The idea of Quinn in the shower did nothing to cool my body heat. “Uh, sure.” I realized I was hungry, as well as aroused. Better to concentrate on the safer craving. “Come into the kitchen and I’ll find something.”
He followed. “Nice apartment.”
“Thanks.” The condo was in a well-kept older building, and the rooms were spacious. My one-bedroom had an actual kitchen rather than a walk-through, a rare thing in Vancouver.
When I opened the fridge to peer inside, he stood behind me, and suddenly my kitchen didn’t seem so big. Though he didn’t touch me, he was close enough I felt his heat. I wanted to step back and plaster my back against his front. If I did, would his arms circle me? Would he palm my breasts, rub my aching, budded nipples? Did I want him to?
“Could do some kind of stir fry,” he said.
Oh right, food.
I’d been thinking cheese and crackers, and now he wanted a real meal? No way. I had bought him. He was supposed to be meeting my needs, not using his sexy charisma to get me to slave for him—a trick that no doubt worked on most women. Sweetly, I said, “I’ve had a long day. I don’t feel like cooking.”
“No sweat.” He stepped past me to rummage in the fridge. “I’ll whip up something.”
I remembered what he’d said at the auction, that he’d cook a meal for the woman who won him. “This isn’t why I bought you.”
“Tell me about it when we’re eating.” He handed me some vegetables and a packaged chicken breast, then took out fresh ginger root and soy sauce. “Soy ginger stir fry sound okay?”
“Great.” The ginger would be good for my stomach.
But then, the meal Sebastian had described last night had sounded nice too. My stomach twinged in remembrance. “No, let’s have cheese and crackers. I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”
His eyes—dark brown, like strong espresso—gleamed. “You don’t think I can cook.”
I squared my shoulders. “Nothing personal, but I’ve recently had a bad experience.”
“Trust me, firefighters can cook.” His gaze and words were direct. “Where’s the rice?”
Reluctantly, I took down a bag of basmati. “I’ll open the wine. Uh, there are recipe books in the cupboard above the stove.”
He snorted.
I couldn’t bring myself to be utterly rude and tell him to stop, so soon I found myself seated at the table while Quinn moved comfortably around my kitchen. I took tiny sips of wine as we made superficial getting-to-know-you chitchat about my apartment and neighborhood. He chopped, sautéed, and stirred, while I kept an eagle eye on him to make sure he didn’t throw in any weird ingredients, like Sebastian’s “personal touches.”
Whatever the result might turn out to be, Quinn looked awfully sexy as he prepared the meal, each movement stretching his muscles in an intriguing way. Mostly, I saw his rear view, which gave me ample time to appreciate his amazing butt. Butts were great, but if I was going to ogle, I’d prefer the front view. From what I’d seen so far, his package filled out his jeans pretty damned well, but I was looking forward to an opportunity to verify that fact.
He swung around. Yup. Very nicely, indeed. “How hot do you like it?” he asked.
As hot and hard as you can dish it out, babe. “Uh, hot?” My voice squeaked.
His lips curved into that dimple-flashing grin. “You look like a woman who likes it hot.”
“I…” The stir fry. He meant the stir fry. “Normally I’m good with spicy, but my stomach’s sensitive today.” Great. Now he’d probably figure I had menstrual cramps.
“I’ll keep it gentle.”
Dinner. He really did mean dinner. Not his strong hands caressing my body, awakening every nerve ending. His big cock sliding back and forth in slow, seductive motions.
Watching as he added a tiny amount of crushed red chili pepper, I wondered what was going on with me. I was a healthy woman with a normal sexual appetite, but I’d never reacted so strongly to a man before. How could I take him to a work event when all I could think about was stripping him naked and having my way with him?
He dished up the meal and sat across from me. “Okay. Why did you buy me, Jade? And why get your friend to bid for you?”
I took a quick gulp of wine for courage. “I need you to pretend to be my fiancé.”
Quinn gaped, then burst out laughing. “Seriously?”
“I need a fiancé to take to two or three work events. And I asked Kimberly to bid because my boss’s wife was at the auction.” He was still chuckling. “I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
“Well, it’s pretty weird.” He picked up his fork. “Could’ve been worse, though. Know what my buds got bought for?”
“The two other firefighters? What?”
“One has to rent a tux and escort a woman to the opera. And he’s a hockey guy.”
Cautiously, I tasted the food. Wow, the man really could cook. “This is wonderful. Thank you. How about your other friend?”
“Salsa lessons. She wants to take salsa lessons and needs a partner.”
“That could be fun.”
“She weighs a couple hundred pounds, and it’s definitely not muscle.”
“It’s wrong to discriminate against someone because they’re a little heavy.” I thought about my write-off date, potbellied Peter, and felt like a hypocrite.
“See if you say that when it’s your toes she’s tromping on.”
“I thought you firefighters were supposed to be tough.”
He chuckled and refilled our wineglasses. “Yeah, my buds’ll suck it up. The children’s wing’s a good cause. We see kids injured every day, and the facility’s really needed. When we volunteered, we knew we might get stuck with some weird stuff.”
What generous men, Quinn and his friends. “Please don’t tell them about our arrangement. It has to be a secret. Tell them…I got you to cook me dinner.”
“They’ll think I got off easy.” He ran his fingers lightly over the back of my hand. “And I did.” He stroked up my bare forearm, igniting sparks. His tone altered, took on that husky, seductive note. “It’s not exactly a hardship being with you, Jade.” The heat in his dark eyes matched up with his voice, like sinfully rich and tempting dark chocolate.
As I’d figured, he was a player. All the same, his touch, his voice, those sexy eyes were so tempting that I said, “You either, Quinn,” before I realized what I was doing.
He gave a satisfied grin. “If we’re engaged, we need to get to know each other.”
Right. Business. The
