What—no, I can’t—that’s just— Constance !”
“If you don’t feel anything for him, it shouldn’t be a big deal, right?” the smaller girl crooned. “Don’t be a scaredy-cat, Katie-cat.”
Kate leapt to her feet, swiveling her head so fast it was in danger of flying off. “No, I can’t Constance, it’d be so—so weird and it would confuse him and I’m not sure I can—” She was finding it hard to think straight, and the fact she was freaking out this much at Constance’s stupid dare was alarming all in itself.
The staircase creaked and footsteps could be heard outside in the hallway. Reynie was only seconds away from opening the door, and Kate began to panic.
“ Constance !” she pleaded, wringing her hands together nervously.
But Constance just shrugged and gave her a sly grin. “Does my dare really scare you more than all the other stuff we’ve faced? You can tell him it was a dare afterwards, but you’ve got to do it, Kate. ”
Kate swallowed heavily. It was just a game. There were no laws or rules abiding her to do what Constance said, yet the younger girl's words held her fast. It was true—she had faced many foes in her few years of being a part of the Mysterious Benedict Society, but did kissing her friend really unnerve her so much that she wanted to run away?
The Great Kate Weather Machine is no coward , she thought bravely, though her hands still shook and her heart rate only accelerated the minute the bedroom door opened.
Reynie strolled in with an easy smile. “Hey Constance, how are you feeling?” he asked.
“Not too bad actually,” she replied, shooting pointed looks in Kate’s direction.
Reynie was too distracted by Constance’s surprisingly complacent attitude to notice their shared glances. “That’s great! See, I knew you’d get better in no time.”
He set down his book on the side table and turned to Kate. She watched as the contented smile on his face morphed into a look of confusion, no doubt due to seeing her own panicked expression.
“Kate, are you—?”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Kate grabbed him forcefully by the collar of his shirt and slammed her lips against his, having made her decision and quickly acting on it before she could second guess herself.
When she drew away a split second later she could barely look him in the eye, but Constance’s open mouthed expression of pure glee wasn’t much better either.
“I—uh, I’m just really glad you’re here,” she managed to sputter. “Have fun, guys!” And then without a backwards glance she raced out of the stuffy bedroom, down the staircase, and all the way outside to the courtyard before she collapsed on a small bench hidden underneath the arbor, her heart pounding in her ears.
What did I just do?
Kate tugged on her ponytail, trying not to replay the past few seconds in her mind and failing miserably. Why did I even decide to play that silly game with Constance? she moaned in her mind. What would Reynie think of her now? Would he be mad? Would it be awkward between them? She hoped Constance would explain to him that it was just a game.
Yet as she sat there, wondering if it was possible to die of embarrassment, she found herself beginning to think…what would it be like if it wasn’t a game?
What if she truly did have feelings for him, and by some miracle, he returned those feelings like Constance said he did? What if they shared kisses all the time? What would it feel like to know that he cared for her and liked her as something more than just a friend?
Kate had never really thought about romance or dating anyone before, but now that she pondered it the only person she could ever really picture herself ending up with was—
“Reynie,” Kate said his name in a whisper, running her thumb across her bottom lip, wishing she hadn’t run away before she could know what it felt like to have him kiss her back—if he would’ve kissed her back, that is.
This is crazy, Reynie would never feel anything like…like that towards me , Kate thought adamantly, mentally chiding Constance for even putting the idea into her head.
But if he did…
Kate swallowed, and was grateful there was no one around to see the color that rose to her cheeks. If he did have feelings for her, well—she supposed that wouldn’t be too bad. It might actually be… nice.
Kate stood up abruptly, her chest feeling too warm and tingly for her liking. She needed to do something to keep these strange feelings from bubbling up, so she busied herself with sneaking back into the house and using the vent ducts to return to her room, where she then managed to organize her entire closet, clean the windows, and dust all the bookshelves before a knock on her door brought her back to reality.
“Come in!” Kate called, while balancing precariously on the edge of a step stool as she now attempted to give the ceiling an adequate brush down.
She figured it was most likely Sticky coming to inform her about some new fact or word he’d read about in a book, or else Milligan coming to check in on her since he’d been off running errands all day.
She certainly didn’t expect Reynie to walk in, and just the sight of him alone nearly made her topple off her stool and onto the floor.
“Uh, hey,” he greeted cautiously, eyeing the rickety old wood she was standing on. “I just wanted to uh, check in and see—”
“Aren’t you supposed to be with Constance?” Kate interrupted, hopping down and stuffing her dust rag into the back pocket of her jeans. Her heart was beating unusually fast, especially given that they were just standing there, staring at each other.
Kate gulped, unused to the palpable tension that hung between them.
“Constance said she wanted to take a nap before dinner,” Reynie explained, his fingers idly picking at the cuff of his sleeve. “So I decided to come find you.”
Constance, willingly taking a nap? Kate would’ve laughed in disbelief if she didn’t know exactly what the younger girl was up to.
“Sooo,” Reynie dragged out the word, and then finally looked up to meet her eyes. She couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but he looked a little more flushed than usual. “I wanted to ask—”
“Did Constance tell you?” Kate interrupted, unable to stay silent any longer.
Reynie blinked in surprise. “Tell me what?”
