Page 94 of Playboy For Hire

She giggled. “Something like that. Us coming out here to have this conversation could possibly be construed as a fight, so that could be good.”

“Then we should go back inside, and I’ll do my best to look sullen and withdrawn. You can go talk to Martin and ignore me for a round or two. How about that?”

Tessa smiled. “You’re a really good guy, Ryder. You know that?

I thought about how I’d made Quinn feel. How I’d made myself feel. Thought about the mess that was my life.

“I don’t know if that’s true. But I’d like it to be.”

“Then you’ll just have to take my word for it.” Tessa pushed away from the railing. “Now come on. Let’s go inside and put on a show.”

18

QUINN

“Why are you so quiet today, honey?”

I looked over at Auntie Thea, sitting next to me in the waiting area of Hair Heaven. I’d driven her over to LeDroit Park for her monthly visit. I was currently sipping some flavorless complementary seltzer as we waited for her stylist to be free.

Thea had been flipping through a gardening magazine. I had a copy ofPeoplefrom three years ago on my lap, but I hadn’t even cracked the cover. I’d just been staring into space, replaying the night I’d seen Ryder at Bart’s Basement.

“Just thinking,” I said, forcing a smile.

“That face is more than just your thinking face.” She pointed at me with her magazine. “Come on, sweetheart. Tell me what’s wrong.”

I thought about lying some more, but what was the point? Thea knew me better than most of my family members. She would seeright through it, and she wouldn’t stop badgering me until she got what she was after.

I sighed. “Oh, you know, just the regularly scheduled spring heartbreak. It’s been a few months, so I was due for another one.”

“What are you talking about?” Her eyes narrowed. “You didn’t tell me you were dating anyone. Are you keeping things from me?”

“No, no.” I waved my hand. “I wasn’t dating anyone. Or at least, I wasn’t at first. Then things got…I don’t even know. But it’s over now.”

“It sounds like I’ve got some news to catch up on. Tell me who this mysterious stranger is, and why you’ve never mentioned him before. I’ll pray to the Lord to open his heart, or to push him into a ditch. Whichever you prefer.” She grinned.

“The thing is, he’s not a mysterious stranger. You know him.”

Auntie Thea was quiet for a moment. Then her eyes went wide. “Not that young man from the agency. Ryder?”

I nodded regretfully, and she drew herself up straight.

“I will be sending them a letter of complaint. I thought there were rules they had to follow. For him to take advantage of you like this is unconscionable.”

A rush of frustration flooded me. I hated what had happened with Ryder, but I didn’t need my great-aunt to come to my rescue. I was an adult. I’d made my own choices. They might have been bad ones. Naive and hopeless ones. But I’d made them of my own accord.

“Please don’t,” I told her. “What happened with us—it wasn’t him breaking the rules. We sort of became friends, and then one thing led to another and…I mean, I’m sad, but he shouldn’t get in trouble for it. I made it happen as much as he did.”

It felt strange, defending Ryder, but it was true. I was just as responsible for starting things as he was. Ending things, though…

“So what happened between the two of you?” Thea asked.

“You’re asking for details?” I felt my cheeks heat.

“Get your mind out of the gutter.” She swiped at me with her magazine. “‘Whatever is pure, think about such things.’ I’m a God-fearing woman. But I also want to know what happened to make you so sad. So you just tell me the parts you think I ought to know.”

I laughed helplessly. “I don’t even know what to say. It all happened so suddenly, but also gradually, somehow. I told myself I wasn’t going to get attached, but I did, and Ryder just—I guess he didn’t feel the same way.”

“Did he cheat on you? Because I’ll give him what for if he did.”

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