Page 84 of The Encounter
“You do?” she whispered back. “Why?”
He chuckled. “Because you’re the most genuine person I’ve ever met. You have treated me like a normal human being since day one.”
She swiped a tear off her cheek and laughed. “Well, to be fair, I didn’t know who you were the first time we met.”
“Perhaps not, but you didn’t treat me differently once you knew.”
“Maybe not outwardly.”
He raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”
Her face flamed. “Nothing.”
“Oh no. You are not getting off that easy.”
Damn it, mouth. Keep shut for once!
“I just fan-girled over you a little,” she mumbled.
“You… fan-girled over me?” He chuckled. “What does that even mean?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Come on, Maddie. Tell me.”
She crossed her arms. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“You’re right. You don’t.”
He picked Maddie up and scooted her off his lap to the couch before standing up. She furrowed her eyebrows.
“Did I upset you?”
He shook his head. “No.” Then he pulled out his phone and selected a saved number, hit send, and looked back at her with a sweet smile on his face.
She was about to ask him who he was calling when he said, “Oh, hey Kayla. So tell me what it meant that Maddie fan-girled over me right after we met.”
Maddie sprang off the couch and jumped on Jace’s back, trying to grab the phone.
“No Kayla!” she shouted.
Kayla’s laughter drifted over the line as she spoke to Jace. Clearly Kayla was not interested in the chicks before dicks motto right now.
Jace bent in every little direction to keep Maddie from grabbing the phone from him, while Kayla spilled the beans on the other end of the line. When Kayla finally finished, he thanked her and ended the call.
Maddie dropped off his back and crossed her arms and jutted out her lip in the best pout she could make.
“So you cyber-stalked me, huh? Almost every day?” he asked with a laugh.
“Nooooooo,” she dragged out.
He stepped over to her and put his hands on her cheeks. “I love that you did.”
“No you don’t.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I was climbing the walls wanting to talk to you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh please. There’s no way that’s true.”
