Chapter 3

Maya

This was not part of the plan.

The plan had been simple.

Embarrass Cole Ryder.

Leave.

Go home.

Eat whatever pizza he hadn’t stolen.

Pretend none of this ever happened.

At no point had the plan included standing in the middle of a football party while the captain of the team stared at me like I’d somehow hijacked his evening.

Yet here we were.

And to make matters worse, Bree was enjoying every second of it.

I could practically feel her excitement radiating beside me.

The traitor.

Cole hadn’t looked away.

Not once.

It wasn’t even the cocky, obvious kind of stare I’d expected from someone like him. If anything, he looked confused.

Like he couldn’t quite figure out why I was standing here.

Or maybe why he cared.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure which possibility bothered me more.

“You okay there, Ryder?” Bree asked sweetly.

His eyes finally shifted toward her.

Barely.

“Fine.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m fine.”

Bree nodded.

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“I’ve never seen you this quiet.”

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

Cole immediately looked back at me.

That somehow made it worse.

“Don’t encourage her,” he said.

“I wasn’t trying to.”

“You laughed.”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t sound sorry.”

“I’m not.”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

Not quite a smile.

But close.

Bree gasped dramatically.

“Oh my God.”

I already knew I wasn’t going to like whatever came next.

“What now?”

She pointed between us.

“This.”

“There is no this.”

“There is absolutely a this.”

“There isn’t.”

Cole crossed his arms.

“There really isn’t.”

Bree looked delighted.

The fact that we answered at the exact same time clearly made her day.

“Oh, this is going to be fun.”

I groaned.

“You’re exhausting.”

“That’s what makes me special.”

“No,” I said. “It’s what makes you dangerous.”

“Also true.”

She wasn’t even offended.

At this point, I was convinced Bree survived entirely on chaos and iced coffee.

A group of football players pushed through the crowd nearby, laughing about something. One of them glanced at us.

Then glanced again.

His eyebrows shot up.

“Wait.”

He pointed at Cole.

“Dude.”

Cole sighed immediately.

That sigh alone told me this happened often.

“What?”

The guy looked between us.

Then back to Cole.

Then back to me.

A slow grin spread across his face.

“Oh.”

“Oh no,” Cole muttered.

“Oh yes.”

The football player pointed dramatically.

“You’re the pizza girl.”

I froze.

Bree lost her mind.

Actually lost it.

She doubled over laughing.

The guy looked incredibly pleased with himself.

Meanwhile, I wanted the floor to open and swallow me whole.

“The what?” I asked.

“The pizza girl.”

He shrugged.

“Ryder’s been talking about you all week.”

Silence.

Complete silence.

My head snapped toward Cole.

His expression immediately shifted into the look of a man reconsidering every life choice that had led him to this moment.

The football player realized his mistake approximately three seconds too late.

“Oh.”

“Oh?” I repeated.

“Maybe I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

“No kidding.”

Bree grabbed my arm.

Hard.

The woman was vibrating.

“All week?”

I could hear the excitement in her voice.

She wasn’t even pretending to hide it.

Cole glared at his teammate.

The teammate wisely backed away.

Fast.

Coward.

“All week?” Bree repeated.

“No.”

“Ryder.”

“No.”

“Ryder.”

“It wasn’t all week.”

I blinked.

He immediately looked annoyed with himself.

Because somehow that answer was even worse.

Bree looked ready to ascend into another dimension.

“Oh my God, it wasn’t all week. That’s your defense?”

“Stop helping.”

“I can’t.”

I was trying very hard not to smile.

Unfortunately, my face wasn’t cooperating.

Cole noticed.

Of course he did.

His gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second.

Then immediately returned to my eyes.

Something strange tightened in my stomach.

I didn’t like it.

Okay.

Maybe I liked it a little.

Which was worse.

I cleared my throat.

“Bree and I should probably go.”

Bree looked offended.

“We just got here.”

“You said one lap.”

“I lied.”

“I know.”

Cole laughed.

Actually laughed.

The sound surprised me.

It wasn’t smooth or calculated.

It was real.

And somehow that made him more dangerous.

Because it reminded me he wasn’t just the football captain.

He was a person.

A very attractive person.

Which wasn’t helping anything.

My life had been significantly easier when he was simply the idiot next door who stole pizza.

“You’re really leaving?” he asked.

I shrugged.

“That was the plan.”

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“The whole plan?”

“Pretty much.”

“Walk in. Walk out.”

“Exactly.”

A grin appeared.

Slow.

Knowing.

Far too attractive.

“You’re leaving out the part where you came in here and broke half the room.”

I laughed.

“What does that even mean?”

His gaze drifted around the crowded living room.

A surprising number of people were still watching.

Wonderful.

Just wonderful.

Cole looked back at me.

“It means every guy in here noticed when you walked through that door.”

Heat flooded my cheeks.

“No, they didn’t.”

“They did.”

“No.”

“Maya.”

The way he said my name made my stomach do something deeply unhelpful.

“You don’t have to pretend.”

I looked away first.

Big mistake.

Because now I was aware of every heartbeat.

Every breath.

Every inch of distance between us.

The room suddenly felt warmer.

Louder.

Smaller.

Beside me, Bree slowly started backing away.

I narrowed my eyes.

Immediately suspicious.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“You are absolutely doing something.”

She checked her phone.

A phone that hadn’t made a sound.

“I just remembered I have somewhere to be.”

“You live next door.”

“Exactly.”

“Bree.”

She pointed at me.

Then at Cole.

Then gave me a thumbs-up.

A thumbs-up.

Like she was sending me into battle.

“I believe in you.”

My jaw dropped.

She disappeared into the crowd before I could stop her.

Traitor.

Absolute traitor.

I stared after her.

Then turned back to Cole.

“I am going to murder her.”

His grin returned.

“You’ll probably have to get in line.”

Despite myself, I laughed.

And for one brief second, standing in the middle of a packed football house didn’t feel awkward.

It didn’t feel overwhelming.

It didn’t even feel like revenge anymore.

It just felt…

Easy.

Which should have terrified me.

Because nothing about Cole Ryder was supposed to feel easy.

And judging by the way he was looking at me, he was starting to realize the exact same thing.