Now it was Kate’s turn to be surprised. “About the game?”
“What game?”
Oh no , was all Kate could think while mentally cursing the six year old girl. She didn’t say anything !?
She took a big breath before trying to explain. “Okay, well first off I’m really really sorry about kissing you but we were playing truth and dare and of course I happened to choose dare right before you walked in and Constance thought it would be funny and so she dared me to kiss you and I told her it wouldn’t be funny but then she was implying that I was a coward and stuff and I had to prove to her I wasn’t scared and so—”
“Wait wait wait,” Reynie quickly interjected, holding up his hands to stop her rambling. “It was just...a game?” He frowned, then quickly neutralized the expression on his face.
“Well...yeah,” admitted Kate, nervously balling the fabric of her shirt in her hands. “Is...is that okay?”
Reynie hesitated before quickly nodding. “Oh, uh, yeah, no worries, I’m uh, glad you guys had fun.” He gave her a bland smile. “I’ll just leave you to your dusting then.”
Something about his reaction was off. If anything, Kate would almost bet that he was disappointed upon hearing it was just a game, rather than relieved like she thought he would be. But Reynie was smart—surely he realized that if she did have feelings for him, she certainly wouldn’t go about showing them in such an exuberant fashion. She would find a better, more suitable way to show them.
Maybe that’s why he's here now, to give me another chance…
Before he could turn to leave, Kate reached out and caught his arm.
“Wait. What did Constance say, if she didn’t tell you it was a game?”
Reynie rubbed the back of his neck. “All she really said was that you guys had been having, well, girl talk, and that she encouraged you to think about ‘ things .’” He said the last part using air quotes with his fingers. “Then she told me to shut up and go talk to you instead so she could sleep.”
Kate nodded, biting her lower lip as she tried to make sense of her current situation. Constance clearly had insinuated to Reynie that Kate had feelings for him, but what did Reynie think about all of this?
She supposed there was only one way to ask.
“Truth or dare.”
Reynie squinted in confusion. “What?”
Kate’s heart was pounding so loudly she could barely even hear herself speak. “I said, truth or dare? It was my turn next, and you’ll just have to fill in for Constance.”
Reynie raised an eyebrow, evidently unsure about what she was planning, but thankfully went along. “Alright. Truth.”
Kate released his arm and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt again. “What did you think, before I told you it was a game?” She chanced a glance up at his face, and this time she was one hundred percent certain of the dark blush fanning over his cheeks.
He mashed his lips together before speaking. “Well, it’s silly but...I thought that maybe you...well, that you might’ve, sorta... liked me, y’know? But it’s silly, obviously, and I don’t know what I was thinking.” He forced a chuckle and avoided her eyes.
An unusual feeling of exhilaration was rising up within her chest. It was the same type of excitement she felt in her stomach before a parachute drop, or when Milligan challenged her to an obstacle race on their old farm. She’d certainly never had such thrilling feelings about love before— was this what love felt like? —, but now it seemed as though Reynie wanted her to have feelings for him.
She’d never even considered this possibility before today, but suddenly she longed for it in a way she didn’t know how to describe with words.
But maybe she could with her actions.
“Okay, truth or dare?” she asked again with renewed confidence.
“Hey, shouldn’t it be my turn?” Reynie pointed out.
“Just trust me: truth or dare?”
Reynie sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck again. “Dare.”
Kate swallowed. It was now or never. “Kiss me.”
Reynie froze. “Kiss...you?” he repeated.
“Unless you want to kiss something else, I guess. Take your pick of anything in the room,” Kate joked as she nervously tucked her hair behind her ear.
"Are—are you sure?" he asked in disbelief.
"I think I know my feelings now, but I want to try again, just to be sure," she said, trying not to sound too anxious. “And…and I want to know yours, too.”
He simply stared at her, his brown eyes wide and astounded.
Why isn't he moving? She fretted a moment later. Was I too forward? Does he think I’m teasing him? Did I misread this whole situation?
But then he took a step closer, and suddenly they were standing face to face, their eyes locked on each other’s.
“Kiss me,” Kate dared again, and so he did. He kissed her, and it was soft and gentle and slow and the complete opposite of the harsh kiss she had delivered him earlier. His scent was intoxicating as it completely overwhelmed her senses, but Kate only wanted more of him as she pressed herself closer, her arms winding around his neck and her hands tangling themselves in his hair as though they had a mind of their own. She couldn’t believe that no less than two hours ago she hadn’t allowed herself to believe she might feel this way about anyone, much less Reynie, and now here she was, losing herself in their kiss and wondering how she ever thought she could live without such pure bliss in her life.
They both broke the kiss a moment later, their eyes meeting again. Neither one said anything—they didn’t have to, it was already written clearly in their expressions—but the mutual affection between the two of them spoke more than words could ever say.
Reynie smiled at her and reached up to cradle her face. He looked unbelievably delighted, and relieved. “I think it’s finally my turn: truth or dare?” he said, his forehead resting gently against hers.
Kate's lips twisted into a smirk. “Dare.”
“Then I dare you to kiss me."
Kate playfully rolled her eyes. "That's not very original.”
“Oh, well would you rather do something else?” asked Reynie with a cheeky grin.
Her kiss was the only answer he needed.