Page 43 of The Path to Loving Him
Fuck, she’s hot, even when she looks irritated.
Trying to return to a normal heart rhythm, I say, “I was, uh . . . I was trying?—”
“You were creeping on me.”
I feel my brows turn down in a frown. “I was not creeping on you.”
“Then what were you doing?”
Yeah, Ryland, what were you doing?
“Checking a text message,” I say, not even believing the words as they come out of my mouth.
“Really? You check a text message like that, holding your phone high, your fingers making it look like you’re taking pictures of my place.”
Well, when she puts it like that.
“It’s a position I use for neck pain,” I say.
She walks farther into the apartment, right up to me, and says, “Hand me your phone.”
My height overpowers hers, but the attitude in her hip pop screams “try me.”
“Why?” I ask.
“I want to see if you took pictures.”
“Can’t you just trust me?”
“No.”
I shake my head in disappointment. “That’s hurtful.”
“Just give me your phone,” she says while snagging it out of my hands. She briefly studies my phone. “Your screen is cracked.”
“Uh, yeah, from you scaring me.”
“Karma.”
She flashes the phone at my face to unlock it, then pulls up the pictures. Her mouth falls open, and her eyes sear into me. “You did take pictures of my place. Why? What are you going to do with them?”
I grab my phone and slip it in my pocket. “Nothing.”
“Uh, lies. What were you going to do? Is this some sort of creepy, perverted thing? Like take pictures of the places that belong to the women you’ve banged?”
My face falls flat with derision. “Yes, Gabby. I have an entire collection of random living rooms in my phone.”
She nods, then pokes my chest. “I knew it. That’s some sick stuff, Ryland. Do you stare at night and reminisce?”
“You realize how ridiculous you sound?”
She points at her chest. “I’m not the ridiculous one in this scenario. That would be you. Taking pictures of random girls’ living rooms. That’s real sick.”
I roll my eyes. “I wasn’t being a creep.”
“Then what were you doing?”
Seeing as though she’s not going to drop this, I just go with the truth. “Use them as an example.”
