Her eyes narrowed. “Should I be worried?”
“Nah, I was just wondering who that pretty girl sitting next to Finn was. Emmeline, right?” He flashed a smile.
Instead of smiling back, she kept a flat expression and stuck out her hand. Grant shook it, feeling oddly formal. “My friends call me Em.”
Did that include him? “Nice to officially meet you, Em.” He waited to see if she would tell him to call her by her full name.
She didn’t.
Before either of them could say anything else, the bartender returned with Em’s drink. He set the glass on a coaster in front of her. “Do you want to run a tab?”
“I’m only getting the one drink.” She slid her purse from her shoulder and started digging around inside. “I’ll just pay now.”
Grant put his hand on her arm. “Let me get it.”
Em’s hand stilled as she looked down at where they touched. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.”
“But—”
“Put it on my tab,” he said to the bartender, not giving Em the chance to argue.
“Sure thing.” The man nodded at him before walking off to talk to another customer.
Em put her purse back on her shoulder, pulling away from his hand. Her eyes were trained on the drink in front of her. “That was really nice, but you should know I don’t date players.”
Grant pushed down his disappointment and leaned in. “It’s just a drink. You could say thank you and leave it at that.”
Her lips twitched. “Thank you.”
He stretched his arms and turned to face the room, elbows on the bar. “Besides, I’m not looking to date either.”
Though I would have made an exception for you.
She faced Grant with wide eyes. “You aren’t?”
“Nah, I was just happy to make amends for bumping into you earlier.”
Em stared at him another moment before a corner of her mouth lifted. “If I got free drinks every time someone bumped into me, I might start leaning over the boards during games.”
“If you started leaning over the boards during games, I might not be able to pay attention to the ball.”
She pressed her lips together. “You know you’re not doing a very good job of stating your case of not hitting on me with comments like that, right?”
“And you know that a little flirting doesn’t mean I’m trying to date you, right?”
That was a lie. Grant was thoroughly enjoying their playful exchange and wanted more.
Em laughed softly. Looking at him through lowered lashes, she jerked her head toward the booth. “I should probably get back to everyone before Finn sends out the search party. Bye, Grant.”
This place wasn’t so big, and Finn could see her from his spot in the booth, but Grant nodded. “I’ll see you around, Em.”
With his back pressed against the counter, Grant rested his elbows on the bar and watched as Em returned to her seat. She was only a few feet away when Bastian stepped directly in front of him blocking his view. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Grant grinned. “Doing what you said. Interacting with the fans.”
Bastian scowled. “Didn’t you hear me when I said that she’s his sister?”
“I did.” And Grant was thrilled with that bit of information.
He’d thought Em was off-limits because she was dating Finn. Knowing that the mutual adoration he’d seen on hers and Finn’s faces was strictly sibling love was great. And to think he might have missed out on talking to her if Bastian hadn’t cleared that up.
Grant craned his head around Bastian to try to get another glance at Em.
“That makes her off-limits.”
Grant’s head snapped back toward Bastian. “What are you talking about?”
“Finn’s really protective over his little sister.” Bastian rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You’re new, so let me make this one thing crystal clear before you do something dumb. You cannot date Emmeline O’Brien.”
This had to be some kind of joke. Grant laughed. “Not sure what century you’re living in, but my sister would tear me a new one if I tried to tell her who she could and couldn’t date.”
“I’m serious. This dude, Parrera, tried to date Emmeline without permission and ended up with a broken nose.”
Grant’s smile fell. “Sounds a little extreme.” He glanced over at the booth just in time to see a guy stop by the table. Finn gave the man a fierce look that said go away. Grant swallowed hard.
Having also witnessed the exchange, Bastian shook his head. “Like I said, he’s very protective of her.”
Grant opened his mouth to ask more about it, but Silas started hollering in their direction.
“Bastian, get over here! You still owe me a rematch in darts.”
“I’ll be right there!” Bastian turned and faced Grant once more, his face hard. “Consider this your one and only warning.”
Without another word, Bastian walked over to where everyone sat together. A minute later, Silas and Bastian were taking turns throwing darts at a board on the wall while Miriam cheered them on.
Grant took a long sip of his beer as he glanced over to where Finn and Em remained in the booth. He wondered what Finn’s deal was. Breaking someone’s nose because they tried to date your sister sounded more like something Vinny would do—not their cool-headed captain.
But it would make sense if that was the reason Em didn’t date players. Not wanting a repeat of that, she might have thought it was easier to avoid athletes altogether.
Grant would just need to feel out Finn and see if he still felt that way. It was possible that Finn had relaxed since that incident happened. If that was the case, maybe he could convince Em that it was okay to date players.
But he wasn’t looking to date her, was he?
The more he replayed their flirtatious encounter, and the more he observed her through the night, her red hair drawing his eye and her eyes sparkling with laughter as she teased her brother, the more he realized that he did want...something.
Maybe dating, maybe not, but definitely more than one bar conversation
