“Okay. If you insist. It was you.” He tried to put on his most devilish face. “And there is only one way you can pay me back. You have to go out on a date with me and Zane.”
“You’re very nice, Maddox, but that’s just not possible.” She smiled weakly. “Not possible for me.”
He grabbed her and pressed his lips to hers. Kissing her he could sense she was responding. “You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy that.”
“You kiss fantastic, Maddox, but that’s not the problem.” And without another word, she turned around and walked out of the kitchen and back to the party.
Chapter Three
“You are two very lucky guys.” Zane was so happy for his buddies, Roberto and Miguel. They’d found the love of their lives. “Cami is a wonderful woman.”
“Yes, she is,” Roberto said with a big grin.
“And we definitely know how lucky we are,” Miguel added.
“I wish Maddox and I could have some of your luck when it comes to Toni.”
Roberto grabbed his shoulder. “Zane, you and Maddox will figure it out. You’re going on a date with Toni. Just give it more time.”
“We’ve been trying, but she won’t accept. I’m not sure what’s holding her back.”
“And if Roberto and I know the Kavanagh brothers,” Miguel said, “you aren’t going to give up, right?”
“Never. I will never give up and neither will Maddox. In fact, he’s in the kitchen with her now. Who knows? Maybe tonight she’ll say yes.”
The kitchen door swung open and Toni walked through it but Maddox was not with her.
“Excuse me, guys.” Zane rushed to Toni.
She looked up at him and appeared flustered.
“Toni, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Please excuse me,” she said somewhat curtly and walked away.
Damn. What happened in the kitchen to upset her so much? Even if Maddox had asked her out again, that surely wasn’t the reason for her odd reaction. He and his brother had asked her out many times, and even when she turned them down she always did it with a smile. Just now her gorgeous lips had been curled into a frown.
Zane wanted an answer, so he headed into the kitchen to talk to his brother.
Maddox was placing some towels in the bin.
“Bro, what the hell went on in here with Toni? She looked very rattled.”
Maddox turned to him, eyes wide. “She did? Rattled? Don’t you mean ‘flushed’?”
“What are you talking about? No, not flushed. Rattled. You didn’t notice?”
Maddox shook his head. “She turned and walked away after I kissed her.”
Zane was shocked. “You got to kiss her?”
Maddox smiled. “I did and it was amazing. And I knew she enjoyed it and told her so.”
“Damn it, bro. She didn’t seem like she was happy when she marched out of the kitchen.”
“Are you serious?” Maddox looked perplexed. “I really thought things were going great between us after the wine got spilled. She offered to pay for my dry cleaning and I suggested that instead she should just go on a date with us.”
“Okay. Then what happened?”