Page 110 of Playboy For Hire

“Good. So as soon as you see her come down the steps, just stomp on my foot. I’ll take it from there.”

He grabbed us two beers from the bar, then sat down and texted Tessa to let her know where to look.

“Oh, did I tell you about Raf’s client from last week?” he asked, putting his phone back in his pocket.

“No.” I grinned. I liked learning more about Ryder’s friends. They seemed like good guys, even if they did like to heckle us any time I came over. “Do tell.”

Ryder related a long, convoluted, and very embarrassing story involving not one but two trips to the ER and a very unexpected use for a potato masher as we waited for Tessa and her coworkers to show up. It was fun, hearing about his housemates’ horror stories from Heartbreakers Anonymous, as well as Ryder’s own. It made the idea of him getting hired for dates feel less scary, more funny. I could get used to this.

Soon enough, the bar started to fill up with groups of four and five, people arriving for trivia. I looked at my watch. Tessa and her coworkers were cutting it awfully close—but as soon as I looked up, I saw her coming down the stairs at the head of a group of people.

Panic surged through me for a moment. I was going to screw this up. Or maybe I was being set up. Was it stupid to agree to this?

But then I looked at Ryder, and a wave of calm washed over me. I could trust him. He would make sure everything was okay. I slid my foot forward under the table and stepped on his foot, hard.He grinned, then leaned in. He caught my chin with a fingertip, tilted it up, and brought his lips to mine.

My eyes closed automatically. I was intensely aware of all the people around us, and couldn’t help feeling a little exposed. But his lips were insistent, his tongue gentle but firm, and a flood of desire ran through me.

Right up until I heard an outraged woman’s voice say, “Ryder? What the hell are you doing?”

We broke apart to see Tessa standing a few feet from our table, one hand gripping her purse with white knuckles, the other clutched to her chest.

“What the fuck?” she said into the silence.

“Tessa!” Ryder sounded for all the world like he was shocked to see her. “I didn’t think—you’re early, and I—this isn’t what it looks like.”

“Oh, it’s not?” A note of anger entered Tessa’s voice. “Because what it looks like is you were kissing another guy. How long has this been going on?”

“Sweetie, please, it’s not—that’s not what I was doing. I was just helping Quinn with—”

“Oh, Quinn? Is that his name?” She gave me a dismissive look. “I suppose I ought to congratulate you on having good taste. At least you picked a good-looking guy, if you had to cheat on me.”

I almost laughed. It didn’t matter that this whole thing was staged. My nerves were so high that I felt like I might jump out of my skin. But a peel of anxious laughter would not help right now, so I clamped my lips tight and did my best to look dejected. I probably just looked terrified, but that worked too.

“Baby, I swear, I’m not cheating.”

Ryder stood up and took a step towards Tessa. She stepped back, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. The group behind her looked stunned, though a few people were smiling, enjoying the drama. But one guy, who had to be Martin, was staring at Tessa with concern.

“Quinn and I are just friends,” Ryder said.

That was my cue. My heart thumped so hard I thought it might crack my ribs. I stood up, hoping my anxiety would pass for anger.

“Just friends, huh? So fucking me in the ass last night is something you do with all your friends? Letting me suck your cock was totally platonic?”

It felt wrong, being so explicit in a public place, but Ryder had said we needed to make it clear that what we were doing was serious. For my part, I knew plenty of gay guys who hooked up with their friends and itwasn’tserious. But Ryder wanted to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that he was into guys.

“That’s not—I’m not—” he stumbled through his words.

“Are you embarrassed of me? Is that it?” I was shocked at how raw my voice was. “You’re willing to hook up on the side, but I’m not good enough to be your boyfriend?”

Brandon, I realized. I was drawing on my experience with Brandon, how frustrating it was to know I was being used, but being unable to stop myself from going back to that well.

“Quinn, I swear—”

“Six months, Ryder,” I ad-libbed. In reality, we’d been together much less than that, but I was on a roll now. “Six months, you thought I was good enough to fuck, but not to be seen with? And now I find out that this whole time you’ve been seeing her?”

I shot a finger at Tessa, who glared back.

Ryder looked at me pleadingly. “Quinn, I never meant to—”

---