The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (18 page)

Her gaze still locked with mine, she licked her lips and then swallowed. Her eyebrows went up in a suggestive way. “Let me guess. You want a date?”

A kiss would be better, but a date was fine. “Sounds like a good idea to me.”

“Seriously, when are you going to lay off me?” The annoyance edging her voice was hard to understand. It said she wanted to punch me while her eyes told a different story. A much more romantic one…

“When I get what I want, sweetness. Or to put it in your words,” I teased, “when hell freezes over.”

Sue snorted, and her expression went flat. “That’s not gonna happen, dude.”

Really? Without wasting another second, I shifted under her, rolling us both around so that she was trapped underneath me. A gasp escaped her but at the same time she started another giggling fit that rocked her body. Using only part of my weight to keep her trapped on the ground, I fixed her with an unflinching stare.

“Get off, Chris! You’re squishing me!” she squeaked, the words ripped apart with laughter. Working her arms free, she reached out and flicked me on the brow.

What the hell?
I narrowed my eyes at her. Hadn’t she learned her lesson last time? “Oh, you shouldn’t have done that, sweetness,” I drawled. The surprise in her eyes was pure joy for me as I gripped her wrists and pinned them on the grass above her head. It was time to make good on my promise.
A hickey the size of Ohio.
“Remember what I told you last time, if you did that again?”

Her jaw dropped as realization struck. “No, you wouldn’t—”

I arched one eyebrow. “You bet.”

At that moment, Susan began wrestling and squirming beneath me like mad, but the prospect of getting necked by me coaxed another fit of laughter from her nevertheless. High on anticipation, I leaned my head down and nuzzled the side of her throat.

“Don’t you—no—don’t—don’t you dare suck on me!” Sue cried out, chuckling uncontrollably.

Grinning, I pressed my lips to her tender skin. Dear God, she smelled delicious. All coconut and summer love. Kissing her neck felt so much better than I’d dared to dream. A moan escaped me, one of pure pleasure. Mouth slightly open, I let Sue feel my tongue on her skin. Nothing more than a gentle brush, and she shivered beneath me. I loved it when a girl was responsive, but with Sue it was more than that. Her excitement crawled under my skin and made me want to tease her tongue rather than her skin.

“Agh! Take your slobbery mouth off of me!” she ordered—only it lacked conviction. Not my fault that she was still squealing and giggling. At this point, I was pretty sure she’d hate for me to stop but was just too stubborn to admit it.

Trailing a line up her neck with my tongue, I finished with the slightest of kisses and whispered, “Why, that was just foreplay, Sue.” Then I sucked on her neck, delivering the promised hickey.

“Ugh! You branded me,” she whined. I wondered if she noticed how she pulled me closer instead of pushing me away.

Her indecisiveness made me laugh. “And you should show it proudly,” I told her as I finally rose and helped her to her feet, clasping her wrists.

As soon as she stood, she took a step back and rubbed wildly at the spot on her neck that was already starting to turn a deep red. “That was so—”

Nice? Sexy? Enticing?
Yeah, I’d agree to all of that.

But back to her not-so-convincing resistance, Sue grimaced. “Ew!”

Ew?
Seriously? “Yeah, that was probably the reason you were laughing so hard, right?”

She flushed a deep scarlet.
Gotcha!

Smiling, I went to find my jacket and slipped it on. A glance at my watch, and all fun was blown away. This little game had lasted longer than expected. Mom was home. She’d be waiting…and she was going to kill me.

“Sorry,” I said to Sue. “I’d really love to fool around with you some more, but I’m still grounded, so I have to go home now.” I started walking toward the parking lot, but when Susan didn’t follow, I stopped and glanced over my shoulder, waiting for her. Hesitantly, she caught up with me, the red vanishing from her cheeks. “Where are you going, anyway?” I demanded then. “Can I give you a ride?” I was in trouble already. A few more minutes couldn’t make my death any worse.

