It won’t be casual.
It will be very, very real, with the intention of finding out if we’re truly compatible as a couple.
I glance at the driver, who’s staring studiously ahead as we make our way through traffic. Then back at Duncan.
He doesn’t say a word. Just smiles at me like he has so many things he wants to say, but doesn’t want to push it.
I grip his hand. “I do not want to hurt you again,” I whisper. “It’s not just me I’m afraid for. It’s you too.”
He blinks quickly, then squeezes my hand back. “I trust you.”
Other men I’ve known would’ve smirked.I can take it.
Not Duncan.
There’s no ego. Nohoney, you’ll want me so badly, you’ll never think of leaving me. Orpsh, you can’t hurt me, I’m made of lead.
With Duncan, it’sI acknowledge your fear and I’m here to tell you I believe in you.
I swallow the lump forming in my throat. “I don’t think you’ll be saying that after I kick your ass inCroaking Creaturesthis afternoon.”
His answering smile is all tenderness and light. “You know the fun thing about aCroaking Creaturesdate with me?”
“How easy it will be to kick your ass?”
“How much I’m willing to pay the creators to give me an advantage with new ways to croak that you don’t know about yet.”
I gasp.
He wiggles his eyebrows.
I know I told my boss that a bid as high as Duncan’s didn’t come with blowjobs.
Duncan might’ve just convinced me otherwise without even trying.
19
Duncan
Addie’s glowingwhen we pull up to the teahouse. She’s been trying to guess what new ways to die I managed to get put into the game, and I’m refusing to tell her if she’s hot or cold.
But I do tell her to update the app on her phone.
It’s possible things will glitch.
Rush jobs sometimes do.
But that’ll make it all the more fun.
When we reach the hostess stand, we’re immediately taken to our table.
And that’s when I realize there’s something worse that could happen here than our pictures being taken and leaked to the sports gossip pages.
I looked up the teahouse so I’d be ready for this part of our afternoon. The website was plastered with pictures of groups of women, of daddies and daughters on afternoon teddy bear dates, of families with little kids.
Made sense. I used to take Paisley for experiences like this when I’d go home for visits in the summer, before she outgrew teddy bear tea dates.
What I didn’t anticipate was how many Fireballs baseball players and their significant others would be sitting at every one of the tables surrounding us.
