"Yeah, right."

"Well, we could. I know I'm up to it." House winked at Cuddy, who, to her disappointment, blushed a furious shade of red. She refused to be affected by him like that, she refused to wonder if he could kiss her like that, she refused to stare at him for minutes at a time while he was looking the other way. No, no, no, no, no, she would not, could not fall for him, especially when he was being so damn obnoxious. Saying that they could beat fifty-two seconds. He would like to. And that small part of her that forced her eyes to his smiling lips told her that she sure would like to attempt the feat with him.

"Fine. House, Truth or Dare?" Booth wanted to wipe the smug look off of his face, even if that meant he would have to cover it with Cuddy's. Besides, he had to help the man out; he seemed practically desperate to have some sort of romantic interaction with the woman who admitted she fantasized about him.

"Hmmm. What should I pick?" House pretended to be in thought. Spare me the theatrics and let me dare you to kiss your stupid boss, Booth thought. "I think I'll pick..." Cuddy knew what was coming. He would ask her, sarcastically of course, to get over to his chair so he could plant an incredibly passionate kiss on her waiting lips. "Truth."

"What? Truth?" Booth asked House, as he looked at Cuddy. He could have sworn that there was smoke coming out of her ears. She looked livid. Luckily House wasn't looking at her; he was looking at Booth, with an innocent look on his face.

"Yes, Truth, as in the option where you ask me a question about myself. You aren't disappointed that I didn't pick dare are you? I'm not chickening out of kissing Cuddy because I don't think we could beat you, if that's what you're wondering. Once the woman starts kissing me, she can't stop." House winked at Cuddy, who miraculously had composed herself and was wearing a vaguely interested expression. Booth wondered if there was any truth to House's statement. Sweets had picked up on some sort of sexual frustration, which could have arisen from a previous relationship.

"What's your history with Cuddy?" Booth asked him, sitting back in his seat and crossing his arms.

"My history with Cuddy? You mean everything we've ever said or done since we met over twenty years ago?" House was being deliberately difficult, first with picking Truth, a move that he knew would make both Booth and Cuddy angry with him, and now playing with the question. He could describe their history in a few sentences, but deflecting seemed like a much easier option. Whose stupid idea was it to play truth or dare anyway? Maybe some feelings weren't supposed to be shared with six other people.

"No, I think you know perfectly well what a history is. Or aren't you man enough to tell us about the night she rejected sleeping with you?" Booth was teasing him, he was in a good mood since kissing Brennan, he was still running on high from the emotions she had caused. And he couldn't wait to hear the juicy details about the Dean of Medicine and the Head of Diagnostics at the Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.

"Well, let's see. I met her in the library; I was returning the copy of Dracula that was three months overdue that my room mate had checked out when I saw this incredibly sexy young woman sitting at a desk with about three hundred textbooks around her, dressed in a sweater and jeans that could have been at least four times tighter. We got to talking," Ha, he counted shooting comments about my ass at me as conversations even then, Cuddy thought with a smile, "And then I started tutoring her, and well, let's just say the lessons included a little more than the required syllabus. We started dating, we had sex on her desk, she dumped me the next day, I went to do my residency, we met a few times over the next decade, she hired me at her hospital, she and my ex-girlfriend cut out part of my thigh, I've been a pain in her large ass for the last few years. And, I uh, kissed her a few months ago. After she lost the child she was supposed to adopt." House finished with a mumble, trying to tell himself that he needed to tell all of the truth, or the Truth or Dare gods would smite him. Ha. He just wanted to wipe that self satisfied smirk off Cuddy's face when she heard him talking about when they went to college together. He was pleased to see that it worked, she was embarrassed and more than a little upset to have the incident brought up again.

"You kissed her?" Booth was unable to stop himself from asking.

"Yes, I believe I just said that." said House, suddenly pissed off. Why did he want to kiss her again? After all, their last kiss had certainly screwed things up enough. Oh, but this would just be a dare, it would mean nothing at all, him being unable to stop himself from devouring her lips in a passionate frenzy would mean nothing. But maybe, just maybe, now that he actually recognized he wanted to be with her, their dare kiss could be a catalyst for something else later tonight. Oh, right, he had picked truth, to piss her off. Just what kind of strategy he was trying to run he didn't know, but he had counted on the game to get him to loosen up a little, although the game would be a lot better with a couple bottles of scotch.

"Okay, who's my next victim?" he asked, looking around for hands.

"Hmm, no volunteers. Angela, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth." she said, figuring she needed a break from all the dares she had gotten.

"Why are you so damn horny right now?" Sweets almost laughed at his question. Only he could have picked up on her overly flirty nature, her sidelong glances at Hodgins, and her incredible responsiveness to any kind of sexual dare.

"I'm abstinent. Sweets says it will help me develop more meaningful relationships." House laughed.

"Right. I don't even want to ask. Pick someone." House leaned back in his chair, happy that Cuddy still seemed a little shaken by his answer to Booth's question. He would get her right where he wanted her tonight, and maybe get more than a little bit lucky.