AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She gestured with the bottle, a long sweep that encompassed the house and the lot. “It’s my Thursday-night pajama party, Quinn. Me and all the other girl mechanics get together to have a pillow fight and lure men off the streets in our butch underwear. Is it working?”
Quinn tried to hold his tongue and failed. “Apparently. Ben’s already been here, hasn’t he?”
Her lips smiled, but there was no humor in her eyes. “Yep. In and out. And all the free coffee you can drink, but you might leave with a few grease stains.”
His grand plans for seduction were spiraling into obscurity. The last thing he’d expected to find was her already undressed and entertaining Ben. And what the hell was she so enraged about?
Lori must have gotten tired of glaring at him, because she finally shrugged and headed for the front steps. Quinn followed and caught the door before it could slam in his face. “What is your damn problem? Are you still pissed about Wednesday night?”
“Yeah, because I’m that sensitive about not getting to the glory inside your pants, Quinn.”
He followed her in and slammed the door. Hard. But that didn’t relieve his baffled anger, it only pushed it up another notch. “What is your problem? I’m the one who just walked in on a very questionable situation. Shouldn’t you be explaining yourself? Jesus, you’re not even dressed!”
“Did we ever agree to be exclusive?”
“Excuse me?”
“We never made any promises about dating other people. It’s just a fling.”
His vision flashed a dull red with each pulse of his heart. “We haven’t even slept together yet.And he’s your best friend’s boyfriend!”
Lori rolled her eyes. “Look, you’re off the hook, all right? I don’t want you making any grand sacrifices for me, Quinn. Just get back to your Aspen women.”
“I don’t…What the hell are you…? What Aspen women?”
“You know, the ones with the fake boobs and the fake eyelashes and fake tans. The ones who look like center-folds instead of tomboys.”
What in God’s name was she talking about? Quinn threw up his hands and shrugged, exasperation turning the gesture violent. Lori apparently felt violent, as well, because she stalked over to the table, banged down the bottle and snatched up a newspaper. He only knew it was a newspaper because it landed on his face a half second later.
“That doesn’t help clear things up!” he shouted as he crumpled the sheet in his hand.
“There’s a picture of you in there with Dream-Whore Barbie. ThatobligationI believe you mentioned. Not exactly a horrible burden, huh?”
Anger still swirled through his chest, but beneath it Quinn felt the floor of his stomach drop a few inches. Dream-Whore Barbie? That could only be—
He snapped the paper straight and looked right into the wide, white smile of Tessa Smith. Shit.
“No wonder you didn’t want to do me the other night. You were probably still worn out from the night before. She looks like she does Pilates.”
She did do Pilates, damn it. Quinn shook his head. “No. No, Lori. That wasn’t a real date.”
“No? You mean you’re not sleeping with her?”
He watched her eyebrow arch up, a challenge he couldn’t counter. Shit. “Not anymore,” he offered pitifully.
“Not,” she bit out,“anymore?”
Though frustration began to fuel his anger again, Quinn was suddenly struck with the realization that Lori was hurt. He’d hurt her feelings. Most of his rage fell away and slid like spilled ice across the floor. What a seduction this was.
Time for a hurried explanation. “We used to date. I broke it off two weeks ago—”
“She was at that restaurant with you a week ago.”
“Uh, yes. A misunderstanding. And when I broke it off, she insisted that I still take her to that music fund-raiser and I wasn’t seeing you yet, and…I only took her to the fund-raiser and then home. Not even a kiss.”
Her hard expression didn’t soften. “But you did date her. And sleep with her.”
“Uh.” Was there a good answer? No, there was not. He left it at “uh.”
