Page 115 of Fighting Chance

I frown. “Why would we do that?”

She shrugs. “Well, maybe we should. I’ve never been intimate with someone but I’ve heard that it’s hard not to get attached once you start having sex. What if we stop when one of us feels like they’re catching feelings?”

Too late for that, I want to mutter, but instead I find myself nodding because it really is too late for me. I’ve fallen for her already and there’s no coming back. “Sounds like a plan to me.”

“And…and if you meet someone that you want to start seeing, I’ll understand. I don’t want to hold you back.”

A muscle feathers in my jaw. When will she understand that it’s only her?

“I’m not interested in anyone else.”

“Well, just in case you meet?—”

“I won’t.”

My lips twitch as her eyes flare. “You sound far too absolute about the uncertain.”

“I know what I want.”

“And what’s that?”

“Y—”

“Hello, hello, chickens!”

Layla all but jumps out of her skin as Anne comes barreling back into the store, giving us a wide grin. “Want to check out any books to wrap up your time?”

Layla scrambles away from me, flattening her dress down. “My gosh, you gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry, love! I did knock a few times, but you two were just so engrossed in each other.”

I snort as I rise from the couch, thankful my dick deflated the moment Layla called me herfriend. I glance back down at the cushions, wondering what the chances are that I could buy the whole couch and put it in my bedroom.Probably slim.

“No books?—”

“Plenty of books,” I cut Layla off. Smirking, I round the store and collect all the books she pointed to that she wanted to read. “Let me just grab them.”

Layla’s jaw is practically on the floor as she hurries after me.

“Kieran!” she hisses. “I don’t need you to buy me books.”

“Need and want are two different things.”

“But how do you even remember?—”

“I always remember when it comes to you.” Turning to her, I show her the large stack in my hands. “Am I missing any though?” I read the spines again, wracking my brain, and it dawns on me which title I’m missing, but by then, I realize she’s also fallen silent. The look she’s giving me is different, more…weighted.

“What?”

“Bellawas right.”

“About?”

She shakes her head before spinning and muttering under her breath, “Underestimated.”

Layla’s Life List

Have a water fight