Page 6 of Keep Your Guard Up
“Chance Riordan,” he said, extending his hand towards me, that devious smirk still plastered on his face.
Is he puffing out his chest right now?
“Mari,” I stated, grasping his hand. “Good to see no one shit on your Coco Pops this morning.”
The briefest flicker of surprise washed through those blue eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. We stoodthere, locked in a stare as I waited for his next move. To my surprise, his mouth tilted up into a smirk behind that undeniably sexy layer of mouse-brown stubble on his face.
I mean, seriously.Why is it the hottest guys arealwaysthe assholes?
Al cleared his throat. “Ease up on the young fella, Mari. He’s only been here five minutes,” he chirped.
I was preparing for an eye roll when Chance spoke up.
“Nah, don’t stress it, Allen. Not the first time a woman has expected me to bow down to her.”
My eyebrows flicked up of their own accord. His blue eyes bore into mine once again, a small dimple that popping on the left side of his mouth when his smirk deepened. He took a step closer to me, the smell of one of those annoyingly delicious-smelling colognes and coffee that wasoozingout of him filling my nostrils.
“Wouldn’t have thought any woman would give you the time of day with the attitude the colour of a shit stain,” I scoffed.
“You’d be surprised.” His smile was infuriatingly easy.
“I can assure you, I wouldn’t be.”
“They’ve definitely met before,” JJ not-so-whisperingly whispered to Al and Nan.
“No, we haven’t!” I snapped.
“What’s the matter, Sunny? Don’t want to tell your friends about our little run-in on Friday night?” That easy smile was gone, replaced with an arrogant, heated smirk.
“Friday night?” Nan asked, her eyebrows up expectantly.
“Didn’t she tell you why she only came home with half of your pizza order?” His face softened to a gentle expression of amusement when he looked to Nan, before hardening right back up when he looked down to me. “Do you know how much of a hassle it was to undo the shit you caused me on Friday night?”
“Oh yeah. I’m sure washing orange soft drink out of your pretty green shirt wassucha pain in the ass,” I retorted.
“Youwhat?!” Nan scolded.
“Nan—” I started.
“Marilyn Trevino, you better start talking.” She put her hands on her hips. Somehow, even though she was half a foot shorter than me, she still managed to stand over me.
“None of this would have happened if your non-biological second grandchild hadn’t ordered the entirety of Lozza’s menu,” I defended.
“It’s really not a big deal, Marilyn,” Chance crooned. “I have a new phone on order.”
My jaw dropped.
You fucking—
“You didwhatto his phone?!” Nan shrieked.
A look of disguised triumph crawled up onto Chance’s face. I spun around to Al for help, who simply raised his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed.
“It was an accident! He had his head up his ass and couldn’t see I was walking through the door with the leaning Tower of Pisa in my hands!”
Nan shook her head and turned back to Chance. “Thegymwill compensate for your loss,” she told him.
“I—”
