Page 27 of You're so Bad

“Fat chance.”

Still leaning back like that, he says, “I’m helping you because I decided I want to be the kind of person who helps people instead of ruining everything. That’s why. If you don’t believe me, that’s okay. I can understand why you wouldn’t.”

“But you’re not just doing this for emotional support. You want to mess with them.”

He gives me a grin that lights up his face and makes his eyes crease. It’s the kind of grin only a statue could look at without grinning back, and I’m no statue. He grabs one of my french fries and eats it, and I find myself watching his throat bob and taking in the slight curl of his hair at the nape of his neck. There’s a tingle of something again. “Sure. I might want to be a better man, but I’ll never be a saint.”

It’s impossible not to smile. Still, I figure I’m doing okay on the self-control front given the dirty things I suddenly want to do to him.

ChapterEight

Leonard

“You going to steal more of my fries?” Shauna asks.

Her tone tells me it’s a dare, so even though I don’t actually want more, I grab two.

She shakes her head but doesn’t seem all that annoyed.

“I don’t know anything about you,” she reflects.

“You don’t need to know anything about me,” I say through the fries, rewarded by her grimace. “It’s Leonard the pediatric surgeon you need to know. Seeing as he’s fictional, feel free to be generous. Especially when talking about his dick.”

She gives me a smartass look. “So you need me to be generous?”

“Fuck no.” I rock back in the chair just because she told me not to. The expression on her face says she knows it, but hell, someone needs to get her to lighten up. “But I don’t have a twelve-inch schlong, and it would be pretty funny if Dr. Leonard did. I’ll bet old Colter would get a complex about that.”

She shrugs her head to her shoulder, then smirks and says, “My grandmother says it’s best to stay close to the truth when you’re lying about things.”

“It’s close enough,” I say, and her smirk widens into a smile. “Besides, you’re better off not knowing about most of the stuff in my life.”

“Oh?”

“Oh. So, where’d we meet?”

“What if we say we met at the gym I worked at? You look like you workout.”

“Checking out the goods, were you?” She heaves a sigh that makes me laugh, then I add, “When’d you stop working there?”

“A few months ago. We can say we’ve been keeping it quiet for a while.”

“Sure,” I say, but I don’t want to commit to it. It’s a boring story, and I’ve decided she’s going to have a good time at these wedding events. We’re going to show Milk Toast what an idiot he is for tossing her away. That’s what Constance calls the chump, and it’s got a certain ring to it.

“Sure, you’re going to go along with it, or sure you’re trying to change the subject?” she asks, staring at me with those amber eyes, just like a tiger’s.

I wonder if she’d scratch me during sex.

“What are you thinking about right now?” she asks with plenty of accusation.

Busted.

When you’re caught, you might as well be honest, so I say, “You scratching your nails down Dr. Leonard’s back like a good tiger.”

Her frown turns into a full-on glower, which is probably why I pick that moment to tip the chair back too far. It falls, and my head hits the floor. It fucking hurts.

I hear Shauna swear and then scurry around the desk. She leans in close, and there’s no denying it’s a helluva view with her T-shirt gaping enough to show me her tits, cupped in a neon purple bra.

“Did you break yourself?”

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