As the men shifted, the brunette sitting to Quinn’s right leaned over and tapped her
shoulder. Quinn looked at her.
“That guy is so hot and you didn’t give him the time of day.”
Quinn shrugged. “I know him. There’s no love connection for us. He’s a friend.”
She thought about how quickly she tossed the comment out, but then she realized that
she did consider Griffin a friend. They didn’t know each other all that well, but
he was someone she never felt the need to duck away from. She enjoyed his company.
Odd. For someone so used to having few friends, her circle was suddenly growing.
The woman shook her head in disbelief and refocused her attention on the man in front
of her. Quinn did the same.
A little more than half an hour and eight men later, Mary called for a quick break.
They had ten minutes to run to the bathroom and get a fresh drink. Quinn chose to
take her break with Indy. She stood beside Indy’s table to stretch her legs.
“So how’s it going?”
“Long.” Quinn slapped business cards on the table and stretched her arms over her
head. “The cards are in the order I met the guys. The first guy didn’t give me a card
or his number. Not that I asked. The second guy was Griffin. The rest were all too
old. Would it be too much to ask to have guys in their thirties? Some of them look
near retirement. I took their cards to be polite. I can call them if I’m interested.”
Indy stacked the cards neatly again. “But you’re not, are you?”
“Not what?”
“Interested. I don’t think any of those guys earned a smile from you. Except Griffin.”
“I’m so overwhelmed. How am I supposed to make a judgment about someone in less than
three minutes? I need to digest the information. It’s like bam-bam-bam. I can’t catch
a breath.”
Indy stood and threw an arm around Quinn’s shoulder. “It’s
speed
dating. You’re not supposed to think and digest. Feel and enjoy.” She squeezed Quinn’s
shoulder and gave her a little shove back to her table.
“Feel and enjoy. Feel and enjoy,” Quinn mumbled on her way back to her seat. “Some
of us need to think and digest. We can’t just feel and enjoy.”
She took her seat and realized she was mumbling loud enough to earn glances from other
women who had already returned. She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
A great guy might be here. I’ll miss him if I don’t relax. I could actually find someone
for the rest of the summer if I give this a chance
.
She reopened her eyes and felt at ease. The worst that would happen was she’d have
a pile of phone numbers to toss out. The best would be a date with someone decent.
Mary rang the bell and men shuffled to find their spots.
The man standing in front of Quinn was the familiar-looking one. At least he was young.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Quinn answered, still desperate to place him.
He took his seat, his eyes never leaving hers. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Quinn narrowed her eyes, searching her memory. “I’ve been trying to figure out where
I know you from since you walked in.”
He extended his hand. “Joe Cardena, Ms. Adams.”
Her hand had barely touched his when it hit her and she dropped her hand. Her face
flashed hot. “What are you doing here?”
“Same thing as everyone else. Looking for a date.”
“Are you even old enough to be in a bar?”
“I’m twenty-four. Want to card me?” His smile was boyish and playful.
Quinn shook her head. She remembered Joe. He’d been in her English class seven years
ago. Her mortification must’ve been plain on her face.
“Hey, we’re all adults here. Tell me about yourself. Are you still teaching at Jones?”
She nodded. “I can’t do this. You know we can’t do this.”
Joe leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Why not?” “You were my student.”
“Was. I’m all grown up now. I’m out of college. I’m an ad man working at Burnet and
Smith. I don’t live at home with Mom. I even have a car.”
“It’s weird.” Her stomach churned.
“I’m not feeling weird. If we never met before today, you’d talk to me, right? Maybe
even give me your number.” His head tilted in question and his smile was disarming.
In her mind, he was still a kid. “I doubt it, Joe. I’m still a lot older than you.”
“Age shouldn’t be a factor.”
Ding.
Joe stood. He leaned close and slid a business card in front of her. “It was good
to see you, Quinn. Maybe we can have a drink later.”
Another man took Joe’s place. She could hardly focus. Only Indy would detect her plastered-on
smile as fake. It was the same one she used at parent–teacher conferences.
Her brain buzzed. She had a student hit on her. Correction, former student. And he
was serious, unlike a student who had a crush. He was grown and old enough to drink
legally. The thought had never crossed her mind that she’d ever run into a student
in a social situation.
Ding.
She’d see a student occasionally at the grocery store or the mall. They usually smiled
awkwardly and mumbled a hello. Sometimes one of the more gregarious girls might run
up to her, squealing in excitement to see her as a real person.
None had ever tried to strike up a personal conversation with her.
Never
had she been hit on by one.
Ding.
Three more men had appeared in front of her and she couldn’t recall a single detail
about any of them. Quinn looked over at Indy, whose eyes were wide with concern.
Quinn gave herself a mental shake. She offered a genuine smile and a wink to Indy.
A man entered her vision. She turned her eyes from Indy.
He extended his hand. “Hi, I’m—”
“Colin.” The name slipped from her lips as truth even though she had never laid eyes
on the man.
He sat. One eyebrow rose. “Have we met?”
“No, I’ve heard about you.”
“That can’t be good.”
Ryan was tired of hiding in his office. He’d told Mary he’d stay, but he had no desire
to watch Quinn flirt with other men.
They should be almost finished. He left his office and walked the perimeter of the
dance floor, looking for Quinn. Sudden, loud laughter drew his attention. He immediately
recognized the sound. He rounded the tables to confirm his suspicion.
