Page 76 of Mad Love

Penn snorts and the look I give him shuts him down.

“No, I didn’t say that. Did you not hear me say she said it can’t happen again? Why would I push it after that?”

“So she knows how you feel. That you’re not just wanting to get laid. She might’ve thought that kiss was just you scratching an itch or that you’re just horny…” Henley sighs.

“If it was just that, I’d have gone out and gotten laid by now.” I shove back from the table and put my hands in my hair. “Fuck yeah, I wanna get laid. But so what. I’m a grown-ass man. It’s notthe worst thing in the world. But whatis, is the fact that I can’t stop thinking abouther. We say goodnight and I miss her the second I go to my room. I can’t wait to see her every morning. When she sees Caleb for the first time every day, something weird happens in my chest. When she laughs at something Caleb does or something I say, my stomach does somersaults. I work out for hours and it doesn’t do anything to lessen this—” I rub the place on my chest where it aches.

When I look at the guys again, they’re staring at me in a combination of shock and amusement.

“You need to wine and dine her.” Henley holds his arms out wide and announces, “Our boy is in love, guys.”

“No,” Penn gasps.

I point at him. “Agreed. I’m not in love. I’m just…I’d like her to take me seriously and maybe go out with me sometime and…oh, fuck. Am I?”

I lower my elbows to my knees and my head drops as I try to focus on breathing in and out.

“Are you hyperventilating?” Penn asks. “Who even are you right now?”

“I don’t know,” I moan. I point at them. “We keep this between us. Not another word about it.”

Rhodes pats The Single Dad Playbook lying in the middle of the table and nods sagely.

“We are the vault. What happens with us, stays with us,” he says.

Everyone piles their hands on the notebook and I put mine on top.

“What are you going to do?” Bowie asks.

“I’m going to pretend this isn’t happening,” I say.

Rhodes groans. “Didn’t you hear Henley? You need to wine and dine her. Tell her you only want her. You’re wasting valuable time. We’ll be training soon. You won’t have all day for thisthen. You’ll be at practice wishing you could have sex with her and these mugs will not be staring back at you in sympathy.” He points at his face and everyone else’s. “No, we will look at you like,why didn’t you listen to us when we told you flat out what to do?” He shakes his head. “Pretend this isn’t happening. Shit. I’m with Penn on this. Who even are you right now?”

“I’m trying to be considerate of her feelings. To respect what she said…and give her time to heal,” I say quietly.

Fuck. I am falling in love with her.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

A BOOK THIS PRETTY

SADIE

“Hey, how’s it going over there?” Weston asks.

“We’ve almost got everything boxed up,” I say.

“Do you need me to come get a load?”

“No, my parents have been taking things to Goodwill all day and everything else will fit in my car for now. My dad just went to grab takeout for us and I think Caleb and I will get on the road in an hour or so.”

“Okay, sounds good. I might go eat at Bowie’s with the guys if you’re taken care of.”

My chest squeezes. I try not to make it mean anything more than what it is. Weston is a genuinely kind person. He looks out for people, and since I’m taking care of his son, he looks out for me now. He also drops In-N-Out off for the security team at the house if he’s close to one because he knows they love it.

“They’ve been griping at me for ignoring them,” he adds.

“Tell them I said hello.”

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