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Grandmas? Can you believe this guy?
I answer him with a firmno.
And then, as if it’s not bad enough having our eyes carrying on a conversation, I feel my smile synching up with his. The both of them getting bigger as that crazy pull that never quite goes away starts tugging harder.
Does he even realize he’s still wearing that little old lady’s badge of gratitude?
He turns back to Vaughn, our eye contact lingering before it breaks. “Dude, she had no idea who’d be coming down that road or whether they’d even stop.”
“Crime of opportunity, man. Crime. Of. Opportunity. She could have taken one look at you, realized who you were, and thought, ‘Tire iron to the back of the head. Get him in the trunk. Keep him in my basement to use for my personal pleasure from now until I die.’ And then, after enduring years of that indignity, you’d starve to death down there.”
I can’t help it. I don’t want to tease this guy. But it’s just too tempting. “Chalk this up to the latestbunny incident.”
Only three of us bust out laughing, but the smile on Quinn’s face says he doesn’t mind at all.
Natalie takes a pinch of Vaughn’s shirt. “Baby, this needs to go in the wash like now. Straight back to the bathroom, please, and try not to touch anything.” Vaughn leans in carefully like he’s going to kiss her cheek, but at the last minute clamps his arms around her and tugs her in to his soaked body.
“Touch anything like this?”
I spent a lot of time playing hockey with that girl, and no prank, no spray of ice to the face, no injury has ever earned a squeal as loud as what she lets out now.
There’s a round of “You didn’t” “I did” I watch with a kind of fascination, because again, Nat and I go back. And she’s maybe the only girl I’ve ever known who was as guarded about guys as I am.
It makes that soft and squishy place inside me warm to see her so completely in love.
I cut a quick glance back at Quinn, who’s watching me like he’s reading me again. And damn him, I don’t want him inside my head so I turn back to my friend who’s now half-soaked herself and shoving Vaughn down the hall toward the bedroom. Looking back over her shoulder, she points to the guest bedroom.
“Quinn, there are towels in that bathroom. Go take a shower and clean up. You can toss your clothes in the washer and grab a pair of Vaughn’s sweats and a T-shirt from the dryer for while we watch the movie.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he says, already heading that way.
And with that, it’s time for me to take off. “Hey, I’ve got to get over to my cousin’s. Call me tomorrow about the dates on the tournament. If there isn’t a wedding or baptism, I’ll go.”
She nods, and then squeaks again as Vaughn hauls her over his shoulder and they disappear down the back hall.
The shower turns on in the guest room and I groan.
I don’t want to think about Quinn in there. Naked.
Dirty.
Sporting the hot-pink badge of his good deed on his jaw.
I don’t want to wonder what his body looks like now. How different it must be from what it was like then.
I don’t want to think about him at all.
Holding my breath, I grab my hoodie and messenger bag from the coffee table and beat feet down the hall. Shoot,phone. I’m elbow-deep in my bag, fishing around for it, not looking where I’m going and—wham!
I slam face-first into a solid wall of damp skin, hard-packed muscle, and everything I’ve been meaning to avoid.
I drop my bag and stumble back, but no more than a step as Quinn, wearing nothing but a towel, catches me with a hand at my waist.
“Whoa, you okay?”
I swallow, try to look away, but he’sright there. The man whose body I wish I could forget, now bigger and broader and packed with the kind of layered muscles it’s hard to believe exist outside of photoshop and CGI… burning its way even deeper into my memory.
I try to take a steadying breath, but all I get is him. That woodsy, masculine scent with a hint of cologne.
