Page 182 of How to Win the Girl

“I didn’t come here to get my rocks off. I’m here because I just watched the video of you and your friend on our porch, creepin’ in the windows.”

Shannon blinks, smile fading.

It takes her a minute for the words to register in her brain.

The tone of my voice.

“I…just wanted to know if you were home.”

At least she doesn’t deny it, though, it’s kind of hard to when I have the whole thing caught on camera.

“I wasn’t home.” I shift on my heels and cross my arms, closed off to this conversation.

“Well you’re here now! You should come in.” She pauses. “I missed you.”

Whoa.

Whoa, whoa, no.

No, no.

She missed me?

What the fuck bullshit is that.

She tries reaching for me again, but I step back, out of her reach.

Her brow furrows. “Come inside and let me make you feel good.”

“I didn’t come here to sleep with you. I came over because I was pissed you came to my house without an invitation.”

I know I sound like an asshole but too bad.

“I just told you. I came by because I miss you. That’s not a crime.” Her hands are planted on her hips, and I look down at her fingers—and the long, white talons she calls fingernails. “We should go out.”

And there it is.

“We’re not going out.” Ever.

“Why? I thought you liked me.”

“No, I was fucking you. Those two things are not mutually exclusive.”

Shannon laughs. “That’s not true. I know you like me. I know you said you don’t want to be in a relationship, but I know you like me. We can figure it out.”

Is she dense?

“Shannon. We were just fucking.”

Her mouth falls open. “Okay, now you’re being a dick.”

Her words do not faze me.

“No, I was being a dick before. You just weren’t listenin’.”

Shannon reconsiders her strategy. “I was listening. Did it occur to you that maybe I was hoping you’d change your mind?”

That makes me laugh. “What made you think I would change my mind?”

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