Page 48 of Under Pressure

“Shit, no softening that blow.”

“Eli’s made me watch a couple. It’s slow-paced.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

I cup my knee, contemplating actually saying what I’m thinking.

He seems to realize that I’m hesitating and reaches over the console to poke my outer thigh. “Since when do you hold back when it comes to honesty? Let me have it, baby. Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“It bores me. There, I said it. Baseball bores me!”

“Take it back.”

“I can’t. It’s already out there.”

“This can’t go on any longer. I’ve gotta let you down gently here, gorgeous. We can’t keep doing this. What am I supposed to tell my dad now? He’s an even bigger baseball fan than I am.”

“Are you ashamed of me now, Beck?” I ask in mock outrage.

He heaves a sigh so loud it’s almost a groan. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to drop you off right here.”

To make the act more believable, he even flicks his blinker on and changes lanes, creeping closer to an unfamiliar side street. I can’t help the laugh that tumbles out of me any more than thehand that I reach across the console to swat at the blinker, turning it off.

“Yeah, right. We both know you’d never dump me on the side of some random road.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll find a fire station instead.”

“You’re suggesting dropping me off at a fire station like an abandoned baby?” I fall back into my seat with a grin. “What a chivalrous gentleman.”

“My mom raised me right. And that means I’m going to make you change your mind. I guarantee once you come to a baseball game, you’ll think differently.”

“I doubt it.”

“Humour me, then. Think of this as payment for tonight.”

My grin slips a bit. Payment, right. Because there’s always a cost to things when it comes to people like him.

His eyes pierce the side of my face, instantly noticing the change in my mood. “I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just . . . fuck, Quinn. I’m trying to get you to come out to watch me play sometime. I shouldn’t have worded it like that. You don’t owe me anything for this. Not a fucking thing. Got it?”

“Why not?” I ask, blinking in surprise at the outburst.

There’s something sad in the way he’s staring out the windshield, and I look away before he notices me staring.

“Because I wanted to come.”

“I’ve been a bitch to you for months. It’s one thing for you to continue flirting, but it’s something completely different to leave your place in the middle of the night to help me in a crisis and then offer me a place to stay. I don’t get you.”

“So let’s change that. Get to know me, Quinn, because I want to know you so badly that I’d have done a fuck ton more than just turn off a water valve at three in the morning.”

The blunt statement is so sexy. His confidence and outgoing personality are one part of him that has always driven me insane. I like men who don’t beat around the bush, but this is Beck we’re talking about. And once again, he’s started tuggingon the rope he looped around my middle months ago, inching me closer and closer to him.

I shift in my seat, battling the desire curling between my legs. “You said we could start as friends.”

“Friends get to know each other, don’t they?”

“Yes,” I say, already knowing I’ve lost this battle.

“So, consider this just phase one of our friendship.”