She coughed quietly and lowered her gaze. “Actually, you can take me home with you.”

Now, if that wasn’t interesting news. “Oh, sweetness, you don’t know how I’ve been dying for you to suggest that.”

Groaning, Susan pinched the bridge of her nose as if she couldn’t get any more annoyed with me at the moment. This time, I had the feeling it wasn’t faked. “Let me rephrase: You can take me home with you, where our ways will part at the front door, and I’ll spend a nice afternoon with your brother. How does that sound? Better?”

“Lame.” I rolled my eyes. We’d had such a good time on the field just now. Why stop there? I took her hand and pulled her along with me. Hers was so cold, a shiver raced up my arm—and after getting heated in a sexy soccer game, too. “Whoa, what are you? Frosty the Snowman?” I squeezed her hand a little tighter to warm it with mine.

Her phone dinged in her pocket, and Sue pulled her hand away. She tugged it out and stared at the display. Curious about her smile, I glance at her phone over her shoulder.

A text from
Charlie Brown
. My forehead creased with a frown. “Who’s Charlie Brown?”

“Your brother,” she told me and laughed when I gave her a clueless expression.

I shook my head. “You two are strange.” Charlie Brown? How in the world did that fit? But wait, if she called him a
Peanuts
name, what the hell did she call me? “Do you have a name for me, too?” I asked. Her face went blank, and my eyes grew wide. “You do? What is it?” Couldn’t be something as silly as Snoopy, right?

“Nothing,” she said quickly and turned away to read the message from my brother.

Nothing my ass! She did have a special name for me, and I wanted to know what it was. After she’d typed a reply, I snatched her phone before she could put it back in her pocket.

“Hey! Give it back!” She jumped around me like a frisky puppy, but I hadn’t found what I was looking for yet, so she couldn’t have it back.

“Let’s see,” I said, fending her off with my free arm. Twisting out of her reach a couple times, I thumbed my way to the text folder, holding the phone higher than she could reach, and searched through the texts there. It should be easy enough to find mine, because there were a lot from last night.

I stopped dead. Staring at the name, my smile slipped. My throat hurt as I swallowed, and I lowered my hand. Slowly, I turned around and studied Sue’s guilt-ridden face.

“
Arrogant Dick
? You can’t be serious.” Okay, since it was right there, white against a black background, she had to be, but jeez! Couldn’t she have come up with something a little nicer? I called her
Ponytail Sue
, for goodness sake!

She gave an apologetic shrug. “What can I say? That’s what I got to know you by.”

Okay, but that didn’t mean she was allowed to go on like this. Leveling her a stern look, I held her cell out to her. “You are so going to change that. Now.”

A grin sneaked over her face. “Nuh-uh. It is what it is.”

“Fine, then I’ll do it for you.” Turning away, I began to change
Arrogant Dick
to something more appropriate. Like…oh, I knew!
Dream Guy Material
. There. Much better.

Sue was still jumping around me like she was being bitten by spiders, trying to stop me from messing with her phone. I successfully warded her off until I was done and handed her the cell. She ignored my grin and slid the phone back in her pocket, not even checking the new entry.
Fine, then don’t
. She would see it soon enough, anyway.

From a couple feet away, I unlocked the SUV, and Sue climbed in without a word. I started the engine while she fumbled with the seatbelt, and drove off. It seemed like she was taking extra time with that, paying a lot more attention to the process than was necessary. When the belt was secured and provided no distraction any longer, she began picking things from her jeans that weren’t really there. For a moment, I watched her from the corner of my eye, but after some time I just had to ask, “Do I make you nervous?”

Susan’s head jerked up. A cynical grin was her answer. “You never give up, do you?”

“Not as long as there’s a hint of a chance,” I said, showing the tiniest amount between my thumb and forefinger. But since I had her alone in this car with me, I soon forgot all about mocking her and wondered if now was a good time to discuss something else with her. “Can I ask you a serious question?”

