Start Me Up by Victoria Dahl

mean what you said?”
    Relief softened the anxiety on her face, but her smile popped into place with too much brightness. “No! No, of course not. I was obviously joking. Duh.”
    “Mmm-hmm.” He stared at her until she squirmed, then stared some more.
    Her smile vanished. “What?”
    “Because if you weren’t joking—and I don’t think you were—then I’d like to volunteer.”
    “Volunteer?” she breathed. “For what?”
    Quinn took a deep breath and placed his hands flat on the table for balance. “I’d like to have meaningless sex with you, Lori Love.”

    THE ROOM WAS spinning and hot. A convection oven of mortification spiced with a hint of lust.
    Quinn Jennings had just propositioned her in the most inappropriate way. The last thing she’d ever expected.
    “We can’t do that,” she blurted out.
    “Why not?”
    Because I like you, was her first thought, but that was ridiculous. Did she want to have sex with someone she didn’t like? If so, how could it possibly be any good? She reached for the next thing. “We know each other.”
    “Um…Were you planning on hanging out at a rest stop or something?”
    She gasped in horror. “No!”
    “Bathroom at a club?”
    “Quinn!”
    “Well, you know my name and where I work. That’s about it, and I’d hope you’d want to know at least that, even if you picked somebody at random.”
    “I just…” God, it sounded so sordid when he described it. Then again, she’d been wanting sordid, hadn’t she? And yet that guy at the restaurant had been cute and polite and interested, and the idea of taking him home had left her cold. “I know a lot more than that about you, Quinn. I know your sister and your best friend. It would be too awkward.”
    He frowned at that, his straight brows descending into an angry V. “Not as awkward as being hurt—or worse—by some stranger you decided to experiment with. It would be really, really stupid for you to hook up with a complete stranger. Is that really what you’re planning?”
    “Hey!” she protested, but couldn’t think of anything more than that. Just those few words made her flush with embarrassment, because he was right. Risk was fun until it actually got risky. But still…“You sound like your dad when you say things like that.”
    Anger simmered in his gaze, but he quickly tamped it down, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, his face flushed with regret. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I just don’t want to think of you putting yourself in harm’s way. Especially when you have a willing victim right here.”
    “Victim, huh? That’s flattering. Thanks, but no thanks.” He grabbed her wrist when she pushed back to leave the table. Lori froze, hovering an inch above her chair.
    “I didn’t mean it that way. Honestly, Lori, I’m the perfect candidate.”
    “Do this a lot, do you?”
    “Of course not. Never, in fact.”
    She hadn’t realized that jealousy had crept inside her skin until it slunk away. Jealousy over what? Quinn? When her thighs began to tremble from exhaustion, Lori slowly let her body collapse back into the chair.
    He watched her with very serious eyes. “I’m no good at relationships, Lori. I work too much and I forget about all the boyfriend stuff and end up carelessly hurting any woman in my life. I’m inattentive and distracted…” He shrugged, gaze leaching from serious to weary. “I suck at being a boyfriend, but you don’t want a boyfriend.
    “I like you. I respect you. You know me, but not so well that I won’t fit into your sordid plan. Just well enough to be sure I’m not going to drug you and post dirty pictures on the Web.”
    Another point in his favor, though her career as a mechanic didn’t hinge on a spotless reputation. Maybe it would be exciting to be caught up in an Internet sex scandal. Maybe she’d get more customers. Or maybe she’d die of embarrassment.
    Quinn’s fingers shifted, and she realized he was still holding her