Page 50 of Mad As Hell

I frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.” He gave me a tight smile. “I just don’t think Charlie-boy is the friend you need.”

“I don’t think you get to tell me what my needs are anymore,” I snapped back.

His gaze heated as he thumbed his lower lip. “Even if I still know what you need?”

God, that look. It was all I could do not to press my thighs together in a shallow attempt to relieve the sharp ache between them.

The dimple that flashed as his smile grew only confirmed he knew exactly where my brain had gone.

I needed therapy. So much therapy.

“No,” I blurted out.

His head tilted to the side in amusement. “No?”

I cleared my throat. “No, you don’t know what I need.”

Except that he just might.

Shit.

He made a low sound in the back of his throat that sent all sorts of flashbacks zipping through my head.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I snapped, his gaze feeling like a caress as it stroked over my heated skin.

“Stop looking so gorgeous,” he returned, licking his lips.

“I’m going to dance,” I announced, flustered and thrown off my original game plan. “With Charles.”

All amusement vanished from his face, replaced with a scowl. “Seriously, Mads?”

“Yes, seriously,” I replied coolly. “Charles is a friend. I can dance with my friends.”

“Dance with Bex then,” he replied, shaking his head. “Not that walking condom.”

An unexpected laugh burst from me. “What?”

“Calling him a dick would be insulting to dicks,” Ryan explained with an indifferent shrug.

“You don’t even know him.” I wasn’t entirely sure why I was pushing this issue so hard. Maybe because I wanted to prove that Ryan didn’t control me. Maybe to get back at him in the only way I could.

Maybe because I was a total masochist.

If Ryan ground his teeth any harder, he would need dentures before the night was over. I took a sick sense of smug satisfaction in knowing that I was driving him nuts.

“Goddamn it, Maddie,” he seethed, eyes flashing again with warning.

I was tap dancing across his nerves and loving every second of it. Even if he looked ready to snap.

Swallowing my growing unease, I lifted a brow. “What’s the matter, Ryan? Don’t you trust me?”

He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth as I threw that gauntlet down. A second later, his eyes narrowed. “You’re playing with fire, baby.”

I glanced down at my skimpy outfit. “I am a little cold. Fire might be what I need to warm up.”

He simply stared at me, the darkness in his eyes a bottomless void of some emotion I couldn’t name.

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