The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (7 page)

“Yes, that is so,” Sue imitated my drawl. “And for your information, just because someone’s wearing glasses doesn’t mean he or she is a geek. I only need them for reading, not for playing. And now, if you don’t mind”—she waved me off with a dismissive hand—“go and grate on someone else’s nerves. I’ve got homework to do.”

No one could say I didn’t get a hint when it was slammed in my face. With the ball tucked under my arm, I tipped the chair forward until all four legs were back on the floor and rose to my feet. It was an awkward new feeling to be brushed off by a girl. Any girl. It stabbed me right in the gut.

Just as a form of protest, I contemplated actually weaving my charm around her now. See how long little Sue was capable of keeping me at a distance when I decided to really woo her instead of just teasing.

But then there was my brother. Even though he’d claimed not to have a romantic interest in her, I couldn’t be sure after walking in on them yesterday. This was a tricky situation. I wasn’t going to steal Ethan’s girl simply to prove that no chick could resist me.

About to head off, I cast Sue a pensive look. “Just tell me if he kisses you. I’d really like to know.”

“The hell I will. Now go away.”

Like I said, the charm of a tank. Unfortunately, something about her abrasive attitude worked like a damn lasso on me. It must’ve had to do with her “when hell freezes over” statement on the phone yesterday. Every cell in my body rebelled at the thought of retreat. Like I was a slave to my own damn ego.

Since the guys were observing our conversation like it was the most entertaining daily soap, I tossed T-Rex the ball with a hard look at them all so they’d mind their own business. Then I let my ego get the better of me and did something rash and really stupid.

Deliberately slow, I leaned across the table toward Sue. When she glanced up at me, I pulled her spectacles off her nose and stared into her gummy-bear eyes. “My offer for a date in a week is still on.” Until then, I wouldn’t know for sure if Ethan was into her or not. Once he was out of the way, I could teach this little kitten a lesson.

“Give them back, dickhead!” she hissed, reaching for her glasses, but I moved my hand out of her reach before she could grab them. Susan put on a glare so hard it could’ve cut holes in concrete. “And I’ll never go out with you. Not today, not next weekend, and not in ten thousand years.”

Oh, wanna bet?
A slow smile tugged at the edges of my lips. “You
will
go out with me, sweetness. And I’ll show you how fast hell can freeze over when I want something.”

Sue gulped. I could see it, I could hear it, and I knew I already had one foot in the door. “You see?” Capturing her gaze, I carefully laid her glasses back on the desk. “The fire’s already reducing to a soft glow.” Since her mouth hung open so sweetly, I couldn’t resist closing it gently with my finger. The satisfaction of having the last word made me grin as I walked back to my friends.

“Dude, what are you? Five?” Tyler snickered as I straddled my chair, folding my arms on the backrest in front of me. “For a minute there I thought you were going to
push
her to get her attention. Is that how you talk girls into dates now?”

“Shut up. I told you she’s difficult.”

“But you didn’t say you wanted in her pants,” he teased.

A humorless laugh left me. “Because I don’t.”

“Sure.” Brady rolled his eyes and made air quotes with his fingers. “You
will
go out with me?”

“It’s just to teach her a lesson,” I defended myself.

“In what? Charming the pants off a girl, kindergarten-style?” Tyler mocked me. Would it also be kindergarten-style if I smacked that stupid grin right off his face? “Anyway, I thought she was into your brother. Do you really want to steal her from him?”

“Ethan said they’re just friends.” He’d practically given me permission to hit on her yesterday. If that changed, he’d have to tell me straight.

“Hey, Chris!” Susan’s saccharine voice made us all immediately turn our heads in her direction. A gloating grin took form on her lips. “It takes a little more than a cute smile to get on my good side. And luckily your brother comes equipped with the whole package.”

Whoa. That was a shot below the belt.

Abandoning some of the sugar in her voice, she added, “You want to freeze hell? Go ahead and try. It’ll get you nowhere with me.”

I could do nothing but stare at her for an endless moment. The thoughts running wild in my mind during that time ranged from wanting to walk over and prove her wrong with a kiss, to laughing out loud, to telling her she was messing with the wrong guy.

