Chapter 4
Quinn pushed her glasses back up her nose and sat back in her office chair.
She glanced at the clock and sighed. It was almost midnight.
She didn’t understand what was wrong with her program.
The bets were being properly placed. They were being recorded properly.
Then suddenly some of them weren’t. And Quinn couldn’t replicate it.
Not a single bet she made through her system while testing was wrong.
Her phone vibrated on the desk and she frowned. Helena must have forgotten about the time change. Only when Quinn looked at the message it wasn’t from Hel. It was from Knox. She knew since he’d put in his name with a heart emoji next to it.
Knox: It’s late and I haven’t heard from you. I wanted to check to make sure you got home okay.
Quinn’s heart did a flip as she read the message. Karson had never cared if she’d worked late. He’d only cared if she’d woken him up when she called after a late night. I’m still at work, but getting ready to head home now.
Knox: Where is home? Do you want me to pick you up?
Quinn smiled as she remembered that back in college he always insisted on walking her back to her dorm or wherever she was going after tutoring him.
Old habits are hard to break, but I’m a big girl now and can walk myself home.
Helena and I took self-defense classes when we first moved to New York City.
Knox: I never questioned that you could walk yourself. I just enjoy being able to be there with you. And, yeah, it might make me feel as if you need me.
Quinn: You don’t feel needed enough? I’m pretty sure you should check your DMs if you want to feel needed. Thank you for the offer, but I have my car parked out front.
Knox: You’re confusing needed and wanted. Now, where do you live, Q?
Quinn: About ten minutes away in that new townhouse development down the road from the stadium.
Quinn was startled when the silence was shattered by her phone’s video chat ringing.
She answered it and Knox’s face came into view.
He was clearly propped up in bed without a shirt on as he talked to her.
It was hard for Quinn to believe there wasn’t a supermodel next to him.
“Did you need something?” Quinn asked, causing Knox to smirk.
“If you won’t let me come and escort you home, I can come along while you show me where you live.
But first, show me your desk. I bet it’s completely organized, just like you were in college.
” Knox gave her a smile and she remembered how he used to tease her, only for her to discover he too was incredibly organized.
Quinn turned the camera around and panned her desk. “You’re right. Nice and organized.”
“You kept it.” Knox’s voice was soft and she wondered what had changed.
Then she looked at her screen. There was the Q he’d given her.
Luckily the camera was pointed away from her so Knox didn’t see the blush.
“Let me show you something.” Knox’s camera flipped and she was suddenly trying to take in every detail of his bedroom.
Definitely no woman in his bed. But then he settled the camera on a chest of drawers and there was the little trophy she’d gotten him. “I kept it too.”
“Why?” Quinn asked, hoping his reason was the same as hers.
“To remember you.” Knox seemed so much calmer discussing his feelings than she did. Her whole body was a riot of emotions and Knox just laid his feelings out there. “Now, take me home, Q.”
Quinn laughed, relieved he wasn’t pressuring her to dive into her feelings swirling around her. “This is my whole office,” she said, giving him a tour before heading out into the open space where several desks sat. “I’m on the third floor. Corner office.”
“As you should be. How do you like the people you work with?” Knox asked.
“Juniper is my assistant. She’s young, and while she doesn’t know how to dress for work, she’s compassionate and wants to do a good job. I think we work well together, even if she makes me feel old.”
“I know that feeling,” Knox said with a chuckle. “It seems our newest rookie is too young to even shave. What about the rest of your office?”
“They’re great. Plus, I work with Bette in your front office a lot.
We set up a VIP area for some of her sponsors and we’ve also done some joint sponsorships.
My job is more on the tech side, but I’ve really enjoyed Nico trusting me with some face-to-face work.
It all goes back to our lounge, but it’s still nice to get out from behind the computer. ”
Reception got a little glitchy as she went down the elevator.
Knox told her about Bette Vanhorn, the new head of corporate sponsors at the stadium.
She was a ball of feistiness and southern manners wrapped into one.
She was young for the job too, only twenty-six.
There had been a scandal with the last head of corporate sponsors and he’d been fired.
Bette had heard about the opening, drove all night, and met Will Ashton, one of the owners of the team, at the gate as he arrived to work.
She laid out her credentials, which had been a lot of fundraising for a national sorority and several nonprofits.
However, she didn’t have any knowledge about football.
Will Ashton had been impressed with her tenacity and knowledge of fundraising, so he’d brought her in for a full interview.
He had already decided on hiring her before he ran a background check on her and discovered Bette Vanhorn was the heiress to the Vanhorn fortune.
There had been a reason she knew how to get money from donors—she knew them all.
But Will found her work ethic impressive.
She hadn’t relied on her name, and her ideas for corporate sponsors were new and fresh. So, Will hired her.
“I didn’t know all of that. That makes me like her even more,” Quinn told Knox as she got into her car and set the phone in her cupholder. “And see, I have a parking space right by the door.”
“Good,” Knox told her, “or I’d have to call Nico and complain.”
Quinn rolled her eyes and that made Knox laugh again. “You really think I’m that high maintenance?”
“No. You never were, but you deserve to be treated that way regardless.”
Quinn drove out of the parking lot and turned toward her townhouse. Maybe it was because she was now in the dark and Knox couldn’t see her that it gave her a little more confidence to ask what she wanted. “Why are you saying all this now?”
