Page 80 of The Challenge

“Effie is spending the night at her grandmother’s.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. What? “Whose idea was that?” I asked as I remembered how to walk, got into the truck, and put my seatbelt on.

“Mine.”

“Oh.”

He turned to me. “Does that scare you?”

“Why would it scare me?” I shrugged, even if I now had goose bumps. “Experience has proven that you’re the safest person in the world to be alone with.”

“I’m happy you feel that way.” He started the engine and began driving down the road.

“Although that kiss earlier didn’t feel very safe. You pretty much hijacked my brain for the rest of the night.” I looked over at him. “Not to mention, you ruined my chances with Brendan. You made it quite obvious that there’s something going on between us.”

He scoffed. “You don’t like that guy anyway.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know you, Chloe. I know you better than fucking anyone.”

“That’s the problem,” I shot back. “You fuck anyone.” I’d totally twisted his words. “Half the women at the party, probably.”

“One woman at the party. And that was finished a long time ago.” He groaned. “You know how many women I’ve slept with since you got here?”

“I don’t.” I shrugged. “I have no idea what you do while you’re away during the day.”

“The answer is none.” He sighed. “And that’s a problem.”

“Are you calling me a cockblocker because I’m staying at the house? What, you can’t have trysts on your lunch break now?”

“It’s not about you being in the way, at least not like you think. It’s about you getting in my head. It’s about you outshining everyone and everything from the moment you came back here.” He licked his lips. “I can’t go on like this. We need to figure out what the hell is happening between us. That’s why we need to be alone tonight.”

“Are we gonna talk when we get back to the house?”

He lowered his voice. “Whatever we’re doing, I want you to do it in that nurse costume.”

I burst into laughter. “We’re gonna have a deep conversation while I’m dressed like a nurse?”

His eyes filled with mirth. “A slutty little nurse, yeah.”

I laughed harder. “That’s gonna be one serious conversation, cowboy…”

He chuckled but kept his eyes on the road.

“You’re funny when you’re jealous, Evan. You know that?”

“Didn’t feel funny to me,” he grumbled. “I felt ready to rip his head off.”

“I know. That’s why it was funny. You got so serious when you thought I was going to hook up with someone.” I reached over and set my hand on his leg. “There was never a chance of that. I’m not into him at all.”

“Then why were you talking to him?”

“Because believe it or not, you can talk to a guy and not want to fuck him. I do it all the time with you.”

He glared. “You’re a brat.”

“You gonna spank me in my nurse outfit?”