Page 131 of Hard Hitter

“You know just as well as I do that nothing happened between them,” Zoey said, with an exasperated eye roll. “She got upset when she saw us in what appeared to be a compromising position- and quite frankly,Quinn Casey, with your reputation, I really don’t blame her.”

“You don’t?” He glared.

“Speaking as the person who rushes in with fake emergencies so your one-night stands don’t stay the night? No, no I don’t.”

Quinn looked at her through narrowed eyes as he contemplated his response. He watched as her phone screen lit up, she read something, then giggled and bit her lip at whatever message she’d just received. “Who are you texting?”

Zoey looked up at him for a beat, quickly wiping her smile off her face. “Just making more appointments,” she responded quickly. Too quickly.

“You giggled,” Quinn held his arm at a forty-five degree angle, dumbbell in hand. Slowly lowering it, he took a couple steps toward her and craned his neck to try seeing her phone screen.

“I didnot,”Zoey replied defensively. “I don’t giggle.”

Quinn eyed her suspiciously. “Not usually, but you just did.Andyou bit your lip. You’re flirting with someone.”

Zoey stared back at him, mouth open. “I have had a lot of time to myself over the last month, not having to follow you around and clean up your messes. I’m a young woman, and I am single, so I don’t see why you’re so surprised that I could flirt with someone.”

“What’s his name?” Quinn asked, a grin curling up his lips. “We spent all that time talking about me and my now-failed relationship. Why didn’t you say you were seeing anyone?”

She broke eye contact with him briefly before saying, “You didn’t ask.”

“Wow, you’re right. We only ever talk about me.” Quinn sat down in the chair next to the sofa where she was curled up. “I’m sorry, I feelso selfish now. Tell me about him...what’s he like? Where’d you meet? Was he upset that I stole you away to a different state?”

“It’s...really new. There’s not much to tell. It’s...It may not even be anything. Wejustmet. I just...It’s probably nothing anyway,” Zoey stuttered and stumbled over her words.

“You just met? But you said you had a whole month while you weren’t…” Quinn trailed off, peering curiously at her. His eyes widened and he grinned. “No...wait…Let me see your phone.”

“No!” Zoey pulled her phone close to her chest. “It’s private.”

“Are you sexting?”

“No!Oh my gosh, Quinn,” Zoey squealed. “I’m allowed to keep things private from you.”

“You know everything about me,” Quinn reasoned.

“Yeah, because it’s literally my job.”

Quinn lunged forward and began wrestling her phone out of her hand. She tried prying his fingers off and shoved him back. Quinn cried out in pain and Zoey gasped, loosening her grip as she turned her attention to his injured elbow. “Oh, no! I’m sorry! Are you okay?”

Quinn snatched the phone with its gold, sparkly case out of her hand with a smirk. “Wrong arm, Mamacita.”

She stared back at him, incredulous. “Ugh,that’sjust...oh, you play dirty, Quinn Casey!”

He grinned, turning around and looking down at her phone screen as it lit up with another message. Zoey tried grabbing it out of his hand again and he held it way above her head. He looked at it from that angle, holding it high in the air. “Oh, would you look at that? New message fromJett Miller!”

Zoey blushed slightly as she looked away. “Okay, but don’t tell him I said it was anything. Because it’s not. We’ve just been texting since we got back...and he’s...funny. I enjoy talking to him, okay? But that’s all it is.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Quinn said, and made the zip-the-lips motion across his mouth and handed her phone back to her. “Are you a virgin?”

“I’m sorry,what?No, Quinn, I’m twenty-four years old, I’m not a virgin!” Zoey snapped.

“You’re only twenty-four? Shit, I thought you just looked young.”

Looking at him with a look of mild offense, she asked, “You thought I was older, but still a virgin?”

“No?” Quinn replied, uncertainly. “I just never hear you talk about having a love life or anything.”

“Yeah, well, as I’ve already stated, my job keeps me pretty busy,” Zoey said, sitting back on the sofa. “And I know you guys are just teasing when you call Jett a virgin. Just because we don’t hook up with a new person every night…”

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