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“Very sure. But what were you saying about using me for sex?”
Her body tilted slightly to the left, then the right. Alarmed, Quinn was moving toward her, meaning to grab her elbow and help her to a seat, but the oven timer went off and the sound snapped her straight.
She moved stiffly to the oven, grabbed a hot pad, and in a moment she was standing at the counter, staring down at a perfectly roasted chicken and a loaf of hot bread. “Okay,” she said to the poultry. “Okay.”
“Lori—”
“No, just…Let’s have dinner. I’m sorry there’s not more. I was just going to have a salad and…Oh, Jesus.”
Quinn let silence fall, utterly unsure of how he should proceed. His thoughts were ping-ponging back and forth, running into each other like drunk kids in a mosh pit. When Lori moved, grabbing plates to set the table, he jumped on the opportunity to give them both time and took her beer and the bottle of dressing.
Sex. Lori Love wanted sex.
He grabbed the salads and carried them over while Lori brought the chicken.
No dating. Just sex. Nothing else.
He watched her hips as she hurried back to the fridge and let himself imagine. Sex. With Lori. The images came easy and quick.
Once the food was served and all the busywork ran out, they both lowered themselves slowly into chairs and looked anywhere but at each other as they dug into the salad.
Though he’d never been into meaningless sex, Quinn wasn’t above liking the idea of it. And, actually, it would solve one of the more serious problems in his life: he was a terrible boyfriend. Seriously bad. Out of all the women he’d dated, not one had been happy for more than a month.
He forgot things, important things like dates and birthdays. On the phone, 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 ofNew 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.”
* * *
THE ROOM WASspinning 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 shedidn’tlike? If so, how could it possibly be any good? She reached for the next thing. “We know each other.”
