Kissing the Player - Maggie Dallen Page 0,30

her head to the side, but her gaze said she was about as curious and eager as a lamp post to hear what I had to say. Two seconds ago she’d been all over me, kissing me and thanking me, and now?

She was like a marionette who’d been set to the side.

Beautiful but lifeless.

“Uh…” I almost lost my swagger in the face of her apathy. I gave my head a little shake. This chick was messing with my head—and we hadn’t even started dating yet.

The girl was dangerous. Clearly.

But nothing I couldn’t handle, right? After our last hookup, I knew what I was getting into. Diva with a capital D. A girl who only cared about looks and what she could get from a guy.

And me?

I had a lot to give.

“We should go together,” I said, sliding beside her so her tomboy friend was cut out of the conversation and we were talking privately.

“We should?” Rose sounded…confused. “Why?”

I spit out the first rational explanation I could think of. “Because Ryan will be there, and I’m guessing he’ll be there with a girl.”

She stared at me. “So?”

I arched my brows in surprise. Not even a flicker of jealousy there. Of course there wasn’t.

Jealousy would require feelings.

I gave an exaggerated sigh of exasperation as I lowered my voice and leaned in toward her. “Okay, then go with me for my sake…”

She arched her brow like she was still clueless. More like, she just wanted me to stroke her huge ego.

Fine. If that was what it took, that’s what I’d do.

“I want to be seen with the most beautiful girl in our school.”

Her eyes glinted with laughter—a look I hadn’t seen in ages—then she stuck her bottom lip out with a pout. “Only the most beautiful girl in school?”

I choked on a laugh because…I’d almost forgotten how much she liked to tease. “The most beautiful girl in the world. On the planet.” I leaned in farther and lowered my voice to a growl. “The most beautiful girl in the universe.”

Her laugh was a low husky sound and the air between us seemed to grow a million times hotter as she turned her head to face me, our lips less than an inch apart.

“Is that better?” I teased.

She nodded. “That’ll do.”

She walked away and this time I didn’t try to stop her. “Pick you up at eight?”

She spun around—an amazing feat in and of itself since she was wearing sharp, pointed heels. “I’ll meet you there.”

Her grin was huge, her eyes dancing with laughter and warmth and…

Crap.

She’d done it again.

She’d gotten the last word and left me gaping like an idiot.

I turned to find Simone watching me with a little grimace of distaste.

“What?” I said. “Spit it out.”

She shook her head with a sigh, already turning to head back inside. “I’m not saying a word.”

I trailed after her. “I got a date,” I felt the need to point out.

She gave a snort of amusement as she shook her head and muttered under her breath. “You got something, all right.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

She ignored me.

I kept following her down the hallway, even though my next class was in the opposite direction. “I totally had her eating out of the palm of my hand.”

Simone stopped so quickly I almost ran into her. “Let’s recap, shall we?” She lifted a hand and ticked items off on her fingers. “You just signed up to be in a kissing booth to help her raise money for the theater department. You offered up your band to play—your band which she’s never heard of.” She made that a separate finger. “And she did it all without even having to say please.” Simone cocked her head to the side. “From where I’m standing it looks like she’s got you wrapped around her little finger.” She arched her brows meaningfully. “Again.”

I flinched because her words hit home, probably because…crap, she was sort of right.

Had I really agreed to be in a kissing booth?

I scrubbed a hand over my face and tried again. “You’re missing the point here.”

“And what point was that?”

I jabbed a finger toward the exit where we’d left Rose.

Or rather…where she’d walked away from me.

“I scored a date.”

Simone winced in feigned regret. “Did you? Because from what I saw, Rose agreed to go to a party that she was already planning on going to.”

“We’re going together,” I said, my voice annoyingly sharp, because…crap. Was Simone right?

“You’re meeting her there,” Simone said, her tone irritatingly bland. Like she knew she was