“It looks like you might have competition, big wheel,” Ella teased.
“I was just surprised that someone that old would be interested in him. I guess David is into cougars,” Colt said to defend himself.
Even he knew that sounded weak and wasn’t surprised when the sisters gave each other knowing looks. They were right. If Kaitlyn gave him her number and expected him to call, he would use it.
“Let’s go. David’s at a diner down the street. We’ll meet him there and then go to the apartment,” Colt said to change the subject.
◊◊◊
They spotted David sitting at the counter.
“Let him know that we’re here. I need to stop off at the little boys’ room,” Colt said.
“I need to make a pit stop too,” Dani added to give David the needed five minutes of alone time to settle the bet.
“Good. That’ll give me a chance to meet him alone,” Ella said confidently.
She took the stool next to David and smiled. Colt had told Dani about their bet, so the two of them watched what was happening. David just looked straight ahead with a serious expression on his face.
“Did you bring the money?”
“The fuck does that mean?” Ella asked in surprise.
David turned and looked at her in confusion.
“I was meeting a girl that wanted … I think I see her … could you move down a few seats? We have some private business to handle.”
Ella looked like she didn’t know what to do but got up and moved down three seats. She looked back, and both Colt and Dani were giggling. Dani came over, took Ella’s old seat, and slapped down a five-dollar bill.
“What did you say to my sister to get her to move down? I’m glad Colt only bet five bucks. After listening to her go on and on about finally meeting you, I would have thought she would have been attached to your hip, not running away.”
“All I asked was if she had brought my money. I might have dialed up the sketchy vibe a notch or two,” David said.
“I thought he was asking if I had money for a hit or something,” Ella admitted.
“Come on. Let’s get you guys settled,” David said as he left money for his bill.
◊◊◊
The apartment was excellent. David explained that it was used by corporate types that were in town on short-term assignments. He said he was going to go to the pool and swim some laps to get some exercise in.
After he left, Colt asked the girls if they wanted to go swimming.
“You forgot to give David that girl’s number,” Dani reminded him.
“Swimming, or maybe we could take a quick nap,” he suggested to Dani.
“Swimming,” Ella said. “You can change in the bathroom while we get ready.”
‘Maybe bringing Dani’s sister was a mistake,’ Colt thought.
Then again, Dani wouldn’t be here without her. He just hoped that Ella didn’t try to cock-block him the whole trip.
When they got downstairs, David was doing laps, and no one else was around. The girls laid out in deck chairs and asked Colt to put sunblock on their backs.
Colt looked up and saw Phil walk out of the building accompanied by a curly-haired blond girl. There was a moment, a moment like everyone sees in movies or reads about in books. Colt wasn’t sure if it was the way the girl looked at him or the way she smiled when she first saw him. Or maybe it was the way her voice turned sexy when she said he looked hot when she came up to say hello.
But luckily, she stepped away from him before his lower brain decided to overcome his real one. That didn’t mean that he didn’t have several inappropriate ideas when he met Phil’s girl for the weekend. But he resisted. He couldn’t cross the line—what they would have been was temporary with short-term benefits. Nothing less; nothing more. And he’d better remind himself of that before he did or said something stupid.
David picked that moment to pull himself out of the pool to distract this goddess from Colt.
“Kylie Ruttier. It has been a while, hasn’t it?” David said with a smile as Kylie gave him a hug.
“How do you two know each other?” Ella asked.
“Kylie was a cheerleader at Lincoln High when I played ball,” David explained.
“What he isn’t saying is that when I was a freshman, the head cheerleader put him in charge of watching over us new cheerleaders. He had lunch with all of us for a semester and treated us like kid sisters. Now that I’m eighteen, I figured he might not think of me as being too young anymore,” Kylie explained.
“It was cute. David was like the papa duck, and all his ducklings followed him everywhere. It was also a pain because if you wanted to ask any of them out, you had to go through David,” Phil said.
“He was a bit overprotective,” Kylie added.
“I remember you all practicing on me. They were big flirts,” David said.
“That was because you were safe.”
“I heard that David was a wild child. I would have thought he would have been chasing you all, not being your protector,” Colt said.
David gave him a look that told Colt he was way off base.
“Give David that girl’s number,” Dani said.
“Oh, yeah. She was one of the women checking us in,” Colt said as he handed the piece of paper to David.
“Kaitlyn!” David exclaimed and then explained. “When I first came to this camp, I flirted with her. Three of the last four years, I tried to get her to go out with me.”
“Why is he excited?” Kylie asked.
“She’s a Houston Texans cheerleader,” Ella answered.
“I thought it was just going to be us all swapping and having sexy fun. You didn’t tell me that David would be out of the mix,” Kylie said as she turned on Phil.
Dani and Ella glared at Colt, who raised his hands.
“Phil said …” and then trailed off.
David laughed.
“Not my circus, not my monkeys.”
“What does that mean?” Dani asked.
“He just said that this mess is not his problem,” Ella explained to her sister.
David grabbed his towel and left Phil and Colt to face the girls.
At first, Colt didn’t see what the big deal was that would cause all the girls to be pissed. Then it dawned on him. They’d all been interested in spending time with David—even Dani. That last thought was the one that bothered Colt the most. His own girlfriend was only willing to do stuff if she got a shot at their host.
◊◊◊
He took Dani aside when the dust settled.
“Do you really want to sleep with David?”
“Don’t look shocked at me. You were the one that dipped your wick into a college girl when you went to the USC camp. I just think that what’s good for the gander is good for the goose. I’m not going to be dating you if you’re sleeping around on me,” she said.
“How did …?”
“Jesus, Colt. You didn’t exactly make it a secret with your teammates. Did you think that word wouldn’t get back to me?”
He was excited about what happened and, looking back, should have kept his damn mouth shut.
“What about the scavenger hunt and the oral sex?” Colt asked, confused.
“Seriously? I have to explain that to you?” Dani asked. “Oral is casual. Like an extra-friendly handshake. Having sex is what you do with your boyfriend.”
“But why David?”
“Do you really want me to compare you to David frickin’ Dawson? The model, actor, and way more mature star quarterback?”
“But …”
“Colt, I love you to death, but just drop it. If we’re fighting over this, we aren’t ready to do more than we already are. We are not in college yet, and I don’t think I want to be as adventurous as you’re pushing for.
“Look at it as you dodged a bullet. If I ended up having sex with David, I would really have to compare him to you. I would bet that he knows a lot more about the subject than you do,” Dani said.
That one stung, and she saw that she might have gone too far.
“Maybe this isn’t working out,” she said.