“What do you mean?” Knox asked in return.
“This might sound stupid, but you are flirting with me, right? Why? I’m nobody. Just like I was in college, and you’re, well, you.”
Quinn had confidence in her ability to do her job.
She knew she was smart. However, that didn’t mean she was smart about men.
Instead, she felt as if she didn’t understand them at all.
Look at how long she’d been with Karson and how badly he’d treated her.
She should have seen the red flags sooner.
Helena had even pointed them out with big neon arrows.
Quinn wasn’t going to make that mistake again.
She wasn’t going to assume things with men and certainly not one like Knox.
“Am I that bad at flirting that it took you until now to realize it? I must be,” Knox said. His tone made her tighten her grip on the wheel as she drove. “Since you never realized I was flirting with you when you were tutoring me too.”
That made her roll her eyes. “Now I know you’re teasing me.”
“Q, there are lots of ways I want to tease you and none of them have to do with hiding my desire for you.”
Her face flushed and all she could manage was, “Oh.”
“I very much wanted to date you in college, but you didn’t seem receptive. So, I never pushed it. However, we’re both adults now and I’m not going to let my intentions get lost in translation. I very much want to date you—I did then and I do now.”
“Oh,” she said breathlessly as her heart hammered and her palms began to sweat against the steering wheel. Too many thoughts were running through her head that it somehow made her mind go blank. She had no idea how to respond besides, “Oh.”
“Nothing to say, Q?” Knox asked into the silence. Quinn wished she could be a badass like Helena, but she only felt that confidence with computers. Not sexy professional quarterbacks. “Okay, then. I guess I’m not your type. I just had to try. I couldn’t miss my second chance.”
“Exactly,” Quinn said quickly.
“Ouch, Q. No need to twist the knife.” Knox sounded sad, but he wasn’t mad even when Quinn realized what he’d said.
“Oh, no, no, no. I’m messing this all up. I mean, you’re right. You’re not my type and I’m not yours. I date nerdy computer guys and you date models and actresses.”
“Good thing I am a nerdy computer guy then. You should know. You helped me become one. As for you not being a model or an actress? Thank goodness. There’s a reason I’m not with someone like that.
They only care about being seen with me, not seeing me.
The one semester we spent together was the only time a woman actually saw me for me and didn’t judge me based on what I could do for them. ”
Quinn pulled to a stop at her townhouse and turned off the engine. “That must make it hard to date,” Quinn murmured as she thought about all he was saying. “You’re so much more than football, Knox.”
“Thank you. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Quinn. I just never thought I would get the chance to tell you how I felt about you. But, I’ll back off.”
“I liked you too,” Quinn blurted out. It had been bubbling right under the surface since she’d seen him at the hospital.
“In college, I mean. A lot. I just never thought you’d be interested in me.
Plus, I would’ve lost my job if I dated you.
It was part of my tutoring contract and I really needed the money. ”
Quinn glanced down at the phone and saw Knox smile. “Nico doesn’t have anything in his contract about not dating me, does he?”
Quinn chuckled as she grabbed her purse, computer bag, and the phone before shoving her car door open. “Not that I’m aware of.”
“Are you home?” Knox asked, changing the subject. They’d both made confessions and now they both needed to think about them on their own.
“I am. Do you want me to give you a tour?” Quinn asked, feeling excited to show him her space.
“I’d love one.”
Quinn wasn’t the only one feeling more relaxed. She liked how Knox placed his arm behind his head and smiled as she took him around her townhouse. “And this is my favorite spot in the house,” Quinn told him as she entered the loft area on the second floor. “Ta-da!”
Quinn panned her camera around the loft she’d turned into a library.
A big fluffy oversized chair and ottoman sat in the middle of the loft with a blanket on it.
Around two walls were bookshelves filled with her favorite book babies, author and book merch, and photographs.
This was her happy place. One that Karson thought was a waste of space in her old apartment since she’d used the guest bedroom as her library.
“It looks like your happy place. I remember talking about your romance book addiction.” Knox was grinning as she turned the camera back on her and dropped onto the soft chair, tucking her legs up under her, and leaning back to talk to Knox.
“I know it’s foolish to take up all this room for my books, but it is my happy place,” Quinn told him.
“It’s not foolish. It’s something you love. Now, if it were a room dedicated to snakes when you hate snakes, that would be foolish.”
Quinn shivered. “Why did you have to mention snakes?” Knox clearly didn’t get the shivers from them like she did. “What about you? Do you have a special room for something you enjoy?”
“I do . . . or I will. See, I bought a fixer-upper and I will have the kitchen of my dreams to cook in. I’ll also have a movie theater. My favorite way to relax is to cook comfort food and watch a movie.”
“That sounds relaxing. What’s your favorite movie? I remember in college when you tried to get me to go see that that sci-fi movie with aliens.”
Quinn propped her phone against the lamp on the small side table and curled up to talk.
They talked about everything—movies, books, work, dreams. She told him about the problem at work.
He told her how he was worried about the defense at Sunday’s game, and then just more.
They talked until it was two in the morning and it only ended because Quinn fell asleep listening to Knox’s deep voice telling her a story about three little old ladies who could wield kitchen utensils like weapons.