Start Me Up (26 page)

The posters were long gone, rolled up in tubes and stuffed in the closet. She’d have pictures of her own soon. She didn’t need posters. She’d go through the books next and get rid of any that were more than five years old.

The last VHS tape fit neatly in the box. Lori stood up and looked around. “Damn, I’m kind of awesome.”

Dust motes danced crazily under the force of her words, so she moved her awesome ass to the window and heaved it open. The snow had stopped and it was close to fifty degrees. Beautiful. As she looked out at the wet, happy dandelions that were already encroaching on the unused lot, something rumbled in the distance.

Lori frowned and leaned closer to the glass. A deep sputtering sound echoed down the street, then faded away. Shrugging, she was just starting to turn back to her work when something yellow flashed between the hardware store and the gas station. She paused and watched the top of her fence line out of curiosity. From this side of the house, she couldn’t see the front of her lot, just the very corner of the wooden fence that surrounded it.

Something tall and metal and yellow slid past. Gravel crunched as if it were turning in. Then the awful sputtering stopped.

“Huh,” she breathed. Maybe someone wanted to slip her a hundred dollars to tune up a bulldozer or something. She was watching the side lot closely when Quinn walked into her vision.

Lori jumped back and frowned at the windowsill. For a couple of weeks there, she’d thought she’d seen him everywhere. At the grocery store, at the diner, even passing by in a car full of teenagers. But those had been brief glimpses of men with light brown hair and wide shoulders. She’d never hallucinated him entirely before.

Holding her breath, Lori leaned forward to look again, and the doorbell suddenly chimed. Her forehead hit the window with a sharp crack. “Oh, my
God!
”

It couldn’t be him, could it? She was wearing red sweatpants, for God’s sake. And he couldn’t be here anyway. The pass was closed.

She’d finally lost it. The stress of the past year had been too much.

The stoop wasn’t visible from here, but she pressed her face hard to the glass, regardless, straining to see. It was just the bulldozer driver. Or it was just the UPS guy, and the sun had hit him in some weird way that added five inches of height and a few more of shoulder. Or…

Lori gasped.

Maybe it was the driver of an old, beat-up backhoe.

A man stepped backward, head tilted up. “Lori, is that you?”

“Ah!” She stumbled back from Quinn’s voice. Not only was she wearing red sweatpants, but she’d had her cheek squished against the window like a two-year-old making faces. How was she supposed to present a vision of burgeoning success
now?

No, no, no. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. She’d planned to casually drop by his place next summer. She would just happen to be wearing tight jeans and expensive heels. She’d mention her trip to Europe as if it were nothing. She’d be wearing the right day-of-the-week underwear for once.

Oh, God, it was Friday and she was wearing Thursday. A perfect storm.

“Lori?” he called.

She dropped the pants. And the underwear. “Just a second!” Naked from the waist down, she raced out the door and down the steps. The window was open, so she ran faster, hoping he’d keep staring at the second story. She nearly fell when she got to the bottom step, but held back a scream by sheer force of will. She would
not
be found sprawled at the bottom of the stairs wearing only tube socks and a tank top.

She spotted her jeans on the floor as soon as she hit her bedroom and tugged them on in record time. “One second!” she screamed as she sprinted for the bathroom to pat her hair into something bearable. She swiped the sweat off her forehead, took a deep breath and went to answer the door.

Quinn looked very troubled when she tugged the door open so hard it slammed into the far wall. His smile looked a little sick. “Um, hi.”

“Hi!” she said too brightly.

He glanced past her. “Is this a bad time?”

“No, not at all!”

“Are you all right?”

“Sure, I’m great!”

His eyes traveled down to her chest and back up. “You’re, um, kind of breathing hard. Do you…Am I interrupting something?” He looked behind her again, his jaw tightening.

“No, I just ran down the stairs and…” Wait a minute, did he think she’d been having sex? Lori smiled. “Whoever he is, he’ll wait. What can I do for you?”

