Sorry,princesa, but I’m not letting you ruin this for me, for both of us. When this is all over, she can giggle with him all she wants, but in the meantime, the only guy she’ll be seen with is me.
He turns his head to Madeline and scans her face. “Oh,” he says. “Sorry, I didn’t realize.” I wonder what they talk about. Do they flirt? Has she told him she’s single?
Madeline shakes her head. “It’s fine,” she says. “I should have told you.”
Yeah, she should have.
Connor is even more confused as he looks at Madeline again. “Is he in our class?” he asks her. “I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”
“No, I’m not,” I say, leaning over to grab some popcorn before stuffing it in my mouth. “Came to pick up my girl for a date, and she’d told me you two were studying together.”
Madeline gives him a warm smile.Hate that.“He wanted to stay,” she tells him.
I munch away, my eyebrows lifting when he turns to face me. “Is that a problem?” I ask him.
He swallows, shaking his head. “No, I guess not.” I can see how much he wanted to be alone with her. That sucks… for him.
He takes a seat and glances up at Madeline, her eyes dropping to the empty seat beside him.Absolutely fucking not. “Come here,” I say, pushing out the chair beside me.
She looks up at me with wide eyes and squares her shoulders, but the asshole in front of me speaks up. “Um… I actually forgot my books. Mind if I share yours?”
He came to study without any books? I almost scoff. Is she really buying this? “I’m sure you’ll manage,” I drawl, glancing up at Madeline. “Now, come and sit beside me.” I let out a sigh. “I miss you,amorzinho.” I push my lips into a pout, loving how she narrows her eyes. God, it’s fun to fuck with her. Even more fun to watch Connor swallow at the term of endearment.
But when she walks around the table and drops into the seat beside me, I break out into a smile, unable to stop it from spreading across my face. Connor frowns as he stares at the snacks in front of him. Yeah, tough luck, buddy.
“You’re an asshole,” Madeline whispers low enough, only I can hear as she tries to shuffle away from me.
I grin, grabbing the back of her chair and pulling her until she’s pressed up against me. She gasps a little, but I don’t even give her time to think before I stretch my arm around the back of her chair. “Much better,” I murmur, loving how her crush is blanching every second he spends in front of us. “I love having you next to me,meu coração.”
Madeline faces forward, avoiding my eyes. I don’t even know if she knows what it means, I can tell by the way she’s fidgeting that it got to her. She places her textbooks on the table, along with a small planner filled with color-coded sections and sticky notes on the edges. She places a blue and a black pen perpendicular to each other on the table, adjusting their position. Jesus. This girl isn’t just organized. She’s meticulous.
My eyes widen when I scan her planner, noticing every little detail she has marked down. I lean down close to her ear. “You plan your meals?” I whisper. She ignores me as she keeps flipping through her planner until she reaches today’s date.
I chuckle, lifting my head, but when I see Connor’s eyes locked on her, my smile disappears, my jaw tightening in its place. I fucking hate how he looks at her. He can’t keep his eyes off her, and she’s completely oblivious to it, her eyes locked on her planner as she writes away.
His eyes lock with mine for a second when he notices I caught him looking at her, and he looks away, grabbing a handful of chips before shoving it in his mouth.
She might have told me she doesn’t date or kiss, but one thing is clear. It won’t stop him. He wants her. I can see it plain as day.
But there’s one big problem.
Fake or not, Madeline is mine, at least until our deal is over. And this guy isn’t going to make her fuck me over, no matter how much she’s crushing on him.
If I have to crash every one of their ‘study dates,’ then so fucking be it.
Chapter 14
21 questions
An hour later, Connor leaves my apartment, and when the door clicks shut behind him, I let out a deep breath. But when I turn around, Lucas is watching me, his jaw clenched, clearly frustrated. The fear of being alone with Connor had my mind racing so much that I didn’t consider the fact that once he left, I’d be left alone with Lucas instead.
“You like him,” he says, lifting an eyebrow.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I make my way to the table to pack up my books, trying to ignore Lucas behind me.
He lets out a scoff, trailing behind me as I head to my bedroom to stow away my books. “You can deny it all you want,princesa.” I turn around, finding him leaning against my door frame, his arms folded tightly across his chest. “But I’ve just witnessed you blushing and giggling for him for the past hour.”
I hate when he uses that nickname. I hate the way it’s filled with mockery, and I definitely hate how my pulse races it whenever he says it. “You’re crazy,” I say, pushing past him to pick up the half-empty bowls.
