First

I know what this game is. I stare up at the ceiling, patience reaching its limit. ‘For the last time, brown eyes, we are never having sex with each other.’

That pisses her off. She drops the towel on the counter beside her and scowls at me. ‘Dally, you are not in a position to argue with me right now.’

If only she knew. Against my will, blood is pooling somewhere it shouldn’t. Arguing with her is both infuriating and freaking hot. She looks like a little angel, but her stubborn streak is even wider than Jake’s.

Shit. Jake. I mentally slap myself. You are not getting turned on by Jake’s little sister. Get out of here!

‘Cat,’ I say as calmly as I can manage. ‘I am going to be late to work. I need my towel.’

She bites her lower lip and despite how sexy it looks, it proves her indecision is a weakness I can exploit.

‘We can talk about this after my shift. Will that work for you?’

I can tell when she’s resigned herself to the fact that that’s the best offer she’ll get. Begrudgingly, she nods and holds out the towel to me.

Her eyes widen. ‘Wait! You’re lying!’

She tries to rip it out of my reach, but it’s too late. I’ve already got a hold on it and jerk it from her grip. Screw drying off, I need to cover myself. God only knows what she’ll try next.

I wrap the towel around my waist as she fumes on the counter. ‘I can’t believe you lied to me!’

I pull open the curtain and point at the door. ‘Get out.’

She crosses her arms over her chest and wrinkles her freckled nose at me. ‘No. Not until you agree to help me.’

Fine. Two can play at that game.

She screeches when I lift her up and throw her over my wet shoulder, opening the bathroom door and carrying her out into the hall. She keeps snarling promises of intense pain and suffering to me as I carry her to her room. I force myself to not stare at the perfect ass right by my cheek and instead toss her onto her bed.

She hits and bounces to a rest. Her hair has flown over her face and she sputters as she pushes it out of her eyes, ‘Dallas Miller, this is not over!’

I grin at her, anger replaced by admiration. Cat has no concept of surrender. ‘It is for this morning, brown eyes.’

I give her a mock salute and back to the door. She’s reaching down beside her bed and picking up a flip-flop. I duck out into the hall and close the door. A delicate thud shivers the wood.

‘You’re going to agree eventually!’ she yells through the door.

I tilt my head back against the wall and heave a sigh. I’m starting to worry Cat’s right about that. Worse, I wouldn’t mind.

***

Time is ticking and it’s time to give up on Dally. Short of getting naked and putting myself in his bed—which might not be a horrible plan—I’ve got no other options left. I really expected trapping him in the bathroom this morning to work. Feeling a little sorry for myself, I call Maya.

‘He still said no,’ I tell her.

Maya’s sigh says it all.

‘I need to text Tom. How do I do this?’

‘You’re going to have to talk to him. As in, have a normal conversation with him that doesn’t involve talk of hymens or his being your second choice for this venture.’

‘Okay. No hymens and no sloppy seconds.’

A tiny cackle escapes me when Maya mumbles something about me being an embarrassment to women everywhere. ‘Ask him how his finals went or something,’ she suggests. ‘That way if he says they were good you can offer to go out for a celebratory drink. And if they were bad …’

‘We go out for drinks of commiseration?’ I ask, trying to fill in the blank.

‘Good. He sounds boring enough that that should work.’