AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One
QUINN
“Are you absolutelysureyou don’t want to come in?”
My voice was virtually a whisper now, and that’s because our faces were practically touching. Evan held my gaze, his green eyes boring hotly into mine. I could feel the heat from his face. It radiated toward me with a whiff of leather, musk, and steel…
“I shouldn’t.”
If he was playing a game, he was playing it well. The butterflies in my stomach began ricocheting like little rockets.
“It’s only adrink,” I lied through my teeth. “And if you don’t want alcohol I could make coffee, or—”
He shifted ever so slightly forward, and his lips brushed mine. I sighed in exuberant triumph.
Yes!
My eyes fluttered closed, waiting for that first rapturous moment that our faces would come crashing together. Already I could imagine his hands on my hips. In my mind’s eye I could see those massive shoulders rolling forward, his deliciously-tattooed arms flexing as they took hold of my body, to do with it whatever he damn well wanted.
But as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened.
I opened my eyes to a barren, empty street. Evan was gone. I was standing on the threshold of my building’s front door, well after midnight, totally and completely alone.
Huh?
He was the hottest guy I’d ever been on a date with, and that was saying a lot. Evan was unfathomably tall, with luxurious dark hair you could lose your hands in and a V-shaped back that could carry the world. He had the arms of a superhero. The face of a supermodel. The ass of a—
What the FUCK?
I still couldn’t believe the street was empty! We’d had dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant, then drinks at the cutest Irish pub in all of Boston. We’d flirted and held hands while walking through Christopher Columbus Park, picking our way through the flower-lined trails. Hell, we’d even stopped for ice cream.
And now he was gone, without so much as a goodbye — much less a first kiss. Much less even more thanthat, because between our incredible sexual chemistry and my long stretch of unwelcome celibacy — not to mention my current hormonal condition — I was pretty much willing to throw myself over the nearest piece of furniture and let him do absolutelyanything.
“This is fucked.”
My words fell flat against the humid night air, especially in the wee hours of the morning. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog howled mournfully. It seemed fitting.
“Yeah, right back at you.”
I turned and stepped into the lobby of my apartment building; a black-and-white tiled foyer of dirty open space that was even lonelier than the empty street. I had four flights of stairs to climb. I could’ve taken the elevator, but it would’ve taken three times as long. Besides, each trip in that rickety deathtrap was like rolling the dice with the Grim Reaper himself.
Putting one foot after the other, my body still surged with the adrenaline of whatmighthave been. My libido was extremely unhappy with me.
Twice in one week, Quinn?
Through tightly clenched teeth, I let out a heated sigh. Yeah, I guess so. Give or take a day or two.
Maybe you’re losing your touch?
I passed the mirror on the third floor landing, taking quick stock of myself for the first time since the bathroom of the Italian restaurant. My hair had fallen a little, but my makeup still held up. My best ‘night out’ dress still hugged my many strategic curves, which at this point were still in all the right places.
For now, anyway.
No,I definitely looked sultry. Sexy. Maybe even irresistible. Which is why it was so surprising that not one, buttwodifferent men had left me dangling in the wind. Both had been beautifully built to the point of being genetically gifted. And both of these heartbreakingly gorgeous specimens had taken me out on whirlwind dates.
I’d given the signals. I’d given the signs. I’d even received many of those signs back, which led me to believe the runway was wide open and we were cleared for landing.
Yet both of them had left me standing at my doorstep, wondering if my lips were poison.
