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Payton inhaled a shaky breath, her eyes firmly on Madison, letting her take the lead again.
“I asked Payton out,” Madison said, her eyes eventually leaving hers as she faced Jen and Hazel again.
Payton blinked, taking a second to catch up. “My gaydar actually failed me,” Payton said with a smile. “I mean, I thought it did. I was interested in her for months, but I had assumed that she was straight.”
“Ohh,” Hazel said with a grin. “Did you know Madison? That Payton was interested in you?”
Madison didn’t hesitate. “Yes. I probably wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t so sure.” She gave Payton’s leg another squeeze, and Payton reached for her drink, heat flooding through her.
“Madison,” Jen said with a slow smile. “You’re a changed woman. And I’m sorry that it’s taken us this long to be friends again.”
“I think we needed that time apart, but yes,” Madison said, lifting her glass. “It’s good to be able to put the past behind us. To start again.”
“Cheers,” Jen said as they all leaned in, knocking their glasses together.
Payton only half-listened to Hazel tell them about her future plans, about what team she wanted to play for, because her head was spinning. Not from the alcohol. She actually felt fine. Maybe a little tipsy. But she couldn’t stop thinking about what Madison had said.
“I probably wouldn’t have asked if I wasn’t so sure.”
It could have just been Madison’s first thought, making it up as she went along.
But what if it wasn’t?
What if that was exactly why Madison had asked her to do this? Because she could see that Payton was attracted to her.
Payton could feel the heat coming to her face, embarrassment taking over.
She was such a fool.
Madison was never going to see her as anything more than her personal assistant, and Payton couldn’t believe it had taken her this long to see the full picture, that this really was only ever an extension of her job.
And how easy Payton had made it for Madison to ask.
24
Madison let the hotel room door close behind her, her eyes falling to Payton’s jeans and the way they hugged her ass.
Too much wine.
She exhaled softly as she lifted her pajamas out of her suitcase and zipped it back up again, leaving it in the corner of the room.
She was aware of Payton, half in the living room and half in the bedroom, as if she wanted to talk.
Madison could have ignored her, retreating into the bathroom to get changed but she turned instead, meeting her eyes, unable to read them.
She’d been so caught up in herself, in dreading what Jen would ask next, in hating the way her body responded to Payton’s touch, something Madison had told her was okay, but what had tonight been like for Payton?
“I know that was longer than expected,” Madison said, noticing on the way up in the elevator that it was after eleven. “But did you have an okay night?”
“Yeah.” Payton visibly swallowed. “Yeah, I did. It was strange how not weird that was, if that makes sense.”
Madison shrugged.
“Or was it? For you,” Payton said, her hands in the pockets of her jeans, still hovering under the archway.
“It was…” What had tonight been? Difficult in some ways, more because she didn’t want Jen asking her about her life now. But in other ways, it was good to see that Jen had moved on, that she didn’t seem to harbor any resentment towards Madison. “Fine.”
“Fine?”
