Ready or Not Page 3

  Quinn couldn’t keep the scowl off his face. “It does in my book.”

  “Don’t you think you’re being kind of hard on her?”

  Was he? Nah. “Every time I’ve been anywhere near her, she’s always ended up doing something really out there, from dancing on tables to joining the guys in a chug-a-lug match. You don’t think that makes her a flake?”

  Mark shrugged. “I think that makes her fun. It’s never boring when she’s around.”

  “Maybe not, but she’s definitely not the type of woman a guy would want to settle down with.”

  “Why not?”

  Quinn pictured the stern face of the founder of Horton, Horton & Fiske, the law firm he worked for, and laughed. “Are you nuts? The minute she got bored, she’d pick herself up and take off looking for a good time or some adventure. I want a wife that’s going to stick around for the long haul.”

  Mark clasped his hands behind his head, mussing up his blond hair, and frowned. “I didn’t know you were looking to get married.”

  “I’m not, but could you imagine what the partners in the firm would think of her? Hardly appropriate wife material for an up-and-coming attorney. Have you seen her belly-button piercing, and what about that tattoo?”

  “First off, just because she likes to have fun doesn’t mean she’s not reliable. And secondly, who cares what your stuffy old bosses think.”

  “I do. With a prestigious law firm like Horton, Horton & Fiske, I have to watch my image. I was lucky they took me on in the first place. Anyway, I’ll need to settle down sometime soon. And when I do, the future Mrs. MacRae had better measure up to their high standards or they’ll class me as unreliable, too.”

  “You really have given this a lot of thought. I didn’t think you were considering the marriage noose so seriously.”

  “Let’s just say I’ve been keeping my eyes open.”

  Mark threw him a grin. “It’s mighty interesting that the first time I hear you talk about marriage, it’s in regards to Brianna. I always suspected you had the hots for her.”

  “I do not have the hots for her.” Much.

  Mark laughed, a full-bodied sound that made Quinn smile despite the annoying turn the conversation had taken. “Yeah, sure. You keep telling yourself that.”

  “Anyway, she’s not for me. I want someone who knows the meaning of loyalty and reliability.” Unlike Celia.

  “I’m sure Brianna’s younger sister thinks she knows the meaning of those words.”

  That caught Quinn’s attention. “What do you mean?”

  “When their folks died about five or six years ago, Brianna took over raising her younger sister. Dropped everything so she could support the two of them and be there for Kayla.”

  Quinn hadn’t known and his stomach clenched at the thought of Brianna coping with such a difficult situation on her own. “How come I’ve never heard anything about this?”

  Mark shrugged. “It’s never come up, I guess. I only heard because I got talking to Steve once and he mentioned it to me.”

  Was she really not the flake he’d always thought her to be? And did it matter? She still wasn’t corporate-wife material. Not the way she dressed, not her tattoos, or her piercings.

  And now she was stripping, for God’s sake. “I admire what she did, but her impulsiveness still works against her.”

  Mark sighed and got up. “If you say so. But I still don’t see why you couldn’t go out with her. And don’t bother saying you don’t like her. That’s a load of bullshit. I saw you freak out when she took off her clothes.”

  “That was just a reflex when I realized I knew who she was.”

  “You’re not trying to tell me you really believe that, are you? Man, you’ve got it bad.” Mark laughed as he grabbed his stuff and headed out the door.

  It was a while before Quinn went to bed. Images of Brianna intermixed with some of the things Mark had told him to make a confusing montage that wouldn’t let him sleep. The two versions of Brianna didn’t seem like the same person, but then, he didn’t know her very well and Mark had just proven that what he did know was circumstantial at best.

  Mark might have a valid point. There wasn’t any real reason he couldn’t just go out with her. Have some fun and games. Brianna was always ready for a good time—why not have a good time with him? Then maybe he could get her out of his system and stop this inconvenient lusting after her.

  Especially since it was pretty obvious ignoring her wasn’t working for him. Maybe a change in tactics was just what he needed.

  * * *

  “Did you do it?”

  Brianna looked up from the newspaper to watch her sister, Kayla, traipse into the kitchen. Giving her a deliberately blank look, she answered, “Do what?”

  Kayla rolled her eyes dramatically. “What do you think? Did you do Maggie’s strip routine?”

  Brianna couldn’t help but marvel at Kayla’s blasé attitude. She’d been the one to do it and she still didn’t feel comfortable about it. But then Kayla had had to grow up fast.

  Too fast.

  She pushed the unpleasant memories out and focused on the positives. They still had each other and that was the main thing. She liked that they were close and could talk about anything, more like friends than sisters. They were eight years apart, but somehow that had never really mattered. And when their parents had died, Brianna had moved back home so she could take care of Kayla until she was ready to be on her own.

  The years had flown by and she could hardly believe Kayla was already heading off to university on a scholarship.

  Their parents had had insurance to pay off the house and to cover the funeral expenses, but things hadn’t been easy. Money was tight, but with no mortgage payments, it had made things a lot easier. She’d considered selling the house, but she wanted to keep as much stability in Kayla’s life as possible and moving seemed like an upheaval best avoided.

