Page 9 of Never Date A Player
Zach is at the barbecue, grilling all manner of deliciousness, smoke and beef-scented steam stimulating my salivary glands. Just one more hot dog. That can’t hurt, right?
There’s a chance I have an unusually large appetite for a woman my size. Okay, my appetite is enormous. Cali has never commented on it, but guys I’ve dated have made rude remarks. Let’s just say those jerks didn’t last long. I don’t date guys who think women should eat like rabbits, and I’m on the slender side anyway.
“What’s up, Gen?” Zach says happily as I approach. He turns one of the hot dogs, revealing a golden brown underside. My stomach rumbles even though I just fed it a hot dog and chips.
I glance at the others we’re with. “Are you the only one who knows how to cook?”
He laughs. “They know, but I do it better,” he says with a saucy grin. He gestures to the food on the grill. “Did you want more?”
I open my mouth to speak, but Zach focuses on something over my shoulder. “Hang on,” he says. “I think Mira’s telling the story about how our high school football coach let a freshman twerk on him. I gotta hear this.”
Zach hands Lewis the barbecue tongs—where did he come from? I glance behind to make sure I’m not seeing double, but it’s only Nessa and Cali with Mira. Zach heads off, calling over his shoulder, “Man the ’cue, Lewis. Back in a sec.”
Lewis scrapes the edge of the utensil, removing black soot. He turns several hot dogs in a row. “What can I get you, Gen?”
My mind goes blank. These are the first words he’s said to me since I met him last night, though I feel like we’ve said and done more, as if we rounded second base without hitting first. It’s awkward.
“Um, just a hot dog.”
He looks at me from beneath his lashes. “How long are you staying in town?”
Is he asking because he wants to get to know me, or is he making idle chitchat? “I’m going back to Dawson at the end of August.”
He nods. “Planning on getting in any of those hikes?”
A reference to the conversation from last night? The one he wasn’t a part of because he and Mira were bickering? Had he been listening? “Yeah, and running,” I say. “The trails sound beautiful.”
Lewis slips a hot dog on a bun using the barbecue tongs and hands it to me while Zach walks up, shaking his head, a wry smile on his face. His eyes narrow on the food I’m holding. “Nice.” He nods in approval. “I like a girl who can eat.”
Heat radiates off my face, though I know he meant the comment good-naturedly.
Lewis passes the cooking reins to his friend and walks around the barbecue, placing a hand on my shoulder. He leans down, and I’m hyperaware of the heat from his touch, the scent of pine and soap—his lips inches from my ear. “I’d be happy to show you the trails sometime.”
I look into his eyes. Seductive, flirty. This is officially a hit-on—with his girlfriend a few feet away. It’s so wrong I don’t even know where to begin.
He studies my features, head tipping back at the expression on my face. “Enjoy the barbecue,” he mumbles, mouth contorting into a grimace possibly intended as a smile. He walks away.
I can’t believe this. Am I some kind of cheater magnet? I breathe in and out to steady the shaking in my arms and walk across to where Cali is standing by the picnic table. I throw out the uneaten food, unable to stomach it right now.
Lewis nears Mira, but he peers out at the lake, his face tense, one hand jammed in his pocket, the other gripping the back of his neck. A lock of chocolate hair sticks up on the side of his head as if he scrubbed it with his fingers. Cali glances between me and Lewis.
“I have to leave. Now,” I tell her. If I don’t, I might combust out of frustration.
Lewis doesn’t seem like a jerk, but he must be if he has a girlfriend and is asking to spend time with me.
So why is he such a temptation?
Cali’s eyes widen. “You okay?”
I nod and we make a hasty exit no one seems to notice, except the one person I’m trying to avoid. The heat of Lewis’s stare follows me all the way to the car.
“Gen, what the hell was that?” Cali strains to see the barbecue area and the person I’m not allowing myself to look at.
“Something that has to stop.”
Chapter Three
I give Cali a quick wave as I pass the blackjack pit where she’s dealing this week, and walk up the few steps to the Mont Belle Lounge. The few encounters I had with Lewis almost seem like they never happened. I haven’t thought about him in days. Well, not much, anyway. And I haven’t seen him. Which is a good thing, because his presence confused me, and I don’t need that in my life.
