Page 20 of Playing It Forward

“I’ll figure it out.” She shoves her phone into her back pocket. “But not now. It’s time to raise some money for charity.”

“Do you need help?”

She shoos me away. “I’ve got this.”

I don’t believe her. Organizing the mermaid tails is a lot of work. I help her until my alarm chimes to let me know it’s time for the ticket booth to open.

When I reach the ticket booth, there’s already a line waiting. I check in the participants and accept entrance fees from spectators until the line is gone. I plop down in a chair and roll my neck.

I’m exhausted. I didn’t sleep well last night. And I’ve been here since dawn. At least I don’t have an event tonight. My assistant is handling it. But I’ve got a brunch tomorrow morning. I won’t be getting much sleep tonight.

A car door slams and I glance toward it. Nolan climbs out of a red sports car. There’s a man I wouldn’t mind missing sleep for.

I shove those thoughts away. He’s off limits.

That didn’t stop you last time.

I’m not thinking about last time. Not thinking about how hard his muscles felt. How good he tasted. How his hands felt on my body. How his tongue felt as he traced my skin. My nipples tingle.

He smirks as he approaches me. I want to roll my eyes at his cockiness. But cocky looks good on him.

“The entry fee is twenty dollars.”

His eyes widen. “Twenty dollars to watch women swim?”

“The women wear mermaid tails.”

“Will you be swimming?”

“Nope.”

“Too bad. I’d pay a lot of money to watch you swim in a mermaid tail and bikini top.”

I motion to the lagoon. “There are plenty of women in mermaid tails and bikini tops to watch.”

“But it’s you I want to watch.”

He smiles down at me and his dimple makes an appearance. A dimple I’ve tasted. A dimple I want to taste again.

But there will be no dimple tasting. Because Nolan Allen is off limits.

“Sorry. I’m working the ticket booth today. It’s twenty dollars.”

He digs a fifty-dollar bill out of his wallet. “I’ll give you fifty if you go out on a date with me.”

“Are you serious?”

He winks. And I lose control over my anger. It bursts out of me.

“I told you Hudson will fire me if I date you. But you don’t care. You’re some hotshot quarterback. You don’t care about anyone else but yourself.”

He scowls. “I’m not an asshole.”

“And yet you insist on asking me out when I told you I’d lose my job if we date. Classic asshole behavior if you ask me.”

“Shit. I…”

He trails off when a group of teenagers arrives.