Start Me Up. Victoria Dahl
a stranger was one thing, but now she had the acute sense that she looked foolish. A fraud. A sow’s ear trying very hard to become a silk purse, or whatever that damn expression was. She pulled nervously at a curl and wondered if she’d already licked all her lipstick off.
“Hey, Quinn!” Molly said, and Lori nearly knocked her bottle of mineral water over.
When he didn’t reply, she couldn’t stand the suspense and had to look up…straight into his hazel eyes. “Lori?” he breathed. Heat climbed up her chest, burning all the way up to her hairline.
“Hey,” she managed to croak. It didn’t help that he looked unbelievably elegant. His dark gray suit was set off perfectly by a white shirt and silver-green tie. He’d seemed like plain old Quinn this morning, but she was abruptly reminded that his life was a world away from hers.
“Hellooo?” Molly interrupted. “I’m Molly, your loving sister.”
“Hey, Moll.” His eyes didn’t leave Lori’s. “What did you do to Lori?”
“Got her horny with my award-winning writing.”
“Gah,” Lori choked, and broke free of Quinn’s eyes to shoot an outraged glare at Molly. Her friend grinned in response, but her mouth got more serious when she looked up to Quinn, then down to Lori and back up again.
“Why?” she drawled. “What did you do to Lori?”
He opened his mouth but didn’t say a word, then seemed to shake off whatever shock he’d been laboring under. “You look beautiful, Lori. Really amazing. I’m afraid my new client thinks I’ve got epilepsy now. I choked on a piece of jicama when you walked in.”
“Oh! Thank you.”
“That color is amazing. Like blue steel.”
“I…just…”
Molly tapped his arm. “Quinn, that blonde is waving at you. I think she’s pissed.”
“Shit,” he muttered. “I’d better go. It’s probably not professional to get caught drooling on my mechanic. I’ll see you soon, all right?”
“Oh. Yeah. Okay.”
Despite his words, he stood staring at her for so long that she got dizzy from holding her breath. Then he grinned and walked back to the fancy world where he belonged.
Lori couldn’t help but watch him the whole way, and goose bumps rose on her skin when he turned halfway to his table and winked at her.
“Lori,” Molly said in a very steady voice. Suspiciously steady.
Bracing herself, she turned back to face the scrutiny. “Hmm?”
“Lori, are you interested in being spanked by my brother? ”
Hot and cold rushed over her at the same time; she leaned forward, almost landing her chin in the pomegranate martini she hadn’t even seen arrive. “You are the worst friend in the world!” she whispered. “I can’t believe you’d ask me that!”
Molly seemed unfazed. She lifted her glass and took a sip, eyes unwavering in their focus. “You were just asking me about dirty things, Lori Love. Remember? And then Quinn walks over here and stares at you like you’re a raspberry truffle dipped in honey cream.”
“He…A what?”
“I’m sorry. That was too much, huh? Too erotica-y? Too much creamy goodness?”
Lori wrapped her fingers around the stem of her martini glass. “God, you are strange.”
“Don’t change the subject. Do you want to do dirty things with my brother or not?”
“No!” Her brain seemed to vibrate at the word, like an internal lie-detector test. “Of course not. I just fixed his backhoe. That’s it.”
“Got his engine running?”
“Stop it.”
“Hey!” Molly protested. “I could’ve said something about being a hoe, but I didn’t.”
Frustration built up inside her, but when it boiled over, it just disappeared, steam spreading out into the air. The curses she wanted to yell morphed into laughter, and she collapsed against the linen tablecloth. “Can’t you ever be serious?” she gasped.
“I’m working on it, I swear. But I have to save it all up for Ben so he won’t lose his mind. You only have to tolerate me for short periods. Suck it up. Anyway, I’m supposed to be showing you a good time, remember?”
What could she do but nod? Molly was her best friend, and her life had been one long gray haze before Molly had returned to Tumble Creek last year. It had been so much less gray since. “Okay, I suppose I can tolerate you. By the way…Did Quinn say he was drooling?”
A smile started small on Molly’s lips, but it gradually spread into a wide grin. Her eyes sparkled like happy jewels. “That,” she answered, “is exactly what he said.”
Lori polished off her drink and then stared down into the empty glass. She tried even breathing, but it didn’t seem to work. “I-think-I-want-to-do-dirty-things-with-Quinn,” she forced out, and then raised her heavy gaze to Molly’s. “But I can’t.”
The sparkle left her friend’s eyes and she finally got serious. “Why? I admit, we won’t be able to gossip about the details, but I don’t have any objection otherwise.”
“He’s your brother.”
Molly placed both her hands flat on the table and leaned slowly forward. “I only have circumstantial evidence,” she whispered, “but I’m almost certain he’s not a virgin.”
“That’s not the point. The point is I’m not looking for a relationship, I just want to use someone for sex.”
A throat cleared from somewhere just over her shoulder. When she turned to see the waiter standing there, she wasn’t even embarrassed, just incredibly relieved it wasn’t Quinn.
“Shall I give you another moment?” He was turning away before Lori finished explaining that they hadn’t looked at the menus yet.
“He’s very tense,” Molly said.
“Well, then he shouldn’t walk up on people so quietly.”
“No, I meant Quinn. Quinn’s very tense. I think he could handle being used. Might be good for him. He has trouble sleeping.”
“I’m not going to use your brother! And I don’t think he’s volunteering.”
“Oh, he’s volunteering,” Molly scoffed. “I think he’s ready to have his tires rotated, if you know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t know what you mean. Is that supposed to be sexy?”
“Absolutely.”
“Okay, I can see we’re moving away from serious here.” Lori sighed. “So let me put this simply. I’m looking for a little fun. No attachment. And definitely not someone I’ll see all the time afterward. Quinn is not an option.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “How many times have you seen Quinn in the past decade? Five or six times?”
“Are you determined to pimp your brother out?”
She slumped and waved a dismissive hand. “Fine. Never mind. Whatever you do, don’t sleep with Quinn. Anyway, you’ve got another option. Our waiter is talking to the maître d’—I think he’s passing on your secret message.”
Lori twisted around to find both men smiling in her direction. Great. She suddenly felt less like a powerful sexual creature and more like prey. She’d exposed her soft underbelly, now one of them would move in for the kill.
Finally picking up her menu, Lori just shook her head. “I think heels and a dress are enough for this weekend.