Page 31 of The Playboy's Playbook

Once I lay back down and cuddle closer to Laila, sleep takes over and I fall asleep with a beautiful girl wrapped in my arms and Nola’s soft snores filling the room.

The sunlight peeks through the curtains in Laila’s room and I stir awake. Nola jumps over to me and sniffs my face. I smile and pet her behind her ear and unwrap myself from the covers. I pick up Nola and take her outside again to use the bathroom, praying that I’m not messing up her routine.

Nola finishes and walks back to me. I open the door gently and we enter the house again, careful not to make any noises as we head into the kitchen. I peek back into Laila’s room and see she’s still sleeping. I can tell that she’s not a morning person.

“Where does your mom keep your food, Nola?” I ask the puppy as if she can respond. I open up the pantry and find no such luck in finding a bag of dog food. Nola paws at her food bowl, the small dish clinking slightly with her movements.

“It’s in the cart,” Laila’s soft voice calls behind me. I turn to her and feel my cheeks heat up.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you. Nola and I were already up,” I say sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Thank you for taking her outside and for getting her food,” she smiles softly. I return the smile and turn to the cart and open it. I scoop some food into Nola’s food bowl and fill her water bowl.

Nola waits and looks at me and Laila, waiting for one of us to release her to her food bowl. Laila nods and Nola dives head-first into her bowl, almost drowning in her food. Laila’s sitting on a barstool on the island, her hair no longer wrapped or hanging loosely in a ponytail. It falls behind her, soft curls framing her face.

“You wrapped my hair last night,” she says, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

I chuckle and grin. “Did I overstep?”

Laila shakes her head. “Not at all. Thank you.”

I walk around the island and turn Laila to face me and press a soft kiss to her lips. She pulls back immediately and I already know what she’s going to ask.

I nod my head and lean my forehead against hers. “I know.”

“You didn’t want to answer me last night, but I just have this feeling that you’re hiding something from me.” She stands and walks to the living room, sitting on the cream-colored couch.

I follow and sit next to her, turning my body towards her. I look deeply into her eyes and see her mind running a thousand miles a minute. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, thinking about my answer wisely. I pull a chapter from her book and ask the question she asked me at Brody’s.

“What do you want to know?”

Chapter Fourteen

LAILA

What do I want to know? There’s so many things I want to know.

Why did he stop being my friend? Why was he such an asshole in school? Why won’t he talk about his mom or sister? What really went down the night he and Luke met and became best friends? When was the last time he was with another girl? Is he talking to another girl now and trying to see which one of us he likes better?

Granted, the last question is more for me and my ego than it is for him. I know that Matt’s been with plenty of girls, each one of them beautiful. I don’t feel like I hold a candle to them when it comes to many things.

The girls he’s used to are experienced and can offer him way more satisfaction that I can. I’ve never even been with a guy in that way. It’s not like there weren’t guys I wasn’t interested in at college, but they were just…they weren’t right.

Matt feels right. He feels like he was meant for me and what a coward I would’ve been to give myself to someone else instead of waiting for him to come back to me.

I guess I may as well be honest with him and ask the question that’s been on the tip of my tongue for a few days now. “What do youreallywant from me, Matt?”

He furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “What do you mean what do I really want from you?”

“You could’ve been with any girl these last couple of weeks, but you’re putting your time and energy into me when I was awful to you when I first got here. So what do you want from me?”

Matt looks at me thoughtfully. “I genuinely want to get to know you, Laila. That’s it. I saw you at the rodeo before Clay even approached you. When you turned and looked at me, it wasn’t joy in your eyes about seeing an old friend. It was hatred and anger. I want to know you so that I can understand why you feel that way about me.”

“Can you blame me for being cautious around you? You hurt me and then grew up to be the town’s playboy, you may as well have started a magazine.” I stand from the couch and move to look out the window that’s facing the backyard. I take it back, I don’t want to be honest with him about my feelings.

I feel Matt walk up behind me and he places his hands around my waist. “Tell me how I can fix it –fix us.”

I tense up at his question. Is there an us? Do Iwantthere to be an us? “You acted as if I never existed, Matt. Friendship breakups hurt worse than actual breakups and I was heartbroken over losing my best friend and not knowing what I did wrong. Then when you found your group of friends, that’s when I realized that they were who you wanted in your life. Not some loser teacher’s pet with curly hair and pink glasses.”

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