“Yeah? And what might your need be? A blowjob from the boss’s daughter? If that’s where you saw this going, you should’ve kept driving, buddy.”
A slow smile spread on his lips, and his eyes danced with amusement. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to know you’re thinking about blowjobs, but I actually meant dinner. This time.”
“Oh, ha. You’re hilarious.” I flushed crimson, despite my best efforts. Maybe I had jumped the gun on the blowjob thing. Still, it wasn’t so absurd to have thought that was what he meant. “I can’t have dinner with you anyway. I have plans.”
He didn’t skip a beat. “Plans that couldn’t come and help you out themselves seem like shitty plans.”
“Wow, you really do think highly of yourself, don’t you?”
“I’m a star, babe. In case you didn’t know. And I’m also not wrong about your plans. My teammate dropped out of dinner, and I have this reservation. Come with me?”
He seemed sincere, but I had no doubt that it was all an act. Again, I’d grown up around football players. “I can’t. My plans didn’t come help me because I never let her know that—”
He cut me off with a huge grin. “Her, huh? I’m totally down with that. Just let me hold the camera?” He pleaded with a goofy grin on his face.
I couldn’t help but smile. And taunt him, of course. “You should’ve said something earlier. Of course you can hold the camera. Imagine all the riveting footage we’ve been missing of Heather studying, and me trying to figure out what to do with my life.”
He looked crestfallen. “No sexy pillow fights, then?”
“None whatsoever,” I assured him.
“In that case, my dinner reservation definitely wins.” His eyes held a mischievous glint that drew me in. “Come with me?”
“I really do have to get to my friend’s place,” I said, but I had a feeling that James Skye wasn’t one to give up that easily.
As it turns out, I was right. “Come on, come to dinner with me. You know that you want to. Besides, you kind of owe me.”
I hated that he was right. Still, I wasn’t letting him get away with cheesy pickup lines without calling him out on it.
True to form, he laughed it off and told me to meet him an hour.
He was trouble. My father would hate it. It was perfect.
Chapter Seven
James
I strode into Blackmore’s, one of Miami’s best new restaurants, wearing my favorite suit and a shit-eating grin. The owner was a friend of a teammate, and she didn’t hide the fact that she was a fan.
“It’s such an honor to host you, Mr. Skye. Please, follow Monty to your private dining room.” I had requested a table with privacy when I’d made the reservation for Ryder and I so that we wouldn’t be mobbed by fans all night long. I hadn’t thought that “a table with a modicum of privacy” would have turned into a private dining room.
Hells yeah. Guess who’s arrived? I silently cheered.
I settled at the table in the private dining room. It was decorated like an intimate library, which I thought Gabrielle might appreciate.
Because you know her so well. I shut up the snide voice in my head good and tight. I actually looked forward to this dinner. From what little I did know about her, she seemed like fun. She was sassy. I liked that.
Richard would not be happy if he ever found out. Especially since he’d specifically warned me to stay away from her. I almost felt bad about it. He’d been really good to me.
Fuck it.
Gabrielle was hot. Like, come in your pants hot. Not that it had ever happened to me, but she was the kind of hot that made you realize that the struggle was real. It wasn’t like I was asking her to marry me behind his back. I was just buying her some food. Besides, he’d always liked me.
“May I bring you anything, Mr. Skye?” a bright-eyed waitress asked. She was obviously a fan but had the good sense to keep it t
o herself.
“I’m okay for now. My dinner companion should be arriving—”