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“You totally threw the game,” I whispered, my voice cracking.
“I didn’t throw the game. But if you don’t believe me, you should give me my money back.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m that convinced,” I said, shifting my weight. “I am a pretty deadly poker player.”
“No shit.”
My lips tugged towards a smile. “I’m sorry I shoved my panties in your face.”
“Your smack-talking game needs work.”
I scrunched my nose. “I can see how that wasn’t a fitting taunt for strip poker.”
“At least you didn’t let Tanner blow on them,” he said, closing the case and clipping it shut.
A million flirty comments ran through my head, but they all seemed so cheap after his startling admission. He wanted to see my body, which meant he’d thought about me in that way. It didn’t necessarily mean he liked me. After all, Tanner wanted to see my body, too, and he clearly thought I was just a pair of tits on legs. But Quinn obviously respected me more than that, even though he seemed sort of conflicted about it.
Regardless, a weird flurry of warm butterflies swirled up through me, and I couldn’t help but feel flattered and feminine and…pretty. It was nice. The nicest I’d felt all week by a long shot.
Quinn reached for his shirt and pulled it back on, his body like a beautiful classic car suddenly hidden beneath an unremarkable cloth.
I glanced down at my jacket pocket and thought about his Tinder message, which had been gathering dust all week. “Okay,” I blurted.
“Okay what?”
“I’ll go out with you.”
His brows crashed together as he leaned away from me. “Don’t say it like you’re doing me a favor.”
“I’m not. I wouldn’t.” Oh God, it was hard to think with his eyes on me like that. “I’m saying it because your message was the elephant in the room all week, and we need to nip this thing between us in the bud once and for all. I mean, you’ve clearly been thinking about it and—”
“Actually, I forgot about the whole thing,” he said. “But I’m still down to take you out if you want.”
“What? Now who’s acting like it’s a favor?!”
“I’m joking, woman. I still want to take you out.”
Christ, he called me woman. I liked it so much I had half a mind to legally change my name. “Cool,” I said, trying to mirror his tangible lack of excitement. “We can go Dutch since I’m rich now.”
He laughed. “How about next Friday?”
“It’s a date,” I said, sounding too eager.
“Let’s think of it as more of an outing.”
My eyes narrowed. “An outing?”
“Yeah,” he said. “A chance for us to get to know each other better now that we’re roommates.”
“I don’t care what you want to call it as long as it’s the highlight of my week.”
He scoffed. “No pressure then.”
“No pressure,” I said. “Though I should warn you, my expectations are pretty high.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Are they?”
“You have quite the reputation.”
“You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.”
My heart sank at the realization that he was right. Heck, maybe I’d read too much into his words and actions already. Maybe he only wanted to see me naked because he’d seen every other girl in this city naked, so why should I be any different? And maybe he really intended for it to be an outing and nothing more. Or maybe he was just being nice to me because he missed and adored my brother, not because he wanted me bad.
Oh well. So what if I was secretly pathetic? That was nothing new. I had plenty of reasons to pity myself lately. But date or no date, an outing with Quinn Draper was nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I was already looking forward to it.
