First and Tension (Summersweet Island 4)

“There you are. No one seemed to know where you disappeared to,” I hear Jeanie say as I scramble to untangle my dress, shaking it out as quietly as I can and then stepping into it.

“Oh, ha ha! Just… you know… getting some air,” Quinn tells her, making me roll my eyes, since Jeanie found him in the locker room and not outside.

Lie better, man!

“Right…” Jeanie pauses for a moment as I hop up and down, wondering if this goddamn dress shrank while Quinn was rearranging my guts against the wall. “Well, I was just looking for Emily. We agreed to wait until after dinner to have our chat.”

Shit! Shit, shit, shit!

Finally tugging the dress up my hips and stuffing my boobs back inside, I pause and roll my eyes again when Quinn answers her.

“Oh! Yeah, haven’t seen her. But I’ll let her know you’re looking for her.”

“Right,” Jeanie says again as I quickly pull the straps up over my shoulders and slip my shoes back on, my hands immediately pausing when I go for the zipper, when Jeanie’s voice suddenly gets louder. “When you finish getting dressed, Emily, just meet me in Conference Room C. Quinn can show you where it is.”

“Yep! See ya there!” I shout back with a wince—no point in keeping quiet now—as I drop my head into my hands with a soft groan.

A few seconds later, I hear Quinn chuckling, and I lift my head to find that he’s come around the corner of the lockers to my hiding place. He walks right up to me, his fingers grazing my hip, a small shiver working its way through my body when I remember how tightly he gripped my hips in his hands when his mouth was between my thighs, as he grabs my zipper and slowly tugs it up for me.

That moment is over. We’re moving on now, Emily. Focus!

He smiles at me when I turn to face him, smoothing out my hair and running my hands down the front of my dress to get rid of the wrinkles, as Quinn holds his hand out to me.

“Missing these?”

Narrowing my eyes on him, I quickly snatch my underwear dangling off one of his fingers, bending over and stepping into them. It takes me a second to shimmy into them, since I have to get them up under this damn tight dress, but I do it, and a few seconds later, I’m smoothing down the skirt again.

“That was hot. You should do that again, but in slow motion.”

“That was embarrassing,” I correct him. “And now I have to go sit in a conference room across the table from her, pretending like she wasn’t standing a few feet away from my underwear.”

“Oh, she was standing right on your underwear,” Quinn helpfully adds with a smirk. “I think the jig is up.”

With a sigh, I step forward, fixing Quinn’s tie for him since it’s a little askew, smoothing it down the front of him before dropping my hands.

“Back to playing pretend.” My chest constricts when the words come out of my mouth, but that’s what we agreed, right? A few minutes of being real, and then it’s back to what we’re supposed to be doing.

Quinn doesn’t say anything, and a ball of anxiety forms in my stomach, wondering if I said the wrong thing. But after a few seconds, he just gives me one of those dimpled smiles before leaning down, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek, and then pulling back.

“Yep. I guess we are.”

CHAPTER 18

Quinn

“It’s a food baby, goddammit!”

Emily: Now that the charity event is over and the press and everyone bought it, I’m guessing you’ll be making that announcement?

Quinn: Look at you, trying to get rid of me after a little good publicity.

Emily: I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Quinn: You would only know “the press and everyone bought it” because you’ve seen all over social media just how much everyone loved you last night. “Emily Flanagan outshined Quinn Bagley!”, “Looks like the cheerleader was the one scoring all the points!”, and my personal favorite, “Quinn Bagley who? We’re on Team Emily!”

Quinn: At least I have one fan left. Someone with the username livin4420 said I looked positively dashing in my Tom Ford suit.

Emily: Oh, ffs, that’s the guys! Palmer, Shepherd, and Bodhi, remember? That’s their stupid troll account that started this whole mess. I’m going to kill them. They promised to stop posting from that damn thing.

Quinn: Don’t you harm one hair on their angelic heads. They said I looked dashing. I’ll give Bodhi a stern talking to when he gives me my surf lesson this morning.

Emily: I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to hang out with them. You’re supposed to be enjoying your downtime and the privacy you can get here, and planning OTAs for your team.