When I’d finally stomached the surprise of her boldness and came around, I licked my lips, never taking my eyes off hers. The left side of my mouth tilted up in a challenging smirk. Everybody’s eyes were on me, even Mr. Ellenburgh’s. The entire room waited for my next move, and I wasn’t going to disappoint.

“Game on, little Sue,” I told her in a wicked drawl that rendered her silent.

Her shocked stare amused me. Chuckling, I turned back to my friends, who studied me with open mouths. Until Brady shook his head and burst out laughing. “No freaking way, dude! You don’t stand a chance with
that
girl.”

Oh, was that so? I cocked my head, pursing my lips, then cast them all a brilliant smile. “Watch me.”

I HEARD ETHAN trudge into the kitchen while I was raiding the fridge for some ice cream to cool down after detention. Casting a glance around the open door at my brother, I presented an unmistakable ask-me-what
grin.

“What?” Ethan demanded, pulling off his jersey, which was soaked after today’s soccer practice, and tossing it over a chair. He got us both spoons from the drawer in the island, then waited at the table for me and the raspberry-almond dream to join him.

“I got detention today,” I declared, licking a scoop of ice cream off my spoon. A moment later I was fighting brain freeze.

“And that’s big news why?” Ethan rolled his eyes. “You’ve spent more time in detention in the last year than in any class.” Obviously, he had no clue as to what I was about to spring on him next.

“It was my first time in detention
senior
year. But that’s not the point.” Another load of ice cream made it into my mouth. Around the spoon, I said, “Gueth who wath there wib me.”

“Susan.”

What the hell? I choked on the spoon, spit it out, and coughed like a dying grizzly. “How did you know?”

Unimpressed by my near-death experience, Ethan kept scooping raspberry ice cream from the box and shrugged one shoulder. “The guys talked about her being in detention at soccer practice. They didn’t tell me the reason, though.” He lifted his chin, scrutinizing me with a thoughtful look. “You wouldn’t, by any chance, know why she ended up there?”

By chance, I would…

With a little more excitement from his end, I’d have been willing to spill all the good parts, too. Since Ethan once again seemed far too uninterested in Susan Miller, though, the girl who’d challenged me in public to make her fall for me, the necessity to tell him everything rapidly lost its urgency. I shook my head.

“Ah, never mind,” Ethan said. “I’m going out with her in a bit anyway. Guess she’ll tell me what happened.”

“Going out with her? As in—”

“Going to have a soda with her,” Ethan cut me off with unmistakable annoyance. “We are
friends
. So stop the hell jumping to conclusions, Chris. You and Mom are the worst suckers for romance in town. What’s wrong with you lately?”

A sneer almost made it to my lips. “Nothing. Just…” Seducing my brother’s new girlfriend would be a shit move and I’d have to back out of that challenge. But since he seemed to be happy being single, and Susan was just a
friend
, there was nothing to worry about, right? Nevertheless, I was really starting to feel for him. From the look on his face, Mom had probably cornered him last night to squeeze out all the information about his latest female guest.

When Ethan prompted me, with a quizzical stare, to finish my sentence, I ended it with an amazingly creative, “Nothing.”

We ate in silence for a couple of minutes. Curiosity nagged at me to find out more about his afternoon…hangout? Because it certainly wasn’t a
date
with Sue. I cast him the same quizzical look he’d given me moments ago, which he probably misread as me fighting another brain freeze, because he didn’t say anything. When the silence got annoyingly long, words burst out of me. “So, where are you taking her?”

Ethan hesitated a moment before he revealed, “Charlie’s.” It was barely more than a mumble, and he didn’t look up either. Just his cheeks turned a heated pink in spite of the cold ice cream we were shoveling into our mouths.

As far as I knew, Ethan wasn’t a big fan of Charlie’s Café in town. Apparently the menu bored him, and he didn’t want to waste money on drinks when he was saving for a car—that’s what he’d said last spring. Yet today he was a lucky car owner and still didn’t want to go there with me on the occasional Saturday night. My conclusion was that he just lacked the guts to bring a date, and being the fifth wheel has never been Donovan style. His choice was always staying home on the weekends and playing Wii. Pathetic.

