Page 34 of Witch Upon a Star
I had a sudden flash of him in black armor, prepared to fight Fate to be with me. Goddess, it was nearly as sexy as his videos on Shirtless Saturdays. I had to clench my legs together in an effort to quench the sudden throbbing at my core.
Quinten didn’t do anything half-measured, I was realizing. He put his all into everything he did, whether it was building shelves for charity or claiming me. I admired that tenacity, that assuredness.
“Who else is here besides Ranger and Ghost?”
He shrugged. “Not sure, but they said they’d be stopping by throughout the night to meet you.”
At least this wasn’t a big shindig where I was the center of attention and would be quizzed later on regarding everyone’s names.
“Is that why you brought me here? So I could meet the club?” I was still trying to piece together why he’d chosen theclub’s bar for our first date. I didn’t mind, not really. It was just so different from where I’d pictured our first date being the past four years.
“Not entirely. I wanted some place local that wasn’t the diner. We can play pool or darts here, and the music isn’t so loud that we can’t hear each other. Plus, there’s a slight,” he held up his thumb and pointer finger with very little distance between them, “possibility that I wanted to show you off.”
“Good thing I wore my second favorite pair of jeans.” I turned to show him my ass.
He whistled low. “I approve. But what happened to your favorite pair of jeans?”
I wiggled my butt for him. “I wore them yesterday for our first meeting.”
Quinten’s eyes lit up. “Tease.”
“Moi?” I asked, aghast with a hand on my chest. “Never. I, good sir, put out.”
I made to move past him, but he snagged me around my waist and pulled me back to the wall, caging me in. A low rumble rose up from his chest as all levity left his face.
“Don’t ever,” he growled, “say that to me again. Lord knows, we both have pasts. And I’m the world’s biggest hypocrite by even saying this, but for the sake of my sanity, don’teverbring up your history with past men. I don’t?—”
I silenced his rant with a finger to his lips. “I put outfor you,” I specified. “Only for you.” I waited a moment to see the understanding cross his features before I lowered my finger again.
He blinked. “Only for me?” I nodded evenly. “We only talked about this a little yesterday, but I assumed that even if you didn’t date anyone, you were still intimate with…” His voice trailed off, and he winced at his own words. “Are you saying you’re a virgin?”
I was not worthy of the awe in his voice, like I’d accomplished a great feat by not having sex. “I’ve known about you since I was sixteen,” I reminded him. “Why would I want to be with anyone else?”
Quinten stared down at me for a long moment. “You saved yourself for me?”
I shook my head. “I saved myselffor me. I chose not to be with anyone else becauseIknew the only man I wanted to be with was you. That was my decision, my choice. And yes, while I do plan on having sex with you, and only you, I didn’t do it so you could go all caveman on my ass.” I patted his cheek. He must have just shaved again because there was no stubble on his face. “No need for you getting a big head—or dick,” I added offhandedly.
He groaned, dropping his head to my neck. “You can’t say things like that and expect me to behave. I’m trying to make this a memorable first date for you.”
I brought my hand up the back of his neck, petting the hair at the base of his skull. “It would always be memorable, Quinten, because it’s with you.”
“I’m trying to convince myself that taking you into the admin office and fucking you over the desk in there would be a really bad idea.”
For a moment I couldn’t come up with a plausible reason why that wasn’t afantasticidea, but then I remembered it would be my first time and that wasn’t exactly the way I’d always imagined losing my virginity.
“Next time,” I promised.
He chuckled before standing up. I straightened his cutfor him as he stared down at me. “Why do you call me ‘Quinten’?”
My hands stopped, my right pinkie finger just barely touching his road name patch on his leather cut. “Do you not like me calling you ‘Quinten’?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s not that. ‘Quinten’ or ‘Starbucks’ makes no difference to me. I was just curious as to why you would know that name over ‘Starbucks’.”
“It was the name I read on your coffee cup the first time I saw you.”
“Saw or—” he paused. Making his eyes go wide on the last word, he added in a spooky voice,“Saw?”
“Saw,” I answered. “One of your first days in Mount Grove we actually bumped into each other at the bakery. I couldn’t believe it was you, and that I was finally seeing you in person. It was actually that coffee cup that gave me your name. I didn’t know it before then.”
