Rules of Attraction by Susan Crosby

“We’ll work together.” And see where it goes.
    He needed her, she realized with sudden clarity. He was too serious. He needed some fun in his life, needed to smile more. She could do that for him.
    â€œWhen do you want to start?” he asked.
    She thought about her grungy work clothes, and the fact that she hadn’t showered or fixed her hair. Not the most auspicious way to start a…a what? Courtship? No. A wooing? Maybe it was an old-fashioned word, but it seemed to fit.
    â€œI guess my schedule is more flexible than yours,” she said. “I’ll leave it up to you.” How about tomorrow, when I could look my best?
    â€œNow?” he asked.
    She managed not to sigh. “Sure. What first?”
    â€œHer bedroom.”
    Claire headed out of the room, expecting he would follow, then walked ahead of him up the stairs, awareof him close behind her. Rase bounded past them, waited on the landing.
    â€œDo you have the key to her car?” he asked as they neared the top.
    â€œNo. Do you think she hid stuff in there?”
    â€œMaybe.”
    Before they entered the room she said, “I need you to promise me something.”
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    â€œIf I decide at any time not to continue looking for Jenn, you have to honor my wishes.”
    â€œDon’t handcuff me, Claire. This is what I do for a living. I will, of course, respect your wishes, if I can. That’s as much promise as I can make. If you can’t deal with that, let’s stop here and now.”
    Claire’s reasons for continuing had more to do with her own needs. She wasn’t going to take the chance of Quinn walking out of her life yet. “Okay,” she said, then opened Jenn’s bedroom door.
    Claire was embarrassed by the messy room, even though it wasn’t hers. The room was as Jenn had left it—clothes strewn on the unmade bed and heaped on the closet floor. Claire had removed the dirty dishes left behind then closed the door on the disaster.
    â€œDoesn’t win the Cleanest Camper award, does she?” he said, stopping inside the doorway.
    â€œShe says her DNA is missing the clean gene.”
    Rase made a nest of a pile of clothes and went to sleep. Claire stood by as Quinn poked through Jenn’s belongings, rifling through a drawer stuffed with sexy lingerie, looking under the bed and the mattress and pulling out paperwork from both places. He glanced at each item, then tossed it on the bed, adding more papers he found scattered around the room.
    â€œDoes she have a computer?” he asked.
    â€œA laptop. She took it with her.”
    He pulled out every dresser drawer to look behind and under, as well as inside the dresser itself. He looked behind the three framed prints of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding on the walls. Strangely, the room seemed to be getting neater as he worked. She realized he was folding clothing and stacking items. Maybe he’d noticed how embarrassed Claire was by the mess.
    Jenn didn’t own many books, but he took each off the shelf and shook it. A couple of CD-ROMs fell out of one.
    Claire met his gaze.
    â€œI’ll get my computer from the car,” he said.
    She waited until he left the bedroom, then scooped up all the paperwork he’d tossed on the bed and went downstairs, for the first time seriously considering that Jenn might really be guilty of something.
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    Quinn set his computer on the dining room table. Claire had already placed all the papers he’d unearthed in the middle of the table. She stood with her hands shoved in her pockets.
    Long-buried memories blasted him. He recalled the men who’d brought boxes of paperwork out of his parents’ bedroom, his father’s office and even the garage. He’d stood much as Claire did now, scared and vulnerable, not knowing what they would find, not even knowing what they were looking for. He’d tried to stop them. His