Page 20 of The Playboy's Playbook

Like she’s reading my mind, she leans back and opens her eyes. There’s no denying the fire raging within them because I know mine are the same. She parts her lips slightly and I rub my thumb over her bottom lip, not dropping eye contact. She leans in closer to me and I wrap my other arm around her waist.

“Matthew,” she breathes. It’s comforting to know that I affect her as much as she affects me.

“Laila,” I say back, my voice raspy and low. I begin to lean in slowly to go in for a kiss, but she leans her face away and I see sadness in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” I say, stepping back further. She reaches her hand out but stops herself and pulls it behind her back.

She shakes her head. “Don’t apologize. Nothing happened.”

“But I wanted something to happen,” I mutter, but she catches it.

She walks up to me and stands on the tips of her toes and places a soft kiss on my cheek. I step around her to open her car door, helping her get settled before she turns the engine over and rolls the window down allowing me to lean in. We’re dangerously close and it takes the strength of a thousand men to keep me from crashing my lips to hers.

“Drive safe,” I say as I lean back. She smiles softly and nods her head. She puts the car in drive and pulls out of the parking lot.

I climb into my truck and take a moment to sit still, taking a deep breath. I shift to adjust to the hard-on in my pants and get comfortable to drive, but it’s no luck.

My right hand is about to be busy tonight.

“I want to see her again,” I declare once Luke sits down at the table for breakfast. We always have breakfast at his house because it’s easier for him and the boys. Plus, my dining room at my apartment is barely big enough for two people, let alone four.

“So tell her?” Luke says in the form of a question.

“Yeah, but like, what ifshedoesn’t want to see me?”

He takes a bite out of his toast before answering. “Well how would you know if you don’t ask?”

“Can you stop answering my questions with questions?” I ask, taking a giant bite out of my toast.

“Can you stop being a wimp, message Laila, and tell her that you want to see her again?”

I shoot him a glare, which he ignores because he takes a sip of his coffee. Luke lives vicariously through my relationships because he refuses to get back on the dating scene.

“I don’t want to mess up with her. She’s not just some girl I want to talk to for the sake of taking her to bed, man. She’s…she’s Laila.”

I stare out the window that overlooks Luke’s backyard and think about Laila. Her smile. Her laugh. The way her hair curls tighter at the ends. Her eyes in the sunlight.

Her.

“Did y’all kiss?” Luke asks, interrupting my thoughts and earning another glare. He laughs like he’s the funniest guy in the room.

“What? I have faith in you to be respectful and not kiss her when she just barely agreed to seeing you, but it wouldn’t surprise me if little Matthew got excited and took over.”

“I hate you, I really do,” I say, scooting away from the table and putting my plate in the dishwasher. I go back to the table and get the rest of the plates and start cleaning. Luke used to tell me to stop, but I ignored him and continued to clean up after breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“So?” Luke drawls.

“So?” I mimic back.

“Did you kiss or not, asshole?” Luke deadpans.

“No, I didn’t kiss her. But I really wanted to. Part of me feels like she wanted it, too.”

I turn my attention back to Luke’s backyard and take in the pool’s water shimmering in the sunlight, the trees swaying softly in the morning breeze. Oakridge summers are beautiful, but fuck can they get hot.

It’s perfect grilling weather. I try to grill out with Luke and the boys at least twice a month during the summer. Sometimes Luke will let Clay and Jen invite the neighborhood kids over and have a big pool party. Luke and I love it because the boys have so much fun, but we also dread it because we spend most of the day avoiding the aunts, sisters, and moms who try to hit on us or set us up with friends.

I turn back to Luke with a menacing smile on my face. “How would you like to meet Laila?”

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