Page 101 of Playboy For Hire

“Oh yes, I remember. The gigolo.” Marjorie turned to me. “Call me Marjie.”

“It’s nice to—wait, gigolo?” I looked from her to Thea. “You know that’s not actually what I do, right?”

“He’s not a hooker, Marjie,” Violet said firmly. Then she looked at me. “Though I’m sure you would be a very successful one if you wanted to be.”

“Um…thanks?”

My head was spinning. How did all these women know about me? And did they think that Quinn had hired me for sex? God, this was a mess. And what picture did Thea keep talking about?

“He’s also a personal shopper,” Violet told Marjie. “He just offered to take me out tomorrow to help me find something new for the dance.”

“Oh, the dance!” Marjie clapped her hands together. “That’s a wonderful idea.” She looked up at me. “I don’t suppose you’re free the day after?”

“I don’t think—” I tried to protest, but before I could get the words out, there wasanotherknock on Thea’s front door.

I looked at Thea in confusion. Did she have a third friend coming over just to help her with her zippers?

“Be a dear and go get that, would you?” she said sweetly. “The girls and I will be right here.”

“Sure,” I said, feeling anything but. Was this going to lead to me taking another maiden lady out for a shopping spree? I did need to getsomestudying done.

I walked down the hall and out into the living room, then made my way to the door. Before I could reach it, it burst open, and I stopped, frozen.

It wasn’t another friend of Thea’s.

It was Quinn.

20

QUINN

Iwas two steps into Auntie Thea’s living room when I realized Ryder was standing in the middle of it. He looked as surprised to see me as I was to see him.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “And where’s Auntie Thea?”

“She’s in her bedroom,” he said slowly. “But what are you—”

“Is she okay? Have you called a doctor?”

Ryder tilted his head to the side. “What do you mean? Of course she’s okay. She and her friends are currently discussing whether sequins are ‘too much’ for women of their age.”

“What?” I stared at him, even more confused. “What are you talking about?”

Thea rolled in before Ryder could respond.

“Oh, Quinn, you’re here. Good.”

I couldn’t make sense of any of this. “I’m here, but…why? You said you’d fallen and needed help. But you look fine.”

“That’s because I am. But you’re not,” she said severely. She turned to Ryder. “And neither are you. The two of you boys are being silly, and I’m too old to be dealing with these antics. You both like each other, so work it out.”

She turned her chair around to face Violet and Marjie, who were both hovering in the hall, watching the three of us. “Come on, ladies, let’s give the boys some privacy.”

“Oh, come on, this is better than my soaps,” Violet protested.

“You’ll just have to hope they talk loudly then,” Thea said. “Let’s go.”

She ushered her friends back down the hall, and a moment later, I heard her bedroom door close. For a long moment, Ryder and I just stood there, staring at each other in silence. Then we both started to speak at once.

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