The Love Game (The Game #1)(13)
Author: Emma Hart

“Yeah, Kyle, that’s right. My girl. Maddie is mine, and don’t you forget that.” Braden lets him go and glares at him. “Try anything with her and a bottle won’t be the only thing getting f**kin’ broken.”

“Okay.” Ryan slips in. “Shows over, boys. Kiss and make up or get the f**k away from each other.”

“Oh, better late than never,” Lila mutters. “He’d be late to his own damn funeral.”

I snort and cover my mouth with my hand. Not the time. I drop it and look back towards Braden.

Megan says something to him, and he turns to look at me, a hint of regret in his blue eyes. I hold my stance, keeping his eye contact. Megan says something else, and he nods, moving forward. He takes my hand silently and leads me from the room.

“Party on, guys. Nothing to see!” Ryan yells as we head upstairs.

Braden leads me up two flights of stairs and unlocks a door. His room.

It’s spotless. For some reason, I’m surprised, and I glance at him quickly. The dark covers on the bed stand out against the standard white walls, and a desk piled up with books sits in the corner. The only way you can tell it’s a teenage boys room is by the large screen TV attached to the wall above an Xbox. Naturally.

“Maddie?” He shuts the door and raises a hand to my face. “I’m sorry, Angel. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

“You seem to do a lot of things you don’t mean, Braden,” I reply.

“I know. Always around you.” He smiles wryly. I shrug one shoulder. “I don’t want you to think any differently of me because of that.”

Play the game, Maddie.

“Because of what?”

He quirks a brow and smiles. “The fact I nearly punched him in the face.”

“Why would I think any differently? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?” My eyes flicker to our clasped hands and back up to him.

“I think so.”

I laugh. “Wow, you really don’t date.”

“Didn’t, I didn’t. I don’t know if you noticed, but half the people downstairs just saw me go all protective over you.”

“Ah, yes. The caveman performance. Me, Braden. Maddie, mine. That?”

He chuckles. “Yes, that.”

“Well I doubt anyone’s gonna try and take me now,” I say. “I think it’s kinda obvious who thinks I belong to them.”

“Who thinks?” He steps closer.

“Yes, thinks.” I narrow my eyes slowly. “I don’t belong to anyone but myself. My body and my life are mine to control, and being someone’s girlfriend isn’t gonna change that.”

“Usually, at this point, I’d admit how turned on I am but I think I’ll just go for this: Maddie, you’re mine. Like it or not, you are.” He cups my cheek.

“Your girlfriend. That’s it. I still don’t belong to you.”

“Why are you turning this into an argument?” he growls.

“I’m not!” I protest. “I just don’t do that caveman thing, okay?”

“You are!”

“Now who’s arguing?”

“Maddie.”

“Braden.”

“Do you ever shut up?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Fantastic. I had to pick the girl who always talks.”

“Then I’ll go and talk to someone who’ll listen that isn’t stuck in the Stone Ages!” I snatch my hand from his and spin towards the door.

“No you won’t!” He growls again and pins me to the door.

“Stopping me already?” He’s infuriating. Why am I doing this stupid challenge again?

“No, I’m just wondering if you’re better at kissing than you are at talking.” His eyes fix on my lips, and my tongue flicks out, wetting them.

“Maybe I am, but if you keep talking you’ll never find out, will you?”

He drops his head and softly presses his lips against mine. One of his hands slide around my waist, pulling me against him, and the other slides through my hair. I gasp as he gently sucks my bottom lip, and he takes his chance, slipping his tongue into my mouth. My hands grip his arms, slide across his shoulders, and link behind his neck.

He’s soft yet probing as he kisses me, and I can’t help the sprint my heart has entered. I simultaneously hate him and want him, and those feelings collide inside me, mixing into something indiscernible.

Heat spreads through my body, and Braden pulls me even closer to him. I’m flush against him, feeling every curve and definition of muscle on his torso. I unlink my hands and slip them upwards into his hair, wrapping my fingers around it.

“Maddie,” he whispers against my mouth, pulling back slightly. “We have to stop, or I won’t be able to.”

Stop? Stop what? The kissing? Oh. Really?

“Okay,” I reply.

“Angel, it’s only because I know you’re not like most girls. We’ll go further when you’re ready, okay?”

I nod, and he kisses me again, a lingering touch on my swollen lips.

He slides his hand down so they’re both on my back and dips his head into my neck. He buries his face in my hair, and I turn my head into him, letting him hold me.

In this second, I’m not thinking about the challenge. I’m not thinking about Brooklyn, or why I hate Braden. All I’m thinking is that kiss was the best damn kiss I’ve ever had.

And that could be a problem.

Chapter Twelve – Braden

I wake up and shake my head at myself. Yesterday runs through my mind on fast-forward, and I remember – I have a girlfriend. Fuck. That’s weird.

And then there was Kyle. The guy has a real stick up his ass about me being with Maddie – and not that I blame him, if I was him, I probably would too. I know what half the people at the party last night were thinking. They were wondering why Maddie is so different from the others and what’s so special about her. The girls were cursing her for taking what they wanted, and the guys were slinking back into their dark corners, their chances at seducing her shot to hell.

Well, f**k them all.

“Well?” Ryan opens my door.

“Don’t bother knocking,” I say sarcastically, putting my phone down. “I love it when ass**les barge in on me.”

“Uh, yeah.” He raises an eyebrow and shuts the door, sitting on my desk chair. “What was that shit about?”

“I was about to kiss her. Seal the deal on this challenge then you f**kin’ called me.”

“Shit, man. Sorry. If I’d have known-”

“You’d be damn psychic.” I laugh and sit up in bed. “Doesn’t matter.”

“You sealed it then?”

“Last night after my caveman performance.”

“Caveman performance?” He snickers.