Page 59 of The Kiss Connection

My teammates are far enough away, but it’s the other patrons with cell phones and social media I have to watch out for. Aside from Archer, the rest of the guys wouldn’t do me dirty.

And if anyone just heard that end of our conversation, it would sound very different than what I’m actually speaking of.

“Tomorrow?” Juniper asks.

“I have the gym in the morning, but when I get done, we could meet up.”

She nods in agreement. “And what about tonight?” Juniper glances past me at the tables with my teammates.

“We start the ball rolling here.” I pull her closer, my hands tugging her sweatshirt, bringing her hips against mine.

A small puff of air spills past her lips. “There will have to be rules,” she whispers, glancing up at me. “And I want something in return.”

“Name your price.”

The bartender comes over and Juniper forces a nervous smile. “Long Island Iced Tea,” she orders.

“Put it on my tab,” I tell the bartender and wait until she’s far enough away that I steal a moment of privacy with Juniper. “What’s your price, because I know it isn’t free drinks? Something tells me it’s bigger than that.”

A wry smile crosses her lips. She leans in, her breath beside my ear. “I want to open a romance bookstore. I need someone to cover my rent for a year. Your brother already covered my inventory.”

My mouth drops slightly at her request, and she kisses my cheek.

“Think about it,” she says as the bartender places Juniper’s drink on the bar. She pulls back, out of my reach, and grabs the stool, propping herself on the edge, staring up at me.

I steal the seat beside her at the bar counter and scoot closer. She feels too far away. If we’re going to pull this off, we have to show some level of interest in one another. “If I’m being honest, I don’t like that Archer helped you or that you two kissed.”

There, I said it. My feelings are out in the open for her to interpret however she wants.

“What? You want me to give him back the money?” Her eyes widen in horror. “I can’t afford—that’s absolutely out of the question. I won’t do it. And that kiss meant nothing. It was purely business.”

“Business?” My jaw tightens, her words rattling me. That kiss didn’t look like business.

“Yes,” she says, pinning me with her stare. “You can’t be jealous?”

I scoff loudly under my breath. “I’m not … jealous.” I glance away, realizing she may in fact be right.

Shit.

“I don’t like that you took money from my brother.”

There’s a faint smile on her face as she takes a sip of her drink. “Admit it. You don’t like that I kissed him.”

I lean in, invading her personal space, my breath beside her ear. “You won’t be kissing him or anyone else if you agree to be my girlfriend.”

She swallows as I pull back and silence and heat fills the space between us. Pressing her lips together, she leans in, and I think for a fraction of a second, she might kiss me.

But her lips move beside my ear. “Fake girlfriend,” she corrects me.

Juniper pulls back, but I can still feel the heat of her breath against my ear. I shift slightly on the stool, praying she doesn’t notice my discomfort.

She sips the last of her drink and glances back at my teammates in the distance. “I should head home, and you probably want to sit with your friends.”

“I’ll walk you out.” I drop a kiss on her cheek and see her out to a cab before I make my way back to our table.

“You’re not seeing her home? Making sure she gets into bed okay?” Conrad jokes as I come back to our reserved table.

I roll my eyes. “I think she can get herself into bed. She had one drink.” She seemed sober enough to get in that cab alone, but maybe I should have ridden with her.