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The woman’s smile widened. “It’s a great thing you’re doing, Ms. Logan. The most unselfish thing in the world, actually.”
I nodded numbly, my return smile a washed-out version of actual happiness. The truth was, I wasn’t unselfish. Not by a longshot. I was getting paid extremely well to carry a child for some mysterious, anonymous couple. I was doing it not out of charity, but solely because I had plans for the money.
Big plans.
“You’re all set then.”
A few minutes later I was dressed and back on the street, ready to resume my complicated life. I had three different jobs: I worked as a soux chef at two different restaurants; I taught culinary classes every weekend at a local kitchen; and I was taking business management classes at Bunker Hill Community College.
All that would have to wait though, at least for the next hour. Because first… pizza.
Five
QUINN
You ever have one of those moments where time just stops? Where something happens that’s so crazy, so bizarre, your mind refuses to immediately process it?
That was me, standing in the middle of the crosswalk, on one of the busiest streets of Boston’s North End. Staring through the plate glass window of some historic old restaurant, where—
BEEEEEP!
The car’s horn sounded the moment the light turned green, which happened to be the same second during which I flipped the driver off. A lot could happen in a big city like Boston. Even within the span of a single—
“Lady, MOVE!”
Scowling, I withdrew my finger and retreated back to the sidewalk. Then I looked again, to make sure my eyes weren’t messing with me. And they weren’t.
Three hulking men sat seated around a table in what looked to be a small restaurant or sports bar. They were smiling. Laughing together…
But not for long.
Unfuckingbelievable.
I stormed my way over, scanning them carefully. Not even two weeks ago I’d been followed home by a scary-looking giant of a bearded man, who tailed my every move for several blocks. It had been dark outside, and the streets uncharacteristically empty. I’d been ‘saved’ by sprinting up to a pair of equally badass-looking guys, who happened to be on opposite sides of the sidewalk. Together they chased the guy off, or rather he disappeared into the night. Then they took me out for coffee, to calm my rattled nerves.
Two of those men sat in the restaurant right now, facing the window.
The third one — the one with his back to me — was the scary bearded man they’d “frightened off” that night.
Bastards.
It just didn’t make sense. There’d been no scam, no set up, no long con. One man — a sandy blond giant looking very much like Captain America — had given me his phone number, telling me to text him if I needed anything. When I texted him that I needed dinner and a movie, he took me out on a pair of very hot dates. Yet both times he’d shaken my hand politely and walked away. Both times he’d spun on his size fifteen or sixteen heel, rather than carry me upstairs and ravage me the way I fantasized he could.
The other, Evan, had actually taken me out to dinner that weekend. He followed it up with ice cream, hand-holding, and a slow, romantic walk through the park.
And then…nothing.Nada. No phone calls, no text-messages, not even a kiss goodnight. It was like I’d done something cataclysmically wrong during the course of this date. Because not only didn’t he call me again, but when I messaged Joshua — the blond giant — to pick his brain? Evenherefused to answer.
Being ghosted by a hot guy who gave off every possible signal he liked you obviously sucks. Being double-ghosted, even more so. But now to see allthreeof these men eating and laughing and happily throwing back steins of beer like a trio of old buddies?
It was enough to make me want to kick the restaurant’s historic little wooden door to pieces.
Instead, I slipped inside without being noticed. The place was warm, cozy, and smelled absolutely wonderful. With my anger reaching its peak, I dragged an empty chair over and skidded it noisily over to their table.
“Hello, boys.”
Strangely enough, I couldn’t tell if they were even surprised.
“So you’re friends after all,” I declared, jerking my thumb between the two men I’d gone on dates with. “Despite that evening on the street, where you claimed to be strangers.”
