“Good morning, kitten,” a warm voice whispered into my ear, and I fluttered my eyes open to find Quinn sitting on the edge of my bed, wearing only black boxer briefs and a smile.
“Mornin’,” I squeaked out past the sleepy cobwebs in my throat. I rubbed at my eyes and sat up, resting my back against the headboard. “What time is it?”
“Breakfast time.”
“Huh?” I quirked a brow. “Like, actual food?” Unless he managed to bring the breakfast in, the odds of finding anything remotely resembling breakfast foods were slim to none in my kitchen. It wasn’t for lack of eating, though. I blamed it on the five-day work stretch I’d just gotten done with the day before.
“I snuck out for a little bit and grabbed us some rations from that mom-and-pop shop up the street,” he updated. “Which, by the way, you’re running low on food, Kitty Cat.”
“Trust me, I know. The grocery store is on my to-do list for today,” I said and internally groaned at the thought.
Why was the mere idea of going to the grocery worse than getting a tooth pulled?
Consider it an affliction, but I’d hated grocery stores and grocery shopping all of my life. Unless it was Target. Then, I could make an exception. Although, my bank account always felt the aftereffects.
“Good plan.” He grinned and rubbed his hand up the bared skin of my thigh that peeked out beneath the sheets. “Now, are you ready to eat something?”
“Yep.” I nodded. “I just need to throw on some—”
Before I could finish, Quinn slid his arms under my body and lifted my naked ass straight out of bed. “No need for clothes,” he said with a wink as he carried me out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen.
“Quinn!”
He completely ignored my squeals of protest, moving us into the hallway, past the living room, and into the kitchen. He sat my bare ass on the counter covering the small island in the center, and I squealed.
“Oh my God! That’s cold!”
“Here,” he said and slid a kitchen towel toward me. “Lift that cute ass up, you little complainer.”
“Oh, hell no,” I retorted and hopped off the counter. “I refuse to cover my kitchen towels with my ass. Pretty sure that’s unsanitary.”
Quinn just laughed, and with his arm wrapped around my waist, he pulled me back toward him like a fish on a line. “Fine. Fine,” he said through a chuckle. “I’ve got an even better solution. Close your eyes.”
“I’m not sure I trust you…”
“Close your eyes, kitten,” he demanded, and this time, I listened. “Stay right here, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I mean it,” he added. “Don’t move an inch. Or try to peek.”
“I said okay,” I answered, and my lips creased at the corners in a half-annoyed, mostly amused smile. “My eyes will stay closed until you say so.”
The sounds of his bare feet trodding across the hardwood floor filled my ears until they disappeared completely. And moments later, he was back, his footsteps moving toward me. “Hold up your arms, kitten,” he instructed once his voice got closer, and I assumed he’d closed the distance between us.
With eyes still closed, I listened and held both arms up in the air. Carefully, Quinn placed something soft and cottony over my arms and head, until the material slipped down the rest of my body and landed just below the cheeks of my ass.
“Oh, yeah,” he stated. “That’s perfect.”
“Can I open my eyes now?” I asked and put my arms down.
“Yep.”
Fluttering my eyes open, I found Quinn standing there, smirking at me like the devil. He waggled his eyebrows. “My kitten is so fucking sexy. Especially in my number.”
I glanced down at my new shirt to find the word Mavericks scrolled across my chest.
“And if you could see the back, you’d find out that you’re wearing my number on your back.”
“And what number is that?”
“What the fuck, kitten? You don’t know my number?”
“Uh…” I paused and bit my lip with a little shrug to my shoulder. “I’m not big on sports, remember?”
“I can’t believe my girlfriend doesn’t know my number,” he said with a frown, but I didn’t miss the teasing tone highlighting his voice. “I’m number nine, by the way.”
“Wait…” I said once his words sank in. “Did you just say girlfriend?”
“I did,” he responded, tone precise, eyes certain.
“So…I’m your girlfriend?”
“Well, I hope you’re my girlfriend, kitten. Otherwise, I just lied to about three million people on Instagram this morning.”
“You…what?” I questioned. “What do you mean you lied to three million people on Instagram this morning?”
He moved toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist, lifting me off my feet. “I posted about you this morning. My adorable, sexy, beautiful girlfriend.”
“You posted about me?”
“Uh-huh.”
I prayed to God he didn’t post something that included my current state of bed head.
“Tell me it wasn’t like an up-close shot of me asleep and drooling…”
“Nah.” He grinned and wrapped my legs around his waist. “It wasn’t anything like that,” he said and squeezed my ass beneath his T-shirt.
“Then what was it?” I asked and tapped his nose with mine.
“You know what I think is even more important than whatever I posted on Instagram?”
