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“Why do you have to be so…?”

“Handsome?” I scoffed as I checked the final bedroom. The pink bedspread made me believe that the room was hers. Unbidden, my eyes latched on to one of the pictures pinned to the wall above her bed. It showed Bianaca and Beau with their arms around each other, standing in front of a stereotypical Italian restaurant. Both of them wore matching grins on their faces.

The familiar claws of jealousy stabbed at me as I glared at the tiny square photo.

“Is that where he took you on a date?” I asked, pointing to the brick restaurant behind them.

She snorted. “We never dated, Aiden. We were just friends when this picture was taken.”

I didn’t miss the past tense way she described their friendship. A demented part of me, a part I wanted to cut out of my body and kill, wanted to know if they were still friends or if their relationship had progressed to something other, something more. But I had the distinct feeling that it would open up an entire can of worms I wasn’t ready to deal with yet. Yet there were hundreds and hundreds of questions I yearned to ask. What was going on between her and Tanner? Her and Kace?

Yeah. Not today, Satan. Not to-fucking-day.

“Where would you take me on a date?” she inquired casually, and my heart jolted, speeding up before stuttering to an abrupt halt.

“Why do you want to know?” I asked, quirking a pierced brow. “Do you really think I would ever date you?”

“Humor me, asshole.” She moved to sit on her bed, tugging a pillow into her arms and resting her chin on top of it.

While I got my thoughts in order, I gave the room another once-over. All and all, it appeared to be a normal teenage girl’s room. The bedspread was a bright pink with black stripes, and the carpeting was an eggshell white. The closet door was slightly ajar, revealing numerous dresses and shirts of all colors. A desk rested against the far wall, consisting of nothing but a few textbooks and framed photos of her and a woman I could only assume was her mom. I saw none of her dad or her step-family.

“Where’s your dad?” my big mouth blurted out before I could think better of it.

“Died. Before I was born.” She spoke those words without any inflection, as if she were reciting a fact from one of those anatomy textbooks. I wondered if she knew how callous she was being, though I suspected she didn’t give a damn. After all, she didn’t know the man who’d donated his sperm.

“Sorry,” I responded gruffly.

She waved away my words. “It’s okay. Now, you never answered my question.”

“About?”

“About our date. Where would you take me?”

I threw my head back in dry laughter before I could stop myself. This girl was fucking ridiculous sometimes, and I kind of loved it.

“Are you being serious?”

“Deadly.” She patted the mattress until I reluctantly moved to sit beside her, making sure to keep my feet off the comforter. I held myself rigidly, a marionette controlled by taut strings, until she shoved at my shoulders. “Don’t look so fucking terrified, Aiden. It’s not a good look on you.”

I whirled my head around to glare at her. “I’m not fucking terrified.”

She simply shrugged, seemingly unconvinced. “Sure seems like you are to me.”

My hands curled in my lap with the effort it took to restrain myself from forcing her over my knee and spanking her. Fuck, she drove me wild.

“You want to know where I would take you on this anti-date?”

“Yes, please.” She flashed me a coy smile, one that instantly made my dick harden in my pants.

“You would fucking hate it,” I warned her. “I would make sure you did.”

“Oh would you?” Her eyes sparkled at our banter, and I had to bite down on my lip to stop my own answering smile from unfurling on my lips.

Fuck, retreat, Aiden. Fuck!

I needed to get out of here as fast as humanly possible, yet I couldn’t make myself move. It was as if she had her own magnetic force field that I was helpless to resist, one that repeatedly drew me into her orbit.

“First, I would insist you wear the most hideous dress I could find.”