Page 68 of Date with a Devil
She bit her lip, trying not to let the pleasure show on her face. “I bet women really throw themselves at you after riding in this thing.”
“I don’t have to let them into my car for that,” he said.
At first, she thought he was bragging, but then she saw his smile. It wasn’t a braggart’s smile, no, it was something else, something almost forlorn. It made her curious.
“You mustloveit,” she said, testing him, “all the attention, all the secret notes you get slipped, all these women throwing themselves at you.”
“I did, at first.” He gave a shrug. “It’s gotten pretty old, though. I mean, I’m twenty-seven. Honestly, I kinda expected to have found a decent girl by now.”
Austen stifled a laugh. “Oh? So, you’re just waiting to find a good girl that you can bring home and introduce to your mother?”
“I don’t know. Yeah, maybe?”
“You don’t sound so sure,” she said.
She wasn’t buying it. The pro athlete had everything in life. All he had to do was snap his fingers if he wanted something else. If he wastrulylooking for love, he surely would’ve found it by now.
“Besides, don’t you sleep around a lot?” she asked.
His shoulders sank. “I’m not proud of it.”
“Really? Because it kinda seems like you are.”
“C’mon, I know you think I’m this awful man-whore, but I’m really not.”
She choked back a laugh. “You tried to fuck me last night, Dane.”
“Well, yeah,” he said. “But that’s different.”
“How?”
“I—I can’t really explain it.”
“Just last week, you had an enormous hickey on your neck.”
“Yeah, but nothing happened between us.”
“So some girl that youtotallyweren’t interested in just so happened to be sucking at your neck before you turned her down.”
“Yeah. I took the boys out to a club in New York. The boys got with a bunch of her friends, and she wanted to take me home. But I wasn’t interested in her. I turned her down.”
“Uh-huh.”
He sighed. “I know it sounds ridiculous. If I were you, I wouldn’t believe me, either. But I’m telling you, that’s the truth.”
“Whoa. That’s scary. You soundexactlylikeChad right now. That’s the same shit he would say whenever I caught him cheating, verbatim.”
“Hey, let’s get one thing straight,” he said, sounding stern. “I’mnotyour ex-boyfriend. Okay? I understand that guy hurt you, but you gotta stop putting that on other people. One day you’re going to meet a decent guy who likes you, and you’re gonna scare him away with that jealousy crap. It’s not fair, Austen.”
No one had ever called her out like that. Her cheeks burned red-hot with embarrassment and shame—she felt like a schoolgirl, scolded after she’d been caught doing something bad. She thought she should be offended, and so she tried to summon some outrage … but none came. Because deep down, she knew he was right.
After a long and tense silence, Dane quietly apologized. “Sorry. It’s not my place to say that.”
“No. You’re absolutely right.I’msorry.”
“No,” he said, dejected. “You’re probably right. I bet Iamjust like Chad. We sound similar enough. I’m a popular jock asshole. I use women. I sleep around. Hell, I probablywould’vefucked that girl in New York if she hadn’t said something that pissed me off. Who am I to act all righteous?”
She didn’t know what to say. Maybe they werebothright about each other.
