Page 15 of Hard Hitter

Raelyn’s eyes flashed to his and her breath caught for a split second.

He's a player, Rae. He sleeps with supermodels and actresses and never calls them again. It's just a line.

With that reminder to herself she rolled her eyes and walked past him to the door and swiped her key to get inside. She held the door open for him, as his one hand was full and the other was incapacitated. He dipped an exaggerated gentlemanly nod as he passed through the door. She answered the gesture with a look of exasperation. Pulling the door shut behind them, however, she couldn't help noticing how his blue jeans fit his ass in all the right places. She scolded herself for the thought but made a mental note of which vibrating toy she'd definitely be needing that evening.

The office was empty, as it usually was this time of day. Raelyn typically liked to get there early a few days a week to get caught up on paperwork. On Tuesdays she didn't have any patients until ten o'clock, so getting to the office early gave her extra time to catch up. Of course, it didn't look like that would be the case today.

"Did you make an early appointment?" Raelyn asked Quinn as he looked around the office.

"Uh, no. I just figured I'd show up early and see if I got lucky.” He winked at her. Raelyn thought this must be out of habit, constantly turning up the charm in the presence of anyone who could sufficiently fill out a skirt and a bra.

She decided to ignore the comment, once again reminding herself that he wasn't acting in any special way for her. This was just who he was now, and there was no point giving in. "Well, I'm here early, too. I was going to get caught up on paperwork, but I guess I can check you out. Your arm, I mean," she added quickly. "You can set those magazines on the desk," she pointed to Alexis's work area.

"You sure? You don't want to keep them all to yourself?" This last line came as a low, gravelly whisper in her ear.

Raelyn whipped around to find Quinn standing directly behind her, their bodies so close they were almost touching. She could feel the heat radiating off him, and the look he gave her sent a pleasant ache down between her legs. He was staring down at her, eyes bearing into hers. She'd forgotten how tall he was. She was tall compared to a lot ofwomen, nearly 5’8”, and he still had at least seven or eight inches on her. His Adam's apple bobbed with a swallow.

Is he nervous?

He licked his lips and she realized she was staring at them, wondering how they'd feel on her own lips, her neck, that new ache between her legs.

She blinked and looked up at his eyes, wondering if that golden gaze could see inside her mind. Her face went hot with a blush at the mere thought and she quickly turned back around and made her way to her office, Quinn following closely behind after dropping the stack of magazines on the front desk. Part of her wished that he'd give her a little space to cool off, while the traitorous, sexually starved part hoped he might just push her up against the office door as soon as it shut and take her right there. This sexual frustration was killing her, and his presence was decidedlynothelping. It was no secret he photographed well, but in person he was much more intense and his raw, sexual magnetism was palpable. Or maybe it was just that she hadn't shared her bed with a man in over a year.

Once Raelyn set her bag down, she leaned back against her desk and focused her attention on Quinn's arm in the sling. "UCL sprain, huh?"

"So youdoread those magazines.” Quinn's cocky smile flashed across his face and Raelyn had to actively stifle her own smile in response.

"I readSports Illustratedbecause I'm a doctor of sports medicine and I enjoy sports," she said, the smile threatening to cross her lips. She was determined not to give him the satisfaction of knowing she was thoroughly enjoying his flirtatious behavior.

Quinn nodded. "Right, a doctor…" He looked around, his gaze falling on her framed degrees on the wall behind her desk. "So, you were engaged to a lawyer?"

Raelyn's gaze jumped away from his sling and up to his face, "Who told you that?" But before he could respond, she gave a knowing nod, "Ah, Chris...right."

"How long were you two together?" Quinn wasn't meeting her gaze as he asked the question, and for the first time she felt his overly-confident demeanor falter.

"Oh, just a few years." Raelyn waved her hand dismissively. “The engagement didn't even last three months though."

"What happened?"

Raelyn wasn't in the habit of airing her dirty laundry. Traverse City had a network of well-connected housewives who loved any piece of juicy information that had ever caused anyone emotional pain or embarrassment. Her mother and sister were well-established members of this network. But this was Quinn, her once-best friend who had opened up to her about all his biggest secrets and sources of trauma when he'd had no one else. What had happened to her paled in comparison to all of his demons.

"Well, about two weeks after the engagement I thought I saw him kissing another woman outside a bar. Amira and I were having a girl's night, he was out with the guys and we ended up at the same bar. I don't know, he explained it away like it was some misunderstanding. Like I didn’t see what I thought I saw or something like that.” Raelyn chewed her lip nervously and looked down, still embarrassed that she’d been so gullible. "Looking back I don't know how I was dumb enough to accept it. I guess I just really wanted to believe he was a good one. He was my first long term relationship...I don't know, it's stupid, I guess."

"It's not," said Quinn. "And you're not dumb. You're far from it. At least you were willing to trust him and take a chance, right?"

"A lot of good that did," Raelyn let out a hollow laugh. "About four weeks after that, I went to surprise him at his office. He'd been working late a lot, and I thought it would be fun to show up in a long coat with nothing but sexy lingerie underneath...but I guess someone else beat me to it."

Quinn winced. "The chick from the bar?”

"No, this was a different one, actually. So...isn't that cool?" Raelyn looked down at her feet again. "It was humiliating. And I'd worn like five-inch stilettos, so I almost rolled my ankle on the way out."

"The guy's an idiot," Quinn said, and it was a statement of fact. "Any man who hasyouand thinks for a second he can do better is just fucking stupid...he never deserved you."

Raelyn looked into Quinn's eyes, searching, and after a few beats she gave a nod and a small smile. "Thanks." She felt the need to lighten the mood so she mused, "I'd ask about your lovers, but I have a patient in," she looked at her FitBit, "three hours. I don't think we'd even make a dent in your little black book."

Quinn dragged out a big "Ha!" then shrugged. "What can I say? I don't want to give anyone the impression I'm capable of a functional relationship when I have absolutely nothing to model it after."

"Aw, you poor, broken little soul," Raelyn gave an exaggerated pout, pushing herself away from her desk and approaching Quinn to take a look at his arm.

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