  Brianna’s job at New Age Finds was enough for their needs and the store owners were really good to her, letting her work hours that allowed her to be home when Kayla came home from school and attend after-school activities as well.

  They were, however, broke more often than not. There was never enough for extras. Things like the car for Kayla she’d been trying to scrape enough money together for.

  And thus the stripping job and any other odd jobs she could find to make some extra cash. She wanted Kayla to have the independence a car would give her, so she could drive home and visit anytime she wished. It was also Brianna’s graduation present to Kayla for working so hard and getting the scholarship in the first place.

  As for the stripping job… “Yes and no.”

  Kayla shot her a look. “What the heck does that mean?”

  “It means I tried to do the routine, but hit a snag.” If you could call Quinn a snag. The big lug was more like a brick wall. A hunky brick wall, but a brick wall just the same.

  “What kind of snag?”

  The big hunky kind. Too bad he was so damned annoying. Brianna fought back a giggle. “I started to do the routine and one of the guys stopped me.”

  “What is he, gay?”

  Brianna laughed. “Definitely not gay. Actually, it was Quinn.”

  Kayla’s eyes rounded. “Gorgeous, stuffed-shirt Quinn?”

  “One and the same.”

  “Wow.” Brianna watched Kayla mull that one over while she poured herself a bowl of cereal. “I don’t get it. Why would he stop you?”

  “Beats me. He wouldn’t say. Just bustled me into the room I’d changed in and wouldn’t let me out again.”

  “Maybe he likes you.”

  Brianna sat back, enjoying that notion for a whole thirty seconds before she shot it down. “Not a chance. He doesn’t even approve of me. Don’t you remember? Quinn’s the one who told Steve I was a flake and not to be trusted.”

  “I still think he likes you.”

  Brianna flashed back to the scorching kis
s they’d shared. He didn’t approve of her, but maybe, just maybe, he lusted after her a bit.

  Lust was good. She could work with lust. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It’ll probably be months before I run into him again, and he’ll likely have some svelte blonde on his arm by then.”

  “I guess you won’t get paid for last night, then.”

  Brianna sighed, still baffled by last night’s events, and more than a little intrigued at Quinn’s possible reasons for stopping her. She’d never admit it to him, but she really wasn’t sorry he’d stopped her. She’d been uncomfortable with the whole thing and somehow doubted she’d ever try it again. No matter how much it paid.

  That didn’t alter the fact that she was pretty annoyed at not getting paid this time. She needed that money. “Probably not, even though it wasn’t my fault.” Interfering lug. “Anyway, you ready for tonight’s job?”

  “Yup. Don’t forget I’m staying at Sarah’s tonight. She’s picking me up after we finish serving dinner at the wedding.”

  “Okay.” It suddenly dawned on her that she just might be seeing Quinn a lot sooner than she’d thought. The wedding they were working tonight could very well be the one connected to the bachelor party.

  Hmmm. Now that brought up a whole whack of possibilities.

  * * *

  Did he have to hold her so close?

  Brianna silently fumed while she checked the tables for any glasses and stray garbage that had been missed. Was it too much to ask that they keep a reasonable distance between them? Like a telephone-book’s width. Or the state of Montana.

  She surreptitiously glared at Quinn and the sex-on-legs blonde he pretended to be dancing with. The way the woman was draped over him, it looked more like foreplay than dancing from where she was standing. Weren’t there laws against public indecency?

  And how unfair was it that she was stuck watching their disgusting display because she was working.

  Hell. She couldn’t even gripe about it to Kayla because she’d already left with her friend Sarah. This just plain sucked.

  Finally finished checking the tables, she escaped back to the kitchen with her loaded-down cart. “This is the last of it. We just need to gather up the tablecloths and that’ll be it.”

  Her friend Wanda, who owned the catering company, smiled. “Great. We’re almost done back here, too. We should be out of here soon.”

  “Not a minute too soon for me. My feet are threatening to revolt.”

  Wanda groaned her agreement. “I hear ya.”

  “Your feet too sore to dance?”

  Quinn!

  Brianna twirled around at the deep, rich voice that had elicited the teasing question. Drinking him in from his sexy lopsided grin to his shiny black shoes, she surreptitiously checked to make sure she wasn’t actually drooling.

  Damn, he looked really good in a tux. Really, really good. “You’re asking me to dance?” She couldn’t believe it after the way he’d made it eminently clear he disliked her. Unlike the blonde he’d been pseudo-dancing with.

  “I’ve wanted to dance with you all night. Finally got my best-man duties out of the way, and they just called out the last dance. It’s now or never.”

  He actually sounded sincere. Go figure. “What happened to the blonde? You looked like you were having fun.”

  Quinn shuddered. “I finally managed to peel her off and make my escape.”

  He wasn’t getting off that easy. “After your behavior last night, is there any reason I should want to dance with you?”

  He leaned in close. “Why not? I’d say we rather clicked, wouldn’t you?”

  His gorgeous gray eyes searched her face closely and she felt as if he could see right through her, reminding her he’d seen her all but naked last night. She supposed she should feel embarrassed about that, but all she could think of was that it was too bad he hadn’t been naked, too. Both of them together. Bodies touching. Hearts pounding. Hands exploring.

