Page 61 of Loving You

I smile. “Whoops.”

“Anyway, we need to stage something like that for Cherry and Danny, but way better.”

She comes up with more ideas as we eat. I nod, but I'm not really paying attention. I’m too busy trying to figure out how I’m going to get her to cook for me for the rest of the summer.

Maybe there could be some perks to having a fake girlfriend.

When we finish eating, I grab a couple more beers and move us into the living room to relax, but she’s still talking.

“Jesus, Quinn. How do you have so much energy? Take a breath.”

I sit on my couch, lean back, and watch her pace in front of me.

She needs to relax. Find something else to think about. Like me, for example. I could be annoyed that she’s still talking about this, but instead, I’m focusing on her smooth skin. How those fucking legs of hers are actually in my house. In my living room. Just inches away.

How pissed would she be if I touched her? If I pulled her toward me until she dropped into my lap, one leg resting on each side of me?

I don’t think she’d be pissed at all. If her reaction that first day in my shop had a say, I think she’d like it.

I bet her mind would calm down real quick.

“Oh my gosh, Miles, please pay attention. We need to have a plan.”

“No, we don’t. We can wing it.”

“We are not going to justwingit, but I’m glad to hear you’re finally on board with this. This is going to take a lot of brain power to pull this off, and we need?—”

“Holy smokes, someone is wound tight.”

I smile and shake my head. She’s really worked up about this.

“I am not wound tight,” she snaps.

“I beg to differ. I’ve been listening to you for the last half hour, Quinn.”

“O-kay, it’s official. We both have very different versions of listening, and you could use a refresher course on what that?—”

“I bet I could touch you, slowly slide my hand between your thighs, and the moment I pressed a finger against you, you’d combust. That’s how wound tight you are.”

I freeze with my beer halfway to my mouth.

Where the fuck did that come from? Did I really just say that to her? It’s one thing to let my mind wander, but to let those thoughts just slip from my lips so freely…

I quickly touch the bottle to my mouth and take a long pull, doing my best to pretend like the words that just flowed out of my mouth were as natural as me asking about the weather.

“I would not—you know what? I’m above this. I just wanted to make this easier for us, but clearly, you don’t have any interest in making our lives easier. This summer or the summers after.”

Hell, she has a point.

She stands quickly, clearly ready to leave. So I grab her hand.

“Wait.”

She stops, crossing her arms to look at me.

I drop my hand from hers, letting it fall back to the couch.

On the way, my fingers skim her bare leg.

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