“No problem.” He nodded as I exited the truck. “Hey, Quinn?”
“Yeah?” I gripped the door, turning back to him.
“You ex is a jerk. Don’t let him drive you to another bender.”
“I won’t.”
I shut the door and stepped onto the sidewalk. He gave me a short wave and a half-smile before pulling away. I’m a nice one, he’d said last night. And he was. He was a good guy. He’d taken way better care of me than I deserved. As I watched him round the corner, I acknowledged that I needed to think of a better way to thank him.
My brain helpfully supplied a dozen images, each more pornographic than the last. I shouldn’t. I really shouldn’t. And yet, my stomach still fluttered. We could.
Five
Adam
“I hear you took the doctor home last night,” Logan teased as I entered the kitchen.
“Horatio needs to shut his trap,” I said, wheeling a beer delivery toward the storeroom.
I wasn’t in the best mood. And I couldn’t blame it on Quinn turning me down. That, I’d expected. But the way he’d stiffened up and used his doctor voice on me a few times over the course of the morning… It was like he’d been judging me—for being friendly, for daring to talk to him about some personal shit, for admitting that I hooked up with guys I liked and who might share similar tastes. His judgment had stung, more than I wanted to admit.
And if he’d simply turned out to be a jerk, I could have moved on, good deed done, lesson learned. But I’d also seen the want in his eyes, heard the hesitation in his voice when his doctor tone slipped. He’d been interested, but for whatever reason, he wasn’t going to let himself have the sort of fun I knew we could have together, and the contradiction between what Quinn so clearly wanted and what he was willing to let himself have was the real reason I was in a funk.
After stashing the beer in the storeroom—and maybe rattling the bottles a little too loudly—I returned to the kitchen.
Logan gave me an apologetic look. “Hey, he just said the doctor needed a ride. I was about to tease you about needing to join one of the ride-share apps, start charging for your taxi service. Something else happen?”
“Nope. You know me. Free rides for the Tipsy Lonely Hearts Club.” I forced a smile. I did give rides more than I should. But almost none of them ended up back at my place. Either way, it wasn’t something I wanted to get into with Logan at the moment. “And maybe don’t spread it around that Quinn was at the bar and drinking. I don’t think he makes a habit of getting smashed.”
“Look at you all protective.” Logan leaned forward on the worktable, abandoning his chopping to study me closer.
God. Him and Mason. Now that they each had someone at home, they saw romance and the potential for long-term couplehood lurking everywhere.
“Aren’t you supposed to be cooking?” I gave him a stern look.
Quinn had definitely brought out my protective side. I wouldn’t go back on my word to not talk about his private life. Besides, what would I say? He makes me want to be his Daddy. Yeah, no. Not having that conversation. Logan likely wouldn’t judge the kink, but there was a limit to what one’s business partners needed to know.
“Mark it down. Adam doesn’t want to talk.”
“Eff-you,” I said, laughing.
Despite my best efforts, I thought about Quinn all lunch rush. Not that I’d expected him to come in. He was likely napping, sleeping off the night before, or if not sleeping, doing some other smart, responsible adult thing like taxes. Definitely not thinking about me and my offer to hook up, so I needed to get the hell over myself.
Luckily, the perfect distraction for my weird mood arrived a little before two.
My mom swept through the front door, heading right to the bar. “Hi, sweetie. Thought I’d pop in for a late lunch.”
I came around the bar and gave her the requisite hug. “What needs doing?”
“I can’t simply be out running errands and want some food?” She went wide-eyed before a guilty expression crossed her face, mouth curving and gaze lowering. “Okay. You got me. I am hungry. And it’s a teensy tiny favor.”
“And you already know my answer is yes,” I teased back. Even though she’d had an ulterior motive, I was still happy to see her and glad for the excuse to get out of my head. I took out my phone, so I could make a note of whatever she was about to put on the to-do list that I kept going just for her stuff. “Shoot.”
“You’re the best.” She laughed and gave me another hug before shooing me back behind the bar and taking a seat, evidently planning on eating at the bar as she tended to do on her visits. “One of the rentals has a leaky faucet. Should be a fast enough fix. It’s empty until the weekend. Maybe you can swing by after work? And then I’m making brownies if you want to stop by the B&B to pick up a few.”