RHINO: A Bad Boy Sports Romance (With FREE Bonus Novel OFFSIDE!) by Abbey Foxx

today.”
    “ You’re serious.”
    “ I’m always serious, Lucy. You’ll know when I’m not.”
    “ So, either I leave today or I’m stuck here, indefinitely.”
    “ Or until the storm passes. Whichever comes first.”
    “ Are we safe?”
    “ Of course.”
    “ I don’t have a story yet.”
    Alex smiles. “Then you’ll have to stay.”
    “ This isn’t some ruse is it? Some weird psychosexual flirting game and you’re going to fuck me and then cook me and then eat me. You’re not going to do that are you?”
    “ Not unless you want me to.”
    “ I’m not that kinky.”
    “ You always looked it.”
    “ I said I wasn’t that kinky.”
    “ Now it sounds like you’re flirting with me.”
    I’m not, I can’t be, I wouldn’t allow myself to. Maybe I should go, just to avoid the possible. Just to avoid the ego and what could happen here if I let it. And by that, I mean my absolute embarrassment when I ultimately fall for all this bullshit and let him get to me only to push me away again when he’s done what he wanted. This is a game isn’t it? It must be. This is Alex getting what he probably never even wanted first time around. If I let him in, he’s bound to either just laugh at me for being an idiot and believing he was genuine, or we’ll sleep together and then he’ll usher me out of his life like everyone else. Not going to happen. Can’t let it happen. Not even once. Not even just to see what it’s like. Not even to finally get my hands on The Rhino’s horn.
    “ You’d know if I was flirting with you.”
    “ Don’t tell me, your nose would be buried in a book for four years.”
    “ You know that didn’t work the first time around.”
    “ I thought you said that wasn’t true.”
    “ You weren’t the only guy at school you know.”
    “ I was the only one you wanted to be with.”
    I’m trying so hard to not, but I think I’m going red.
    “ You’re going red.”
    Thanks, Alex, very fucking subtle. “Too much sun.”
    “ Then we should get on the boat.”
    “ Maybe I should just get in the helicopter.”
    “ You said you haven’t got your story yet.”
    “ Maybe there’s less of one than I thought.”
    “ And maybe there’s more and you’re just too scared to find out what it is.”
    I lean in but I don’t know what to say. Leaning is all I have. Leaning and undressing what few clothes he still has on with my eyes and hating myself for it. Why the fuck do I have to be attracted to Alex Vann Haden? Someone normal, someone nice would have done, someone that’s going to treat me well, that’s not going to dump me when the next best thing comes along, someone that wants more than just a fuck, but no, I have to crave him, this object of perfection in front of me.
    “ Fear is good, it helps protect us.”
    “ That’s what I thought for a long time. You know what I realize it does now?”
    “ What?”
    “ Takes the things away from us that we should have.”
    “ And what do you want?”
    Alex’s eyes twinkle as though I’ve asked the key question.
    “ The same as everyone else. The same as you.”
    “ I’m not answering that question for you.”
    “ I want to find my place.”
    “ That sounds way too philosophical for a man that got a 1.6 GPA.”
    “ I was misunderstood.”
    “ Clearly.”
    “ Why do you dislike me so much?”
    “ I don’t dislike you, I just don’t like you.”
    “ There’s a difference?”
    “ Of course. In order to dislike you, I have to have liked you first.”
    “ That sounds about right for a girl with a 4.0 GPA.”
    “ I was clearly very well understood.”
    Alex leans back in his chair to contemplate me. Any bluer, those eyes would pass as gemstones. Hundreds of years ago, people would think this man was a God, I suppose not much has changed. God’s are often arrogant, aloof people, and they are often not liked at all.
    I fold my arms and Alex folds his in a gesture that looks anything but natural. I tilt my head, he tilts