Page 33 of The List
“What sort of plans?”
Oh, God. There was no way I could tell her about Cassie. No way I could let her get attached to another woman who won’t be around for long.
“Plans,” I repeated, hoping that would suffice.
“Plans with a girlfriend?”
“No!”
The word came out more adamant than I meant it to, but it was true, dammit. Cassie’s not my girlfriend. That’s what we both agreed.
“I’m really glad you invited me,” I told my sister. “I wish I could come tonight, but what about brunch tomorrow?”
“I’d like that!” The smile in my sister’s voice was unmistakable. “I’d like that a whole lot.”
Even so, I felt like the world’s biggest asshole. I still feel like one now.
But I remind myself that this is why I can’t do this for the long term. There’s a reason I gave up trying to have a relationship. Junie is my number one priority, and always will be. I need to tread carefully with Cassie.
I also need to figure out how to help her do number eight.
Pushing aside my gloomy thoughts, I study Cassie again. God, she’s beautiful. I watch as she surveys the bar, those green eyes taking in every detail of what’s happening around us. The candlelight makes her eyes glitter, and she’s wearing some sort of rosy lip gloss that tastes like passionfruit. I’m aching to kiss her again. She reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind one ear, and I catch a faint hint of vanilla that makes me dizzy.
“What about a video game bar?” I suggest. “There’s one called Ground Kontrol over on Northwest Couch. That would add the game element.”
“You’re suggesting I challenge a girl to a game of Tetris and the winner has to make out with the loser?”
“You have a better idea?”
She looks thoughtful for a moment. She doesn’t say anything right away, and I watch her take one last sip of her drink before setting it down. There’s a naughty glint in her eye now that sends a spear of lust straight to my crotch. As she shoves her glass aside, she turns and gives me a small smile.
“I might have another idea,” she says. “But it would require leaving this place.”
At this point, I’d cheerfully follow the woman off the end of a dock with my pockets full of rocks, but I play it cool. “I’m game for that. Where are we going?”
She smiles a little bigger, and I notice a flicker of nervousness in her eyes. Cassie licks her lips, and it’s all I can do not to kiss her hard and deep right there in the bar.
“I’ll show you.”
Chapter 10
Cassie
The second we walk into Casa Diablo, I know I’ve picked the right place to fulfill my girl-on-girl mission.
The topless woman at the front door offering four-dollar motorboats is my first clue.
“What’s a motorboat?” I whisper to Simon as he ushers me past a tattooed bouncer and into a dimly-lit room filled with dance music and more scantily-clad women than I’ve seen outside a gym locker room.
Simon looks uncomfortable, which is pretty funny for a red-blooded man who’s suddenly found himself in a strip club. Make that a vegan strip club—the only one in the universe, according to a friend who told me about this place a few years ago. I never thought I’d actually come here, but The List is making me try a lot of things I wouldn’t normally do.
One of the “things” I’ve done clears his throat beside me. “A motorboat is when you put your face between a woman’s breasts and, uh—sort of move your head back and forth making motorboat noises.”
“Oh.” I glance back at the door. “And that’s four dollars?”
“Evidently.”
I consider whether ponying up four bucks would fulfill item number eight on the list. ‘I kissed a girl, and apparently, I really liked it.’
