First and Tension (Summersweet Island 4)

Okay, so that wasn’t all his parents talked about at dinner. I got to see his adorable baby pictures, found out his parents were high school sweethearts, and got to see their adorable pictures, and listened to them do a lot of bragging about their son and his accomplishments. It was an absolutely wonderful evening, spent with very nice, warm people, who didn’t even notice when we locked ourselves in his old bedroom so I could hoover their son’s dick.

They clearly adore Quinn, and they’re proud of him. And I know they would be proud of him even if he told them tomorrow he was quitting football to raise cats. I envy their relationship, and it makes me want to say yes to this job even more, just to prove to my mom that cheerleading isn’t a hobby; it can pay the bills.

But it’s all happening so fast, and it’s all so crazy it makes my head spin. I’m suddenly dating the man of my dreams, and now I’m being offered the job of my dreams. I don’t want him thinking I went into the meeting with Jeanie and the general manager for the Sharks with any intentions of getting a job. I was just being helpful, answering their questions and giving them suggestions.

Is he going to think it’s weird? If I actually did something crazy and said yes to this job, we’d sort of be working together. He just wanted to see where this thing could go when we started being real, and now he’ll probably think I’m turning into a stage-five clinger, getting a job at his same place of employment again, this time right after we start dating, traveling to every game he goes to, and turning into a crazy stalker, like he originally thought I was. “Hey, honey, want to carpool? I made your lunch! PB&J with the crusts cut off, and I carved my initials into the bread, so you never stop thinking about me, because I’ll find you wherever you go!”

I need to stop watching so many Lifetime movies when I can’t sleep at night.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Wren says, knowing me so well that she probably knows exactly what kind of detour my brain just took. “Are you planning on ghosting him after you accept the job?”

“No!” I immediately shout in horror, just the idea of Quinn—Poof!—suddenly not being in my life anymore making me feel queasy. “And I didn’t say I was accepting the job. It just feels wrong somehow, and like I’m taking advantage of my relationship with him.”

“You know he will never see it that way, so stop being an idiot, and to hell with what complete strangers think, who don’t even know you,” Wren says, holding a cup of vanilla ice cream under a dispenser and squirting a heaping amount of hot fudge on top before setting it on the counter and moving to the other side of the room. “Do you know how many times someone on social media makes a snarky comment about the small-town ice cream girl, and how good she must be in bed, to land herself a big, fancy house on the beach? I mean, it’s true. I’m amazing in bed, but that’s not the point. I don’t give a shit, because they don’t know what Shepherd and I have.”

Why does she always have to be so smart?

“Besides,” Wren continues, laughing with her head in the fridge, grabbing more maraschino cherries to add to the toppings container. “Quinn knows the only reason you’re dating him is because he has a giant penis and knows how to use it.”

“I knew you told her about my awesome penis!”

Wren yelps in surprise as she whirls around from the fridge, and I just sigh, quite used to Quinn sneaking up on me at the most inopportune time at this point. And also since I saw him walk in the back door like he owned the place, sliding his sunglasses off his face with a huge smile right when Wren was giving away the secret DickFax report.

Thank God he didn’t show up a minute earlier.

Walking the rest of the way into the back of the Dip and Twist, Quinn waves at Wren as she goes back to serving another customer, the island in full swing now that opening day has come and gone. Stopping in front of me where I’m sitting on the back counter, Quinn rests his hands on my knees, pushing them apart and moving his big body in between them. Sliding his warm, heavy palms up my bare legs, he keeps going up and over the material of my cotton running shorts until he’s gripping my hips, tugging me to the edge of the counter and closer to him.

“Hi. How was your run after I left?” He smiles down at me, making my heart beat faster and my body feel flushed, just like it always does whenever he’s close to me.