Dating Trouble (Grover Beach Team Book 5) (9 page)

At this point, neither of us knew which option I was going to choose. What I noticed, though, was that he’d stopped singing while the song played on.

A silent argument started inside my head.

This is kiwi. You want kiwi.

But this is also Chris. I don’t want his fingers to touch my lips, even by accident.

Screw his fingers. This is kiwi! And there’s cream on it.

Still…it’s Chris.

Pretend it’s Ethan, then.

Oh hey, I could do that.

Pressing my lips together for a brief moment, I started to lean forward, never breaking eye contact. I swallowed then parted my lips, and Chris cracked the tiniest smile. He dipped his chin a little lower which resulted in his gaze getting all the more intense as I carefully caught the kiwi between my teeth.

I thought I was prepared for the moment when my lips would inevitably brush against his fingers, but I was not. I didn’t know why it was such a big thing, because it was for the shortest possible time, but a hot sizzle of adrenaline rushed through my body nonetheless.

What made this even more awkward was the way Chris’s gaze remained fixed on me as he withdrew his hand and licked the remaining cream from his thumb and index finger. It was the thought of my lips brushing exactly these spots that ignited another prickling rush through my veins.

Unable to stay a second longer in this room, I spun around and left with a determined stride. Chris’s laughter followed me, then he continued singing, an amused note in his voice.

THE DONOVAN FAMILY and I came together again at the table five minutes later. Chris placed the dessert bowls in front of us and took the seat to my right again. He played it cool, no remark about feeding me in the kitchen at all. It would hardly be the right thing to do, anyway, with his brother being present and all. But hearing him whistle the tune of “Stay” as he placed a dessert bowl in front of me still felt like a taunt.

My cheeks warmed with the memory of how he’d tempted me to take the fruit he held out…my lips brushing his fingers.

Because of my nerves, I hadn’t even had a chance to savor the taste of the kiwi wedge dipped in cream. Now, however, I realized that the dessert wasn’t actually just bland vanilla cream with fruit, as I had expected. In fact, Chris had created an awesome coconut-lemon cream. And though various types of fruit slices floated in my bowl, I couldn’t find a single peach slice.

How very considerate of him. But I’d have rather bitten off my tongue than tell him that.

After dessert, Ethan offered to drive me home, and not a minute too soon. If I was late, my mom would ground me for at least a week. We headed out to his car where he made me swoon a little when he opened the door for me like the last gentleman left in Grover Beach. The drive didn’t take half as long as I’d wished, but on the plus side, Ethan cut the engine in front of my house.

Was this it? The moment when he’d lean across the center console and kiss me? My heart pounded like it was trying to bulldoze a way out of my chest.

Ethan turned to me, a half-smile on his lips. I was breathing so fast that in another couple of minutes we wouldn’t have any air left in the car. My knees shook as I shifted in my seat to face him, too. “Thanks for a lovely evening,” I said with what little control over my voice I had left.

“Mm, it was really nice.” Instead of leaning toward me, he dipped his head back against the headrest. “It’s funny how my mom took a liking to you in an instant,” he continued, his voice still light but coy. Then he laughed, a heartwarming sound. “Chris and I always suspected she wanted one of us to be a girl.”

“You can’t be serious.” It came out as playful banter, but inwardly it felt like a complaint about his making small talk rather than kissing me.

“I am.”

Yeah, I’d figured as much. My heart sank as my longed-for first kiss drifted farther and farther away. What was happening here? Hadn’t we had a great time together? It was our second official date—or whatever—and three minutes past my curfew. Not that I wanted to rush anything, but it was
now
or
never
!

As the seconds ticked by, “never” seemed to be the more likely outcome of the above.

A grim thought sneaked into my mind. When Chris drove a girl home, he probably didn’t waste a minute on words. Gee, why was Chris in my head right now, when I wanted Ethan to kiss me?

Frustration seemed a reasonable answer to that one. The thought of my first kiss had clearly wound me up. Ethan was a great guy: gorgeous, polite, sweet…and seductive when he didn’t think about it. Hm, maybe that was the whole problem. Were we both overthinking it?

“Hey, I really like hanging out with you,” Ethan said next, and I could sense that this was going in the direction of another date. At least I hoped as much. A small stone dropped from my chest.

