Do You Dare? by Lylah James

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Lila

His presence was a warm heat behind me as we walked into the bar. He was close, really fucking close. I could feel him. I could smell him. He was so close, yet so far out of reach. A dangerous temptation dangling right in front of me.

I wanted to turn around and wrap my arms around him, bask in his warmth. We’d hugged and cuddled plenty of times before, but since the Charity Gala, everything had been different.

He had been different.

Somehow, there was a wall between us now. I couldn’t break it or walk around it. It was exhausting and scary – watching the change in him, seeing him so…cold and withdrawn from me. Sometimes, it felt like he was battling something inside his head. I waited silently for him to come to me, to speak of his worries, so I could find a way to soothe him. Like always.

Except…it started to feel as if I was the problem. As if he was hiding from me.

A week in Paris. This was supposed to be fun and exciting. An adventure for us, but it was day one and it was already going to waste.

I chewed on my bottom lip as we walked further inside the dim room. It wasn’t overly crowded, but everyone here looked fancy. After all, this was one of the most famous hotels of Paris; wealthy and posh people came here often. “I didn’t think the hotel would have its own bar. Fancy. I like it.”

“It’s nice,” he replied. There was a roughness in his voice, except his tone was robotic. No emotions whatsoever.

I paused in my steps, expecting him to bump into me. He didn’t. Instead, I felt his arm slide around my waist as he curled it around me. Our bodies collided together softly, and I sucked in a quiet breath. His rock-hard chest was to my back, pressing against me, and I could feel every intake of breath he took. His touch was a sweet, sweet torture.

Fuck you. Fuck you for making me feel this way. Fuck you for tempting me and leaving me hanging. Fuck you for making me fall in love with you…

“This way.” His lips lingered near my ear as he whispered the words. He steered me toward the bar stools.

We sat side by side. From the corner of my eye, I watched him as he ordered our drinks. His voice was smooth, and it slid over my skin like silk. Soft and gentle.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice the man standing next to me until his hand touched my shoulder. I swiveled to the left, my eyes catching the intruder. Yes, intruder. He was interrupting my time with him.

Maddox Coulter – the balm to my soul but also the stinging pain in my chest. He was a sweet heaven but also the of my existence.

“Remember me?” the man in the suit asked with a tiny grin.

Yup, I did. He was the owner of the hotel. We met him when we checked in yesterday.

“I saw you across the bar, and I knew instantly, you had to be the pretty girl I met last night.” His English was perfect, but it was laced with a husky French accent. I had to admit, it was kind of sexy. Mr. Frenchman stood between our stools, separating Maddox and me. He blocked my view of Maddox and I. Did. Not. Like. That.

“Thank you for helping us yesterday,” I replied sweetly, masking my irritation.

His emerald eyes glimmered, and his grin widened. Mr. Frenchman was your typical tall, dark, and handsome eye candy. And he wore an expensive suit that molded to his body quite nicely. “It was all my pleasure.”

I nodded, a little lost at what else I could say. I wasn’t shy or uncomfortable around men. But this one was a little too close for my liking, and since I had zero interest in him, even though he could definitely be my type, given the fact that someone else had all my attention, I didn’t want to continue this conversation.

“Lucien Mikael.” He presented me with his hand. I remembered he told us his name last night, but I didn’t tell him mine.

I took his palm in mine, shaking it. “You can call me, Lila. It’s nice to make your acquaintance.”

Instead of shaking my hand, he turned it over and brought my hand to his lips. He kissed the back of it, his lips lingering there for a second too long. His eyes met mine over our entwined hands. “My pleasure, ma belle.”

Oh dear. Yup. Mr. Frenchman was flirting.

I glanced around Lucien and saw that Maddox was lounging back in his stool, his long legs stretched out in front of him, a drink in his hand, and he was staring directly at me. His face was expressionless.

Lucien turned to the bartender and said something to him in French. I didn’t understand the words, but I quickly figured out what he said when he turned back to me.

“It’s on me. A treat for a lovely lady.”

I was already shaking my head. “Oh. You didn’t have to –”

His hand tightened around mine. “Please, allow me.”

“Thank you.”

Lucien opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by the ringing of his phone. “Excuse me, chérie.”

As he moved away, I caught sight of Maddox again. Our eyes met, and I stopped breathing. His gaze was dark, and his jaw was clenched so tightly that I wondered if it’d crack under the pressure. I could see the ticks in his sharp jaw as he gritted his teeth. His face – I didn’t know how to describe it. Anger made his eyes appear darker, almost deadly. A shadow loomed over his face, his expression almost threatening. There was a predatory feel in his glare as he watched me closely.

He constantly pushed me away, putting more and more distance between us. Why was he so angry now? I couldn’t tell. I. Couldn’t. Fucking. Think. Especially when he stared at me like this.

Maddox was maddening. He pulled and pushed; he loved and hated. I always thought I understood him better than anyone else. But right now, he confused the hell out of me.

“Lila.” My eyes snapped away from Maddox, and I looked at Lucien. He was apparently done with his phone call, and his attention was back on me. Before I could pull away, he gripped my hand in his once more. “If you need anything while you are in Paris, please call me. I could take you sightseeing. I know many beautiful places.”

