Page 21 of Not Before Game Night
I had to laugh, and he sat forward resting his thick forearms on the table.
“It’s not an act.”
“Right, tell yourself whatever you want.”
“I’m not. You’re the one who’s acting like I didn’t go to school with you. You’re the damn high school bully. I feel like I just had dinner with the devil.” That wasn’t a joke. At one point in my life I was sure if you looked past the luscious blond locks you’d see horns on his head.
He laughed and gave me that wicked smile. “What’s wrong with being the devil?”
I widened my eyes at him.Who said things like that?
“Everything.”
“But you still like me. You know why Vanessa Cartwright?”
“Why? Why do think I like you Cole?” I was real interested to hear this.
“You like me because I’m the rebel and I make life interesting. You like wild and unpredictable. You want a taste of the dark side because it excites you.”
He could have been reading from Madam Phoebe’s book.
Cole was definitely 100% the rebel indeed and I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his. Heat rushed to my cheeks and I was pretty certain from the excitement that flickered in his eyes that he knew what he was doing to me.
“You’re the good girl and you don’t want a repeat of that boring as shit fucktard I saw you at the restaurant with,” he added.
“You can’t possibly know what I want,” I attempted.
“Bull shit. I think I do. We’re a long way from high school Vanessa. Full grown adults who can get up to whatever badness they want. You like me, but you’re the one who’s denying yourself of what we could be doing next.”
“What comes next is my interview. Do you just want me to make something up?”
“No, we have time.”
“We want the article up on the first Friday of the games. Plus, I want it all done outside your training.”
“I’ll make time for you,” he answered simply. “My place tomorrow.”
I shook my head. “No. I am not going to your house.”
“Afraid of what we’ll be doing at my place?” He gave me a lascivious smile.
“No.” Yes, of course I was. Now I was very wary of what tricks he had up his sleeve.
“Come on, Miss Cartwright, you had a bug up your ass the size of Texas because I wouldn’t sleep with you. I’ve been at your place now for the last few hours. You’re seriously going to tell me you’re not in the least bit curious to find out what it would be like to be with me?”
My breathing stilled, and I shook my head. A blatant lie.
“I have absolutely no effect on you?” he asked in a daring voice.
“Nope, and I don’t have a bug up my ass. High school was high school. It’s the past. I hardly think about it, and I definitely don’t think of you when I think back to high school.” I’d gotten so good at effortless lying it was scary.
He smirked, stood up, walked around to me, and crouched down. He looked at me, long and hard, like he was trying to figure something out, then he nodded.
“Rose petal pink,” he breathed.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes at him. What the hell was he talking about now?
“Your cheeks turn rose petal pink when you’re lying through your teeth. You blush from your neck up, and it creeps up your cheek when I shock you, or when you’re embarrassed. It’s different.”
