Excerpt of Play Dirty by L.P. Maxa

The bathroom door opened and Dylan stepped out, wearing nothing but a towel around her body with her long dark hair piled on top of her head. There were still water droplets running down her skin from her shower. Holy fuck, the desire to lick them off was so strong I took a step towards her.

“You’re back.” Dylan looked from me to the door, almost like she was surprised to see me.

“Yeah, the reporters were crazy…took me a little while to push my way through. Dash was right to hire more security…” I let my words trail off. The sight of her in her towel was making my brain short circuit. “Were you going to bed?”

She gripped her towel tighter and nodded her head. “Yeah, I…I figured you guys would be out late…So…”

This was ridiculous. We both seem nervous and unsure of what to say. Plus, I’m sure the sexual tension coming off my body was making her uncomfortable as fuck. I glanced towards the bathroom again. My pills were so close, I could take two and down half a bottle of whiskey and then I wouldn’t feel anything until morning.

Dylan cleared her throat. “Are you okay? You just look a little…do you feel okay?”

Yep, my mask slipped and she saw it right away. “I feel great.” I smiled, probably too big to be real. “Just tired after the show. It takes a lot of energy to look that good up there.” I winked, for added affect.

She nodded, slowly. “Yeah, I’m sure it does…” She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Are you, uh, I mean, are you going to sleep?”

I could say yes, I should say yes. I should just go take a shower and take some pills and climb into my bunk. I wouldn’t need to fake a smile; I wouldn’t need to pretend to be okay. I could just fall apart in my bed, all by myself. It might be a mistake, but for some reason, the need to be next to her seemed to outweigh my need for numbness. “No. I was, uh, why don’t you go put on some clothes and we can watch a movie.”

She eyed me with her head cocked to the side, like she couldn’t figure out if I was joking or not.

I raised an eyebrow. “Or you could just stand there in your towel and keep staring at me. I’m enjoying the view.” I added another wink.

It must be the wink that did her in because she rolled her eyes and nodded her head. “Yeah, okay. Just let me change real quickly.” She grabbed some clothes and went back into the bathroom.

“Oh for fucks sake, that was the most uncomfortable conversation I’ve ever had to sit through! You’ve been stuttering since Dylan walked out of the bathroom.” Luke sat up and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Awww, Sleeping Beauty decided to wake up?” I went with sarcasm, when all I really wanted to do was grab him by the shirt and send him flying out the room. I wanted Dylan all to myself.

“How could I sleep through that awkward as fuck exchange?” He got up and cracked his neck to either side. “Since when do you have a hard time talking to girls?”

I shrugged. I didn’t want to answer him honestly; since the girl I was talking to was Dylan.

“I’m going to bed. I hope for your sake, your skills return before she thinks you’ve had a stroke.”

When she came out a second later all the air left my lungs. She was wearing some loose black pants that looked softer than silk and hung dangerously low on her hips with a tight white tank top that made her skin look more tan than olive. Her hair was still a mess on top of her head, and most of her makeup was gone. But I had never in my life seen anyone more beautiful. And it was in that moment that I knew, without a doubt, that a quick roll in hay wasn’t going to get this girl out of my system.