Page 48 of Dirty Pool

His hands landed on her waist, and she loved the way his fingers dug into her sides. He squeezed, a silent warning for her to stop the teasing. She heard it loud and clear, not that it made much of a difference. If he could dish it, then the man would learn to take it.

That was Gabbie’s way.

“I told you, I jog here.”

“Yes, with birdseed for the duckies, apparently.”

“Because they quack at me when I pass, and I feel bad for them.”

“Mmhmm. Of course, you do.”

Michel let out a laugh. “You’re impossible.”

Gabbie winked at him over her shoulder as she pulled out a handful of birdseed. Michel wasn’t wrong—bread was terrible for ducks. It got stuck to the roof of their mouths, and if it did get in their bellies, it would swell up to make them think they were full when they weren’t. It was harder for them to digest, too.

She adored he had birdseed in his car to toss to the ducks when he jogged at the park. He wasn’t all bad, despite what people in her family liked to say about the Italians. How could someone be bad if they remembered to feed the ducks when they went jogging?

It was sweet, really.

“You must be getting hungry,” he said.

“A little.”

“You want to go—”

“Not yet.”

She was enjoying this.

The park, peaceful at almost midnight, was dark and quiet. There wasn’t a soul around, and the small pond was rarely ever this empty when she came to see it in the daytime.

“I like that you chose here for a date,” she said.

Michel rested his chin on her shoulder, and wrapped an arm tightly around her middle. “Oh, why is that?”

“Most guys would pick a club, or something. Dinner, and a show. The usual. I like this better. It’s just us, and we can talk.”

“I would have taken you for all that other shit, too, but it’s late.”

It was.

Most restaurants were closed, although she was sure they could find a hole-in-the-wall diner to eat at, if they really wanted to. Not that any of the food would be the kind of stuff she was supposed to eat. Michel probably knew that, too, and took it into consideration without telling her he was doing it.

She appreciated it.

Gabbie grinned. “All of that for a date, too?”

“Yeah, probably not. I wanted to be alone with you … can’t exactly do that when there’s other people around, can I?”

Just like she thought, then.

“I come here a lot, but never this late.”

“No?”

Gabbie shook her head. “Only on weekends when I don’t have classes. And I haven’t had the chance to come here since the summer break started.”

“What are you studying, anyway?”