he had the attention span of a gnat. Worked late more often than not and liked to read books about engineering when he got home. It was a sad measure of a relationship when a woman grew jealous of New Physics in Architecture.
Quinn started on the chicken.
Considering his track record, asking Lori out in the first place had probably been idiotic. But if they kept it meaningless and casual…None of his shortcomings would matter, would they? They’d simply go their separate ways, some very nice memories between them.
A few minutes later, Quinn set down his fork and raised his eyes. Lori kept chewing for a few moments, until she noticed his attention and swallowed hard.
“What?” she asked.
“Did you mean what you said?”
Relief softened the anxiety on her face, but her smile popped into place with too much brightness. “No! No, of course not. I was obviously joking. Duh.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He stared at her until she squirmed, then stared some more.
Her smile vanished. “What?”
“Because if you weren’t joking—and I don’t think you were—then I’d like to volunteer.”
“Volunteer?” she breathed. “For what?”
Quinn took a deep breath and placed his hands flat on the table for balance. “I’d like to have meaningless sex with you, Lori Love.”
T HE ROOM WAS spinning and hot. A convection oven of mortification spiced with a hint of lust.
Quinn Jennings had just propositioned her in the most inappropriate way. The last thing she’d ever expected.
“We can’t do that,” she blurted out.
“Why not?”
Because I like you, was her first thought, but that was ridiculous. Did she want to have sex with someone she didn’t like? If so, how could it possibly be any good? She reached for the next thing. “We know each other.”
“Um…Were you planning on hanging out at a rest stop or something?”
She gasped in horror. “No!”
“Bathroom at a club?”
“Quinn!”
“Well, you know my name and where I work. That’s about it, and I’d hope you’d want to know at least that, even if you picked somebody at random.”
“I just…” God, it sounded so sordid when he described it. Then again, she’d been wanting sordid, hadn’t she? And yet that guy at the restaurant had been cute and polite and interested, and the idea of taking him home had left her cold. “I know a lot more than that about you, Quinn. I know your sister and your best friend. It would be too awkward.”
He frowned at that, his straight brows descending into an angry V. “Not as awkward as being hurt—or worse—by some stranger you decided to experiment with. It would be really, really stupid for you to hook up with a complete stranger. Is that really what you’re planning?”
“Hey!” she protested, but couldn’t think of anything more than that. Just those few words made her flush with embarrassment, because he was right. Risk was fun until it actually got risky. But still…“You sound like your dad when you say things like that.”
Anger simmered in his gaze, but he quickly tamped it down, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his face flushed with regret. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just don’t want to think of you putting yourself in harm’s way. Especially when you have a willing victim right here.”
“Victim, huh? That’s flattering. Thanks, but no thanks.” He grabbed her wrist when she pushed back to leave the table. Lori froze, hovering an inch above her chair.
“I didn’t mean it that way. Honestly, Lori, I’m the perfect candidate.”
“Do this a lot, do you?”
“Of course not. Never, in fact.”
She hadn’t realized that jealousy had crept inside her skin until it slunk away. Jealousy over what? Quinn? When her thighs began to tremble from exhaustion, Lori slowly let her body collapse back into the chair.
He watched her with very serious eyes. “I’m no good at relationships, Lori. I work too much and I forget about all the boyfriend stuff and end up carelessly hurting any woman in my life. I’m inattentive and distracted…” He shrugged, gaze leaching from serious to weary. “I suck at being a boyfriend, but you don’t want a boyfriend.
“I like you. I respect you. You know me, but not so well that I won’t fit into your sordid plan. Just well enough to be sure I’m not going to drug you and post dirty pictures on the Web.”
Another point in his favor, though her career as a mechanic didn’t hinge on a spotless reputation. Maybe it would be exciting to be caught up in an Internet sex scandal. Maybe she’d get more customers. Or maybe she’d die of embarrassment.
Quinn’s fingers shifted, and she realized he was still holding her wrist. Her heartbeat jumped as his skin slid against her pulse, heat smoothing against that delicate, beating place usually covered by thick leather work gloves. The nerves in that one square inch gasped to life, then quickly spread the word to their neighbors. Warm prickles tingled up her arm.
She jerked her hand away and shoved to her feet. “Do you want some ice cream?” Not bothering to wait for an answer, Lori rushed to the fridge and yanked open the freezer.
“Plus, I find you very attractive,” Quinn added as if that were the least of her concerns. But those few words froze her lungs as she banged the tub of ice cream down.
Shit. He found her attractive? Very attractive? It could be true, or it could be an attempt to get some free sex from a woman who was offering. Just as she tried samples of things at the fancy grocery store in Aspen. She didn’t particularly want cranberry-flavored waffles, but she’d eat one if it was pushed in front of her.
Just as Quinn would eat her if she lay down naked in front of him.
Her cheeks burned as she scooped vanilla ice cream and thought of Quinn lapping her up. The strength of her yearning shocked her into panic.
“I can’t!” she groaned. “I—” A loud knock stuttered through the house.
Gasping with relief, she darted for the door. Her relief didn’t die even when she opened the door to find Ben standing there, looking for all the world like bad news in a uniform. But whatever he was there for, he was only saving her from having to reject Quinn. Or not reject Quinn. Either prospect seemed terrifying.
“Lori,” he said, hand tipping his Stetson down a fraction of an inch. Lori frowned. An awfully formal gesture from a man she’d known forever.
When she waved him in, Ben’s gaze slipped past her, eyebrows rising for just a moment before he looked serious and official again. “Quinn,” he said with not a hint of inflection at finding his best friend in Lori’s living room. “How’s