Sticking his spoon in the ice cream, Ethan rose and left the kitchen to go hit the shower. He was done in ten minutes—shaved, dressed, and styled—and by that time I’d annihilated the entire raspberry-almond dream by myself. Hands tucked into my pockets as I leaned against the wall in the hallway, I watched him tie his shoes. “When are you meeting Sue?”

“Five.”

I glanced at my watch and narrowed my eyes. “It’s quarter past four. You’ll be at Charlie’s in five minutes. Three if the traffic lights favor you.”

Ethan smoothed out his black jeans and adjusted his collar. “Yeah, but I’m not going to drive. I’m taking a walk.” If the tremor in his voice hadn’t betrayed him, the way he fumbled with the strands of his hair to make them stand perfectly in place as he looked in the mirror certainly would have.

“Antsy?” I teased.

Drawing a deep enough breath to inhale every dust particle in the room that Mom hadn’t caught on her last cleaning day, he turned to me. His larynx bobbed with a hard swallow. “See you later,” he said and walked out the door.

Holy cow! I’d never seen my brother this nervous before. If Sue really wasn’t the reason, then what was?

Scratching my head, I stared at the closed door for another moment before I walked into my room and did some quick cleaning. Afterward, I booted up my computer. It was five thirty, and Lauren would be here in half an hour. She liked
tutoring
me to the background singing of Enrique Iglesias. I couldn’t say I enjoyed that wailing, but as long as it made her happy and, more importantly, got her in the right mood, no one was going to hear me complain.

When I heard the front door slamming shut a little later, I peeked out into the corridor. It couldn’t be Ethan coming back already. That would be like the shortest date ever, even if we were only talking soda here.

But no, it wasn’t Ethan. Mom trudged into the kitchen, her arms loaded with groceries. I helped with the paper bags. “Are you cooking tonight?”

“Yes. Salmon fillet and potatoes.” She set her purse down and started putting all kinds of food into the fridge. “Unless you and Ethan want to cook?”

When Mom hopefully waggled her eyebrows at me, I almost felt bad for telling her, “Ethan’s gone. He won’t be back for dinner. And Lauren’s coming over in a minute. We’re going to study. No time for cooking, sorry.”

“Oh.” She scrutinized the vacuum-sealed fish in her hands, her brain certainly rattling through the options. Ethan was the biggest eater in our house. If we lacked one mouth, the fish would probably be wasted. Eventually, Mom lifted her head with a contemplative look. “Maybe Lauren wants to—”

“Nope, she doesn’t,” I cut her off and went back to my room. Even if Lauren did want to eat with us, I wouldn’t let her. Having a girl over for dinner, lunch, or even breakfast came too close to commitment. No way!

My phone went off in my pocket as I settled on my bed with a car magazine. It was a message from said girl who would never eat in this house.

You there?

Lauren always texted me when she was outside. It was her way of ringing the doorbell.

Last room down the corridor
, I answered.
Be naked when you enter. ;-)

Very funny. Come to the door. Unless you don’t want to see me naked at all tonight?

Ah, I couldn’t risk that. Getting off my bed, I jogged to the front door to let my sexy tutor in. She turned around and let me help her out of her purple leather jacket. Lauren knew her way around my house and was in my room before me, shouting out a hello to my mother on her way.

I made a detour to the fridge and brought her a Dr. Pepper, her favorite. I popped the can open for her and put it on the desk before sitting down on the edge of my bed with a sly grin, totally ready to be tutored for an hour or two.

Lauren sank into the chair across from me and started thumbing through the pages in my textbook. “Now, where did we stop last time?”

Right at her black lacy underwear, but that was probably not what she wanted to hear. So instead of pushing her, which I knew she hated more than anything when I was with her, I was a good boy and conjugated the verbs she randomly tossed at me. I translated some of the text she told me—and I got all of it right—but when she wanted me to explain how to build the past perfect subjunctive of some crap, I just stared at her with a cocked head.

At my silence, Lauren’s gaze lifted to me. “What?”

What?
Seriously? “If that was a test, I’d have gotten an A plus plus plus! So do you intend to take off your top any time soon, Parker, or are we going to study without any rewards at all today?”

A very light blush highlighted her cheekbones as she lowered her chin for a moment and then batted her lashes at me. “Why don’t you come and do it yourself?”

