Read House of Payne: Rude for Free Online Page B

aside, then caught her hand before she could get to her feet.
    Skin sizzled against bare skin. Every nerve beneath his touch jangled wildly out of control, shutting down her ability to move, to think, to breathe.
    His touch was incredible
    It burned.
    It electrified.
    It branded .
    “Whether you decide to play or not, the game’s already begun.” His voice was soft, barely loud enough to reach her ears, yet for some reason it resonated inside her so deeply it replaced the overwhelmed reaction her nervous system had to his hand on hers. “You can’t avoid me unless you drop out of the Panuzzi world, and no one wants that, least of all me.”
    “You used to,” she blurted, failing miserably at pulling herself together long enough to put a cap on that long-ago well of resentment.
    “Yeah, because I was a sucky little asshole who didn’t want to share bathroom privileges with a couple of girls again.”
    That stopped her dead in her tracks. Surely she hadn’t heard him right. “Bathroom privileges?”
    “Yeah. Bathroom privileges.”
    “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “Izzi and Frankie were finally out of the house, which meant I didn’t have to wait forever for the one bathroom we had upstairs. Then you and Scout moved in, and then Tonya after that. Ladies first, you know? Suddenly I was back to being last in line. It would’ve pissed anyone off.”
    She blinked, momentarily sidetracked. “So… wait. You were a terror because you were worried we’d make you wait to pee?”
    “I was a simple boy with simple needs.”
    “Emphasis on simple .”
    The fingers that held her hand tightened—not in punishment, but almost like it was his hand’s way of giving hers a hug. “Just because I was stupid back then doesn’t mean you get to be stupid now by avoiding me.”
    “So you’re the only one who gets to be stupid? Okay, if you want to own that privilege, have at it. Own it like a boss.”
    “I was a kid, and kids are stupid about a lot of things, like resenting parents who are good enough to open their home to helpless kids who’d never had a place of their own, a family of their own, or even a say in what home they got shipped off to next. You are an adult, so obviously standards are higher. You don’t get to be stupid about avoiding me, especially when avoiding me is impossible.”
    “Don’t underestimate my level of motivation,” she muttered while his words flowed over her like a healing salve to a wound she didn’t know she had. It had always hurt when the biological children of her fosters had treated her like scum. Like them, she’d had no choice but to be there. It was ridiculous all these years later, but it soothed her to know he now understood that. “There’s only one time a year where I can’t avoid crossing paths with you, and that’s at Mama Coco and Papa Bolo’s anniversary party. But that bash is always so huge, there’s a very real chance I won’t even bump into you.”
    His fingers gave hers another squeeze before letting her go. “For the first time, I’m in charge of putting that shindig together. I’ve just decided to set it up someplace more intimate. How about your apartment?”
    “Wait.” Alarm zipped through her, but it had nothing to do with coming into close contact with him at some point in March. “Please tell me you’re joking, Rude. Are you joking?”
    “About what, your apartment?”
    “You do already have a venue booked for the party, right?”
    “No. Why would I?”
    “ Why would you ?” It was a strange thing, shrieking at someone while still trying to keep her voice down. “What the hell is wrong with you? That should’ve been done a month ago.”
    “Sassy, calm down. It’s over four months away.”
    “Exactly! All the good places will have been taken by now. Oh, you’ve never done this before, you don’t know what it’s like,” she groaned, diving into her clutch for her phone. “You’ve always been deployed or stationed God