Page 39 of Truth or Tequila (Grand Slam 1)

“Do you want me to move my hand?”

“Yes,” I say, still looking at it, “but also no. And that’s a perfectly legitimate answer.”

He smiles. “Okay, I’m going to honor the ‘no’ for right now, but if you start leaning toward ‘yes’ just move my hand. No need to knock me to the floor this time, okay?”

“No promises.”

He laughs and shakes his head. “You’re a really confusing mix of fierce and sweet.”

“They’re not mutually exclusive. I can be both.”

“And you definitely are. I’m just never sure which one I’m going to get.”

I shrug. “Yeah, you know, right back at you. You have a lot of alpha male bullshit going on, but you can be really sweet, too.”

“If by ‘alpha male bullshit’ you mean that I’m protective, yeah, I’m definitely protective of the people I care about, and that’s starting to include you.”

“Seb—”

“No,” he says, squeezing my hand one more time before he lets it go. “You can’t tell me who to care about. You don’t have to return it, but I definitely care about you. For some reason, it started the second I met you. That doesn’t happen a lot.”

“I talked to Liza Murray yesterday,” I say, not looking at him.

He takes a deep breath. “I thought maybe that was it. Did she tell you I was the one who asked that she be removed from the clubhouse?”

“No, but I figured you were. She told me to watch out for you.”

His jawline tightens. “I did ask for her to be removed, but not for the reasons you think.”

“What reasons do I think?”

“Well, it damn sure wasn’t because she’s a woman. C’mon, Soph. I’m not that guy. I don’t care about any of that. If people can do the job, they can do the job. It doesn’t matter what sex they are.”

“Then why did you ask for her to be removed?”

He rubs his hands over his face. “I can’t tell you. I wish I could, but I can’t.”

I sink down in the seat and whisper, “Did you sleep with her?”

He spins his head back to me. “No! God, no. Seriously?”

“Well—”

He puts his hand up to stop me as he sinks down to my eye level. “Look, I know we just met, but you have to trust me. I was the one who asked for her to be removed. You can tell anyone you want. I don’t care anymore. If it makes me look like an asshole, fine. The team can trade me if it’s that big of a deal. I’m not worried about what they think of me, but I do care what you think. I’m not sexist. I didn’t sleep with her. I had a good reason, but I can’t tell you why. I hope you can trust me. Or at least quit looking at me like I’m the devil. Can we get back to a friendlier tone?”

“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “Thanks for telling me you were the one who made the request. It makes my job easier. Maybe I can wrap this up earlier than I thought.”

“Good. And maybe after you quit working here, you’ll start returning my texts.”

I turn toward him. His face is inches from mine. His eyes have turned hungry. They’re fixed on my lips. He’s so close I can feel his breath on my face. As his exhales turn into soft pants, I feel a tingling sensation spread between my legs.

“We’ll see,” I manage to get out before I sit up and turn quickly toward the window again.

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