The Introvert's Guide to Online Dating (The Introvert's Guide 1)

Colt snorted. “It’s a date with Tori. It’s going to go badly.”

I kicked him under the table.

Hard.

He grunted, shifting uncomfortably.

Kinsley grinned at us. “Really?”

“And nobody other than us is allowed to choose the dates,” she said firmly. “I have a child to think about and, well, you clearly did such a stunning job with Tori tonight that there’s no other option.”

“Fine,” I agreed. “One date, and only because it’ll get these guys off my back.”

“That’s the spirit,” Colton muttered.

“What’s wrong with you?” Saylor asked. “You’re grumpy. Not that you’re not usually grumpy, but you’re extra grumpy tonight.”

I side-eyed him. No, he’d only gotten grumpy since the mention of me dating had been brought up.

Ha.

Didn’t he like to share?

Sucked to be him.

We weren’t exclusive. We weren’t anything. It didn’t matter a lick that I had feelings for him. I knew where our boundaries were, and that meant my feelings had to stay locked in their box.

I also knew I really needed to end our little soirees, but I hadn’t yet brought myself to do it.

Maybe tonight would be the night.

Or maybe I’d pretend to be a little too tipsy to go home alone, thus making him take me, so he could stay a while.

It really wasn’t a healthy dynamic we had going on.

For me.

It wasn’t healthy for me.

But as his thigh pressed against mine under the table, whether intentionally or unintentionally, I didn’t care.

It would come back to bite me in the ass, one day, I was sure.

***

“If you sit here with me, they’re going to know something is up.”

The entire gang was here, and since the karaoke machine had been fired up, Piper and Saylor were currently arguing over who was going to sing Cher’s Turn Back Time.

I voted for nobody.

Colton snorted and sat down anyway. “They’re still arguing about that bloody song. Ivy keeps slipping off to call her mom to check on the baby.”

“At least she’s not throwing up anymore. She’s a terrible houseguest.”

“Who? Ivy or the baby?”

“I’ve never had Tegan stay, but I’d guess they probably both are.”

He leaned back in the booth, looking anywhere but at me. “So you’re dating.”

“Not by choice.” I sipped my wine. “As you heard.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

I jerked my head around so fast I gave myself a mild case of whiplash. “I’m sorry? Why would I tell you anything?”

Colton blinked. “You wouldn’t. I just…”

Nothing.

“Well? You just, what?”

“I just thought that if you were dating, you’d want to end our little arrangement.”

“Colton, we don’t have an arrangement. We call each other when we’re feeling horny. It’s not exactly the love story of the century.”

“Solid arrangement if you ask me.”

“Well, I didn’t ask.”

“I still thought you would have told me.”

“I have no reason to tell you.” I finished my glass in one and put it on the table. “As it happens, I’m not technically dating. Even if I were and it were of my own volition, it would still be absolutely none of your business.”

He sighed. “I guess now you’re going to storm off.”

“You’re damn right I’m going to storm off. I’m not sitting here, listening to this shit.” I snatched up my purse and slid out of the booth, fully intent on heading for the bar, but stopped on his side and leaned forward. “You’ve had a stick up your ass ever since you heard I was on a date, but instead of coming over and asking me an actual question, you’ve beaten around the bush so much that, if it were a vagina, it would have had a fresh wax by now.”

His blue eyes met mine, blazing in the low light of the bar.

“Let me make this very, very clear to you, Colton.” I leaned in as much as I could. “Just because I sit on your dick on a semi-regular basis and make you come like a bitch doesn’t mean you get to say a damn word about me dating. You got that?”

I turned on my heel and stalked toward the bar, shoving past people with little to no regard for who the hell was in my way.

I hated that he could get me so riled up so easily.

I hated that nothing more than sex had me feeling this way.

I hated that I had so much annoyance about everything to do with him.

I shoved my way to the bar and nestled between two groups of people. For a small town, White Peak sure had one hell of a nightlife on a Friday night. Although it was tourist season and most of these people were probably hikers or the like who liked the outdoors, so that was probably the reason why.

It also helped we only had one bar in town.

“What can I get for you, Tori?”

I looked up to see Holley and Ivy’s dad behind the bar. “Two tequila shots and a gin and tonic.”