Page 34 of Playing a Player (Sweet Cravings 1)

The sounds of pots and pans banging woke me up. I slowly sat up and hugged my knees into my chest. I couldn't go out there and see him. It didn't matter what I tried to tell myself. I liked him and I wanted it to be more. But he was a player. There was nothing I could do to change that.

I slowly got out of bed and pulled on my silk robe. Now I had to act like everything was back to normal, even though it wasn't. I took a deep breath and walked out to the kitchen.

Rory had his back turned to me. He was wearing a pair of boxer briefs and cooking something at the stove. I wanted to go up behind him and wrap my arms around him. Instead I sat down at the counter.

"Hey!" I said. My voice sounded weird and high pitched.

Rory turned his head. "Good morning," he said with a smile and went back to cooking. He started whistling.

I put my elbow on the counter and rested my chin in my hand. "You seem awfully cheery this morning."

He ignored my comment and placed some eggs and toast on two plates and walked over to me. He placed one plate in front of me and sat down beside me. "Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Does great sex not put you in a good mood?"

I could feel my face blushing. "Great sex?"

He leaned toward me slightly. "Yeah, great sex."

"You're awfully cocky."

"Well you should have heard yourself screaming my name." He raised his eyebrow. His hazel eyes seemed to bore into mine.

I gulped and looked down at my plate. "I doubt you really thought it was great." I pushed the eggs around with my fork.

"What do you mean?"

For some reason I wanted to cry. I didn't want to flirt with him at breakfast like last night meant nothing. I couldn't joke around about sex like he could. It meant more to me than that. "Thanks for breakfast, Rory. I'm going to eat in my room. I have a lot of work to do." The stool squeaked against the floor as I stood up.

"Keira." He grabbed my wrist. "I meant what I said. I had a lot of fun last night."

"Okay."

"Tell me what you meant." He rubbed his thumb against the inside of my wrist.

I wanted him to hold me like this forever. I looked up at him. "I thought you didn't sleep with girls you weren't attracted to."

"I never said I wasn't attracted to you, Keira."

"Yes you did. At your restaurant."

Rory dropped my hand and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh. Right. I actually just said that so that you'd let me live here."

My wrist tingled where he had touched me. "You lied to me?"

Rory laughed. "Like you haven't lied to me."

"I've never lied to you."

"Seriously?"

I sat back down in my stool. Maybe honesty was the best approach here. "Fine. I never wanted that pact, Rory. I only agreed because I was nervous. And I ramble when I'm nervous. You're so handsome." I held my breath. It was all out there now.

He laughed. "It's okay. I knew."

"Was it really that obvious?"

"When you started using all my advice on me, yeah. You made it pretty obvious. And before that, I had my suspicions. Like when you walked in on me in the bathroom."

I laughed. "That was an accident!"

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