Page 29 of Anti Player

“You don’t need to thank me, Kaleb. I really hate shitty people.” She pulls her hand away. She is clearly not feeling what I’m feeling and it’s a damn shame, because my body is burning for her in a way I’ve never felt before.

“Me too. She went a little crazy on our date tonight. She must have assumed you told me what happened, although I don’t know why she thought I would agree to meet with her after she said she was going out with me for my money,” I say.

Maddie stretches her legs in front of her and I take in their length, the slender shape of her figure. Her legs are long and lean. I lick my lips.

“All done,” she says of her beer and then she stands.

“You want another?” I offer. I don’t feel like I can get to bed now. I’m feeling so worked up.

“I should really go. You really don’t want me here for an extended period of time. I seem to fall in love easily. I could just fall in love with you by talking to you here on this beautiful balcony.” She laughs sarcastically.

“That wouldn’t be such a bad thing, would it?” I ask, standing too.

She freezes.

“I’m joking, relax,” I say because I don’t need to scare her off. This woman has always had my back and tonight she stood up for me too.

“Okay,” she giggles. “I wasn’t joking. I fall too easy. I’m terrified because I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I keep messing up.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, beautiful.” I place a stray hair behind her ear. It’s such an odd gesture for me. She’s theuntouchable Mad Pie, I should be keeping my hands to myself, only I can’t.

Her blue eyes hold mine. My heart begins to beat differently.

“You aren’t broken in any way,” I assure her. “You’ve just been with all the wrong men.”

“I don’t believe that,” she refutes. “I literally don’t think I can be with a guy without falling in love.”

“Maybe it isn’t love you’ve been feeling. Maybe it’s been attachment,” I suggest.

“Are you psychoanalyzing me, Bardot?” She giggles.

“I’ve psychoanalyzed my own life enough to know there is a reason I am still a virgin,” I say. Standing this close to her, feeling the warmth of her body so close, her breath so close makes me want to close the few inches we have between us and kiss the hell out of her. It makes me want to take her to bed and make love to her. The words in my mind are jarring. I never feel this. . . whatever it is. . .I’ve never wanted to go that far before.

“Why are you a virgin?” she asks timidly, and I watch her throat bob as she swallows.

“I don’t trust relationships. I saw too many men come in and out of my mother’s life. My relationship with my father scarred me in some way. I wasn’t good enough for him. I had too many people make fun of me as a kid that trust doesn’t come easy for me. There’s a grocery list of why I am the way I am.”

She reaches out and touches my shoulder. “You’ve always been the most handsome boy I know. The kindest boy. Your father was a jerk, and those kids were idiots. They didn’t see what I saw.” She freezes.

The heat between us is too much. I’m wound so tight I feel like a rope that has a lighter burning beneath it.

“What’s happening, Maddie?” I ask because I want to kiss the hell out of her and I feel like I don’t have any self-control.

“I don’t know, but we can’t do whatever it is we’re feeling. I’ll fall in love with you and that’s the last thing either of us needs. Besides, I like you. I don’t want you to be on Brett’s hit list.”

She pulls her hand away and heads back into my apartment. My head is spinning so it takes me a moment to follow her. She gets to the door.

“Maddie?” I ask, confused. Did she just tell me that she wants me? Is she feeling this too?

“I better get back to Brett’s,” she says quickly. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Come back again tomorrow,” I say, knowing I am pushing my luck.

She pauses and her lip curls in the corner. “When did you become a daredevil?”

She seems excited. “I’m not a daredevil, but I’m not willing to walk away from whatever I’m feeling.”

“We can’t go there, Kaleb,” she warns. “It’s called sexual attraction and it’s dangerous.”

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