Page 23 of Filthy Player
The GPS beeped, telling me to turn down her street. I focused on the road and pulled into her driveway, a short one that ended at a small carport so common in this area in smaller, older homes.
I must have been grinning because over another yawn, Paige asked, “What’s so funny?”
“Carports.” I shook my head. “So many things are different here and it still gets to me sometimes.”
“Like car ports?”
“Yeah. And these storms y’all have all the time. Plus the fact I just used y’all in a sentence. You southerners are rubbing off on me.”
“Do you like living here?”
“Can’t lie, living further north is all I’ve ever known. I miss the snow and the winters.”
“What’s it like?”
“Snow?”
“That. Minnesota. Iowa. How are they different?” She yawned again and I pulled my hand from hers and pressed it to her cheek.
“Twenty inches of snow and we live like it’s a half-inch here. Nothing stops except a few hours to get the plows out. People either bunker down in the winter or spend it ice fishing, playing pond hockey, and in the summer, they live on their boats and their lakes. They’re the nicest people I’ve ever met, just without the y’all’s. I can also tell you’re exhausted and the last thing I want is to keep you out later than you should be, so how about I get you inside and we finish this another time.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Which means you also have to give me your number.”
She fished out her phone, a faint pink coloring her cheeks. Damn, I liked it. Gone was all the hesitation she’d had with me before dinner. Somehow during dinner, I’d picked through whatever had held her back from being out with me, probably because I hadn’t been an ass.
“I gotta tell ya,” she said around another yawn. Goddamn this girl needed more sleep. “It’s only nine, but I feel like it’s midnight. I swear, when I’m old, I’m totally going to rock the senior citizen life. Dinner at four-thirty, bath at six-thirty, in bed by seven-thirty. I’m ready for it.”
I got stuck on the vision of her in a bath. Naked. Suds covering her breasts. Hair pulled up off her neck and some of it wet as it stuck to her skin. It would no doubt smell like peaches or strawberries, something sweet just like her.
I texted my own phone from hers and gave it back to her. “I’ve got a busy week. What’s yours look like?”
She squinted for a moment. “Work all weekend at the restaurant. Next week during the day I’ll be at the garage and then I’ve got Thursday and Sunday off from the grill.”
“First game of the year is in Atlanta that Sunday.” Damn. I wanted to see her, but now that the season was starting and since she worked so much, it’d be that much harder. We’d be swamped up until the plane took off Saturday, spending this week of practice preparing and finalizing the starting line-up. “We’ll find our time to see each other soon. In the meantime, you want me, even if to say hi, call me.”
She clutched her phone in her hand.
“Really?”
“Yeah really. Hold on.” I hopped out of my truck and ran around the front. Damn this monster was big. I dodged slamming my hip against the bumper and threw open her door, ushering her out and under the carport before we were soaked. “Told you I wanted to see you. And I like everything I see, Paige. You want to see me again?”
“Yeah.” She grinned softly, eyes lighting up even in the poor lighting by her house. “I guess I’d like that. Thanks for dinner.”
“Thanks for coming with me, even if I had to strong-arm and trick you into it.”
Our hands were clasped together and she tugged on mine, pulling herself closer. Head tilted back, lips parted, she licked her bottom lip. I bit back a groan. Goddamn. She wore seduction like she wore her confidence—understated, but sexy as fuck in its simplicity. “It would probably boost your ego if I told you I was thinking of saying yes anyway, but all that stuff you did for my dad really did seal the deal.”
“Yeah.” I slid my hand up her arm. I wanted to kiss her. Wanted to pull her into my arms and make out with her like a teenager. Hell, this felt like I was a teenager, dropping a girl off knowing her dad was inside — most likely with a loaded shotgun. This was the South. Everyone carried. I had no doubt Sam had a safe full of weapons he could destroy me with.
Good thing he liked me.
If I screwed his daughter against the side of his house on our first date that’d probably change.
“Thanks for not being a jerk, tonight, Beaux.” She grinned again.
Screw it. One kiss wouldn’t hurt. “I’ll always be nice to you,” I muttered, cupping her cheek and tilting my head. I moved slowly, let my intentions be known and was rewarded with a hazy look in her eyes giving me the all clear.
