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“Liar,” he fires back.
Irritation bubbles inside of me because it seems that Maddox is too stubborn to take a hint. So I decide to pull a little reverse psychology on him.
He grins again as I stand there and come up with something that will kick him down a notch or two. “Actually, I did have a dream about you last night.”
“Oh?” Glee springs to his face. “See? You don’t have to lie anymore, Penelope. It was a sex dream, wasn’t it? Did I blow your mind just as hard as the last time?”
“No, you were the cab driver while I blew Robert Downey, Jr. in the back seat.”
He freezes, narrows his eyes, and then asks, “RDJ is your dream guy?”
That reaction right there, his shock and disappointment? That’s exactly what I wanted. “He’s myeverythingguy—cocky but not too much, extremely good-looking in that older man kinda way, and he used to be a bad boy... he’severygirl’s kryptonite. Plus, he masquerades as a superhero.”
“You know he just plays that part, right?”
“No. RDJisIronman, Maddox. He was born to play that role. In fact, I’d be surprised if he didn’t come out of his mom in the famous red suit ready to fight bad guys and spit off sarcastic remarks. I would let that man do very bad things to me.”
“So you had a dream about Robert Downey, Jr.... well, at least I was in it.”
I place a palm on his chest and instantly regret it. His pecs are hard and warm, his body intoxicating as I stare up into his sparkling hazel eyes. But I need him to hear me. “You’re missing the point, Maddox. It wasn’t you. Itcan’tbe you. And I need you to hear me when I tell you: What happened between us was a mistake. We’ve already talked about why this can’t happen again. That night was fluke, a case of bad judgment and even worse decisions on my part. Believe me, I’m not usually a woman who regrets her sexual conquests. In fact, I’m generally quite proud of mine. No woman should be made to feel bad about appeasing her sexual appetite. But with you? I had a momentary lapse in judgment. I don’t normally hook up with athletes, football players in particular...”
“Why not?”
I sigh and close my eyes. “It’s just one of my rules, okay?”
He takes my words with a grain of salt, clearly not truly listening because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. “Well, you know what they say: Some rules are made to be broken.”
“Breaking it once was a mistake. But doing it again? That would be a choice, one I can’t risk the consequences of.”
I turn around, ready to run out the door to get away from the man who’s far too tempting and turning my world and determination upside down.
“You don’t think finding out what’s between us is worth the risk?”
“No.” I face him again while hiking my bag on my shoulder. “I don’t. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to get back to.”
“I won’t stop believing, Penelope. I’m gonna hang on to this feeling,” he says, placing a hand over his chest, referencing Journey again.
“You sure are something, Maddox Taylor.” And all I can do is shake my head and laugh while he watches me hurry away.
He calls out to me one more time before I exit the building. “This isn’t over!”
But I don’t respond again. I just keep running—out of the room, away from the man my body keeps forgetting I can’t have, and out to my car, where I stare at my reflection in the rearview mirror and remember the last boy I fought my attraction to.
I lost that battle, but I can’t lose this time. The stakes are too high.
And no dick is worth my job. Not even the anaconda on Maddox Taylor.
Chapter8
Penelope
The next few days I spend with my media crew at the private practice fields getting video and pictures of the players on the team training and running a few drills together. The amount of players there is minuscule, but the draft happens this week, which will fill any empty spots on the roster before the season. And once rookie training camp is over, OTAs will start, and there will be far more players attending practices. But enough players were around while I was there to display sportsmanship and camaraderie that we can feed to the public in healthy doses.
I spoke with one of my contacts atThe Los Angeles Timesearlier this week, and an article is set to run this Sunday in the sports section highlighting Maddox’s new position on the team and how early training is going during the off-season. I got a few statements from him yesterday before he left the locker room, but the vibe between us was different.
He wasn’t flirtatious. He wasn’t playful. He wasn’t pressing me to go to dinner with him. And when I thanked him for the interview, he walked away after giving me a simple “You’re welcome.”
It seemed like he finally accepted what I said to him about the two of us, even though his last words to me earlier this week were “This isn’t over.”