Quinn’s eyes snapped back to her face.
“What?”

She laughed, wheezing a little since she was already panting. “I’m just cleaning, you dork.”

“Oh,” he said. Then “Oh!” again as a wide smile spread over his face. “Okay, good. I just wanted to…Uh, I hope you don’t mind me stopping by.”

“Not at all,” she chirped. “What’s up?”

“I told you I’d bring you the backhoe, so…”

“Really?”

He swept his hand out and Lori darted out onto the sidewalk so that she could see past the corner of the house. “Oh, my God! You’re going to let me use it?”

“I am. It’s your bonus, remember? I’m done working for the season, so I thought I’d…” He paused to clear his throat. “You know. Just drop it by.”

“But how did you get over the pass?”

“It’s got a lot of traction. It wasn’t that bad.”

She shook her head, eyeing the snow stuck deep in the backhoe’s tracks. “But isn’t the pass
closed?
”

“Um…yeah.” He pushed the hair off his forehead and Lori’s heart flipped at the gesture. “I kind of drove around the gate. The snow isn’t that deep yet. And, all right, it was terrifying.”

She laughed, but her nerves were jangling. What was so important that he’d broken through the pass during a storm? Not just the backhoe, surely. Was he here to declare himself over her?

“You can keep it until spring. I’m definitely not trying to go around the gate again. I think I almost slid off the mountain at one point, but it was hard to tell with my eyes closed.”

As she grinned and nodded like an idiot, Quinn crossed his arms and glanced nervously toward the lot. “So anyway, I guess I’ll just…”

Was he leaving? He couldn’t go now! “I’m sorry. I’m being rude. Come in. Please?”

He followed her into the house without a word.

“Do you want some coffee?”

“No, I’m fine. Hey, look at this place!”

Her mouth went suddenly dry as he spun around. Her decorating skills were amateurish. She knew that. But Quinn kept smiling as he turned.

“It’s a bit feminine for my taste,” he said. “But it suits you.” When he finally looked at her, his eyes were warm light. “I thought of yellow for you actually.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I had a fantasy I might break in and fix this place up for you. But even I knew that would be a bit heavy-handed. See? I’m learning.”

Her fluttering heart paused, frozen with hope, then it beat harder than ever. “Come see the bathroom.”

Quinn laughed out loud at the sight of it. “It looks great.”

“I saved the countertop for you. It’s in the garage.”

“Seriously?” His laugh turned to pure delight. “That’s perfect.” Crossing his arms, he leaned against the doorjamb and met her gaze. “So you anticipated maybe seeing me again someday?”

Her heart shook. “Someday, yes. Just not on the day they closed the pass.”

“I couldn’t wait.” His voice was lower now, soft and deep.

“Is something going on?”

“No,” he said. “I just couldn’t wait anymore, Lori. I’m sorry. I know a backhoe isn’t a grand romantic gesture. Or maybe it is. I didn’t really mean it to be. I just…”

She was sure her heart was responding to that, but she couldn’t feel anything beyond the pull of his hazel eyes. She shook her head.

“I’m sorry,” Quinn said again, “for what I said to you. I wanted to say that in person.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re an amazing person. And you’ll do amazing things when you’re ready, and I know that has nothing to do with my schedule or my ideas or my life.”

Something bubbled up inside her. “I’m taking classes,” she blurted out, then wanted to cover her eyes in embarrassment. But she didn’t. “I enrolled at the University of Colorado. I’m taking online classes.” Her eyes filled with tears, though she wasn’t sure why. And when Quinn’s arms came around her, she didn’t care.

“In international business?” he asked, his breath warming her hair.

Lori sniffled. “No. Accounting.”

He pulled back and bent down to meet her eyes. “Accounting? Really?”

“I loved doing the books for the shop. So I thought I’d try it out and see if I liked the courses. I do.”