“You’re only saying that because you beat me at
Mario Kart
tonight,” I teased him, not knowing what else to say, since I didn’t want to be the one to ask him out.

“Yeah, that, and because your feet don’t smell like my other friends’ do,” he joked.

We both shook with laughter, and I poked him with my elbow. “Thanks for that visual, Ethan. It’s really what a girl wants to hear after a second date.”

He smirked at me. “Oh, you should hear what I come up with for the third one.”

Was there going to be a third? The question must have been written in my eyes, because he cleared his throat and stammered, “Want to, er…do something again this weekend? If you’re already bored of video games, we could go to the movies.”

Truth be told, I had spent way too much time with Nick Frederickson, and he’d spoiled me in an irreparable way. “Are you kidding me? I could never get bored of playing Wii! But a movie sounds good.”

“Saturday night? We could even do both. Come to my place, and we can play some games before we go out. But no
Mario Kart
.” He nudged me with his shoulder, a chuckle rolling off his chest. “I don’t want you to get too frustrated to see me again.”

“That won’t happen.” Even without getting kissed, I enjoyed the time with Ethan a lot more than being the third wheel in Sam and Tony’s relationship—or in any other relationship, for that matter. Ethan would make an awesome boyfriend, but he was a cool friend, too. “Call me about Saturday.” I fumbled with the door until it finally opened. After a deep sigh, I told him good night and climbed out.

Swallowing hard as I adjusted my dress, I gazed after his car until the red taillights turned around the corner.

Mom was waiting for me on the couch in the living room. Dad was in the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of Scotch. The current silence in the house was deceiving. If Dad was knocking back a drink before bedtime, it was an indicator of two things. One, the fight they’d had in my absence was one ranking quite high on my self-made scale of severity. And two, Mom would have another reason to attack Dad—for getting drunk, even if he wasn’t going to be wasted from only one glass. Anyway, it would drive me out of my bed and next door tonight.

“Hey, Mom, I’m back,” I said.

She rose from the couch and came toward me with a smile. Kudos to her for keeping me out of their fights and always having a loving tone for me, even during their loudest arguments. Both of my parents did. That was the reason I could never be mad at either one of them, even if the nightly shouting hurt my eardrums and I’d end up on a therapist’s couch before my twenty-fifth birthday, telling him where my insomnia stemmed from.

Mom ran her soft hand over my hair. “How was your date?” She was probably as excited to hear whether Ethan had kissed me as Simone was.

“Quite nice. I’m going to see Ethan again this weekend.” That was the most detail I’d give her. I mean, come on, she’s my mom. You don’t tell all the sickly sweet details about a date to your parents. Especially when those details aren’t as sickly sweet as you’d hoped for in the first place.

Upstairs in my room, I stripped out of my dress and put on a tank top and flannel bottoms. After brushing my teeth, my bed tempted me, but Simone expected a call and it would be impolite to make her wait. My phone lay on the nightstand, and I picked it up while I crawled under the covers. The screen lit up at a swipe of my thumb. There was a surprise text waiting for me.

It wasn’t from any of my friends, but I knew the number of the sender. Earlier this afternoon, I’d saved it as
Arrogant Dick
in my contacts.

My first thought was to delete the message from Chris unread. No court in the world could convict me for that after how he’d confronted me in detention today. But the image of him singing in their kitchen and holding out a cream-dipped kiwi pressed back into my mind. Curiosity got the better of me so, with a snort and a shake of my head, I opened the message and read:
Not like a geek.

Who in the world was supposed to make sense of that? Was there something missing? Scratching my head, I typed:
What?
And sent it off.

While waiting for his explanation, I keyed in a quick update about tonight for Simone, but also added Sam and Lisa to the receiver line. As soon as that text had gone out, my phone started to ring. My first thought was that one of the girls had been really quick to read my text and wanted to talk about it, but checking the display, it said that a certain
Arrogant Dick
had dialed my number.

What in the world— “Chris, why are you calling me?” I groaned into the phone. But I’d probably run right into that one when I decided to respond to his text.

“To wish you a pleasant night and to answer your question,” Chris replied with a chuckle.

An irritated sigh escaped me. “Does your brother know that you’re talking to me?”

“No. He just came in…too soon after he drove you home, if you ask me.” He added with a tease in his voice, “Does that mean he, once again, didn’t kiss you?”

