My eyes narrow on him. “Well, are you?”
“It depends.” He tops up our coffee mugs, taking his sweet time, which annoys me to no end. “If you plan on marrying me, then yes, I’m already in a relationship for life. But if you’re just down for fucking, no, I’m not. Don’t get me wrong. I love relationships, as long as they don’t involve me, or kids. Or to put it another way, the only relationship I have is with my cock. I nurture it. I take good care of it. I teach women like you to have fun.”
Wow.
He sounds like a player, which was pretty much my first impression of him.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, and yet it does.
The news that he’s single is a relief, but it also leaves a burning question in its wake.
“What about the woman in the pic?”
“Which one?” He tilts his head, thinking.
“The one in the living room.” I frown. “Why? Do you have more than one?”
“Guilty as charged. I have keepsakes of all of my trophies,” he says smoothly, one brow raised. “But if we’re talking about the one in the living room, that’s my sister. I’m on the market today, happy to oblige.”
“Today?” I let out a laugh.
Who says that?
“And tomorrow,” he adds. “Obviously I want you to know what you’re getting into, considering that your friend and I talked about you after you went to bed last night.”
A whooshing sound bursts into my head, making it spin.
“Yeah, you keep mentioning that.” A long moment passes during which I consider my next words. “So, what exactly did Mandy say?”
“That you talked about me.”
I swallow hard to get rid of the hot rush surging up my neck. “Yeah, in case you were a creep, which I think I’ve mentioned already.”
He inclines his head in mock agreement. “Or I got under your skin and you wanted her to hear all about it. It’s a preconception that women don’t talk about their sexscapades. In fact, they do it just as much as men.”
Of course he’d think that.
I smile sweetly. “Well, I won’t argue with you on that one because you seem to be the expert. But I can assure you in my case, it’s not true.”
“You don’t talk about your sexscapades?” His brows shoot up in amusement.
I sigh patiently.
What is it with this guy and his tendency to mangle my words?
“That’s not what I was trying to say.”
“So you do,” he says.
“No, I was referring to you getting under my—” I break off as I realize he’s messing with me and shake my head.
“You regretted not having slept with me.”
I roll my eyes, even though I know the gesture is so immature a guy like him will see right through it. “No. And no.” And before I can stop myself, I add, “No!”
“Strange, because she says you regret it,” Kellan says softly.
I stare at him.
Oh, my god.
I’m going to kill Mandy.
“She did?” I jump to my feet. “Where’s the phone?”
“In the living room. Not working.” He stands but doesn’t move from the spot. “Relax. It was a lie. She didn’t actually say that.”
I cross my arms over my chest as I regard him coldly. “Why would you lie?”
“I wanted to see your reaction.”
“Right.” I’m not a fan of confrontation. The entire situation has my mind racing. The last thing I need is for him to think I harbor regrets about not having spent the night with him.
“Please sit down, Ava,” Kellan says and walks around the table. Even though I don’t take shit from men, I find myself following his order. I can feel his presence behind me a moment before he leans over me, so close his breath brushes my earlobe and sends a shiver down my spine. “But you have to admit it’s something she could have said because it’s the truth.”
“You know nothing about me.” My voice comes out slightly choked.
Dammit.
His proximity does strange things to my body, and the fact that I’ve seen him naked doesn’t exactly help.
“On the contrary. You’re quite the open book.” With that, he returns to his seat and pours what looks like half a syrup bottle over his waffles.
“Wow.” I stare at him mesmerized as he starts eating. For the life of me, I can’t understand how anyone can shovel down that much sugar. “Do you always eat so much for breakfast?”
“Always.” He looks up, amused. “What can I say? I’m generally a hungry person who likes to eat out.”
He’s not talking about dining at restaurants. I can tell that from the naughty glint in his eyes.
My skin prickles at the implication and my heart races.
Kellan dips his finger into the puddle of syrup on his plate and holds it up to my mouth. “What about you?”
His gaze pierces mine, waiting.
The challenge is there.
I gingerly wrap my lips around his fingertip and let my tongue glide over it, then pull back.
Kellan’s eyes remain glued to my lips as my tongue flicks over them to lick off the sticky syrup.