  Why not indeed?

  When she didn’t answer right away, he continued his efforts at persuasion. “Come on, you know I stopped you from doing something you really didn’t want to do anyway.”

  What was he, psychic? Damn him. But he had a point. And how the hell did he know that? Her fantasy of their naked bodies flashed into her brain again. If he were able to read minds she’d be in big trouble. “Maybe. But I’m not sure dancing with you would be such a good idea. After last night, it could be dangerous.”

  Quinn chuckled. “Could be. You up to the challenge?”

  Brianna flashed back to their hotter-than-Hades kiss and wondered if she was. She was damned sure interested in taking that challenge. More than just interested, actually. More like flat-out dying to.

  In her work uniform of plain white shirt and black pants, she’d look pretty stupid dancing with a guy in a tux, but when the hell had she ever cared what anyone thought? Now was not the time to start. What she really cared about was seeing if those sparks were still there, and what better way to find out than by doing her own version of foreplay on the dance floor with Quinn.

  Before she could utter a word, Wanda pushed her towards him. “Well, don’t keep the man waiting! He might change his mind.”

  Quinn laughed. “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere without Brianna.” He extended his hand to her. “You heard the woman, come on.”

  Brianna broke out in a big grin. “I guess there’s no saying no to you, is there?” Not that she’d seriously had any intention of it.

  She took his hand and his strong, tanned fingers engulfed hers, making her feel protected and taken care of. A dangerous feeling she avoided as a rule.

  A frisson of electricity leapt between them. Yep, the sparks were definitely still there.

  Their gazes snagged and she could have sworn she saw desire flash across his now-almost-black pupils. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? Maybe Kayla was right and they did have the lust thing going for them, no matter what opinion he had of her. Definitely a good thing.

  He threw her a rakish grin that tugged at some unnamable feeling inside her, and winked before turning and towing her along behind him, leaving her feeling slightly off-kilter from the gamut of emotions that had hurled themselves around inside her in the last twenty-four hours. Damn, but the man was potent stuff.

  A little confused as they headed right past the dance floor, she was about to ask where they were going until she realized where he was leading her.

  Oh, this was promising.

  Following him through the middle set of French doors that opened onto a barely lit patio area, she tamped down a nervous giggle that threatened to escape. Or maybe it wasn’t nervousness, but rather anticipation. Yeah, that was it, anticipation.

  No one else was out there and it gave an instant feeling of intimacy. An intimacy that could lead to some rather interesting things. She hid a grin and hoped it wasn’t too obvious what was on her mind.

  It was a perfect summer night. Warm and inviting, with stars twinkling in the midnight sky. Nothing but the sound of crickets chirping and the music coming through the open doors to accompany them. And the sound of their breathing, because she was already breathing hard just at the thought of being held flush against Quinn’s rock-hard chest.

  He folded her into his arms, pulling her close, making her feel warm and safe in his embrace. How did he do that to her? Twice in the last few minutes. And it sure as hell didn’t make much sense for her to feel that way with Quinn, especially after what had happened yesterday. But oddly, while most men made her want to assert herself, to make sure they knew she was fully in charge, somehow Quinn had the opposite effect on her. Against all reason, she trusted him.

  Talk about nuts. Maybe she’d finally gone off the deep end. “Why, Quinn MacRae, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you have more than just dancing on your mind.”

  She felt his chuckle more than heard it. “Maybe I do.”

  Oooh, that sounde
d promising. “Should I be worried?”

  His voice dropped an octave. “I don’t know, should you?”

  She giggled. She’d never seen this playful side to Quinn. She wasn’t sure how it was possible but it made him even more appealing.

  She rested her cheek on his shoulder and snuggled in closer. Might as well enjoy the moment. It might never happen again. His hand rubbed slowly up and down her back for long moments before enticingly coming to rest low on her back, just above her buttocks.

  It shocked her how much she longed to have his hand slip lower still, to pull her even closer, until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began.

  The music must be getting to her with its sappy message of love and happily ever after. She really needed to keep in mind that Quinn didn’t approve of her and certainly didn’t like her in the way she wanted him to. The lust thing was the only possibility between them, and it was all she really wanted. Wasn’t it?

  He must have felt her stiffen. “What’s wrong?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  He pulled back so he could look her in the eyes. “Something is.”

  “I guess I’m just wondering why you’re doing this.”

  “Doing what? Dancing with you?”

  “You’ve never bothered with me before.”

  He nuzzled her ear. “It’s your own fault.”

  “My fault.” Brianna pulled back. “What did I do now?”

  “Yesterday you opened a can of worms I’ve been trying to keep firmly closed ever since I first met you.”

  She searched his face to see if he was teasing her. “How’d I do that?”

  His big hand cupped her cheek. “You kissed me.”

  “Oh.”

  “And now I find I want to do it again.” Quinn brushed his lips butterfly soft against hers.

  Brianna’s heart leapt and started beating double time. “Oh.”

  “Is that all you can say?”

  She nodded.

  He grinned. “Good. Now’s not the time for talking anyway.”