Third Chances (Men Of Manhattan #2) - Ivy Smoak Page 0,27

I liked it. Her palm felt warm against mine. Almost...sweaty? I tried to look at her face but she turned away. She was nervous. Which was incredibly cute. She seemed so confident and feisty out by the pool. I was used to girls bending over backward to be with me. But this girl was different. She was putting up a good fight. Her body was giving off so many tells it wasn't even fair, though. She didn't seem to realize how obvious it was that she wanted me. It just made her even cuter. Since when was I attracted to cute? I shook away the thought and tightened my fingers around hers.

She looked down at our hands and then up at me. "Why won't you let your brother talk to his fianc茅e?"

"Are you going to pester me about this too? Look, I know Penny. She's fine. She worries about him. That's all. If something was really wrong, I'd let him talk to her. I'm not a monster. Besides, I already talked to her last night. And left her a note. She's just used to talking to him every day."

"You care about her." She said it in a way like she was surprised. Maybe even shocked.

"Yeah. Of course I do. She's going to be my little sister."

Daphne shrugged. "I've just found that guys like you usually only care about themselves."

"I wouldn't have pegged you as someone that would judge a book by its cover."

"I'm not. And I wouldn't. I'm not just judging you based on your six pack and perfect tan." She flushed slightly. "We've interacted. You forced me to put sunscreen all over you and got a hard on. And then you tricked me into making out with you in front of a bunch of people. That's what I was judging you based on. And all the super suggestive things that come out of your mouth. You do it so naturally that you must do it all the time. Which means that either you're a player or you're afraid of commitment or both."

"Maybe I just haven't found the right person yet." I wasn't sure why I had said it. It just kind of spilled out. I didn't want to be a player. I didn't want people to label me that way. And I wasn't afraid of commitment. I actually wanted something more than a one night thing. Am I just waiting for the right person?

She pushed her lips to one side as if she was biting the inside of her cheek. "That's something that a player would say to get a good girl into bed."

I laughed. "And what about you then?"

"What about me?"

"You clearly don't know how to let loose and have fun. Your friends put those bracelets on you and forced you to buy this bikini because you probably dress the same way you act." I pulled a price sticker off the back of her bathing suit bottom.

She pressed her lips together.

"And I'm guessing that you're a serial monogamist if you have such issues with the way I live. But despite that, you haven't found the right guy yet. You've done everything right, but your friends are the ones that keep getting engaged and married and you feel like you're slipping behind. I bet you have a checklist of all the things your dream guy would have. So the real problem is that you're too picky and maybe you're even avoiding falling in love a little because it would mean you have to give up control for one second. How off am I?"

"Completely off." She pulled her hand out of mine and folded her arms in front of her chest. She probably didn't realize that doing so really just pushed her boobs up. I looked back up at her face. She was blinking fast, like she was holding back tears.

Shit. I hadn't meant to upset her. I just didn't like when people judged me. So my reaction was to judge her back? Smooth.

"That's a shame," I quickly said. "Because if it was true, then it would mean we were both waiting for the right person to come along. Which means we could spend the weekend figuring out if we could be that for each other."

She laughed.

I liked her laugh a lot more than imminent tears. "Seriously, we could spend all weekend in bed really getting to know each other."

She laughed again. "As tempting as that is, I'm going to have to pass. I'm here to hang out with my