“What?”
“That whole thing about you being my girlfriend,” he whispered into my ear. “Are you my girlfriend, kitten?” He leaned back and looked into my eyes. “I’m really hoping you say yes to that question.”
“I guess that depends.”
“On what?”
“Are you my boyfriend?”
“Hell yes.” He leaned forward to press soft as silk kisses to my lips, my cheeks, and my nose. My skin tingled where his lips touched, and my heart beat erratically in my chest, so hard that I thought it might fly straight out of my body.
Without hesitation or doubts, when Quinn’s eyes met mine again, I whispered, “Then, hell yes, I’m your girlfriend.”
His grin grew wide and all-consuming, raising his cheeks and lighting up his eyes. He spun us around the kitchen a few times until he stopped, set my ass on the island again and kissed the hell out of me.
Boy, oh boy, I liked him.
It’s way, way more than like…
“So we’re giving this, us, a shot?” I asked, and he nodded.
“I’m all in, baby,” he said, no hesitation or doubt revealed in his words or expression.
“I’m all in too.”
“I just want you. Only you.”
His words hit me straight in the heart, and I couldn’t stop myself from saying exactly what was on my mind in that moment. Approximately.
“I-I think I l-ick you.”
Holy God. I’d almost just told him I loved him. Panic made my heart race and my cheeks turn red. Christ, Cat. Nice save…I think I lick you. Fuck.
Eyebrows drawn, Quinn pulled his lips up into the most adorable smile. It was too bad I was too busy dying of embarrassment to get a chance to fully enjoy it.
Quinn pressed another kiss to my lips and then whispered against them, “I think I lick you too, kitten. I think I lick you a lot, and I think I need to do it more.”
If it was possible for my cheeks to get even redder in a matter of a second and a half, they’d done it.
I had a boyfriend and his name was Quinn Bailey, and I was no doubt head over heels for him. He probably knew, by the bumbling fuckup of a line I’d put in its place at the last minute, but at least he’d had the decency to go with it.
Sigh.
“But first, beautiful girlfriend of mine,” he said, and his smile was infectious. “How about some breakfast?”
“Sounds perfect.”
“Go get cozy in the living room, and I’ll bring everything in.”
“Oh boy,” I said with a grin and hopped off the counter. “This whole boyfriend thing is already off to the best start ever.”
He playfully spanked my ass as I walked past him, and I giggled all the way to the living room. Once I plopped my ass down onto the couch and grabbed my phone off the coffee table, I realized I had several missed calls and social media notifications.
The first one was from Instagram.
I clicked open the app to find a notification that Quinn Bailey had posted a new photo. It was a photo, of my freaking bare feet peeking out from the covers of my bed, with a caption that read: My girlfriend has the cutest little feet I’ve ever seen. #mykitten #tinypaws
What an adorable…weirdo. I had no idea when that picture had been taken, but I imagined it’d occurred while I was sleeping. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to smack him or kiss his face off for showing the world my pink painted toes.
Before I could playfully give him hell, my phone started vibrating with an incoming call.
Incoming Call: Mom
Immediately, I tapped the green phone icon. “Hi, Mom.”
“Hi, sweetheart.” Her warm and smooth-as-honey voice made me smile. “Your father’s on too.”
“Hey, Dad.”
“Hey there, Caterpillar.”
“So,” my mom chimed in, skipping any other pleasantries and getting straight to the point. “Is there anything you want to tell us?”
I scrunched my nose up in confusion. “Tell you?”
“Yeah,” my dad answered. “Anything new going on in your life…?”
“Uh…?” I honestly had no idea what they were talking about.
“Just tell her, Martin,” my mom said eventually.
“Caterpillar, do you mind explaining why your mother and I just saw your pretty face on the cover of a magazine in the checkout line at the grocery store this morning?”
“I’m sorry…what?” I damn near choked on my own saliva.
What in the hell were my parents talking about?
“I’m feeling a little left out of the loop here. I mean, when were you going to tell us you’re dating that football star, Quinn Bailey?” my mom asked, and my jaw dropped open like I was going to start catching flies with my mouth. “Well…at least, that’s what the tabloid magazine says…” She trailed off, and my dad didn’t hesitate to pick up the conversation where she left off.
“Caterpillar, is it true?” he questioned. “You can be honest with us. We won’t be mad.”
My mom’s sigh filled my ears, and my chest tightened from the discomfort. My parents had been through all of my stupidest moments with me. I didn’t want them to think this was another one. “We just want to know what’s going on with you, sweetheart.”
“What tabloid magazine was it?” I asked.
“Uh…” my dad muttered, and the sounds of rustling filled the receiver. “It’s called U-S Weekly.”
