First and Tension (Summersweet Island 4)

Quinn: I never agreed to that. I just let you have the last word this afternoon, because I felt like being a giver.

Emily: I will meet you at The Varsity Club, right across from Sharks Stadium, at 12:30. Be a giver again and shut your yap.

Quinn: Fine. I’ll let you have your way this time, but only because I’m going to be coming right from a workout, and I’m only going to have time for a quick shower before I get dressed and leave.

Emily: All of that arguing with me, when you wouldn’t even have had time to pick me up anyway???

Quinn: I like being difficult. It keeps you on your toes. Remember, the car service will drive you around to the private back entrance of the restaurant, because my boss’s brother owns it, and he’s opening it early just for us. I’ll meet you back there, where you will be overjoyed and not at all argumentative AGAIN that I’m sending a car for you.

Quinn: Oh, and Emily? I dare you to have a good time with me tomorrow.

Emily: Yeah, I don’t want to.

Quinn: You’re cute. Sweet dreams.

CHAPTER 11

Quinn

“Game on, lover.”

“Your mimosa, my dear…” I trail off with a little smirk as I hand the glass of orange juice and champagne to Emily that the bartender just gave me.

The same little sound comes out of her when she takes the crystal flute from my hand that I’ve heard multiple times since she got out of the car. Part sigh, part huff, and completely annoyed with me. It’s so quiet and subtle that most people wouldn’t notice. But I’m not most people when it comes to this woman, and I’m quickly finding out I notice everything about her. She did it when I opened the back door of the black SUV she arrived in, when I offered her my hand to help her step out of the vehicle, when I gave her my elbow to hold onto as I walked her across the parking lot, when I opened the door of the restaurant for her, when I asked her what she’d like to drink and ordered it for her. Every time I’ve done whatever I typically do on a date for a woman, she seems flustered.

She does it again when I hold my arm out in front of me, indicating she should lead the way to our table. It’s so goddamn adorable when she purses those full, gorgeous lips and then quickly tries to hide it with a smile before walking away from me, but I’m clearly doing something wrong here. When Jeanie sent me a text to let me know she was running a few minutes late, and we should relax and grab a drink at the bar, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for both of us to calm our nerves and get our shit together before the show begins.

Except she seems to be completely cool and calm, and I’m the one losing my shit. I know it’s a fake date, but I want to impress her. I want her to see I’m not an asshole professional football player with a bigger ego than a heart. I want her to think that maybe real dating me wouldn’t be so bad.

Fine… so she doesn’t like chivalry.

The chair I was in the process of pulling out for Emily when we got to the only set table in the middle of the empty restaurant makes a loud, screeching scrape across the hardwood floor when I quickly thrust it back into place.

“You can sit, or not. Whatever,” I mutter, flopping down into the chair next to the one I just aggressively shoved back to the table like a disgruntled toddler.

Yeah, this is so much better.

“Are you okay?” Emily asks as she sets her champagne glass on the table, and I have a mini nervous breakdown watching her pull her own chair out and sit down, expecting my dad to come up behind me and smack me upside the head for not being a gentleman. “You’re acting weird. Are you sure you’re going to be able to pull this off? Maybe you’re the one who’s going to have a problem acting like you can tolerate me.”

My only problem is going to be acting like I don’t want to drag you into the coat check room and fuck you against the first available wall.

When she stepped down out of the SUV wearing a short-sleeved, green dress that clung to her mouthwatering curves and her red hair long and flowing all around her shoulders, with a pair of sexy, sky-high nude heels, I almost dropped to my knees on the pavement and wept like a baby. She took my breath away, and I couldn’t believe she was mine.

You know… for the afternoon.

“I’m fine,” I reassure her as she places her cloth napkin in her lap and takes a sip of her drink. “Just completely distracted by how beautiful you are.”