Page 17 of Irresistibly Wild

Me:

Does she want it so we can talk about*you*?

Text from Tatiana:

Probably not.

Me

Then don’t give it to her. Tell her I’m flattered she’s talking about me & I hope to see her at my next fight.

Her name crosses my screen via phone call within seconds.

“Yes, Tati?” I answer.

“It’s ‘Tatiana’ to you.”

For now…

“I don’t understand the problem here.” Her voice sounds even sultrier now than it does in person. “My stepsister is like,actuallyattracted to you.”

“A lot of women are.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Truth hurts.”

“Look.” She pauses. “Not that my stepsister and I are on the best of terms or anything, but she’s a pretty good catch for a guy like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“She’s obsessed with combat sports, gets joy out of bullying complete strangers, and if you ever need someone to hang out with at night—”

“I’ll call and askyou.”

Silence.

“I have a boyfriend, Travis,” she says finally. “I’m one hundred percent unavailable.”

“I’m willing to wait until that changes.”

“What the—” She sucks in a small breath. “Since you’re clearly lacking comprehension skills, my mentioning the boyfriend implies that you don’t stand a chance with me.”

“At this time.” I smile. “If I go out with your stepsister, that permanently ruins my chances, correct?”

“Your chances were ruined the moment you left me that first mean voicemail.”

“I was a different person back then.”

“Your latest message was literally a week ago.”

“That’s still in the past.” I place her on speakerphone and get out of the tub. “If it makes you feel any better, if I’d known what you looked like before now, I would’ve never left any of those messages.”

“The only thing that’ll make me feel better is ending this phone call.”

“Be my guest.”

I wait for her to end it, but the final beeping sound never comes.

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