My jaw drops. “Yeah, that and straight-up blackmail.”
“I did not blackmail you…” he defends. I sit back, staring hard. “Okay, there might have been a little blackmail.”
“Uh-huh.” I cross my arms, holding back a laugh at the back of my throat.
“Hey, the age-old trick and coffee, compliments, and condoms didn’t work. I had to improvise.” He fires another grin, this one sparking a wave of warmth from my head to my toes.
I wipe my lips with a napkin, strategically getting my damn smile out of my system before pulling it away.
“Come on.” Junior stands up from the table and grabs my hand, pulling me along with him toward the arcade games.
He takes me across the room into the skee-ball corner and reaches into his pocket for some quarters. “You can go first.”
The change clinks loudly in the machine and it comes to life, rolling nearly a dozen balls down toward the front all in a line.
I grab the first one and pause, feeling a sting of self-consciousness as Junior’s eyes stay locked on me. My palms heat up and I feel the sweat gathering on the heavy ball before I roll it hard down the aisle. It veers to the left and nets me a mere ten points.
After a few rolls, I get the hang of it and the feeling of Junior’s eyes on me doesn’t bother me as much. Goosebumps prickle on my neck, lulling me into an even warmer security blanket but I can’t lose focus now. I have to remember who he is and the driving motivation for why he even brought me out here.
He wants to fuck me.
After a few rounds, we have a line of tickets more than four times his height.
“And what exactly does this win me?” I ask him.
Junior gathers them up. “Let’s go see.”
We walk across the room to the prize counter where Frank stands with his permanent smile.
“Quite the haul tonight, Junior.”
He feeds the tickets into a machine and I watch as the numbers tick up at a fast pace. I feel Junior’s eyes on me, but I try to pretend like I don’t.
“Looks like…” Frank turns to the prize wall and points toward a line of teddy bears. “One of those.”
“She’ll take it,” Junior says, looking smug.
Frank pulls the bear off the wall and hands it to me. “For the lucky girl.”
I chuckle and squeeze it in my hands. The fur is light brown and incredibly soft, far higher in quality than I would have expected at a place like this. It might just make a decent pillow or cuddle companion. “Thank you,” I tell him.
Frank nods and excuses himself to go help another customer nearby.
“Do you like it?” Junior asks me.
I shrug and hug it against my chest. “It’s not bad… but I bet every girl you bring here leaves with a teddy bear.”
“Them? Hell no.” He points into the glass counter at the cheap prizes. “They get pencil erasers and friendship bracelets.”
“Oof!” I chuckle. “Harsh. Something tells me second dates aren’t that common for the great Junior Morgan.”
“How’d you guess?” he jokes. “Actually, first dates aren’t that common either.”
“Why not?”
He shrugs. “Most girls aren’t worth the trouble.”
I recognize the obvious line, but I play into it anyway. “What makes you think I’m worth it?”
His eyes go softer as he leans closer, licking his lips and gazing down at me. “I just know.”
I hold back the scoff.
Junior squeezes the ear on the teddy bear with playful fingers. “Wanna get out of here?”
A shiver rolls down my spine and I hesitate as it reaches my core.
Yes. Emphatically, yes, I do want to get out of here, but I don’t want to tell him that. I don’t want to tell him that rolling a damn ball down a lane toward plastic holes was the most fun I’ve had in forever or that just looking into his eyes makes me want to bend over for him.
He’s a player and he’s not just playing football. Everything he’s done tonight has been designed for one thing and one thing only.
I can’t exactly let him get away with it, can I?
“Sure,” I say, smiling softly.
Chapter 7
Junior
I drive Eliza back to campus and honestly, I have trouble keeping my eyes on the road.
She’s so… stunning. I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe it’s the way her blue eyes sparkle beneath the street lamps as they pass over us or how her brown hair shines gold if you look at it just right or it could even be the adorable way she’s clutching that teddy bear — almost like it’s the first one she’s ever owned.
“Can you drop me off at my car?” she asks, breaking the long silence. “I’m parked in E lot; near the quad.”
I turn into the center of campus, navigating slowly to avoid hitting other students jaywalking across the streets.
E lot is the largest lot on campus, meaning there will be plenty of witnesses around which doesn’t bode well for me getting Eliza into the backseat but that won’t stop me from trying. Perhaps she has a bit of a voyeuristic streak in her.
“The blue car.” She points out the window, luckily toward the back of the lot with a good chunk of empty spaces.
I park beside it and turn off the engine. When I look at her, I find her facing me already. Her cheeks are pink, and her eyes shine with slight nervousness.
“This was fun,” she says, smiling. “Thanks, Junior.”
“Yeah, it was.” I nod, pushing my car keys into my jacket pocket. “I’d be up for doing it again sometime, if you are.”
Her face falls but her lips curl, an obvious yes if there ever was one. “Maybe,” she says instead. As she glances up again, her eyes twitch once toward the backseat and my blood spikes.
She wants it.
“You know, it’s still early…” I hint. “How about we sit in the back and talk for a while? If you want…”
Eliza pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, showing a sweet hesitation as she gently nibbles on it. “All right,” she says, her voice quivering.
I move out of my seat and shift into the back. She follows me and leaves the teddy bear behind while I settle onto the pillows.
“Wow…” She chuckles, laying down beside me.
“What?”
“It’s way more comfortable than I thought it’d be.”
“Of course.” I laugh. “The ladies get only the best out of me.”
“Really?” A smile tugs at her mouth. “What other… services do you provide?”
She really fucking wants it.
“Come here and I’ll show you,” I whisper.
Eliza shifts closer and pauses. Her chest rises and falls with trembling breaths and I know beyond the shadow of the doubt that I’ve got her.
I reach out to cup her face with one hand and she turns into my touch, allowing for my fingers to crawl back and get buried in her perfect hair. She licks her lips, preparing for mine and my briefs tighten at the sight of just half an inch of her pretty, pink tongue.
As badly as I want to crush my lips on her, I take it slow, gently brushing them against the edge of her cheek, counting on her reflexes to take over and connect our lips herself.