Page 38 of Hard Hitter

After a short drive, the Bronco pulled back into the parking lot of Hotel Indigo and Rae looked skeptically at Quinn. "I thought we weren't starting with sex?"

"We're not," said Quinn. "There's a rooftop restaurant and I hear the food up there is the tits."

"Isn't this the hotel you're staying at?" she asked.

"Yes, but I've mostly been eating the protein shakes I brought and the burgers at Trojan Horse. I was waiting to bring you here with me to lose my food virginity to this place."

"We're losing our virginity together?" Rae questioned, eyeing him knowingly, and he instantly wished he'd phrased it differently. That brought up bad memories.Guess I better just roll with it...

He turned the car off. "Yes, and I've been waiting a very long time for this. I'd better get you up there before you change your mind." Practically jogging around the car to get the door, he scooped her out of the seat and threw her over his good shoulder. She shrieked and Quinn was sure several people were turning to watch, but he didn't care.

"Quinn! I'm wearing a dress!" Rae squealed through laughter.

Strategically, he slid her back down to the ground, careful to keep his hand under her skirt. A finger caught the lace band of her panties and he snapped it against her skin. "Just had to check."

He held his arm out for her again and she took it as they walked into the hotel lobby and to the elevator.

Outside the rooftop restaurant, Quinn wrapped his arm around Rae and held her close to him, thinking how incredibly lucky he was to have this chance. He probably didn't deserve it, but he was going to make the most of it. Rae leaned into his side as they waited to be seated and he let out a calm breath, squeezing her closer into him.

"Hey!" A man's voice came from somewhere beside Quinn. "You're Quinn Casey, right? You play for Los Angeles?"

Quinn turned at the sound of his name and faced a college-aged man whose arm was around the shoulders of a curvy woman with bronze skin and long black hair. He gave a polite nod and a wave with a smile.

The guy's girlfriend seemed to recognize him suddenly and her bronze cheeks were tinted with red. "Oh, my gosh, you are!" She looked from her boyfriend back to Quinn. "You're on my hall pass list! I can't believe you're actually like...right here."

Quinn looked down at Rae to see her reaction. She was trying not to laugh as she turned to the young woman. "That's actually why I'm here with him. My husband's at home probably puking his guts out, hoping I don’t actually go through with it.”

The woman looked mildly horrified before turning her attention back to her boyfriend.

Quinn held Rae close to him and had to fight the urge to run his hands all over her body. Instead he slid his hand down to her hip and squeezed her ticklish spot which elicited a squeal and a jump, followed by an involuntary giggle. Rae swatted Quinn as he chuckled to himself and pulled her back toward him again. He gave her a kiss on the side of her head and nipped playfully at her ear. "Don’t forget, I know your weakness," he whispered. Rae straightened and color blossomed up from her chest, into her neck and face, and fuck if he didn’t love being able to do that to her.

They were seated at a table where they were read the specials and given a drink menu which Rae politely declined after the previous night's events. She ordered a sparkling water while Quinn ordered a pint of Two-Hearted Ale. The food was indeed the tits, but it didn't come close to the high he felt just sitting there talking with Rae, teasing, flirting, picking up their witty banter that seemed to come so easily. Quinn had never been able to talk to other women this way. It wasn’t that he hadn't met any intelligent girls who were capable of conversation, he just always felt like he was miles away during those interactions. Some part of him must have known he was meant to be here with Rae instead.

The table was cleared except for their glasses at nine o'clock. Almost an hour and a half had flown by as they caught up, going more in depth than what they'd been able to during their meetings at the bar with Jett and Chris that week. They talked about college, and everything that had happened in the time they'd spent apart. Their dating horror stories, professional achievements, Rae talked about her family, and then they circled back to the nightmarish world of casual dating.

He gathered their lives were both filled with flings and one-night stands. Quinn began to realize that, although he'd done what he could to avoid his predisposition for addiction, she had become his. Rae was a strong shot of whiskey that burned all the way down and stuck with him, and all the other women he'd been with were like chasers. He tried watering down the burn that Rae had left behind, but none had been strong enough to make him forget.

The wait staff were pulling tables back and creating a dance floor. The hanging lights that were strung up all around the roof flickered to life and the music was turned up to a significantly higher level that clearly gave out the message that it was time to dance.

Quinn held his hand out to Rae as they stood to allow a couple of waiters to move their table. The music registered in her ears and she smiled to Quinn. "Is this T-Pain?"

"Yeah, I think it is." He observed her as she mouthed some of the words toBuy You a Drank. "I paid the DJ to play songs only from 2009 and earlier."

Rae looked at him curiously. "Why 2009?"

"I figured it would make up for junior and senior homecoming, and senior prom," Quinn explained.

The look Rae gave him was everything he could have asked for, a beaming smile that brightened the blue in her eyes to turquoise. She reached up on her tip-toes and planted a kiss on his lips and took his hands. "Let's go dance like horny teenagers!”

They lost count of how many T-Pain songs they danced through, along with The Black-Eyed Peas, Ne-yo, Beyoncé, Maroon 5, and Sean Paul. They joked about the content of the songs and how cool they probably thought they were dancing along to such adult material when they barely knew what a G-spot was. By the time they left the rooftop, they had aches in their sides from laughing so hard and their legs were sore from trying to pop, lock, and drop it through the entire song by Huey. Though Quinn had only had his one beer at the beginning of the night, he was sure they looked drunk as they stumbled out of the hotel to his car, clutching onto each other to hold themselves up from laughing.

"Onto part three," said Quinn, starting up the vehicle.

"Part three?" Rae asked, buckling her seat belt as Quinn pulled out of the parking spot.

"Part one was dinner, part two was the homecoming-slash-prom do-over, and now we're onto part three," Quinn couldn't wipe thesmile off his face. This night had already gone so perfectly. He couldn't wait to see the next part unfold.

"How many parts are there?"

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