"No, you're right. I shouldn't be pushing you towards something that I want. This is your life, Quinn. I don't want you to feel any pressure from me."
As soon as I said it, all I could think about was the pressure of her lips against mine. Her firm body pressed against me. The pressure that built between us when we moved together.
"Quinn! Hey! I was hoping you might be here," the young desk clerk from the Wynn Hotel called down the hallway.
"It’s okay, go mingle. Have some fun," I said.
She squeezed my arm and smiled. I wished she had noticed the hoarse longing in my voice. I cleared my throat and watched her go. Quinn was still free to make her own decisions. We both were. What had happened in Vegas might have just been a one-time deal.
#
Watching Quinn make the rounds of the party with Dave was too much. Her smile was too bright. I could not look away. He got her a drink, helped her through the crowd, and listened intensely to everything she said. Quinn enjoyed the easy flirting, and it lit her up like a sparkling firework.
"Oh no, man, don't do this," Scottie said. He handed me a full cup of blue punch. "Not tonight. I need my wingman tonight and a wingman cannot have that look on his face."
I tore my gaze from Quinn and looked at my friend. "There's no look. See? I'm fine," I said. "Let's check out the game on the back patio."
"They went that way," Scottie said. "How about we head back to the kitchen? There's a redhead there who's making flaming drinks. I could use one of those."
I nodded, but headed towards the back patio. Quinn was sitting on the railing of the deck with Dave leaning next to her. They were chatting and laughing over something. It made my skin crawl the way he was too close to her bare knee.
"No, see, this is the look I'm talking about," Scottie said.
"There is no look," I said. "I just want to make sure she's safe. We don't know anything about this guy."
"Or we know everything about him. He went to our high school, man, he's a year younger than Quinn. And, it’s pretty obvious that he adores her and would do anything she said."
"Great. Now I feel better."
"No, sarcasm can't chase it away. I still see it there in your eyes," Scottie said. He jumped in front of me and pretended to flash a penlight in my eyes. "Yup. You've failed the first test. I better take you down to the station."
"What look are you talking about?" I batted him away.
"Love, man. That's how you look at someone when you're in love." He took an ominous sip of his drink. "I recognize it. And your symptoms are bad."
"Why on earth would I take love advice from you?"
"Have you ever known anyone else more hopelessly in love than me?"
"Hopeless is a good way to describe you," I said.
"Come on. How many times have you caught me making that same exact face at Alison? You've warned me of it every time," Scottie said. "We'll be sitting around, my eyes will drift and I'm telling you, man, they find her like she's magnetic. Just like you are with Quinn. This could be a crowd of hundreds and you'd still be staring like that."
I forced myself to turn around a smile at a knot of adoring fans. "There. I'm not staring. There's no look."
"Yeah, whatever. It’s still there. How about you give her five minutes to head back inside and I'll time how long it takes for you to find her again?" Scottie said. "'Cause I'm guessing it'll be seconds, not minutes."
"What's seconds, not minutes, or should I guess?" a voice surprised us.
"Alison," I said, kissing her cheek. "Glad you could make it."
"Did you invite her?" Scottie asked. He mimicked a knife entering his back and stumbled dramatically to and fro.
"Of course you'd forget who introduced you to Winton in the first place," Alison said. She crossed her arms and looked Scottie up and down. "Why are you hanging on Owen? No luck finding the girl of your dreams?"
"I did. Turns out she's a damn harpy. I'm hoping once the moon wanes I'll see her again," Scottie said.
"How about I leave you two lovebirds alone?" I asked. Scottie tried to jump in my path, but I moved around him and made it into the house before he could beg me to stop.