"So, Lara. . ." Alex said, trailing off as he speared a piece of egg.

"Yes?" Lara asked.

"Truth or dare?"

Lara shot him a side ways glance. "Truth."

"Oh, how did I know you were going to pick that?" Alex smiled. "Hmmm. . ." He thought for several seconds before asking; "How many men have you slept with?"

"What? Do you mean in the last month? Or ever?"

"Ever."

"Alex, I hardly think this is appropriate breakfast conversation." Lara chided.

"Come on, Lara. You didn't pick the dare, so spill. How many?"

"Four."

"Four?!" Alex nearly shouted. "You have got to be joking!"

"Why?"

"Are you celibate or something? Four, damn."

"Well, Mr. West I wasn't brought up to treat sex so casually."

"So tell me about these four guys."

"You want to hear about my ex-boyfriends?"

"Yeah."

"I thought men hated that."

"They only hate it when they can't measure up to them. I have yet to meet a man that surpasses me."

"Well, I must admit, I've never met a man with an ego as quiet as large as yours. You better be careful Alex, someone might think you're compensation for something." Her eyes briefly flickered to his crotch before returning to his gaze.

"Hey, that was below the belt, sweetie. Now you've got to tell me about these four guys."

"Well, the fourth one was a nice lawyer that I met when the Animal Rights Society took me to court because I shot a few endangered tigers. They didn't count the fact that they were intent on mauling me to death, but getting back to the story. After the case we went out several times and got involved, shall we say."

"What happened to him?"

"I sort of realized that he wasn't staying with me because he actually liked me. He was pretty much infatuated and wanted me as a trophy girlfriend. So I broke up with him. A few months later he died in a car accident. His bitchy sister didn't even invite me to the funeral." Lara added, taking another bite from her eggs.

"And bachelor number three?"

"Not much to tell. He was a nice man. Sweet, caring. We were both too busy to spend time together really. Come to think of it, I think we only slept together once. But then he met another woman who cooked, cleaned and waiting on him hand and foot and eloped with her. I really didn't care though. We always had argument over tomb raiding. He wanted me to stop and become a house wife."

"For some odd reason, I can't picture you as a house wife. Might be the gun room. . ." Alex smiled.

"Well, bachelor number two didn't mind my gun room. In fact, he was a tomb raider himself. We were together for nearly two years. I was thinking about marrying him."

"What happened to him?"

"He died while tomb raiding." Lara paused. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She had always cried when she thought about him. "I was devastated. I cried over him for weeks."

"Sorry." Alex said, gently rubbing the pad of his thumb against the open palm of her hand which rest on the table.

"It's alright now." Lara murmured. "At least he died doing what he loved."

There was a brief silence as Alex continued to caress her palm.

"What about bachelor number one?" He finally asked.

"Robert." Lara said softly.

"What happened with him?"

"Are you sure you want to hear this?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it was a dysfunctional relationship to begin with. We started dating the day I turned eighteen. He was thirty-nine or so. Robert was friends with my father before he died. He trusted him with his life." Lara paused remember when she used to sneak downstairs when she was a little girl after she had been put to bed and would listen to her father and Robert talk. She rarely understood what they were saying. "Robert used to come and visit me after my father died. He was a nice man, but he was always telling me to forget about tomb raiding and adventures. He said it all died with my father. I was still a child then, and without anyone else to look up to, I did as he said. I didn't realize it then but he was trying to mold me into his ideal wife."

"Didn't work, huh?"

"Well, it did for a few years anyways. Hillary had become my legal guardian he moved into the manor after father died. He tried to keep Robert away from me because he knew what he was trying to do, but Robert always managed to see me. Well, anyways, we started dating, I had never dated anyone before, thanks to both Hillary and Robert's insistence so I had no idea what to expect out of a relationship. Robert took full advantage of that fact. We dated for almost two years when he asked me to marry him. I stupidly said 'yes'. That was also the night I lost my virginity to him."

"Lucky bastard." Alex muttered.

"Alex." Lara chastised.

"Sorry, go on."

"Well, we were planning, well, actually, Robert was planning to marry in the summer. But over the period of our engagement I found out that he was sleeping with another woman, on the side, as he put it."

"Did you beat him to a bloody pulp?" Alex asked, in blood thirsty anticipation.

"I did nothing of the sort. I cried instead. He didn't seem to feel bad though. I just sat in his office and sobbed my eyes out while he went on working like I wasn't even there. Then I told him that I wanted to break off the engagement. I didn't mean it, I was just upset and I felt incredibly betrayed."

"What did Robert do?"

"Well, needless to say, we got into an argument. Robert had always had a bad temper, but this was the first time that it was directed at me. We continued fighting, then, when he had finally had enough, he hit me."

"What?! That asshole hit you?!" Alex demanded, sitting up.

"Yes. It wasn't very hard though. I ran out of the room and went home after that. Hillary was appalled when I told him what happened. I'm not entirely sure what happened after that though. Hillary told me later that Robert had come by and rang and sent flowers and things like that to apologize for what he did, but Hillary wouldn't admit Robert into the house, hung up all his calls and threw the flowers out before I saw them."

"Can't say that he didn't deserve it." Alex shrugged.

"I, however, would have liked to know that he was making an effort to contact me. I was so heartbroken when I thought that he wasn't even bothering to try and talk to me. I had his engagement ring sent back to him. That was were I thought our relationship would have ended, but, a month or two after I sent back the engagement ring, he committed suicide. It was around Christmas time. Hillary gave me a letter that was found on his desk. It was addressed to me, Robert had written it before he died." Lara whipped the tears from her eyes.

