Page 55 of Out of Bounds

“Mmmmm,” she hummed skeptically, her lips pressed tightly together. He could see her gearing up for a fight now, and he braced for it. This was not how he intended for the evening to play out, but at least this way he’d know what was bothering her. “I believe we also talked about how we would remain professional at work, which is what I’m doing.”

“This isn’t work,” he said carefully, unsure where she was taking this.

“Really? Because you brought Cowboy…to talk about the auction. That’s work,” she spat, her eyes narrowing and her face losing all the spark that had been there earlier.

“Effie, it’s not what you think,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. Is that what she was upset about? He relaxed a little inside, all the worry he had that she hadn’t been excited to see him or had only showed up to break things off between them starting to wane.

“Right, because you didn’t look at your buddy and go, ‘I bet I can get Felicity to show up in public looking like a hot mess so we can get a good laugh.’”

“You don’t look like a hot mess. You look so fucking adorable I can’t stand it,” he whispered, leaning in so only she could hear him. He waited for a beat, hoping to see even a glimmer of a smile, but her stark expression didn’t change. “It’s taking everything I have not to scoop you up and haul you out of here. I asked you to wear something comfy because I thought it would help you relax since I know you were nervous about us being in public together.”

“I have no problem being seen together if it’s work related.”

Work related? Was she really just upset because she thought he’d asked her here to talk about the auction?

“This wasn’t supposed to be work. This was supposed to be me seeing the woman I haven’t stopped thinking about since we left last week. But Cowboy saw me texting you and asked what it was about, and in a panic, I said the auction. We really did talk a lot about it this weekend—Cowboy felt very strongly about going with your idea and keeping with local pubs. So it was the first thing that came to mind when he asked. You made it very clear that you wanted to keep this just between us, and I was trying to respect that. The auction seemed like a good, easy excuse. And it worked, maybe a little too well, since his response was ‘great, food sounds like a good idea.’”

“So you expect me to believe he just invited himself?”

“Have you met the guy? Of course he did. That’s the kind of guy he is—he’s the king of easygoing. But he’s also not an idiot, and if I told him to get lost, he’d hound me until I told him why I wanted to be alone with you. And unless something has changed, I don’t think you want that.”

She shook her head, looking down at her lap, where his hand was still holding hers. He swallowed hard, hoping that his words were getting through to her.

“You’re not the only one risking something here. You’re still my boss, in a way, and since I just landed my dream job of coaching a major league team, I’d like to keep that. I’m not trying to do anything to jeopardize our lives here,” he reminded her. It had been his dream to coach professionally since he was a player, and now that he was here, doing just that, he knew he needed to be careful not to lose the opportunity. Getting involved with Felicity certainly might not have been his smartest move, but the more time he spent with her, the more and more he felt like she was worth the potential fallout.

“I am aware.”

“Is that the only reason for the cold shoulder? Because you thought this was a date and then thought it wasn’t?”

“I didn’t think this was a date,” she clapped back, looking up at him. The fire in her eyes told him he was right, and it sent a rush of heat through him. He knew that others saw her tenacity as a bad thing, but the more and more he got to know her, the more he adored it. That spirit was what made her Felicity. “We’re not dating.”

He disagreed, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. She could call this whatever she wanted—but he knew the truth. They were exactly what the other needed.

“But you did want to see me.”

“Yes,” she said, only slightly begrudgingly.

“Did you miss me too?” he prodded. The corner of her mouth twitched ever so subtly, letting him know he was on to something.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“Okay, fine, yes. I missed you.”

“You have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now.”

“That would be a really bad idea,” she scolded him, before leaning in and quietly telling him, “no matter how much I want that as well.”

“Just know that as soon as we’re done here, I have every intention of taking you back to your place and showing you just how much I missed you,” he responded, leaning into her still crouched position. They were so close he could feel the tickle of her breath on his lips, and he had to fight back the urge to plant one on her. If Cowboy showed back up, they’d have a lot of explaining to do, but he didn’t care. “With my hands, my tongue, and this raging hard-on I’ve had since you walked in here.”

A visible shiver ran through her, causing her to pop back up in her seat, frantically twisting and turning in her chair, looking all over the restaurant. “Where the hell is Devlin then?”

Gunnar sat back in his chair, laughing as she finally located their waiter and waved him down. Devlin sauntered over, seemingly not in any kind of rush, until Felicity motioned at him to hurry up. Gunnar bit back another laugh as he watched Devlin’s cocky expression drop, registering her annoyance and speeding up. They placed their order, including Cowboy’s bunless sandwich, while also managing to escape the onslaught of rolls. Turns out, when you're eating with she who created the signature move, you’re immune from having to experience it. Gunnar made a mental note to see if some extra orgasms might grant Felicity calling in a favor and landing him on the safe list too.

“Can I ask you something while it’s still just us?”

“Sure,” she answered, shifting in her seat as if she were all of a sudden worried about what he was going to ask.