“Understood.” She backs away.
“This isn’t easy for me,” I concede. “So I may come off as an ass sometimes.”
“May?”
This girl isn’t about to cut me any slack. I push to my feet with a smile on my face and switch tactics. “Have dinner with me tonight.” The request comes out of left field. I’d blame it on my injury but I have a fractured clavicle, not a concussion.
“What?”
“Dinner. You and me.”
“Like a date?”
I can’t remember the last time I had an actual date. Making it official with Chloe feels like the right thing to do. “Yes.”
“Um…” She blinks rapidly. With her jaw slightly ajar, she rubs two fingers along her plush bottom lip. My jaw opens in response and I suck in some air. Her mouth is sexy as hell.
My ego takes a hit as she continues to contemplate me like I’m the Landsharks’s mascot, not their most valuable player. “Tough question, huh?”
“No, It’s just…I can’t.”
“Have plans already? Tomorrow then.”
“What makes you think I have plans and not a boyfriend?”
“Do you?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but no.”
“Webster—” I pause to give the name time to settle in “—we’re spending the next three months together. If you get to be all up in my business, then I get to know about you, too.”
“No, you don’t. You’re my assignment. I’m not yours.”
“Is that a challenge?” I’m a hundred times more competitive than the next guy. It should also be noted I hate to lose. What pro athlete doesn’t right? My desire to win, however, stems from sibling rivalry. Three boys, one brother two years older and the other two years younger. You get the picture.
She huffs. “You’re ridiculous.” Her golden eyes, though, they glint with curiosity. “I’m not going on a date with you.”
“Ever?”
“That’s right.”
“Because…?” I should be relieved. Working with Chloe will be distracting enough.
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Because I’m done with dating.”
I’m not even close to knowing everything about women, but my cousin Meredith likes to unload her dating problems on me—which I’m happy to listen to (mostly)—and she used those exact same words last month. “I see.”
“What do you see?”
“Some guy hurt you.” I clench my fist against the sudden urge to bash in some unknown guy’s face on Chloe’s behalf.
“More like guys plural,” she mumbles, “but that’s beside the point. I’m not going out with you now or three months from now, so let’s agree to just be friends.”
“Ouch. Friend-zoned so easily.”
“That’s right, big guy.” She takes a few backward steps away from me. “Bye, Sammy!” she says with affection. “Bye, Finn,” she says even-keeled. Then she turns. I watch the sway of her hips, the swish of her ponytail.
Despite knowing I’d be better off to let things be, if she thinks I’m giving up that easily, she is sorely mistaken.