False Start (Red Zone Rivals, #5)

by Kandi Steiner

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… fine.” Inside, I threw a fist into the air in victory. On the outside, I simply smirked. “But I have conditions,” she added with a finger pointed straight at my chest. She was using that thing like a damn weapon today. “Name them.” “No fighting with Marshall.” Marshall. So that was the fucker’s name. Madelyn must have seen how tense my jaw was because she arched a threatening brow. “I mean it. If you go fighting him, it’s going to cause more issues for me. So, be the six-foot-seven bodyguard all you want, but do not goad him, do not call him names, and do not lay a finger on him.” “I won’t,” I promise. “Unless he lays a finger on you.” Madelyn’s brows tugged inward, just a little, as if she didn’t understand why I would care if he did. But she listed her next condition before I could think too much on that reaction. “No one lays a finger on me. You included.” It was my turn to cock a brow. “We can… pretend all you want,” she said with a wave of her hand. “But let’s not forget the reality. We aren’t even friends, let alone anything more. Don’t go holding my hand or touching my back or trying to sneak in a kiss.” The way she listed out those demands made it so hard not to laugh. Her little cheeks were growing redder by the minute, the blush creeping down her neck, too. She could barely look me in the eye when she said kiss.