Biting her lip in a cute way, she blinked at me twice and stated, “I’m almost certain you can
not
, but please, go ahead and give your best.”

“Very funny.” I rolled my eyes, but a smile escaped me. “Anyway, tell me… Why would you go out with my brother, who’s my absolutely identical twin and who told you yesterday that a romance was not in the cards for the two of you, but not with me?”

Susan was silent for so long, I threw her a quick sideways glance to make sure she was still with me and hadn’t spaced out for some reason. Eventually, she cleared her throat and said in a low voice, “You think it’s only about looks, don’t you?”

Of course!
But that didn’t seem like the answer she wanted to hear. So I narrowed my eyes at the windshield and murmured, “No.” Then I added with a smile, “I think I can also be quite charming.”

“Yes, you can be,” she agreed. “If you want to.” Folding her arms over her chest, she nailed me with an intense stare that distracted me like hell from driving. “But it’s not enough to make me want to go out with you. You may look like your brother, but other than that, you’re two totally different people. Like day and night, really.”

“So you’d rather kiss a guy who’s shy and insecure,” I probed.

Head still turned to me, she started to smirk before she answered. “I thought we were talking about going out, not kissing?”

I waggled my brows at her. “That goes hand in hand.”

“Okay then…” She inhaled a deep breath. “I’d rather go out
and
kiss a guy who doesn’t date a different girl every day.”

Couldn’t begrudge her that. If I had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t want her to sleep around either. Heck, I’d prefer someone who hadn’t done so in the first place. It was probably natural that this player side of me turned someone like Sue off a little. But neglecting all the good sides of being single for a possibility with Sue that she hadn’t even considered yet?

I parked the car in front of our house and cut the engine but didn’t get out. Instead, I hung my arms on the steering wheel and rested my chin on the backs of my hands, studying Susan for another intense moment. A wary smile sneaked to her lips. Her hair was still in that sweet ponytail, with strands sticking out now from fooling around in the grass with me. Her eyes held a million questions.

I
could
give up dating other girls for her. It would be easy, too. All I needed was an incentive. “Give me a reason not to,” I demanded, not breaking eye contact.

Sue’s chest lifted and fell with a long breath. “It doesn’t work that way, Chris.”

It didn’t work which way? Her agreeing to be more than a challenge so that I’d stop hooking up with other girls? Then what did she want from me? For me to behave like a boyfriend before actually
becoming
her boyfriend?

Shit—did I
want
to be her boyfriend?

Well, it was something to consider. Of course, it was too late to undo my record of hookups, but maybe if I kept it clean from now on, she’d give me a fair chance after all.

Yeah, excellent plan. She’d have no reason to back out then. Intrigued by this idea, the corners of my mouth curved up. “All right. Let’s do it your way.” An immediate surge of excitement sparked through me as the words left my mouth. Pulling the key out of the ignition, I got out of the car. This day was getting better and better.

As I skirted the hood, Sue was still fumbling with the seatbelt and cast me a shocked look through the windshield. She got out and slammed the door shut. Fast, light footsteps followed me on the pavement as I held the key over my shoulder and locked the car.

“Wait!” she called after me. “That’s not… Just…”

Just
what
?

“
No!
”

After unlocking the front door, I turned around to face her. One look at her neck, and my blood ran hot in my veins. My mark on her throat was turning a beautiful shade of purple. With a mischievous smirk, I clarified, “Your rules. You laid them down, so you better stick to them.”

Silently, Sue shook her head.

Oh no, she wouldn’t back out! Determined, I nodded, then I took her hand and dragged her inside the house with me.

“Chris? Is that you?”

Ah, that was Mom in the living room. I really would have loved for the world to know Susan Miller was going to be mine soon, but since the girl was still a little reluctant, I decided it was better not to push it. The hickey would stay our secret for now.