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“Certainly not, Mr. Jennings. If there’s nothing else I can do for you, I’ll see you in a few minutes.” The line clicked dead, confirming his suspicion that she was, indeed, laughing at him. As he deserved. What kind of man found himself on not one, buttwoaccidental dates?
Of course, Tessa was defined by her persistence. Quinn wasn’t normally apt to notice when women flirted with him, but women like Tessa didn’t wait for a man to notice, they simply assumed their place. So it was that one evening Quinn had looked up and found he was dating a big-breasted blonde who wore frighteningly tall heels. His developer friends had been impressed. Quinn had simply been too apathetic to break it off until Tessa had gotten clingy. Then it had been an easy decision.
Speaking of easy decisions…
Quinn dialed information, got connected to Love’s Garage, and then wiped the sweat off his brow while he waited.
“Love’s Garage,” a very feminine, verygrumpyvoice answered. Not good.
“Lori, it’s Quinn. Don’t hang up. I am so sorry I didn’t call yesterday. I—”
“Forgot?” she asked sharply.
Lying would be wrong. Really wrong. “I wouldn’t sayforgot,exactly…”
“It’s no problem, Quinn. It gave me time to think.”
Not good at all. He wanted sex with Lori Love. It was slipping from his grasp, making him realize just howmuchhe wanted sex with her. Time for brutal honesty. “You’re right. I did forget. I’ve been working on this difficult site, and…Okay, you don’t want to hear that. I’m so sorry. I know it’s insulting and degrading and…” He tried to think of a few more choice adjectives that had been applied to his forgetfulness in the past.
“It’s fine, Quinn. I’m not mad.”
He wouldnotlet this slip away from him on a wave of polite distance. “Of course you’re mad,” he pressed.
“Nope.”
“Then why do you sound so strange?”
“Because I’m on my back under a car?”
“Oh. Seriously?”
“Yes.” Her voice dropped. “But it’s nice and private under here.”
Quinn turned that odd comment over in his head for a moment. Was it possible she really wasn’t angry? Or was false relief making him stupid? Still…“And you need privacy because…?”
Her long pause stretched through the distance between them, tightening their connection like a wire about to snap. She’d had time to think, and surely that was a bad thing. Planning and forethought couldn’t be the quickest route to a red-hot affair. But maybe…
“Does your offer still stand?” she blurted out in a near whisper.
Quinn’s heart turned over so quickly he felt dizzy. “Yes,” he answered with a casualness he didn’t feel.
“Because I think maybe it’s a good idea. If you still do.”
Strangely, he thought of her stretched out under that car, her feet and ankles vulnerable, available to him. He could stroke his hand down the instep of her small foot, kiss her painted toes, curl his fingers around her delicate ankle, smooth his palm up the inside of her rising calf. In his fantasy world, she only wore boots and thick denim when he wanted her to. Today, she was barefoot, wearing a little flowered skirt as she labored beneath chrome and steel. Her—
“Quinn?” she breathed into the phone.
“Yes, I still think it’s a good idea.”
Her relieved sigh made him smile.
“So,” he ventured, “should I just stop by tonight to service you?”
A wheeze burst over the phone line, followed quickly by the clang of something heavy and metallic. Quinn grinned at the Mexican Food sign on the building in front of him.
“Oh,” Lori squeaked just before she coughed. “Oh, I guess. That would, um…Tonight?”
“I’m teasing you, Lori.”