Teeth clenched, I snarled, “None of your business.”

“Come on, it’s a simple yes or no question.” An amused laugh drifted through the line. “I’ll sleep a lot better if I know the answer.”

What did I care if he slept well? “Why don’t you ask him yourself if you want to know so badly?”

“Okay… Since you told me to…” There was a pause and the sound of a door opening which added ten extra degrees to my blood. He wasn’t really going to— “Hey, Ethan!” Chris called out, cutting my thought short. “Did you kiss Susan tonight?”

“No. Why?” The answer came from far away. My heart sank with Ethan’s flat voice. Then a door banged shut somewhere in Chris’s house.

“Ethan said no,” he rubbed it in, as if I hadn’t heard the news myself. “I wonder why he didn’t.” His voice had adopted a thoughtful edge that was one hundred percent fake. “Could it be that he’s just not interested?”

Much as his suggestion stung, I was wondering it myself. But it was too early to give up hope just yet.
Third time’s a charm
, the saying chanted in my mind as I said to Chris, “FYI, he asked me on another date.”

“Aw, playing video games again? Is that really your idea of a successful date?”

“We’re going to the movies.”
And might play some video games before that
, but I didn’t mention it. “
Your
idea of a successful date is probably coming out of your room with bed hair and a messy shirt.”

Chris waited a second. There was an unmistakable smirk in his tone when he purred in my ear, “I knew you noticed that.” His voice became even lower and a quantum more seductive. “Did it bother you?”

“Why the hell would it?”

“Because, for one,” Chris didn’t hesitate a beat to explain, “I look exactly like my brother and, from what I can tell, you’re totally into him. Means you’re totally into me, too. And two, only one out of us seems to be dying to snatch a kiss from you these days.”

His explanation, or whatever the heck that was, sent my thoughts into complete chaos. It was silent enough to hear a pin drop in my room.

“You stopped breathing, Sue.” There was, for once, not the slightest edge of teasing in his tone. Rather astonishment. But that faded away quickly and a chuckle carried through the line. “I guess that means you agree with me on both points.”

Did I? The likeness of the twins was striking and not something one could overlook. Since I thought Ethan was the cutest boy in the world, it would make sense to assume I thought the same about Chris. Except that Chris was lacking charm, manners, courtesy, and my fabulous taste in music. Although his singing “Stay” had stroked a sense of admiration awake in me.

“Chris, tell me one thing,” I whispered, not at all sure if I really wanted an answer. “You had the most beautiful girl in your room this afternoon. Why do you want to kiss
me
?”

“Because Lauren, like most other girls, is an easy catch.” After telling me this in the most nonchalant way, he made a dramatic pause. “You, on the other hand, challenged me today—and in front of my friends, too.”

“So you want me because you can’t have me?”

“Who says I can’t have you?”

“I do.”

“Oh, okay. So yes, then I definitely want you.”

His logic made me laugh, but there was more frustration than humor ringing in it. “You need to understand that I could never kiss a guy without having true feelings for him…which I don’t have for you, Chris.”

“Really?” His voice went up like he was scrunching up his face. “I’ve kissed more than twenty girls the past few months, and it was lots of fun. But not one of them made me
feel
anything. Well, other than—”

“Stop it!” I shouted, squeezing my eyes shut. “I don’t want to hear it.”

“Okay, okay,” he laughed. “Anyway, there’s another reason why I want you.”

“What’s that?”

“You looked
way
hot in that dress today. Definitely not like a geek, which should answer your question to begin with.” I thought he couldn’t sound any more seductive than that, but a moment later, he proved me wrong, as his voice dropped another notch and picked up a layer of heat. “If I’d been the one driving you home tonight, I would have kissed you. And you would have liked it.”

Chills ran down my back and arms like a melting scoop of ice cream. Not unpleasant, but awkward, anyway.

“Sleep tight, sweetness,” he breathed and hung up.

My mouth snapped open as I lowered my hand and dropped the phone into my lap. I knew he was saying these things for only one reason…and I was
not
going to be taken in by them. He might have caught me in a weak moment when he fed me the kiwi, but if he thought I was going to fall for him because of such a trivial thing, he was in for a surprise. My hair wasn’t black, I wasn’t called Lauren—and most of all, I wasn’t a random chick waiting for him to pick me up at a corner and enjoy for an evening, maybe two.