Page 200 of One Bad Idea

Afterward, as he cradled me in his arms, I couldn't resist saying, "You owe me, you know."

"Oh yeah? What?"

"Well," I began, "I toldyouall sorts of things, so you should tellmesomething in return."

With a smile in his voice, he asked, "Like what?"

"I'm not sure," I said. "Something that I don't know."

"Alright," he said, smoothing a stray lock of hair from my face, "you remember when we met?"

"How could I forget?" I laughed. "You were awful."

"Yeah. And you wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"Because," he said, "you were so fucking cute."

I made a sound of exasperation. "Cute? Not hardly."

"You were, too," he said with a laugh. "You looked like you wanted to kick my ass. It was so fucking adorable, it scared the shit out of me."

"I wasnotadorable," I protested. "I was a mess."

"Yeah, a hot mess." His voice warmed. "Shit, I wanted to gather you up and take you home."

"But youwerehome."

"Yeah, and I left the door open, didn't I?"

"Oh sure, to torment me." I gave him a playful swat to the shoulder. "Like that whole thing about you and Jax taking turns with Cassidy. You were such an ass."

"Eh, that was bullshit," he said. "Something to get a rise out of you."

"Well, you certainly did that."

"Yeah, and I'll be doing it again." With playful doom in his voice, he added. "For years."

Now, I couldn’t help but giggle. "You promise?"

To my infinite delight, he did.

Chapter 75

We were still lying naked in my bed when I heard the door to the apartment open and then slam shut a moment later.

I tensed. "Oh, crap."

"If that's another guy," Jaden teased, "he's about to get his ass kicked."

"Oh, stop it," I whispered. "Youknowwho it is. She must've gotten off work early."

For weeks now, I'd been wanting to tell Cassidy about me and Jaden. And yet, I'd kept putting it off – sometimes to spare her the worry, and sometimes, if I were being totally honest, because I wasn't quite sure how to break it to her.

After all, shestillthought I hated him.

And now, I didn't know what to do.