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I push all those thoughts aside for now and just think about how much fun it will be to keep playing these games with Quinn, but for real this time.
Because he really likes me, and I really like him, and I was an idiot for letting him walk away from me.
Sip and Bitch really does fix everything.
CHAPTER 21
Emily
“This is real.”
When Quinn doesn’t answer my knocks on his door, I get a little nervous he might be asleep and that it was a really, really stupid idea to come over this late. Until I glance into the window next to the door as I start to walk past it and can see through the dark living room to the open sliding glass doors that lead out onto the back deck, where a softly flickering fire glows in the fire pit.
With another deep breath of courage and a quick glance around the neighborhood, I’m thankful it’s after eleven, dark, and no one is outside who can see me—or what I’m wearing. I quickly make my way around the side of the cottage, to the back deck in the sand right on the beach, my feet stuttering to a stop when they get to the base of the stairs.
Quinn lounges back on a folding chair a few feet away, wearing a pair of athletic shorts, with his bare feet crossed at the ankles and perched up on the deck railing in front of him. His short black hair is damp from a recent shower, and he’s got his phone in his hands in his lap, the glow from the screen lighting up his face as he stares down at it, completely mesmerized by something on it. While I’m completely mesmerized by the sight of him.
And I can’t help but laugh softly to myself when I see he’s wearing a red, lightweight Sharks practice jersey. I feel a little better about the clothing choice Tess was so adamant about me wearing and just how perfect this actually is right now, even if it is a little ridiculous.
Kicking my flip-flops off in the sand and pressing my hand against my bare stomach to try to calm the butterflies, I quietly move around in front of the stairs and right up to the deck, setting my arms on one of the wooden slats at chest level and then resting my chin on top of them.
The smile on my face hurts my cheeks when the closer proximity to Quinn, and the way he has his phone angled, lets me see what has him so fascinated that he just keeps playing it over and over again. After the double slush Shepherd made that gave me some liquid courage, Wren dared me to send Quinn a video. She wanted me to send him something naked, but there was no way in hell that was happening. So, I gave him what he asked for in the locker room. I leaned to the side using Wren’s basement wall for support and pulled my leg straight over my head like I didn’t have any bones—which I’ll be paying for tomorrow—followed by a pirouette, adding in a back bend for the hell of it and, because I was buzzed, shaking my ass a little when I popped back up.
“You creeping on my videos again, QB?” I ask softly.
My voice makes him jump a little in his chair, and it smacks to the deck on all four legs instead of the two he was rocking back on.
His eyes are bright from the softly flickering flames of the fire as he looks over at me, where I’m mostly hidden behind the slats of his deck, but his lips remain in a thin line, and he doesn’t say anything to my sassy comment as he stares at me. His annoyance with me in the concession stand the other night when I called him by his initials as he had his hand down my pants makes my body heat with guilt, as well as the need to feel his hands on me again, when I realize I really haven’t called him by his name through all of this. Ever.
At least not when I wasn’t in the throes of an orgasm.
That thought makes my heart clench, knowing I really was trying to keep him at a distance…. trying and failing to keep my heart out of it.
Pulling back from the deck slats, I walk around to the base of the stairs again, grabbing onto the railing as I slowly make my way up them. A little bit of my nerves drop away when I finally come into full view at the top of the stairs, the glow from the fire helping out with that, as Quinn’s feet drop down from the deck railing with a loud thunk as they hit the wood.