“That’s great.” He looked so proud that she folded herself back into his arms and held on. He didn’t feel as if he wanted to tell her good riddance. Not at all. In fact, his arms tightened around her and he sighed against her temple.

“Have you had dinner?” she ventured.

Quinn shook his head.

“I’ve got hot dogs.”

“Perfect,” he answered. And it was. They sat at her table and ate hot dogs, smiling in between bites.

“I really am sorry,” Quinn said after he finished his second dog.

Lori set down her beer and folded her hands together. “You were cruel—”

“I know. It was—”

“But you were right. Not about me becoming your kept woman, but about everything else.” She smiled to break the tension, but Quinn still looked miserable. “It’s okay, Quinn. Honestly. I was so mad I had all the energy I needed to start getting my shit together. Your evil pep talk worked.”

“Well…good. You look great. And the house looks like it belongs to you now. And the accounting classes…I’m happy for you, Lori.”

“Thank you.” She finished her hot dog and was wiping off her hands when Quinn cleared his throat.

“Thanks for dinner. I’m staying at Ben’s tonight. Maybe you’d consider going out to Grand Valley for lunch with me tomorrow?”

“Oh. Don’t you have to work?”

He tipped his beer in her direction. “I think Jane will be thrilled if I call in sick. In fact, I think she’d insist.”

“Do you have to go now?”

Quinn leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling. “I didn’t come by to try to insert myself back into your life.”

“But you’re so good at inserting, remember?”

His sudden laugh was so loud it startled her into a jump. “How could I forget? I had new business cards printed. Poor Jane was scandalized.”

“Liar.”

Quinn sighed and aimed a tired smile in her direction.

“Stay,” Lori whispered. “At least stay for another beer. We’ll talk. If you get too drunk you can walk to Ben’s.” Or
you can just sleep here,
she left unsaid. She wondered if he’d notice if she replaced his half-empty bottle with a full one.

She still didn’t think she was ready for a permanent relationship with Quinn, but she couldn’t bear the idea of him leaving now. She just wanted to get close to him, smell his skin, maybe lick his throat just a little bit. Her body felt drawn to him, her skin pulling to get closer. But he still hadn’t answered her invitation. If he left, she’d have to embarrass herself by sneaking through one of Ben’s windows in the middle the night. And Ben had a gun.

“I’m going to Europe in June!” she blurted out in desperation, feeling stupid even as she did it. Bragging about something not worth bragging out. But Quinn’s jaw dropped.

“Are you kidding me?”

“I’m not. I’m going to get a little more money out of the land than I’d expected. I’m selling it on speculation and I’ll let the developer take the risk. They’ll either be very sorry or very rich. And I’m taking a six-week trip to Europe. Finally.”

“Lori…
Wow.
Six weeks?”

“So will you stay and tell me about your favorite buildings in Paris? It’s my first stop.”

Quinn didn’t even answer. He just grabbed his beer, took her hand and led her to the couch. She asked a few questions and then he was off, describing cathedrals and libraries and ornate palaces. She didn’t take notes. Hell, she didn’t even listen. She just watched his face shift from seriousness to reverence to awe. His hands shaped and turned, gesturing toward structures she couldn’t see.

Lori melted into the couch. He was a work of art. A man made beautiful by his passion. She could watch him for hours. She could have sex with him
right now.
When he finally came to a stop, Lori breathed out a deep sigh.

“You’re amazing. If you ever looked at a woman like that, she’d be in deep trouble.”

His brow lowered and his eyes finally came back into focus. “Pardon me?”

“Nothing.”

He glared at her. “I hope you’re not serious.”

“Oh, come on, Quinn. You’re like a different person when you talk about architecture.”

“You think I like buildings more than I like you?”

Lori cringed and didn’t answer, trying to be diplomatic. But apparently Quinn didn’t appreciate the diplomacy. He set down his empty bottle with a thunk and stood, holding out his hand. “Come on.”