"What did it say?" Alex asked, softly.

"It was horrible. He blamed me for his death, he said such awful things to me. I became completely depressed. I didn't come out of my room for weeks. I kept thinking that the entire thing was my fault, that if I hadn't been so unforgiving that I would have been married and having a wonderful life right now. . ." Lara trailed off, she hung her head in her hands, letting her tears run down her cheeks. She couldn't stop her tears from falling.

Alex slid out of his seat and sat down beside Lara, pulling her into his lap. Lara buried her face in his bare shoulder, sobbing. She remembered the three weeks she spent, calling herself a murderess, an ungrateful whore. She had felt so horrible about his death and was left with no one to blame but herself. Alex gently stroked her back, cradling her smaller frame against his body. He murmured soft words into her ear, holding her tightly.

"I'm sorry, Alex." Lara said through her tears. "I don't mean to be such a cry baby."

"Hey, it's okay, Lara. You were just a kid, that jerk had no right to blame you for anything. He sounds like a crusty old pervert anyways." Alex commented.

Lara laughed.

"By the way Lara, doesn't it worry you that three out of four of your ex-lovers are dead?" Alex asked, stoking her shoulders.

"I thought that fact might worry you a bit more." Lara said.

Alex smiled and wiped the tears from Lara's eyes. "So, it's your turn, Lady Croft."

"Truth or dare?" She murmured, regaining her composure.

"Truth." Alex smiled.

Lara wiped the rest of her tears from her cheeks and wrapped her arms around Alex's neck. "Have you even been in love before?" She asked.

Alex's smile quickly faded. "Yeah, once." He said, resting his head against Lara's shoulder.

"Tell me about her." Lara murmured.

"Lara. . ."

"Come on, I told you about Robert. So, tell me about her."

"Her name was Pricilla. She was British too."

"What was she like?"

"Well, she was wonderful. I mean, she was smart and cute and she loved animals, loved adventure. We were together for about three years. I was so happy, I thought I had finally found someone that I could spend my life with."

"What happened?"

"I asked her to marry me."

"Did she say 'yes'?"

"No. She said that she was flattered and she would always remember me but she felt that it wasn't the right time and she needed to date more men before she finally decided on one. Then she left me. I haven't heard from her since then."

"God, I'm sorry Alex. You must have felt awful."

"I felt like shit, Lara. It made me feel even worse that she somehow expected me to be complimented when she said that she wouldn't forget me."

"She was the only woman that you ever loved?"

No, I'm staring at the other one right now. Alex thought. "Yeah." He lied. "After Pricilla I didn't date women long enough to get to know them. I just really kept them around for sex and to look pretty at parties."

"Now who sounds like a crusty old pervert?"

"Hmm, you have yet to complain." Alex said. He kissed her lips, running his hand up underneath her tank top.

Alex smiled, coaxing her lips apart and letting his tongue explore her mouth. Lara moaned softly as Alex moved both of his hands under her tank top, stroking her back. Lara's hands moved over his well sculpted chest. Suddenly, there was a loud crash, Lara jumped breaking the kiss.

"What was that?" She asked, looking around.

"Doesn't matter." Alex murmured, pulling Lara back against him.

"Hold on, I have to check on Donnica." Lara slid out of his lap and walked into the living room.

Damnit! I shouldn't have gotten that cat. Alex thought to himself. He sighed and got up, following Lara into the living room.

"What happened?" Alex asked, running his hand through his hair.

"Donnica knocked over the coasters." Lara said, picking up several glass coasters that had once sat on the coffee table. Donnica crawled out from under one of the living room chairs to see what was going on. She sniffed the coasters as Lara replaced them. She looked up at Alex, their eyes meeting.

Alex walked over to Lara, gripping her arms he pulled her against him. "Lara, I want you." He murmured. Lara went her knees weaken as she felt his bare chest against her breasts. Alex lowered his head to hers in a kiss. But before their lips met Lara pulled away.

"Alex. . . I can't do this." She said, after several seconds of silence.

"Why not?" He asked.

"I. . . . Alex, we've both been heart broken before, we've both cried for a lost love and I don't want to do all of it again." Lara said, trying to maintain her composer.

"Lara, I understand." Alex said. He brushed back Lara's bangs, gently cupping her face in his hand. "Not to sound like a Backstreet Boy or anything but I won't break your heart."

"Alex, I've heard that before. I can't do this again. Alex, I'm sorry, but I can't get into a relationship with you."

"Baby, what's the point in living if you can't feel alive?"

Before Lara could say anything Alex picked her up and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. He pushed the door open with his foot and carried Lara over to her bed, setting her down as he pulled himself on top of her. He kissed her, wedging his knee between her legs and tugging at her tank top.

"Alex, Alex, what are you doing?" Lara asked when he broke the kiss.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm seducing you." He said, pulling her tank top over her head. Lara playfully tugged at Alex's towel, it fell from his waist and onto the bed in a pile. Alex smiled at her, easing the strap of her sports bra off of her shoulder, spreading his kisses down her neck and to her chest.

Lara knew that she shouldn't be doing this, she knew this wasn't appropriate, wasn't dignified, wasn't right. But then Lara realized. . . . that she didn't care. Being with Alex for the past few days had been wonderful. Lara didn't want the feeling to end yet. Even if it was a Christmas fling then so be it, it might hurt later, but right now it felt so damn good.