Yours at Midnight by Robin Bielman

“I’m good.” He scanned her top to bottom. “Wow, you look great. How are things?”
    “Really well, thanks.” She waited for her body to have some sort of reaction to him. A little flutter. A hiccup in her pulse. A tingle down her spine.
    She got nothing.
    She’d dated Dylan for a month after Quinn had left. Fallen hard and fast for him. He was funny, cute, studying to be an architect, and loved to watch hockey as much as she did. She hadn’t slept with him, but had planned to when he’d taken her to Napa for the weekend. The day before they were supposed to leave—a week late in her cycle—she’d found out she was pregnant and abruptly ended their relationship.
    “You must be doing your residency now?” he asked, looking genuinely happy to see her.
    When she’d broken up with him without an explanation, she thought if they ever saw each other again, he’d keep his distance. She was happy that wasn’t the case.
    “No actually. Change in plans. What about you? Are you working for an architecture firm?”
    “ Ahem . Hey, I’m Quinn Sobel.” He extended his hand.
    And put the other one on the small of her back.
    Now her body tingled.
    “Oh, I’m sorry. Quinn, this is Dylan…” She couldn’t think of his last name. Her brain had gone to mush the moment Quinn touched her. Not to mention the deep, dominating sound of his voice rendered her incapable of stringing too many words together.
    “Peterson. Dylan Peterson.” He shook Quinn’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
    “Yeah. So we were just leaving, Dylan.” Quinn steered her away. Like he had any say in her actions.
    Lyric dug her feet in and twisted. “You’re working locally?”
    Dylan smiled. “Yeah.” His eyes flicked to her left hand. “We should get together sometime and catch up.”
    “I’d like that.”
    She’d made a resolution to find a man, hadn’t she? And Dylan was one of the nicest guys she knew.
    He leaned in and said softly, “Call me. The number’s the same.”
    “Okay,” she answered, maybe a little breathy. But not because of Dylan’s nice green eyes and amiable personality.
    No. Her nerves were shot because Quinn’s hot breath tickled the back of neck. He scooted her out of Starbuck’s like a jealous boyfriend.
    “You didn’t have to be rude to him, you know.” A light drizzle fell as they walked across the parking lot to her car. Christmas garlands stretched between the light posts.
    “I wasn’t rude.”
    “You were a total jerk.”
    “I didn’t like the way he looked at you.”
    She came to a stop. “How was he looking at me?”
    “Like he’d seen you naked and wanted to see it again.” He pulled her out of the middle of the lane so a car could pass.
    Her stomach quivered. “And that bothers you?”
    How many times growing up had she wished for Oliver to be bothered by the attention she got from other guys? But the only person who’d seemed to notice was Quinn. Much to her chagrin, he’d always kept an eye on her. Right now his caveman behavior sent shivers down her spine.
    “Lately, where you’re concerned, everything bothers me.”
    “Why?” She moved around a parked motorcycle. Tiny reindeer antlers stuck out from the license plate, and she smiled.
    “You are not allowed to ask me that ever again.”
    She stopped at her car door, put her coffee on the roof, and searched her purse for her keys. “Why?”
    He spun her around and trapped her against the car. A thrill shot through her. He wasn’t rough, but he wasn’t exactly gentle either.
    “Was that the guy?”
    “Was who what guy?” Her mind might be lost, but her body, God, her body trembled from her head to her feet. Quinn’s intensity turned her on. She’d never seen him so alpha, and she liked it. A lot.
    He growled. “Is Dylan Max’s dad?”
    “ What ? No!” A very different tremble swept through her now. She wasn’t ready for this conversation. