"So, anyway," I said. "That's the reason I've been so skittish."
I had to give Drake credit. After everything I'd just told him – about my mom and all of the drama – he was looking surprisingly nonplussed. I'd even told him about all of the public breakups that I'd witnessed firsthand and how many times the neighbors had called the police.
Of course, Drake had known some of this already, thanks to the incident at the hotel. But it felt important to give him this background information now to set the groundwork for what I needed to say next.
Bracing myself, I continued. "And the reason I'm telling you this is because I always knew that I wasnevergonna get on that roller-coaster."
He studied my face. "How so?"
"Well, take my mom…she's up, then she's down, then she's up again. She's calling her friends to brag about the most wonderful guy in the world. And then, the very next day, she's calling thosesamefriends to complain that Mister Wonderful stuck her with the hotel bill after raiding the mini bar."
I gave Drake a serious look. "I’m not joking, by the way. That really happened – more than once." I tried to laugh. "Talk about embarrassing, huh?"
Drake's voice was quiet as he asked, "You mean for you?"
"No." I paused. "Well, yes, actually. But I meant more in a roundabout way."
I stopped to collect my thoughts. "What I mean is, ever since I've been old enough to think about it, I've known that I wasn't going to follow in those same footsteps. I wasn't going to get my friends all excited to meet the perfect guy only to look like an idiot five minutes later when the guy proved to be a total ass." My voice softened. "And then I met you."
"Yeah?" Drake smiled. "And I metyou."
As always, his smile sent a flock of butterflies straight to my stomach, but this only fueled my need to explain. "Sure, but take the day we met. There you are, all hot and muscular with your gorgeous face and cocky grin, and IknewI should avoid you."
Drake's eyes filled with amusement. "Cocky, huh?"
"As if you didn't know," I laughed. "But the thing is, right from the start, Iknewyou were everything I should stay away from. But then, Ididn't, because you were so great on the inside."
"Back up." He gave me the same cocky grin I'd just mentioned. "So, you thought I was hot, huh?"
I knew he was teasing me, but I could hardly laugh. "Well, just look at you. You're definitely a ten."
"IfIam, so are you."
"Oh, please," I scoffed. "I am not."
"Wanna bet?" he said. "At the Christmas thing – you didn't see the other guys checking you out?"
"No." I cleared my throat. "I mean, not really."
He was still grinning. "Liar."
Okay, so Ihadnoticed a little, but I'd only had eyes for Drake. "Yeah, well, I saw plenty of chicks oglingyou."
"Chicks, huh?"
"Females, women, whatever. You get the idea." I rolled my eyes. "But of course,you'reprobably used to it, so you don't even notice."
For some reason, this made him laugh so long and hard, I couldn’t help but stare. "What's so funny?"
In reply, he stood and headed to a nearby bookshelf where he pulled out something that looked suspiciously like a high school yearbook. He returned to the sofa and started flipping through the pages.
He stopped on a full-page spread highlighting the school's varsity football team. He handed it over, saying, "Take a look."
Something in his voice made me just a little wary. "Why?"
"So you can see how hot I was."
Even though I knew he was joking, his words sent a tiny alarm bell ringing in my head. Hot men were nothing but trouble, especially if they were overly aware of their appeal.
