Page 52 of Risky Play

“I won’t.”

He walked off, and I got dressed. Benny gave me a nod in confidence as I walked out. I called a car and headed to West Philly. I needed to set things right with Maddie. I had to lay out all my cards for her. If she only wanted me so she could lose her virginity, we could go back to being friends. That would be totally fine. Even if I didn’t like it.

I cringed at the rates for the rideshare app but did it anyway because she was worth it. When I got out of the car and walked up to her dorm, I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. I should have called her—I didn’t even know if she was home. She could be out with another guy. Jealousy clawed up inside me at that thought.

Turned out I didn’t have to worry about any of that because as I approached the high-rise building she lived in, I saw her with a tall blonde and petite brunette. The three of them laughed as they stumbled down the sidewalk.

Her pretty mouth slid down into a frown when she saw me. “Matt?”

“Hey, sweet pea.”

“Oh, it’s the guy!” the blonde exclaimed. She had her arm around the other brunette, and they looked a little tipsy. That explained the stumbling.

“We’ll be going now,” the brunette said. “Good luck, Mads.”

“Hope you get it in!” the blonde cackled.

Maddie clenched her jaw and glared at her friends. The two girls waved goodbye and then took off, drunkenly stumbling along together. Maybe tonight wasn’t such a good night to say all this to Maddie.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m mad at you.”

I sighed. “Can we talk?”

“Fine,” she snapped and spun on her heel toward her dorm.

I followed as she scanned her ID and opened the door to her building. Tension as thick as fog wrapped around us while we stood in the elevator, waiting to go up to her floor. She made big strides once we were on her floor, and if my legs weren’t so long, I might not have been able to keep up with her.

She kicked off her boots in her room, and I shut the door behind us.

“I know I said it was just sex and nothing would change, but it hurt when you left without saying anything,” she said.

I crossed the room to her and framed her face in my hands. She looked up at me, her eyes searching my own, but the words weren’t coming out. I had so many things I wanted to say to her, but I felt frozen. So I did the only thing I could think of—I slanted my mouth on hers.

She flinched at first, but then she slid her hands around my neck and leaned into me. I angled her head and kissed her deeper, sliding my hands down her sides until they rested on her hips.

Kissing her made me forget all the reasons I came here tonight. All the things I wanted to say melted out of my brain when her lips were on mine again. It was like I forgot all my worries when she was in my arms.

I slid my tongue across the seams of her lips, and she opened to me. Our tongues battled, and she moaned into my mouth as the kiss got heated. Until I hiked her up into my arms and deposited her on the bed.

The sight of her on her back brought the memories of last night rushing back into my brain. “Maddie…”

“C’mere,” she purred, crooking her finger at me.

“I… We need to talk first.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Sweet pea. I…”

Her eyes blazed at me. “You’re the one who kissed me. If you didn’t want to lead me on, you shouldn’t have done that.”

I crawled onto the bed beside her and kissed her again, softening her resolve. I pulled away and rubbed a thumb across her cheek. “I need to know we both want this.”

“Of course I do.”

I pointed between the two of us. “No. I need to… I really like you.”

She nodded slowly, processing the words. “I like you too.”