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 A stupid, blind jerk who doesn t know a good thing when he sees it. You d be the
best thing that could ever happen to him.
 I m not what he wants. Brianna sat forward and picked up her glass of wine,
raising it in a toast.  Here s to stupidity. When everything else fails you, it s always
there, ready to do its part to fuck up your life.
Maggie clinked glasses with her.  To stupidity! She took a sip and put her glass
down.  So, what are you going to do now?
What was she going to do? Survive, of course. Just like she always did.  I ll get on
with my original plans and put this whole mess behind me as a lesson well learned. Keep
away from hunky lawyers who don t like flakes.
 You re not a flake.
 Close enough.
 For crying out loud. Sometimes you act before you think. That doesn t make you a
flake. Just a wee bit& 
Brianna raised her eyebrow.  Flakey?
Maggie tossed a cushion at her head and laughed.  Reckless, rash, hasty,
thoughtless.
 Oh yeah, I see the huge distinction there.
 There s a difference and you know it. You re being dense on purpose.
Brianna sighed.  No, I get exactly what you re saying. Anyway, what we think
doesn t matter. Quinn s only concerned with what he thinks and he thinks I m a flake.
She took another sip of her wine and set it down again. The really sad thing about all
of this was that if they loved each other it wouldn t matter. He d accept her as she was,
and she could continue to pursue whatever things she wanted and he wouldn t hold her
back. If only he d given them half a chance things could have been so different.
She glanced at Maggie.  Let s change the subject.
 Right, one subject change coming up. I have some good news. The customer is still
going to pay for Friday night.
 You re kidding.
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Ready or Not
 Nope. He left a message on my machine. It was really weird though.
 Weird how?
 Sounded like he was still at the bachelor party. First he called to say there was no
way he was paying because you didn t do the full show. Not too much later he called
back saying I was lucky because one of the other guys was going to pay for it. I could
hear somebody prompting him on what to say in the background.
Brianna straightened.  Quinn.
Maggie frowned.  I thought we weren t going to talk about him any more.
 No, Quinn said he d make sure your business didn t suffer. I thought he meant your
business s reputation around town, not that he d pay for it. Although, I guess that makes
more sense.
 If that s true, I take it back. I guess he s not a complete bastard after all.
 Well, really, since the whole thing was his fault, it was only right that he fix it.
 That didn t mean he would. At lot of guys wouldn t have.
 True.
The strident peel of the doorbell cut her off. At Maggie s questioning expression she
said,  Must be the paperboy collecting.
Brianna snagged her wallet out of her purse on the hall table, and swung the door
open.
And there stood the man in question, head down with his hands in his pockets.
 Hey, we were just talking about you. Would she never remember to think before
she spoke?
He glanced up, uncertainty clouding his expression.  About what an ass I am?
 Yeah, we covered that topic earlier. I think we settled on self-righteous, judgmental
bastard. She called over her shoulder,  Isn t that what it was, Mags?
Maggie s voice floated over from the living room.  Yup, that was it.
Brianna turned back to Quinn.  Just wanted to be sure I got it right. Anyway, now
we ve moved on to figuring out you re the one going to pay for Friday night s gig.
 That s the least I could do.
 Yeah, we agree. So, what are you doing here? I thought you d said everything you
had to say as you bolted out the door in your haste to get away from my contaminating
presence.
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Anara Bella
 I didn t run. You told me to get out.
 That s right, I did. The request still stands. Now, go away.
She tried to close the door, but he stopped her.  We need to talk.
 I didn t much care for our last conversation, can t say that I want to repeat it.
 I have something for you over at my place. Please come with me.
He graced her with his most charming smile that no doubt drew birds out of trees, or
brought jurors around to his way of thinking.  I don t know. I think I ve seen everything I
need to and although there were some things I quite liked, others didn t impress me
much.
 Just give me one more chance.
She took in his pleading eyes, full of sincerity and hopefulness, and she was a goner.
She was such a sap.
Oh, what the hell, he couldn t make her feel any worse. She hoped.  Fine. One last
chance. Although I really don t see the point. What with me being a flake and all.
His solemn  thank you appeased her somewhat, making her feel a bit less like a
stupid fool for going along with him. Not much, but a bit.
She walked back to Maggie.  He wants to talk, and for some reason it has to be at his
place. I m probably going to regret this, but I m going.
 If your gut is telling you to go, then go. I ll wait for Kayla to come back and let her
know where you are. I can watch one of the movies we took out until then.
 I ll probably be back before you even leave.
Maggie nodded, looking a tad concerned. What could Brianna say, she was
concerned herself. No doubt she was heading for another one of her outstanding fiascos.
Shit.
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Ready or Not
Chapter Five
There was a surreal quality to sitting in Quinn s car while he drove her to his home.
Brianna had spent most of the day thinking he considered her nothing more than a fling,
an aberration in his life. Something he wanted to get away from and never go near again.
Sorta like rancid cheese. And now, here he was, taking her to his place.
Yep. Definitely surreal.
 You going to give me some kind of clue as to what this is about?
His slow, sexy grin sent her insides aflutter.  Nope.
 Just a teeny little hint?
He didn t even answer this time. Just shook his head, with that same mysterious grin
on his face. This guy needed to learn how to open up. All this quiet tension was driving
her nuts. The only thing that kept her in the seat rather than telling him to stop the car and
let her out was that sexy grin.
That grin promised plenty. Like long, slow, deep kisses and endless sultry nights on
silken sheets. Oh yeah, she really needed to know what he was up to.
They pulled up in his driveway and he jogged around the car to open her door. So
old-fashioned, but oh so nice.
She took his proffered hand and he escorted her to the front door. That s all she
could call it. The way his hand rested low on her back and ever so gently guided her all
the way, well, the whole thing was very courtly. And very sexy. Hmmm, there was that
word again.
She could even feel the warmth emanating from his large, strong hand, stirring up [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]