Page 17 of The Playboy’s Playbook

Chapter Thirteen

MATT

I kissed Laila. Fucking finally. Now that I’ve had a taste, I don’t think I can go without another one. She’s everything I dreamed she would be and more.

Her lips were soft and she tasted so sweet, I felt myself getting a sugar rush. She’s my new bad habit…or more like a good habit because she’s too good for me.

Once the fireworks show ended, we went back inside and put Nola to bed in her kennel before making our way to Laila’s bedroom. She’s laying on my chest and I have my arms wrapped around her.

I’ve never felt this secure with anybody before. I’ve laid next to plenty of women, but I wasn’t too big on cuddling with them. None of them have made me feel safe like Laila does. I close my eyes and feel myself starting to relax.

“Matty,” Laila says, sleep evident in her voice. I hum in response, sleep threatening to take over for me, too.

“Before we go too far, is there anything I need to know?” she asks.

Part of me knew that this was coming, but I was hoping that I’d have more time with her first. More time to show her the person I am today so when I do tell her about my charges and arrest, she won’t feel like she’s with a complete stranger.

“Let’s go to bed.” I press a kiss to her temple, ignoring her question.

She turns in my arms and looks at me with her big, beautiful brown eyes. Her hair falls over her shoulder and the ends tickle at my chest. It takes everything in me to not steal a million kisses from her.

“Is there anything I need to know?” she asks again, her voice serious.

“Lala,” I try again. “Can we please go to bed?”

She stares at me, considering my answer. I can tell she wants to push the question, but she doesn’t. She nods her head and turns over on her side with her back facing me. I cuddle closer to her, wrapping my arm around her to keep her close to me, and soon her breathing evens out.

I notice her hair is still in a ponytail, so I loosen the hair tie and head to her bathroom in search of her head scarf to wrap her hair.

Once I find a spare one in her bathroom, I return to the bed and gently wrap her hair.

I quietly play a video tutorial on how to do it, but I’m still not sure if I did it correctly.

I make a mental note to practice and watch more videos for the next time we fall asleep.

I hear Nola’s tiny whimpers from her kennel in the living room, so I let her outside so she can use the bathroom.

Once she’s done, I pick her up and carry her to the bedroom and place her on the other side of Laila.

I’m not sure if Nola’s allowed on the bed, but something tells me that Laila won’t mind.

Once I lay back down and cuddle closer to Laila, sleep takes over and I fall asleep with a beautiful girl wrapped in my arms and Nola’s soft snores filling the room.

The sunlight peeks through the curtains in Laila’s room and I stir awake. Nola jumps over to me and sniffs my face. I smile and pet her behind her ear and unwrap myself from the covers. I pick up Nola and take her outside again to use the bathroom, praying that I’m not messing up her routine.

Nola finishes and walks back to me. I open the door gently and we enter the house again, careful not to make any noises as we head into the kitchen. I peek back into Laila’s room and see she’s still sleeping. I can tell that she’s not a morning person.

“Where does your mom keep your food, Nola?” I ask the puppy as if she can respond. I open up the pantry and find no such luck in finding a bag of dog food. Nola paws at her food bowl, the small dish clinking slightly with her movements.

“It’s in the cart,” Laila’s soft voice calls behind me. I turn to her and feel my cheeks heat up.

“Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you. Nola and I were already up,” I say sheepishly.

“It’s okay. Thank you for taking her outside and for getting her food,” she smiles softly. I return the smile and turn to the cart and open it. I scoop some food into Nola’s food bowl and fill her water bowl.

Nola waits and looks at me and Laila, waiting for one of us to release her to her food bowl.

Laila nods and Nola dives head-first into her bowl, almost drowning in her food.

Laila’s sitting on a barstool on the island, her hair no longer wrapped or hanging loosely in a ponytail.

It falls behind her, soft curls framing her face.

“You wrapped my hair last night,” she says, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

I chuckle and grin. “Did I overstep?”

Laila shakes her head. “Not at all. Thank you.”

I walk around the island and turn Laila to face me and press a soft kiss to her lips. She pulls back immediately and I already know what she’s going to ask.

I nod my head and lean my forehead against hers. “I know.”

“You didn’t want to answer me last night, but I just have this feeling that you’re hiding something from me.” She stands and walks to the living room, sitting on the cream-colored couch.

I follow and sit next to her, turning my body towards her. I look deeply into her eyes and see her mind running a thousand miles a minute. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, thinking about my answer wisely. I pull a chapter from her book and ask the question she asked me at Brody’s.

“What do you want to know?”