Page 14 of The Encounter
She pulled the door open wider so he could come in. Once the door was shut, she stood awkwardly to the side wondering how to excuse herself to at least grab a hair tie for the rat’s nest on her head and to go die in embarrassment alone.
“Aw, you shouldn’t have, honey,” Kayla chimed from the living room.
Jace cracked a smile in her direction. Maddie always wished she had Kayla’s sense of humor or was at least capable of coming up with witty comments in the right situation. But her only talent had been fumbling words instead, especially around Jace.
“I’ll be right back.” Maddie slipped out of the room and hurried up the stairs and to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She stared in the mirror and cringed. Her mascara was in dark circles around her eyes and her hair was just as horrible as she feared.
“Kayla,” she muttered. There had to have been some sort of girl code that prevented friends from letting other friends open doors to handsome billionaires when they looked like a truck ran over them.
She tied her hair up in a messy bun and then scrubbed at her face until it was clean of all remnants of last night. Considering dabbing on some makeup, she immediately dismissed the idea. He had already seen her look like a train wreck. At this point, her looks improved from ten minutes ago. Last, she brushed her teeth vigorously to rid any bad breath that remained before swishing some mouthwash for good measure.
After stepping out of the bathroom, she went back to her bedroom to change into sweats and a tank top. It wasn’t necessarily any better than her pajamas, but at least itwasn’ther pajamas. The only saving grace about the fact that Jace changed her clothes the previous night was that she was still wearing her bra. At least he hadn’t taken it upon himself to take it off.
After taking a deep breath, she walked back down the stairs and into the living room.
Jace now sat on a chair in the living room with Kayla and Robert. Kayla held a donut in one hand and a coffee in the other, while Robert held something similar.
Jace spotted her and stood up, grabbing a coffee and holding it out to her.
She hesitated for a minute before stepping forward to accept it. “Thank you.”
He smiled. “Kayla told me you like caramel lattes.”
She shot a look at Kayla asking why she didn’t tell her he was coming over. Kayla only smiled in return.
“I do, thanks,” Maddie said and took a sip. She welcomed the hot liquid that ran down her throat, closing her eyes as she savored the taste. When she opened them again, he was watching her with a small smile on his face.
“I also brought donuts and bagels.”
“Why?” she asked.
His eyebrows shot up and then furrowed before he smiled, still confused. “Why what?”
“Why are you being so nice?”
Kayla shot Maddie a glare. “Because he’s a nice person.”
Maddie shrugged. “I don’t mean it as an insult. I just figured someone with your celebrity status would have better things to do.”
She was genuinely curious why he was there. There had to be a reason.
“I like you, and you drank a lot, so I wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”
Her face flamed. That this man, this celebrity, wanted to see her was mind blowing. “Oh. Well, I’m okay.”
“Headache?”
“It’s pretty bad.” She grimaced.
“Can we talk for a few minutes?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “Isn’t that what we’re doing?”
He smiled again. “I meant privately.”
Maddie glanced at Kayla over his shoulder to where she was nodding emphatically.
“Sure.” Maddie led him out of the living room and up the stairs to her bedroom. Her laundry lying about the room flashed across her mind, but since he had been in the room last night, the damage was already done. Not much had changed since then.
