Page 27

"You're not so bad yourself," Rae replied with a smirk. Her gaze dropped to his shoes. "I know you switched to Nikes at some point, but I always imagine you in those anyway."

Quinn gave a satisfied grin and inwardly high-fived himself for at least doing this much right.

Looking down at her own dress she said, "I hope this is okay. Amira was over here earlier and said I needed a nice dress."

"It's perfect," Quinn said, drinking in her full appearance once more before offering his arm. "Are you ready?"

With a nod, Rae looped her arm through his, gave Harry a few pats and pulled the door shut.

Quinn walked her to the Bronco, opened the door and helped her up into the vehicle before walking around and getting in the driver's seat.

This formal behavior with Rae seemed so strange.

Tonight needed to be different, but he couldn't help feeling like being too formal was really not the way to go.

They always felt most comfortable when they were teasing and joking, just having fun with each other.

"Ready for me to romance your pants off?" Quinn said brightly, deciding he needed to stop overthinking everything that he did or said.

"I'm not wearing pants," Rae said, looking down at her bare legs.

"Okay, ready for me to romance your panties off? At least that's something I know I'm good at.”

"Who says I'm wearing panties?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at him, eyes twinkling.

He blinked and dropped his stare to the skirt of her dress, then back up. "That's cruel. Now I'm just going to be wondering all night."

"Oh, I'm sure you won't have to wonder all night," Rae said with a wink .

A low groan mixed with a laugh as it escaped him. "I put a lot of thought into this night. You're just going to have to hold onto your panties or...whatever. We're not cutting straight to the sex. We can do that next time."

"That's awfully presumptuous, Mr. Casey," said Rae. "You seem to be quite sure of how this night's going to go already."

Approaching a red light, Quinn took his eye off the road to look at Rae with his most seductive smolder.

"Trust me, baby doll. If I wanted to cut right to the hot and sweaty stuff, I wouldn't have any trouble getting there.

" He reached a hand over and gently caressed her upper thigh.

Rae's skin flushed under his touch and she took in a quick breath.

He took his hand away and noticed her chest decompress as she let out her breath.

"I just want you to know you're worth more to me than that.

I want to make up for being such an idiot in the past, and I need you to see how much I mean that. "

Quinn watched her breathe in the passenger seat for a few moments.

The twin swells of her breasts gently moved up and down in a slow, steady rhythm.

The sexy smirk returned to her face and Quinn was overcome with the urge to kiss it when the light turned green and the car behind them honked at them to get moving.

"You're going to make up for your past mistakes in just this date?" Rae asked curiously. "Which mistakes would those be?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." Quinn took her hand in his, grateful that she'd switched his arm into this splint so he actually could hold her hand.

After a short drive, the Bronco pulled back into the parking lot of Hotel Indigo and Rae looked skeptically at Quinn. "I thought we weren't starting with sex?"

"We're not," said Quinn. "There's a rooftop restaurant and I hear the food up there is the tits."

"Isn't this the hotel you're staying at?" she asked.

"Yes, but I've mostly been eating the protein shakes I brought and the burgers at Trojan Horse. I was waiting to bring you here with me to lose my food virginity to this place. "

"We're losing our virginity together?" Rae questioned, eyeing him knowingly, and he instantly wished he'd phrased it differently. That brought up bad memories. Guess I better just roll with it...

He turned the car off. "Yes, and I've been waiting a very long time for this.

I'd better get you up there before you change your mind.

" Practically jogging around the car to get the door, he scooped her out of the seat and threw her over his good shoulder.

She shrieked and Quinn was sure several people were turning to watch, but he didn't care.

"Quinn! I'm wearing a dress!" Rae squealed through laughter.

Strategically, he slid her back down to the ground, careful to keep his hand under her skirt. A finger caught the lace band of her panties and he snapped it against her skin. "Just had to check."

He held his arm out for her again and she took it as they walked into the hotel lobby and to the elevator.

Outside the rooftop restaurant, Quinn wrapped his arm around Rae and held her close to him, thinking how incredibly lucky he was to have this chance.

He probably didn't deserve it, but he was going to make the most of it.

Rae leaned into his side as they waited to be seated and he let out a calm breath, squeezing her closer into him.

"Hey!" A man's voice came from somewhere beside Quinn. "You're Quinn Casey, right? You play for Los Angeles?"

Quinn turned at the sound of his name and faced a college-aged man whose arm was around the shoulders of a curvy woman with bronze skin and long black hair. He gave a polite nod and a wave with a smile.

The guy's girlfriend seemed to recognize him suddenly and her bronze cheeks were tinted with red. "Oh, my gosh, you are!" She looked from her boyfriend back to Quinn. "You're on my hall pass list! I can't believe you're actually like...right here."

Quinn looked down at Rae to see her reaction. She was trying not to laugh as she turned to the young woman. "That's actually why I'm here with him. My husband's at home probably puking his guts out, hoping I don’t actually go through with it.”

The woman looked mildly horrified before turning her attention back to her boyfriend .

Quinn held Rae close to him and had to fight the urge to run his hands all over her body.

Instead he slid his hand down to her hip and squeezed her ticklish spot which elicited a squeal and a jump, followed by an involuntary giggle.

Rae swatted Quinn as he chuckled to himself and pulled her back toward him again.

He gave her a kiss on the side of her head and nipped playfully at her ear.

"Don’t forget, I know your weakness," he whispered. Rae straightened and color blossomed up from her chest, into her neck and face, and fuck if he didn’t love being able to do that to her.

They were seated at a table where they were read the specials and given a drink menu which Rae politely declined after the previous night's events.

She ordered a sparkling water while Quinn ordered a pint of Two-Hearted Ale.

The food was indeed the tits, but it didn't come close to the high he felt just sitting there talking with Rae, teasing, flirting, picking up their witty banter that seemed to come so easily. Quinn had never been able to talk to other women this way. It wasn’t that he hadn't met any intelligent girls who were capable of conversation, he just always felt like he was miles away during those interactions.

Some part of him must have known he was meant to be here with Rae instead.

The table was cleared except for their glasses at nine o'clock.

Almost an hour and a half had flown by as they caught up, going more in depth than what they'd been able to during their meetings at the bar with Jett and Chris that week.

They talked about college, and everything that had happened in the time they'd spent apart.

Their dating horror stories, professional achievements, Rae talked about her family, and then they circled back to the nightmarish world of casual dating.

He gathered their lives were both filled with flings and one-night stands.

Quinn began to realize that, although he'd done what he could to avoid his predisposition for addiction, she had become his.

Rae was a strong shot of whiskey that burned all the way down and stuck with him, and all the other women he'd been with were like chasers.

He tried watering down the burn that Rae had left behind, but none had been strong enough to make him forget .

The wait staff were pulling tables back and creating a dance floor. The hanging lights that were strung up all around the roof flickered to life and the music was turned up to a significantly higher level that clearly gave out the message that it was time to dance.

Quinn held his hand out to Rae as they stood to allow a couple of waiters to move their table. The music registered in her ears and she smiled to Quinn. "Is this T-Pain?"

"Yeah, I think it is." He observed her as she mouthed some of the words to Buy You a Drank . "I paid the DJ to play songs only from 2009 and earlier."

Rae looked at him curiously. "Why 2009?"

"I figured it would make up for junior and senior homecoming, and senior prom," Quinn explained.

The look Rae gave him was everything he could have asked for, a beaming smile that brightened the blue in her eyes to turquoise. She reached up on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his lips and took his hands. "Let's go dance like horny teenagers!”