The restaurant’s lights had dimmed into something softer, warmer, though nothing about Kieth felt warm. He leaned forward with that effortless dominance that had unsettled me from the moment I stepped into his world. His dark eyes never wavered, fixed on me like I was a puzzle he had already half-solved but was still entertained by.
“Tell me one truth about yourself,” he said, his voice low, steady, commanding. “Just one. Or walk away now.”
The words lingered, suspended between us like the last note of a song that refused to fade. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears. My throat felt dry. He wasn’t joking. He wasn’t playing. He was demanding.
And that was the dangerous part—I wanted to laugh it off, roll my eyes, throw a sarcastic line his way the way I usually deflected. But there was n
