“Yeah?”
“Cookie?” He held the packet out towards me.
After a moment's hesitation, I smiled. “Yeah, okay.”
I stepped towards him and took a biscuit from the packet. As I bit into it I remembered why Stacey always hid them. The chocolate chip goodness melted in my mouth, and I murmured, “Oh wow, I forgot how good these are.”
“Well you're not having them back,” McCoy smirked, moving the packet out of my reach. I was half-tempted to fight him for them but decided against it. I didn’t trust myself.
“Fine,” I told him. “I'll be getting back to bed then.”
“Okay, but before you go -” he paused.
“Yes?”
“Thanks. For letting me come out with you, and for letting me stay.”
“Technically, you should be thanking Billy and Stacey. Everything that happened tonight was because of them.”
“Maybe. But you wanted me there tonight.”
With a low growl of frustration I said, “Give it a rest, McCoy.”
He picked up the remote and turned off the television. I watched his eyes roam the length of my body, lingering for a moment on my legs before returning to my face. I should have been annoyed with him for so blatantly checking me out, but instead I felt heat spreading through me.
“Goodnight,” I said, with a calmness I didn't feel.
“Leah, don't,” he said, throwing the duvet aside and standing up. “Don't go back to bed.”
Bloody hell, Radleigh McCoy is half naked in Stacey’s living room! Black boxers. That was all he was wearing.
“I'm tired,” I told him, forcing my eyes away from him. “I'll talk to you tomorrow. I want to go to sleep.”
“Sure you do. But you can't, and that's why you got up.”
“What are you suggesting? That the thought of you in here kept me awake?”
“It did, didn't it?”
I could feel myself beginning to get flustered because he was right. Just not for the reasons he was thinking.
Well … not entirely for the reasons he was thinking.
“Leah, come on. Why don't you try being honest for once?”
“You don't deserve honesty,” I snapped. “I don't even know who you are! One minute you’re some sleazy guy, hitting on any girl who walks by, the next you’re the perfect date for the evening! Who the hell are you?”
So much for not being honest.
I watched as his brain ticked over for a moment or two. While I waited for a response, my eyes began to travel over his body the same way he’d done to me just minutes before. I gazed his tattooed arms and his firm stomach, then snapped back to his face as he began to speak.
“Radleigh McCoy, third generation soccer star.”
“There’s more to you than that,” I said. “It's just lost under several layers of arrogance and baby oil.”
“And maybe tonight I want to be with someone who knows that, instead of someone who wants to make a quick buck by selling their story to the highest bidder. I’m not complicated, Leah. And I don't change. It's you who changes. You think you know me, but whenever you see a different side to me, your opinion shifts.”
>