Page 57 of Ice Me Out

“Alright. I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh.”

“Sugar, I’d be lying to your face if I made that promise.”

“At least you’re honest,” I drawled, reaching over to tug his new earring before burying my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck. I bit back a smile when the contact made him shiver.

“Spill,” he demanded.

“Okay. My cousins and I used to get into some dumb shit.”

“How dumb?” I sighed, set my wine glass on the coffee table, and hid my face behind an accent pillow. “Come on. It can’t be that bad.”

“We used to record ourselves doing insane shit. We wanted to be the next Bam Margera and Johnny Knoxville. We uploaded it to YouTube, and—I can’t believe I’m telling you this—we called our channel Blackass.”

When I tell you this man started hootin’ and hollerin’ and sliding off the couch. There was nothing to do but wait until he tired himself out.

“B-B-Blackass,” he gasped, choking on his laughter.

“Laugh it up,” I said from behind the pillow.

“Did any of you get hurt?”

I dropped the pillow in my lap and eyed him skeptically.

“Did any of us get hurt? We stayed in the hospital, but our parents finally shut it down when my cousin Syrus had to get his jaw wired shut after a surprise blanket party.”

“What the hell?”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t my idea.”

“Who broke his jaw?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many damn questions?” I growled, reaching for my wine glass.

“You broke his jaw,” he accused.

“I cracked his shit,” I boasted with a wry smile.

“Oh, my God. You’re awful. Remind me not to piss you off.”

“You act like I did it on purpose.”

“Might as well. How many times did your parents have to take a trip to the hospital for you?”

“Twice; once due to a snowboarding accident when my cousin Symon convinced me we were going on an intermediate slope.” I snorted. “You should’ve seen my surprise when I realized we were headed down a Black Diamond. I broke my arm in three places.”

Hart’s mouth dropped.

“Three places?” he parroted.

“Three places,” I confirmed. “But that wasn’t the worst injury.”

“Jesus, I’m almost afraid to ask.”

“You know how my sister rides bulls?”

“Yes.”