Page 15 of Under Pressure

I stretch my fingers out and tap the counter, refusing to indulge myself by reaching for her. “Alright. Then I need something that will be so good I’ll have a hard time forgetting about it while I’m gone. Seven days is a long time, and I doubt I’ll find another place that will sate me as well as this one does.”

Wes chokes on something behind me, and I stiffen, keeping my eyes forward.Yeah, that was fucking terrible.

Quinn flicks her gaze from one side of me to the other, checking out the guys I came here with. Suddenly, I’m tempted to shove both of them out the door and leave them on the curb while I finish this conversation.

With a heavy sigh, she toys with a loose string on her apron and lowers her gaze to the screen in front of her. I lean on the balls of my feet and wait for her to speak again. It’s disarming the way my body responds to her, like she’s got some hold over me that my brain ignores, not bothered by it enough to investigate.

“Have you ever thought of drinking water?”

I blink.

She looks at me from beneath long, peach-coloured lashes as the muscle beside her eyebrow twitches. My tongue swells in my throat, caught in an awkward position that makes it hard to breathe. I feel a hand touch the space between my shoulder blades and jerk forward, crashing into the rounded lip of the counter.

“Water sounds perfect for him today, actually,” Wes interrupts, his shoulder bumping against mine. “He is very,verythirsty. I blame the walk over here from his place.”

The corner of Quinn’s pink lips tugs upward, and a blast of heat works through my gut before trickling lower. She blows out a soft breath and nods at Wes, seemingly pleased with his statement. Personally, I want to shove my fist into his mouth until he can’t possibly speak anymore.

“You might be right. One large water, then. And a cold brew for you, right?” she asks, all of her attention on him.

Did she remember that from the few times he’s come in, or did Eli tell her?

“Yeah, a cold brew would be great. Just regular, please.” Wes smiles kindly at her and snags a bottle of juice from Kellan’s hands, setting it on the counter.

“Got it. Give us a few minutes, and we’ll have it ready for you. The coffee and the water.”

I wet my lips and tug my wallet from my back pocket, freeing my bank card before Wes or Kellan can do the same. There’s a bitter taste in my mouth when I pay and shove the usual bill into the tip jar.

Quinn glowers at the jar the way she always does, and finally, I start to relax, registering the familiarity. When she flashes her eyes up at me again, they’re brighter, sparking with words unspoken. I don’t back down from that look, allowing her the space to tell me what she wants to. It wouldn’t matter what she said. I’d take everything with a greedy smile.

To my disappointment, she turns from us before words form. Frustration is wearing a hole into my stomach as I watch her dismiss me and relay our order to Eli. The guy says something to her that has her shaking her head furiously before peeking at us from the corner of her eye. There’s a desperation to the way he’s looking at her now, and a beat later, she pulls her shoulders back and waves a hand through the air.

Eli spins toward us, the tip of his nose red. “Do you think you could sign something for me before you leave?”

“What do you want signed?” I ask before either of my teammates can.

Yeah, this is my chance, not theirs.

From the tension in Quinn’s shoulders when Eli asked his question, she was clearly expecting us to turn him down. And that just won’t do. Not when I’ve failed so drastically here with her this morning.

Eli’s face lights up. He freezes for half a second before dropping down behind the counter and reaching for something. When he stands again, it’s with a green hat in his hands.

“Would you mind signing this?”

“Sure. You got a marker?”

It’s Quinn who offers one. I stare at the cap on the end beforerunning my eyes up to her blunt, bare fingernails. She holds it out in front of her, waiting with an expectant gaze.

I wrap my hand around it, letting my fingers curl over hers, lingering until she tugs herself free. The single moment of connection leaves my skin tingling as I hastily uncap the marker and take the hat. After scribbling my signature across the brim, I pass the hat to my teammates and stare straight ahead.

Quinn doesn’t look back again.

Not even once.

7

I ripoff the paper around the muffin and take a giant bite from the top.

My jaw aches from the firm bite of my teeth as I destroy the small bits of raspberries. Ignoring that, I fix my glare on Ruthie’s back. Beneath her apron, she’s dressed in her usual attire of cargo capris and one of those tank tops with an exposed sports bra built into it that used to be all the rage when I was in high school. Her sense of fashion remains stuck in that time, yet it fits her just fine.