Page 45 of Digging Up Love
Stopping in front of her, he held out the cider. “Bartender said this is the only drink you ever order.”
Alisha looked toward Gracie, who was pouring drinks tonight. She winked and sauntered over to another patron. A fellow transplant,Gracie had moved from California in high school and, like Alisha, still wasn’t considered a local despite fifteen years in town. An ally. She accepted the cider and tapped it against the neck of his bottle.
He looked like he wanted to say something, but he took a drink first. “Is it always this crowded here?” Quentin palmed the back of his neck, glancing toward where the three women perched on barstools like crows on a power line, shooting daggers at Alisha.
With a shrug she said, “Nowhere else to go on Friday night. If you’d rather, we can skip it.” She was aiming for nonchalance but worried she fell woefully short.
But Quentin shook his head. “No way, you promised me a greasy burger.”
A gust of relief swept over her.Play it cool, Blake.But cool was miles outside her skill set. Still, he hadn’t greeted her with a hug, or tossed out a tacky compliment. Perfect. Just two friends grabbing a burger. Not a date, after all.
A table opened up near the door, and she nabbed it. Quentin slid into the seat opposite her, his jeans grazing her knees under the table. The butterflies woke up and fluttered into Alisha’s throat. She shifted to tuck the fabric of her skirt under her thighs, bare knees sliding along his, and he got an odd look on his face, scooting up and back so fast the chair lurched along the floor with a scrape.
Okay, point taken.Just friends. No need to make it any clearer. She picked up the menu to keep her trembling hands occupied, even though she could’ve recited it with her eyes closed—all ten pages’ worth.
“So tell me more about thisJurassic Parkfan club.” Quentin’s voice was rich and warm like Sunday-morning maple syrup, dripping with mirth. “How come I’m just now hearing about it?”
Alisha tilted her menu down. His elbows on the table, a wide and wicked grin was splashed across Quentin’s face.
“No way you read the menu that fast.” She brought it back up to hide her face.
His laugh sailed over the top of the laminated cardstock, hitting her burning ears. “Caught me. But you said the burgers are good here. So a burger it is.” A long finger appeared over the top of her menu, dragging it down.
“There’s like fifteen different burger choices, Quentin.” She refused to give in.
His playful smile stretched wider. “Oh. In that case, I’ll have what you’re having.”
She rolled her eyes, and he laughed, easing down deeper in his chair, bringing his knees back in contact with hers. This time he didn’t move them. Did he notice? Right now that point of contact wasallshe noticed.
“So.Jurassic Parkfan club,” he said, charmingly relentless.
Defeated, she dropped the pretense of reading the menu.
Well, if she wanted to keep things safe and platonic, nothing would kill romance quite like the image of nerdy schoolgirl Alisha. “If I tell you, you’re sworn to secrecy. I can’t have all of you paleontologists out in our backyard laughing at the girl with a dinosaur tattoo.”
His storm-gray eyes widened. “Wait a minute, you have a dinosaur tattoo?” His voice climbed a notch higher than usual.Interesting.
“Just the temporary kind.” His face fell, and she filed that away. “But no more details until you swear.”
Pressing his lips together, he held up his little finger. “Deal. Your dark dinosaur past is safe with me.”
She locked her pinkie with his, catching his eyes over their clasped fingers. The world shifted into sharp focus in the stillness between heartbeats; then he dropped her hand and reached for his beer bottle. He tipped it toward her. “Spill.”
“As for why I didn’t whip out myJurassic Parkfan card earlier? Um, self-preservation?” She laughed, breathless. Also, she didn’t want him to think she had some sort of creepy crush on him because of hisprofession. Maybe she harbored a slight, miniscule crush on him, but not because she had some sort of dinosaur fetish.
That and pure, unadulterated shame had prompted her decision to keep the dinosaur thing a secret. But now he sat across from her, so kind and open that she found herself reciprocating, going against pattern—which was becoming a pattern around Quentin, she realized. But right now she didn’t want to think too hard about what that meant.
“Anyways, like I said, the film was off limits. So I think that made me like it even more. But that was just part of the intrigue. I was scared, sure, but also fascinated by the dinosaurs. And after I moved here, I watched it a lot because it reminded me of when things were better.”
A small line formed between his brows at this tidbit, but she plowed on. “Thank goodness I met Meg. She was a huge dinosaur nerd too. We spent the summer plotting out our ownJurassic Parkin her yard and blackmailed Simone into drawing up the plans.” She smiled at the memory, twisting the sticky ketchup bottle in her hands. “We found dinosaur tattoos at the dollar store and gave ourselves half sleeves ofT. rexskeletons. Granny wasn’t too pleased with the result.”
Quentin laughed. “And I thoughtIwas the dino-obsessed one.”
“Well, that was a long time ago.Igrew out of it.” Alisha raised her eyebrows at him and took a dainty sip of cider, then smiled to let him know she was teasing. She tugged the strap of her dress up on her shoulder.
Gracie appeared at the table in a flurry, pulling a notepad out of her back pocket. “Hey, Ali. You two ready to order? I gotta head back before a brawl breaks out.” She gestured toward the bar, where Alisha spotted Forrest’s tangled man bun. She caught Quentin following her gaze, and his eyes went wide.
Oh.Oh.She wasn’t the only one worried about an audience here. Which meant maybe he really did kind of sort oflikeher? The idea shouldn’t have sent a rush up her spine, but she found herself testing the waters nonetheless.
