Page 41 of Playboy For Hire

“I was just freaked out. I’m sorry. I really thought you meant it about Thea, and it threw me. But if you hadn’t come, I’d still be stuck back there, so thank you. That’s what I should have said. Thank you.”

“There is more to my job thanlying,” I said, still a little annoyed. “But if that bothers you, maybe I really should go.”

“No, don’t. Really. I was being an ungrateful ass. Let me thank you properly.” Quinn looked around the darkened block. “We could go to a different bar. I could buy you a thank you beer.”

“Do you actually want to go to another bar?” I asked. He still seemed jumpy, and I didn’t want a pity drink anyway.

Quinn laughed softly. “That obvious?”

“Like I said, there’s more to my job than lying. I’m also pretty good at reading people.”

“Are you ever going to forgive me for saying that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe on your deathbed.” I gave him a stern look, but it was hard to keep from smiling a little. “Maybe.”

“In that case, I really do owe you a drink.”

“Eh, we can take a raincheck. Why don’t I just walk you home?”

“You don’t have to do that.” His answer was quick, and I would have bet he was flushing, though I couldn’t be sure in the dark.

“I don’t mind.” Honestly, I did feel bad for freaking him out. “And you can tell me what was so bad about this date of yours. Come on, I bet I can beat you for terrible date stories.”

Quinn’s face broke into a grin. “I don’t know. This guy was pretty bad...”

He regaled me with details of the night’s date as we walked from U Street down to his place in Logan Circle. The night felt warmer than it had on my way to the bar. Maybe some kind of front was moving through.

By the time we reached a tall brick row house with rounded bay windows at the corner of Vermont and Q, I was telling him about Ashley. Quinn stopped in front of the house and turned to me in disbelief. “She really forced you to sleep in bed with her?”

“I swear,” I told him. “I’m sure you saw in the contract, we’re explicitly forbidden from hooking up with clients. She knew that, but she still tried to grope me multiple times.” I laughed, though in truth, Ashley had made me a bit uncomfortable. “That is one person who willnotbe a repeat client.”

“Is it weird?” Quinn asked. “Having to be polite to people who kind of suck?”

“Not really.” I stretched my neck from side to side—it was tense tonight for some reason. “I mean, you just had a weird date and didn’t even get paid for it. You should definitely get paid for having to listen to a flat-earther try to convince you they’re right.”

Quinn giggled. “I should have put him in touch with Auntie Marie. They’d get along like a house on fire.”

I laughed, picturing that. “Probably. But I guess any time you meet someone new, it’s a crap shoot whether they’re normal or not. And it’s not like I really have any other job prospects. So I kind of have to be okay with it.”

Quinn frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Ah, nothing. It’s not important.” I nodded at the steps leading up to the building’s front door. “This is you, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah, I have the second-floor apartment.” He huffed a little laugh into the night air. “Much more boring than Joe’s houseboat, probably.”

“Too bad you’ll never know. Unless you really do call him again.”

I grinned at Quinn, who raised his hands to fend off the idea.

“Oh God no, that will not be happening.”

I looked down the street. “Well, I should probably go. It’s a hike to the metro, and who knows when the next train’ll come.”

“Do you—” he said, then stopped.

“Hmm?”

He bit his lip, and I was suddenly struck by the memory of kissing him. I wondered if his lips were always as soft as they’d been that night, and if they—

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