Page 128 of Heartless Stepbrother

She laughed lightly. “Sorry. Was that rude? I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just… he doesn’t usually bring people.”

“I’m not ‘brought,’” I said, maybe a little too fast. “We’re not—he’s not—“

Malia held up both hands, still smiling. “Hey, hey. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant he’s usually a lone-wolf type atthese things. Or he shows up with Jake and vanishes ten minutes later.”

That tracked.

She took a sip of water, then nudged her shoulder in the direction of the group behind us.

“You seem… surprisingly calm.”

I blinked. “Calm?”

She nodded, grinning. “Most girls around him either faint, cry, or start plotting how to climb him like a tree.”

My face heated instantly.

Fantastic. Exactly what I needed. Someone pointing out the fact that Riley had an entire gravitational field of admirers.

Malia saw my expression and laughed again, gentle this time. “Sorry. I swear I’m not making fun of you. I just… didn’t expect someone to handle him like that.”

“Like what?”

She tilted her head at me. “Like he doesn’t scare you.”

I swallowed.

Because he did scare me.

Just… not in the way people probably meant.

“I’m not scared of him,” I said.

I hoped it sounded convincing.

Malia’s eyes softened with something like understanding. “Good. Don’t be. That’s when he gets bored. Riley likes people who push back.”

I nearly dropped my bottle.

“What?”

She shrugged casually. “He’s complicated. But you probably figured that out.”

Understatement of the century.

I stole a glance back toward Riley without meaning to.

He was still surrounded by people. Two guys, a cluster of girls, Jake leaning over someone’s phone. But his eyes…

His eyes were on me.

Watching.

Tracking.

Amused.

Like he knew exactly what I was doing.