Page 3 of The Red Zone
Mae had always been a horrible liar. It was comical, really.
Like once, when she was in first grade—and I was in second—she went on a passionate rant trying to convince her dads that she hadn’t stolen a candy bar from the convenience store down the block from our neighborhood. Regardless of the evidence being smeared across her face and the brown and silver wrapper hanging halfway out of the back pocket of her shorts.
Man, some things never changed, did they?
“I assume you asked all of your friends first?” Mae arched a brow. “How disappointing that none of them wanted to help you.” She made a mock frown that ignited a warm blaze of heat beneath my skin.
As much as I wouldn’t mind her taut nipples being pressed against my chest a second time, I was ready to shut this conversation down. We could pick this little game back up and argue ourselves into continuous circles some other time if she wanted. “Come on. I know you’re bored, but I don’t have all day to waste here.”
Her lips flattened into a line as she paused for a beat to push out a heavy breath from her nostrils. “The best I can offer you is a room at Rita’s next door. She rents the house from me and I’m sure she’d let you stay in one of the guest rooms or something… but you’ll have to pay five times her rate as an inconvenience fee.”
“What’s the inconvenience?”
“You.”
“Clever,” I deadpanned. “But I already told you I want the pool house.”
“You’re not getting the pool house.”
“What are you going to use it for?”
Mae sucked in a breath as if I’d insulted her before stomping toward her back door once again. “I don’t have to give you a reason,” she called back over her shoulder as I trailed behind her. “It’s mine. If I want it to sit there and collect dust, then so be it! Hell, maybe I have plans to turn it into a sex house. Who knows?”
I ignored her sex house comment for the sake of wanting to end this conversation, although I had to admit it piqued my curiosity.
“You won’t even know I’m here. I swear.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No!” she insisted, flailing her hands in frustration as she whipped around. “Seriously, has no one ever told you how insufferable you are?”
“You have… many times. Even though you never walk away from a fight.” Her jaw tensed at my words, but I made the conscious decision to prod further. “I’m beginning to think I’m not as ‘insufferable’ as you insist I am. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were getting turned on by this long-standing game of cat and mouse we play.”
“Oh, that is rich, Calhoun. Just freaking rich. I can’tbelievehow enormous your ego is! It’s alarming, truly.”
“You’re in luck, because I have another thing that’s alarmingly enormous too.” I shot her a wink, which—based on the dirty expression on her face—was not well received. “Be a good girl and I’ll let you have a look any time you want… all you have to do is ask.”
She flared her nostrils at me with a scowl, and crossed her arms over her chest, which inadvertently pushed her breasts upward. Nope, nope. I was not going to unravel her wrath by looking at them.
By the time I flicked that thought out of my head, Mae had already turned on her heels to flee from me yet again. Catching up in three steps, I wrapped a hand around her elbow to hold her back from escaping. “Mae… please.”
She reared her head back with an open mouth to observe my face, likely as astonished by my use of the word ‘please’ as I was. It wasn’t a term I was accustomed to, especially where she was involved. But seeing as this was the second time I’d used the word since stepping foot in her backyard, surely, she must’ve sensed my desperation.
“Get on your knees and I’ll consider it.”
I contemplated her offer for all of a millisecond before a slow smirk curled at the edge of my mouth. “All this time, I imagined I’d be the one saying those words to you instead.”
“That’s it. I’m done with you.” She hissed, reaching for the handle, tearing open the door so forcefully that a gust of crisp air blew against my cheeks. “Get off my property.”
“Does that mean you’ll think about it?”
“I hate you.”
“Likewise,” I replied drily, just before the door slammed shut behind her.
This might not have been the victory I was hoping for, but I had a tendency to play better in the second half of the game, anyway.
