Page 40 of Full Coverage (Boys of Fall)

He looked fascinated, which made Randi smile. “There was the time a couple years ago when a bunch of girls got into a big rumble in the parking lot.”

“What?”

“Yep. They were players’ sisters and they got to talking tough with some of the girls from another school. Turned into a great big cat fight.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. Carter couldn’t break it up by himself so Joel and Oakley and Colt jumped in to help him. Ended up with scratches and bruises all over. Carter got a bloody nose and Colt ended up with a black eye. The girls were scrappy.”

“How old were these girls?”

Randi grinned. “Sixth grade.”

Nolan lifted an eyebrow. “Carter, Joel, Oakley and Colt got beat up pulling a bunch of sixth-grade girls apart?”

“Yep.” She paused. “You should definitely write that one down.”

He agreed. “Start over. How many little girls were there?”

* * *

The annual Valentine’sDay party was actually a dance. Held at the Quinn Community Center and involving cookies, punch, and lots of pink and red carnations.

It was a family-friendly event and people from three to ninety-three could be found dancing among the pink and white balloons and streamers.

The real party happened afterward at Pitchers, though. That’s where the grownups went to dance a little closer and drink something other than punch.

But Randi wasn’t sure she’d ever felt better than she did folded in Nolan’s arms in the middle of the tile floor in the community center, with her friends all dancing with their guys around her.

This was nice. This was sweet. Pink streamers, tiny confetti hearts all over everything, Frank Sinatra coming from the speakers.

She’d never danced to Frank Sinatra in her life. She wasn’t sure she’d ever touched a pink streamer. She was pretty sure she’d never eaten a sugar cookie shaped like cupid.

This was all very romantic to her. Cheesy, clichéd, sappy. And she loved it.

Nolan had given her a Valentine. She loved that too.

She’d avoided all of this because she didn’t know what to do with it. Romance meant someone thought she was special. Extra special. When someone thought you were extra special, they expected you to act like it.

She’d always felt pretty…normal. Average intelligence, nice, attractive. But she wasn’t brilliant, she wasn’t amazingly talented in any way, she hadn’t started a charity like their classmate Melanie had, she wasn’t stunningly beautiful. She was fun, social, a good friend. She owned her own business. She loved her parents. All of those things made her a nice person. But they didn’t really make her extraordinary.

Nolan made her feel extraordinary.

That made her nervous. She wasn’t sure she could measure up to that. Especially with a guy like Nolan. His experience with intelligent, nice, and attractive all went well beyond Quinn. Randi was average inQuinn. She didn’t want to know where she fell on the whole-world spectrum. But for tonight, she was being seduced by streamers and sugar cookies and she was letting herself go with it.

This wasn’t hot sex, or a drinking game at the river, or dirty dancing at Pitchers. This was sweet and romantic. This made her feel special.

Nolan ran his hand up her spine and into her hair at the back of her head. He put his mouth to her ear. “Thank you for coming with me.”

“Thank you for asking,” she said honestly.

They’d spent the last few days together at the shop, talking football. He showed up, with coffee, when she opened and he left at closing time. They hadn’t had dinner together. They hadn’t kissed. They definitely hadn’t had sex again. It was like once he’d asked her to be his Valentine, things had slowed down and gotten sweeter.

But she was kind of hoping that tonight would end naked between the sheets.

“Everyone’s going to Pitchers in a little bit,” Nolan said, his low voice rumbling in her ear and giving her goose bumps. “Should we join them?”

Randi kept her head on his shoulder, thinking about the question. In the past, anyone saying “want to go to Pitchers?” would have been a no-brainer. But she hesitated tonight. She’d had visions of strawberries and whipped cream and satin sheets going.

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