Naked on a Dare by India T. Norfleet Page A

her mother began looking around for her gloves, then head into the garage. As soon as her mother disappeared inside, Asia ran with all of her might, and didn't look back, until she was securely behind the locked bathroom door. Asia walked over to the window, as her choppy breathing slowly returned to normal, and looked up into the beautiful soft pink, and purple sunset that had now colored the evening sky. She exhaled as images of her kissing Tony were mentally stuck on repeat. Her eyes then wandered toward the park, and as she watched all the other kids clear out for the night and scramble home, she made a vow to herself that she would never go back to that park and would never play Truth or Dare again.

And I Wish I Was a Kid Again
     
        As soon as the blinking red stop light turned green, Asia turned left at Clairmount at the Lodge, and continued down the service drive until she reached Atkinson Street. After making another left, Asia lowered the blaring volume of Ahmad as he rapped about being a kid again. Slowing her speed, Asia began looking for the address that her mother had rattled off to her, on the ride over, about an hour ago. At the end of the second block of Atkinson, she'd finally spotted the house that she was searching for, it sat rather snug between two, two story homes on the left side of the beautiful tree lined street. Pulling up in front of the cottage style home, Asia cut the engine to her range rover, grabbed her purse and phone, and headed for the front door of Tony's home. She couldn't wait to see the surprised look on her brother's face once he saw her. Asia had only been back home a handful of times, in the last seven years, since moving away to college and making a life for herself. She couldn't wait for them to catch up on each other's lives. They used to be so close, before Asia's hectic schedule, as owner of her own greeting card company, started keeping her extremely busy. And she truly felt horrible for not scheduling more visits home, but back then getting her business off the ground was top priority. She'd even forfeited her chances to start a family. Her ex had asked her to marry him, and he wanted to start a family immediately. But she just wasn't ready to make that kind of commitment so early in her adult life. Now that she was staring thirty in the face, the irony of wanting a family now was not lost on her. And to make matters worse, last she'd heard, her ex was happily married and expecting his third child any day now. Meanwhile she didn't have any potential prospects, and thanks to her most recent blind date from hell, she'd given up on finding love or anything remotely resembling it. As she strutted up the walkway in her red bottoms, she wondered what new adventures awaited on the other side of thirty. If just maybe she'd get another shot at, something she'd found herself fantasying about more and more lately, a second chance at love. Before she had a chance to ring the doorbell, the door flew open.
    “Hi, can I help you?”
    Instantly, Asia was speechless, because this man standing before her in hoop shorts, a beater clinging to his broad chest, and perfect six pack, couldn't be Tony. As she continued to take in his features, she also noticed that Tony sported a goatee, and had waves, instead of the shoulder length braids that he swore he would never get rid of. Asia never knew her panties could get as wet as they were right now.
    “Lady, can I-”
    “Tony?” Asia asked.
    “Yeah, and you...Asia?  Asia, woman what in the world are you doing back in Michigan?” Tony laughed, as he pulled Asia into his warm embrace.
    “And he smells good too, Lord help me. Note to self, only date men who wear Black, by Kenneth Cole.
    “Hi Tony, I came to surprise Austin for our birthday. My mom told me that he was over here trying to tame a wild pre birthday party hangover from last night.”
    “Yeah, we were out all night getting in everything we could,” Tony said, as he grabbed