Page 18 of Seductive Hearts

Why the hell did he have to be there?

“Fuck off,” I muttered before I could help it. “It’s not my problem you have a grudge against him.”

“Grudge?” He laughed long and hard enough that I regretted saying it. “No, honey. You’ve got it all wrong. I’ve never cared enough about him to have a grudge against him.” His head fell back before he laughed again. I had never wanted to scream, stomp my feet, and pound somebody with my fists so much.

How did he do it?

How did he make me feel so small?

“What is it then?” I almost shouted to be heard over his laughter. “Landon’s got everything. He’s got looks, ambition, and connections. He’s driven.”

He didn’t miss a beat. “Then why has he always wanted what I have?”

It was my turn to laugh, and I didn’t bother trying to hold back. Why would I want to spare his feelings when he seemed to go out of his way to hurt mine? “I knew you had an ego, but this is pathetic,” I managed before laughing again.

He seemed unbothered. “It was a joke with us back at school. I slept with a girl. He slept with that girl. If I dated a girl, he would either wait until I broke up with her, or he would start dating her roommate and compare the girls to each other like he got the better one. Ask Noah if you don’t believe me. He’ll tell you the same thing.”

Right. Like my brother wouldn’t back him up no matter what he said. It was part of their bro code, and they talked about it like it was something that should be respected above all else. “So you think he’s a loser?”

“Yeah. If you want to boil it down, that’s what I think he is.” Folding his arms, he flicked his gaze over me. I wish I could say I didn’t like it or that a shiver didn’t run through me, delicious and a little dangerous. “And I think you’re selling yourself short if you think he’ll be enough for you,” he concluded.

There it was, the most ridiculous assertion of all. “I know what I want. I know what I need. I know who is enough for me. I don’t need you making those decisions.”

“So you really want to be with the bland, boring guy with the cheesy politician smile, huh? That’s your goal in life?”

I held up a finger. “One of my goals. I want a future with someone stable. Landon will give me that.”

All at once, his face went slack for a second, barely long enough to be noticeable before he pulled himself together. It helped that I was staring at him, hardly blinking. I couldn’t miss the shift in his features. “What?” I ventured.

“You want Landon Jones? I can get you Landon Jones.” He stroked his square jaw, and what a shame it seemed like he was laughing at me since he had such a nice, disarming laugh. “I can serve you Landon Jones on a silver platter.”

I did not like the sound of that. Rather than trying to figure him out, I laughed it off. “Right. I’m a little too old for fairy tales.”

“Believe me or don’t. It’s not my problem.” He pretended to check his nails but kept shooting me looks from beneath his brows, silently daring me.

I shouldn’t have entertained his insanity, but there was no ignoring my curiosity. “You mean to tell me you, of all people, can set me up with Landon?”

“That’s right.”

“Like you’re just going to order him up at the deli?” I asked with a disbelieving laugh while turning the idea over in the back of my mind, wondering if it was possible.

“Says the girl who thinks she can make a boyfriend out of a guy just because she decides that’s how she wants it,” he countered with a smirk.

Was he serious? How could he be? What I needed to do was tell him to go, that we would meet up in the morning, and ideally, put all of this behind us. At the moment, it didn’t matter if I never heard Landon’s name again. I wanted this to be over.

I also wanted to know what he thought he could do. “What’s your plan? You’ll put in a good word for me? And what do I have to do in return? Go out with you? Sleep with you?”

His brows drew together, but he shook his head. “No. You don’t have to do that.”

He was being entirely too calm and reasonable about this. Suspicions skittered up my spine and made the hair on the back of my neck lift.

Last chance. Get out while you still can.

No way. I had to know what was going on in that handsome head of his. “What would I have to do?”

The corner of his mouth pulled upward. “Pretend. You only have to pretend we’re dating.”

If anything, I was disappointed. I thought he had more imagination. Landon was supposed to be the boring one. “It is way too early in the day for me to be this tired.” I rubbed my temples and shook my head, trying to laugh it off. “Can we pretend none of this ever happened?”

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