Prince Player(137)

She watches me quietly for a second. Her face sets into a mask of distant anger, but I like that about her. She looks a little defiant, and it wouldn’t be any fun if she didn’t put up a little fight.

But I saw it already. I saw that look on her face, while she was trying to decide how to respond. It was desire, clear and plain as day. She’s still an upper crust rich girl and she has to put up a front. She can’t just give in to what she wants.

Not at first, at least.

“What was it about me that interested you so much? Aside from your crude thoughts.”

I smirk and shrug. “You know how it can be. Girls like you have a certain way.”

“Girls like me?”

I sip my whisky. “Rich girls.”

“I see. It always comes back to that, doesn’t it?”

“How can it not? It’s what you are.”

“So that makes you a poor boy.” She arches an eyebrow.

“I guess so,” I say.

“You poor, poor boy.”

I laugh softly. “Not at all. I love where I come from.”

“So do I.” She crosses her arms a little.

I laugh again and watch her. I can tell that she’s annoyed by the assumptions I’ve made about her, and I can’t blame her. But the thing is, I know I’m right.

Fortunately, we don’t have to get too into it. The waitress comes and takes our orders, breaking the tension. I feel a little guilty, but I couldn’t help myself. She was practically begging for it, and the look on her face was priceless.

I’ll have to make it up to her, though.

“I kissed my first girl in this restaurant,” I say to her once the waitress leaves.

“Did you have to pay her half a million dollars?”

I grin at her. “Fair enough, I deserved that. Do you want to hear the story?”

“Fine.”

I can tell she’s annoyed, but this story always loosens people up. “I was thirteen years old, just a young man. Didn’t know a thing about girls.”

“You weren’t always this smooth talker?” she asks, smiling slightly.

“Believe it or not. Back then, there was this gorgeous girl, lived down the street from me, Becky Carmichael. God, I loved Becky so much I could barely breathe. You know how that can be, when you’re young. It’s the most intense feeling in the world.”

She smiles slightly and nods. “You’re almost stupid for it.”

“You think it’s the most important thing in the world.”

She laughs a little. “I felt that way for Robert Smith.”

I pause. “The guy from The Cure.”

She cocks her head. “The what?”

“Never mind.”

“He was a boy that went to my school. Couldn’t get enough of him. Long eyelashes.”

I grin at her. “Sounds like my Becky. Anyway, one night, my best friend Jimmy tells her that I have a crush on her, and dares her to kiss me. For whatever reason, she agrees, and we all meet in the back of this place, over by the bathrooms just out there.” I gesture toward the main room.

“Did you kiss her?” she asks.

“I did,” I say. “And it was the most incredible thing. Didn’t know what I was doing, but I was doing it. And as the kiss was ending, I heard a click and a laugh, and when I looked over, it was Jimmy, holding his father’s camera.”

“He didn’t!” Sadie says, laughing.

“He did,” I confirm. “And he got it developed and gave it to me years later. And I still have that picture.”

“No way,” she says, laughing.

“I do, I swear it. I’ll show you one day.”

“Okay then,” she says, shaking her head and smiling. “That’s a good story.”

“Your turn now,” I say, leaning back and sipping my drink. “Tell me about your first kiss.”

She laughs a little. “No way. It’s embarrassing.”

“Can’t be more embarrassing than mine. Besides, I bet you were a little flirt back then.”

“Hardly.” She smiles and fingers her wine glass. “I didn’t kiss a boy until I was sixteen.”

“Really?” I raise an eyebrow.

“Hard sometimes, being in my family.” She gets a little quiet and doesn’t elaborate.

I don’t push her. I get a glimpse of those depths again. I know there’s more to her than what’s on the surface, and I want to get to know her, but I know I have to be a little more delicate.

Our meals come soon and we fall into more comfortable small talk about our lives. She tells me about growing up with her family and going to school, and I tell her about what this neighborhood was like when I was young. We laugh a lot and things are surprisingly comfortable. The tension is still there, lingering beneath the surface, but she quickly loosens up and I can tell she forgets all about being annoyed.