Colin was sitting with Quinn, making her laugh. Ryan’s fingers tightened into a fist.
It was one thing for her to flirt with other men, but
not
his brother. He took two more steps before his path was blocked.
Indy touched his arm. “Hi, Ryan. I didn’t know you were here.” She kissed his cheek.
She didn’t need to reach up far because her heels added a good three inches to her
height.
“Hi.” His fingers loosened.
She tugged his arm. “Come sit with me. We can make fun of all these people.”
He looked at her from the corner of his eye.
“Come on. How successful will any of this really be? Sure, you might get a few dates
out of it, but the whole thing reeks of desperation.”
They were already moving toward her table. She’d effectively maneuvered him away from
Quinn. She was slick.
“I’m Quinn’s scout. You can help me weed out the bad ones.”
Ding.
Ryan turned in time to watch Colin kiss Quinn’s cheek before moving to the next table.
“Bad one,” Ryan said quietly, his eyes locked on the back of Colin’s head.
“He made her laugh. He was the first guy to get more than a phony smile out of her
since Griffin left her table.”
“Griffin’s here too?”
“Yeah.” She kept her eyes trained on Quinn’s table. “That’s Colin, right? Wow. A lot
of competition.”
“It’s no competition.” Indy quieted, sensing his mood. He scanned the rest of the
crowd and shook off some of his irritation. He should’ve guessed Colin would be a
fill-in for Mary. He’d always take a chance to meet more women.
Ryan let another moment of silence tick by. “Is she having any luck?”
Indy fanned out business cards on the table. “She got these before the break. The
first half was rough. She felt overwhelmed. It didn’t help that most of the men are
too old for her.”
Ryan smiled.
“There was a guy she thought she recognized. He came to her after the break and upset
her. She blushed, paled, and then plastered on the phony smile. Until your brother,
that is.”
Ryan turned back to study Quinn. She wore her cool, polite exterior as always. He
leaned to the side but couldn’t see under the table. If she was upset, he’d see her
tapping, almost imperceptibly.
Ding.
The man sitting with her stood and in the brief moment before another took his place,
their eyes met. Hers pleaded for escape. He forced a smile and she returned it stiffly.
Another “date” blocked his view. This was like watching a disaster movie. You kept
watching to see how bad it would get. Part of him felt bad for putting her through
this.
Indy touched his arm, drawing his attention. “I tried to talk her out of this.”
“Hmmm?”
“I tried to get Quinn to blow this off. I don’t know what she thinks she’s looking
for.”
“A romance that will end by the fall.”
Indy grunted. “She needs to learn how to walk away from a plan when something better
comes along.”
Ryan shook his head. “She wants a baby.”
“It’s crazy, right?”
“Yeah, but what are we supposed to do? Walk away from her?”
“I’m her sister. I can’t.”
“Neither can I.” The words slipped passed without thought. It wasn’t an admission
he planned to make. Certainly not to Indy.
“Oh my God.” Indy hopped off her seat and stood in front of him.
“You love her.”
Her words startled him. “What? I didn’t say that.” He tried to look around Indy, but
she shifted to block his evasion.
“You said you can’t walk away.”
His brain flipped, searching for a reason for the slip. “I care about her. She’s a
good friend.”
Indy’s eyes burned on his face. “That’s it? You’re friends?”
“Yes.” He hoped he sounded convincing.
Indy returned to her seat. “You both need a huge dose of reality.”
Jenna stopped by and cleared Indy’s empty beer bottles. Indy ordered another, and
Ryan asked for a glass of water.
“We’re both grounded in reality. Quinn more so than anyone else I know.”
“She told me she asked you to be her sperm donor.”
He swallowed hard, grateful to see Jenna return with their drinks. He took a gulp
of the ice water. “Yeah, she did.”
“And?”
He didn’t have an answer. He’d barely had a chance to digest the question. “I don’t
know. I want her to be happy. Last week she didn’t want to take a chance on me getting
her pregnant because I wouldn’t be able to walk away. The thing is, she’s right. I
can’t walk away from my family. How would I walk away from a baby?”
Indy’s eyes widened and her mouth opened in exasperation. “So tell her no.”
“But then who knows what she’ll end up with. I wish she wouldn’t be in such a hurry
for a baby.”
“Convince her to wait. Make your move.”
He scrambled to find the words to explain to her. “A relationship would . . . our
friendship . . . It would get messy. Quinn’s afraid of messy.”
She contemplated as she drank her beer. He’d never have pegged her as a beer drinker.
“I hate to admit it, but you have a point. She needs to get used to messy, though.
Life is messy. She misses out on so much.” She took a small drink and added, “She
always has.”
Indy tugged at the label of the beer bottle. She peeled carefully as Ryan absorbed
her words. Maybe Indy wasn’t as flighty as she seemed. She removed the label in one
piece and smoothed it onto the table.
Ryan just watched.
“What?”
He pointed to the label. “Looking to get laid?”
Suddenly Quinn stood between them. She lightly slapped his arm. “Stop flirting with
my sister. You’re not her type.”
“Done already?”
“Yeah.”
Indy slid the label over to Quinn. “Maybe you can use this.”
“For what?”
Indy shook her head pityingly. She looked at him. “She never was much of a drinker.
Not even in college.” She turned back to Quinn. “If you can peel the label off in
one piece, it’s good for a free lay.”