Page 19 of #Moonstruck

“Oh,” I said with a wave of my hand, “then they wrestle or do some kind of complicated boy ritual to figure out who wins.”

He laughed, shifting closer to me. The arm on the back of my seat brushed against my shoulder, and goose bumps broke out on my flesh while tiny little shivers wrapped icy fingers around my nerves.

“Tell you what. There’s a diner two blocks from here. Brown Bear something. You go talk to your band, and I’ll wait there for half an hour. If you don’t show up, I’ll have my answer.”

Tonight? I had spent the last ten minutes trying to figure out how to put distance between us and never see him again because a teensy bit of me thought my rules were totally stupid and should be abandoned. Especially as I studied his strong, cut jawline and firm lips. The windows around us had started to fog up. Like we’d been in here making out.

As blood rushed to my cheeks, I realized Iwantedto be in here making out. “I don’t know. It’s late. We’ll probably head home and go to bed.”

He leaned his head to one side. “Bzzz. Lie. I know you’re completely wired right now. Is this why you don’t date musicians? Because they see through your musical excuses?”

I didn’t date musicians because they were unreliable and thoughtless and ruined families.

Ryan seemed to edge closer to me. “Come on, you know opening for me would do great things for your career.”

“You should stick to stroking your ego in the privacy of your own home,” I shot back, not sure I would react appropriately if he moved even an inch nearer.

Ryan laughed, turning my resolve to mush. “Ego aside, you know what I said is true.”

“Do you really think you can just sit there and brag about how great you are while being all nice and helpful and attractive—”

It slipped out. It literally just slipped out.

“You think I’m attractive?”

“What? No.” Yes. “No.”

He moved closer again. “Who are you arguing with? Me or you?”

“I’m not arguing with myself.” Yes, I was.

“You said no twice.”

Desperate, I started grasping at straws. “That’s because I doubly mean it.”

“I don’t think that’s why you said it.” It was like his voice slowed and dropped with each movement, hypnotizing me.

I looked down at the floor, trying to break the spell. “O-oh? Then why did I say it, Mr.Knower of All Things?”

I gasped as his calloused fingertips gently brushed the underside of my chin, sending burning waves of want and frosty spikes of need through me. He raised my chin, making me look him in the eye.

Oxygen had ceased to exist.

“You said it because you’re fighting the fact that you’re attracted to me. I can feel it every time I get close to you. The way I make you shiver. I like it.” That last part came out as a growly whisper, and I shivered all over again.

He released me and leaned so far forward that although some part of my brain objected to the idea of him kissing me, every other cell in my body told it to shut up. His chest and face moved closer to mine, and he reached out his left arm.

Only he didn’t kiss me. He just opened my car door. It took a second for my legs to work, and even then, they still wobbled as I got out of the car.

“Half an hour,” Ryan said when I went to shut my door. “Don’t disappoint me, Maisy.”

I watched as he drove off and realized one of us was going to be very disappointed.

I just had to make sure it wasn’t me.

CHAPTER SIX

“Where were you?” Cole asked in a teasing tone when I found him at the bar. “Let me guess. You found the man of your dreams but were too aloof for him to notice you. That’s my IQ. Nobody scares men off the way you do.”

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