He let go of my hand, and I turned my palm over to see his business card. Smooth trick, Mr. Frenchman. “Umm, thank you.”

Lucien leaned down and quickly placed a chaste kiss on both my cheeks before pulling away. “Au revoir, chérie.”

I didn’t watch him leave. All my attention was on the man sitting beside me. He took a large gulp of his drink.

“He likes you,” he said, once Lucien was out of hearing range.

“Jealous?” I shot back immediately.

A smirk crawled onto his face, and he chuckled, his wide chest rumbling with it. “He wants to fuck you, Lila.”

My stomach clenched, goosebumps breaking out over my skin. My breath left me in a whoosh. His words were spoken dangerously low, although the harshness in his voice could not be mistaken.

“How would you know?” I retorted, angry and confused. He played with my feelings, turning my emotions into a little game of his. Maddox had me in knots, twisting me around like a little plaything.

He grunted, shaking his head, and then he let out a laugh. As if he was sharing an inside joke with himself. “I’m a man, like him. I know what he was thinking about when he looked at you like that.”

“Maybe he wasn’t thinking about sex. Maybe he’s a gentleman. Unlike you.” I was playing with fire, I knew that. I was testing him, testing us.

“I dare you,” he whispered so softly, I almost missed it. Maddox looked down at his glass, his fingers clenched around it. Even in the dim lights, I could see the way his knuckles were starting to turn white.

He was giving me a dare now?

He didn’t finish his sentence, and I wondered if he was contemplating his dare. Maddox’s jaw flexed from obvious frustration. For a brief moment, I thought maybe he wasn’t angry at me. Maybe, he was angry at himself. He was fighting himself. Could it be that the problem wasn’t me?

He drank the rest of his drip in one gulp and then slammed his glass on the counter, before swiveling around in his stool to face me. Maddox stood up and walked a step closer to me, until my knees were touching his strong thighs. He leaned forward, caging me in between the counter and his body. Our gaze locked, and he licked his lips. He had me captivated for a moment until he mercilessly broke the spell.

“I dare you to sleep with him.”

I reared back in shock. Wh-at? No, I must have misheard him. That couldn’t be…

“What?” I whispered, my throat dry and my tongue suddenly heavy in my mouth.

Maddox’s eyes bore into mine, staring into my soul. When he spoke again, his deep accented voice danced over my skin dangerously. “I dare you to fuck him, Lila.”

A tremble started in my core and then moved through my body like a storm. Not just a quiet storm. A tsunami of emotions hit me all at once, reckless in its assault. I submerged under the dark waves, suffocating, and then I was being split open so viciously, it sent tiny cracks of my heart and fissures of my soul in all directions. I clamped my teeth together to stop myself from saying something –anything that would make it worse.

We had done too many dares to simply count on our fingers. Countless silly dares over the years, but we had never dared each other to sleep with other people. Granted, I had asked him to kiss a girl once; they made out, but it was years ago. But our dares had never crossed that line.

Sex… that was never on the table. We never explicitly talked about it, but it was almost an unspoken rule.

Why would he even ask me to do such a thing?!

“What’s with that look, Lila?” he taunted.

My eyes closed. I refused to look at him, to look into his beautiful eyes and see nothing but pitch-black darkness. He wasn’t looking at me like he used to. The light in his eyes was gone.

It scared me.

It hurt me.

It was destroying the rest of what was left of me.

“Look. At. Me.”

I didn’t want to. I didn’t want him to see the hurt in my eyes.

“Open your eyes, Lila,” he said in his rich baritone voice.

I did as I was commanded. He crowded into my personal space, forcing me to inhale his scent and feel the warmth of his body. “Are you serious? Or are you already drunk?” I asked quietly. It was hard to breathe with him this close.

“I never take back a dare.”

And I never lose. He knew that. We were both very competitive, and to this day, neither of us had backed down from a dare.

Maddox’s hand came up, and he cupped my jaw. His fingers kissed my skin softly. He smiled, but it didn’t match the look in his eyes. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to do it?”

“I don’t play to lose.” Asshole.

Maddox leaned closer, his face barely an inch away from mine. Our noses were almost touching. My heart fluttered when he tipped my head back. Take back your dare. Take back your dare, Maddox. Don’t make me do this.

He curled his index finger around the lock of hair that had fallen out from my bun. His minty breath, mixed with the smell of alcohol, feathered over my lips. I wanted to beg him with my eyes. Maddox tugged on my hair slightly before tucking it behind my ear. He moved, and my eyes fluttered close once again…waiting… a desperate breath locked in my throat as my chest caved and my stomach clenched.

He pressed his cheek against mine, and his lips lingered over my ear. “Don’t disappoint me, chérie.”

My body shuddered, and I breathed out a shaky breath. He tore my heart open and left me bleeding. He pulled away and stared down at me.

Maddox was mocking me. Taunting me.

He never stopped being a jerk. He just hid it behind a sexy smile and a nonchalant expression.

I thought he had left his asshole ways behind. But no, I was wrong. So fucking wrong about him. About us.

Friends. We were friends.

I thought maybe… he wanted more. More of me. More of us, of what we were or could be. I was so goddamn wrong.

Maddox Coulter was still an asshole behind a pretty mask.

And I was the stupid girl who fell in love with her best friend.