Yep, that was an invitation to my liking. A smirk of anticipation tugged on my lips as I got off my bed, ambled toward her, and pulled her to her feet by taking her slender hands in mine. This was the part of the evening when Enrique Iglesias actually came in handy. I started to sway Lauren gently to the low music and began unbuttoning the front of her shirt, all the time humming softly against the side of her neck.

Her hair tickled my nose. Suppressing a sneeze, which was the epitome of unromantic, as I’d found out with my ex-girlfriend quite a while ago, I gathered her long strands with both hands and slid them to her back, out of the way.

Lauren brought her hands up and started to unbutton my shirt, slowly sliding it down my shoulders and arms until it landed on the floor. Oh yes, we were definitely getting to the good part.

When she hooked her fingers in my belt, working it open with the same slowness as she did the buttons, it was a foolproof sign that the actual Spanish lesson was over. A very physical part of me was quite happy about that fact.

Hands on her hips, I leaned my forehead against hers and, with a grin, looked into her eyes. Until some strange sort of disappointment struck. Lauren’s eyes weren’t pretty. They were dark and striking. But they fit nowhere into the delicious candy spectrum.

For Christ’s sake, this wasn’t supposed to bother me right now! Not when I had her half undressed in front of me. But once I started to wonder, my thoughts went totally astray. Was it normal for girls to have such thin eyebrows? Lauren’s were no thicker than a line drawn with a charcoal pencil. She must pluck them. Jeez, did that hurt? And did all girls do it? What the hell for?

My gaze ran lower over her flawless face. No spots, no birth marks, and, just for me I was sure, no lipstick today. I swallowed, looking at those lush lips I should’ve been kissing.

“Chris, is something wrong?” she asked in a soft voice, obviously unsure if she should smile or frown at me. She went for both.

“Nope, everything’s fine.” I gave her the smirk she needed to relax again and leaned in to kiss her. Only, our lips never touched.

“Mom, we’ve got a guest for dinner! Is that okay?” a voice boomed through the house, through my door, and through my brain—making me jerk back.

Drawing in a quick breath, Lauren jumped, too. “Was that your brother?”

Most definitively. And he hadn’t come home alone. Ethan and Sue…on a date in our house? Dammit, I just had to see that.

Lauren and I could make out any other day. This, however, was extraordinary entertainment and got top priority. I let my hands slip away from her hips and raked them through my hair. “Uh, yeah…” Now what to say to end this tutoring session without kicking her to the curb? After all, it wasn’t her fault that I wouldn’t ask her to eat with us. “I thought Ethan would come home later, but since he’s here now, I have to help him with…uh….his school project,” I said, pulling the excuse from thin air. “It’s a biology assignment, and I promised to work on it with him. He needs it done by tomorrow.”

Lauren’s frown deepened as I buckled my belt and then picked our clothes up from the floor. “Really?”

No, not really. “Yep. Sorry.” I handed her the black top I’d peeled her out of not two minutes ago and began buttoning my shirt in haste. “Do you mind if we continue the lesson some other time? Maybe tomorrow or this weekend?”

Lauren knew my
no dinner, no lunch, no sleepover
rule, so she didn’t complain when I rushed her to the door, chin low, still struggling with these goddamned shirt buttons. Something was going terribly wrong down there, but there was no time to right it. I all but shoved Lauren out of my room.

Okay, that was a bit harsh, so I corrected my bad behavior by sliding my fingers through hers and pulling her along with me. She shouldn’t get the feeling that she was being kicked out of my house—which, let’s face it, she actually was.

Ethan walked straight for his room, only raising his eyebrows at us in a feeble greeting. Susan appeared right behind him and—

Jesus Christ
. Had she been on the catwalk tonight?

She’d abandoned her jeans and usually decent shirts for a dress that put even Lauren’s Saturday-night outfits to shame. Tight on top, flaring at her thighs, it was a striking red that called up the bull in any guy.
Hot damn, Miss Miller!

Letting my x-ray gaze run up her body to her face, which was completely spectacle-free this evening, I didn’t miss her checking me out in return. From her clandestine look,
she & I
was starting to become a serious possibility in her book. Was it because she hadn’t gotten what she was after from Ethan? Or had the little flirtation in detention already had an impact?