My stomach dropped. My parents had found out I was dating Quinn through a freaking magazine in the grocery store.
I’d always loved that my relationship with my parents was close. I didn’t hide things from them. And this, well, it made it seem like I had been.
I didn’t like it one bit. And my brain hadn’t had the chance to actually process the fact that I was in a gossip magazine. That felt too surreal to comprehend at the moment.
“Oh, wow…” I said more out of shock than anything else. “Well…the, uh…the tabloid is right. And I swear to God, I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. I wanted to tell you about Quinn in person when I came to Cincinnati for my quarterly training.”
“So, it’s true?” my mother questioned, surprise filling her voice. “That is…quite a turn of events, Catharine…”
Tell me about it, Mom. I was getting used to my life as a spinster too.
“I know, I know. I’m sorry you guys found out about it this way, but I promise my lack of telling you wasn’t out of secrecy or choice, though. It’s a new relationship.”
The line grew quiet until, finally, my dad broke the silence.
“Is he treating you right, Caterpillar?”
Quinn walked into the room and set our breakfast and fresh coffee onto the table in front of my sectional. He sat down beside me, handed me my mug, gently patted my thigh, and otherwise, left me to my call while he started eating his breakfast.
“Yes, Dad,” I answered with complete honesty. “Quinn treats me very well. And I promise when I come to Cincinnati for my quarterly training we’ll have dinner and I’ll tell you all about him.”
“I like this plan,” my mom said, and my dad agreed.
“I miss you guys so much.” Most days, I didn’t realize it because I was too wrapped up in my work schedule, and lately, Quinn, but I did miss them. I loved living near the Big Apple, but it wasn’t without sacrifice. The distance from my family was hard. “Is everything going okay back home?”
“We miss you too, sweetheart,” my mom said, only love in her voice.
And Dad quickly added, “Everything is great, Caterpillar. Your mom and I are doing just fine.”
“Good. I’m glad,” I said. “Well…I have to get off of here, but I’ll see you soon, okay? I love you tons and tons and tons.”
They both offered their love and ended the call shortly after that.
Once I set my phone down on the coffee table, Quinn looked over at me and smiled softly.
“You have to go to Cincinnati?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Four or five days from now, I can’t remember which.” He looked unhappy, and the reality of my life hit me like a brick wall. “I guess it’s safe to say I’m always going somewhere…”
My own words made me feel sad, and I watched the corners of his mouth turn down even farther.
Eventually, his eyes met mine, and a teensy tiny smile kissed his lips. “Well, you’re not going somewhere right now, are you?”
I leaned over and replaced his smile with a kiss. “Nope. I’m not going anywhere right now.”
“Perfect. Eat your breakfast, and then go get dressed,” he said with a little wink. “I’m taking you somewhere fun today.”
Somewhere fun sounded like exactly what I needed. It’d be a nice distraction from the whole gossip magazine situation that was apparently happening around me.
“Wherever we go, can we make a quick stop on our way?”
“Of course,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. “Errands to run?”
“Sort of…” I paused, hesitant over the next words that I wanted to say. “Well… Apparently, my parents found out about us through a gossip magazine at the grocery store. So, I just kind of wanted to see what exactly was written in the article…”
Or at least, I thought I wanted to see. Hell, the more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I became. I wasn’t sure if I’d like seeing my face splashed across the cover of a magazine.
What if it was an awful photo? What if they said mean things?
“Oh, shit,” he muttered with wide, surprised eyes. “I had no idea, kitten. No wonder Nathan called me six times this morning. I would’ve answered if I would have known it was about something like that.”
I shrugged. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, by it. I mean my boyfriend is Quinn Bailey.”
“True.” A half-happy, half-sad smile kissed his lips. “But I can’t stop myself from feeling responsible for the fact that you got blindsided by that news, through your parents, at that.” He reached out and held my hand in his. “I’m so sorry, kitten. I’ll call Nathan after we eat and get it all straightened out.”
“It’s okay.” I leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
The discomfort in his blue eyes hit me straight in the chest.
Obviously, I wasn’t a fan of the idea of being in a gossip magazine, but that took a back seat to seeing Quinn sad.
I nudged his arm with my shoulder. “You better eat up and get your strength, buddy.”
He tilted his head to the side, puzzled. “And why’s that?”
“Because I’m expecting you to bring your A game when it comes to the surprise of fun you just promised me.”
“Surprise of fun?” he questioned, a smile teasing his lips. “I don’t remember using those words…”
Ha. The liar. He knew he’d promised me that exact fucking thing.
“The pressure is on, Bailey.”
He barked out a laugh. “Challenge accepted, kitten,” he said. “Consider my O game face already on.”