Page 60 of No Headlines Please

"But why not?"

"Just because they've been played, that doesn't mean I've played them."

Yeah, right.

As if a guy like Maddox would buy pre-owned games. I gave him my smirkiest smirk. "You're just trying to throw me off."

"Am I?"

"Totally." And then, to prove it, I did exactly what I'd been threatening. I marched to the cabinet and began pulling out the games.

Most of them looked brand new. I'd stacked half on the coffee table as I rooted through the others. I didn't open any boxes. Technically, I shouldn't need to.

From experience, I knew that a battered box was a sure sign the game had been played over and over.

Maddox was sprawled out on the couch, watching with obvious amusement as I played board-game detective. In the end, I had three prime suspects – Scrabble, Risk, and Monopoly. Their boxes didn't look terribly worn, but they weren't fresh from the plastic wrap either.

I returned the other games to the cabinet and lined up my three suspects on the coffee table in front of Maddox.

I studied his face as I gave each of them a little poke.

In return, I got nothing. No smile. No frown. No sign at all that he had a favorite.

I laughed. "Alright, I know what your favorite game is."

"You do?"

"Yes." I smiled. "It's poker, because I have no idea what you're thinking."

24

Midnight, Huh?

Maddox

I knew exactly what I was thinking.

I was so fucked.

Normally, I wasn't one to procrastinate.

If someone needed firing, I fired them. If a deal needed killing, I killed it. If bad news required delivering, I delivered it.

No fuss, no muss, no putting it off while it festered.

But not today.

Or yesterday either.

Already, I'd let dozens of chances pass without telling Delaney who I was and why I was here.

And now, I couldn't stop watching as she lined up board games like evidence in a murder trial.

I was digging myself into one hell of a hole.

But at the mischief in her eyes, I still wanted to smile.

Who'd have thought that a girl I'd only met yesterday would turn my penthouse into something dangerously close to a home?