“Good.” I let him get to work. True to his word, he had the tire changed in a few minutes. He fired off random questions while I tried not to stare at the bulging muscles in his arms or the graceful way in which his body moved.
He’d started with, “What’s your spirit animal?” and was up to “Cranberry or pomegranate tea?” by the time he was done. He was completely effortless. Despite myself, I’d found myself answering his questions while ogling his ass as his designer jeans scraped the pavement.
“An eagle and coffee,” I answered as he worked.
“Is coffee a variation of either of those tea
s?” he asked as he wiped his hands on his jeans.
“Nope, but I’d take coffee over every kind of tea any day of the week,” I said.
He kicked the tire once he was done. “That should be fine, but you should get the other ones checked.”
“Thanks, I will.”
He was standing too close for comfort now. His musky scent invaded my senses, mixed with a cologne that I didn’t recognize, but it smelled manly and divine.
“So, where were you off to?” he asked.
I tried to forget what those lips had felt like on mine only a couple of days ago. They’d had no business there, but since I’d been responsible, I could hardly take it out on him.
I took a breath to calm my pounding my heart. It was a great kiss, sure. But he was a football player. One of my father’s stars, no less. Sure, he was attractive, but that was it. “None of your business.”
“Well actually, I came to your assistance when you were in need, if I’m not mistaken. I happen to have a need of my own.” Seriously? The guy couldn’t be that direct. At least not with Richard Ralls’s daughter.
“Yeah? And what might your need be? A blowjob from the boss’s daughter? If that’s where you saw this going, you should’ve kept driving, buddy.”
A slow smile spread on his lips, and his eyes danced with amusement. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to know you’re thinking about blowjobs, but I actually meant dinner. This time.”
“Oh, ha. You’re hilarious.” I flushed crimson, despite my best efforts. Maybe I had jumped the gun on the blowjob thing. Still, it wasn’t so absurd to have thought that was what he meant. “I can’t have dinner with you anyway. I have plans.”
He didn’t skip a beat. “Plans that couldn’t come and help you out themselves seem like shitty plans.”
“Wow, you really do think highly of yourself, don’t you?”
“I’m a star, babe. In case you didn’t know. And I’m also not wrong about your plans. My teammate dropped out of dinner, and I have this reservation. Come with me?”
He seemed sincere, but I had no doubt that it was all an act. Again, I’d grown up around football players. “I can’t. My plans didn’t come help me because I never let her know that—”
He cut me off with a huge grin. “Her, huh? I’m totally down with that. Just let me hold the camera?” He pleaded with a goofy grin on his face.
I couldn’t help but smile. And taunt him, of course. “You should’ve said something earlier. Of course you can hold the camera. Imagine all the riveting footage we’ve been missing of Heather studying, and me trying to figure out what to do with my life.”
He looked crestfallen. “No sexy pillow fights, then?”
“None whatsoever,” I assured him.
“In that case, my dinner reservation definitely wins.” His eyes held a mischievous glint that drew me in. “Come with me?”
“I really do have to get to my friend’s place,” I said, but I had a feeling that James Skye wasn’t one to give up that easily.
As it turns out, I was right. “Come on, come to dinner with me. You know that you want to. Besides, you kind of owe me.”
I hated that he was right. Still, I wasn’t letting him get away with cheesy pickup lines without calling him out on it.
True to form, he laughed it off and told me to meet him an hour.
He was trouble. My father would hate it. It was perfect.