Page 42 of Maxwell

“Oh really? Playing games is like second nature for men like you. No wonder you killed it at the arcade.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Maxwell demanded, sounding offended. “All men are not the same.”

“I didn’t say all men. I said men like you. I clocked you the minute you came down to our table at NV Lounge. You and your boy, Jayson. Who, by the way, is an asshole for ghosting my friend, Myra.”

“This is bullshit. I’m not going to take the blame for every rotten thing men have done to you and your friends. I know plenty of good men. Myself included.”

“Oh really? Since you know so many good men, would you let them date any of your sisters? Your female cousins? Would you let a man like you date your daughter, if you had one?” His silence confirmed her thoughts and spurred her to continue. “You’ve never used a woman? Never played games with her emotions? Never led her on?”

She watched his reaction like a hawk, and then she saw it. A flash of embarrassed guilt that confirmed her assessment of him. She would be a fool to fall for him. It would be Leon all over again. Leading her on, pretending to care while sleeping with other women.

“Cat got your tongue?” Jasmine asked.

Maxwell stared at her with barely controlled anger. The warmth had faded from his eyes, and now they were icy cold. “Good night, Jasmine.”

Those words freed her to leave, and she marched across the parking lot. At the door, she waved her key card over the reader and let herself inside.

The lobby was warm and toasty compared to the cold outdoors. At the elevators, she could no longer see Maxwell but imagined him climbing into his SUV and pulling out of the parking lot. Leaving her. Alone. With her wet panties and filthy thoughts of what she had wanted him to do to her.

On the ride up, she checked her phone. Nicholas hadn’t called yet, but he was supposed to, and she had wanted to be home and available when he did. While they weren’t exclusive, she still felt guilty about the time she had spent with Maxwell. Worse, she hadn’t thought about Nicholas once the entire time she had been with him.

Her two-bedroom apartment was quiet, ambient light coming in through the sheer curtains, in front of which was the huge bouquet of flowers Nicholas had bought her two days ago.

Jasmine poured herself a glass of water, not because she was thirsty but because she needed something to do with her hands. She took the water to her bedroom, changed her underwear, and put on comfy pajamas. As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, her mind went straight to Maxwell and her inconvenient feelings about him. Their camaraderie had been effortless at the arcade. Even on the car ride home, with music playing and silence, she hadn’t felt particularly uncomfortable. It had seemed like a natural wind-down after the excitement of the evening and their deep conversation.

Then he had kissed her, which changed everything.

“Dammit.” She roughly scrubbed her face dry.

When she heard the phone ring, she flipped off the light and went into her bedroom. Nicholas was calling.

Jasmine sank onto the bed with the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Hey, beautiful. I didn’t know if you would still be up.”

“I’m up. How was your dinner?”

“Oh man, those Japanese guys love to party. I can’t hang,” he laughed.

Jasmine slipped under the covers and rolled onto her back. “I’m confident that you can.”

“I did my best,” he admitted. “They spent a small fortune on our meal. At least a couple thousand dollars.”

“That’s insane.”

“I know, but that’s how these high rollers operate. One of these days I’ll have the type of budget they do.”

There was so much to like about Nicholas, but she disliked how he loved to show off. Hence the reason for the huge bouquet of flowers, why he drove a Mercedes, and why he spent a ridiculous amount of money on his wardrobe. If he had a flaw, his obsession with money was it.

“I have no doubt that you will,” she said, because it seemed like the right thing to say. To encourage him, even if she thought he was a little obsessed.

He yawned. “How was your night?”

“Good.”

“Did you go out at all and do anything, or did you stay in?”

For a moment she thought about lying but changed her mind. “I went out for a little bit.”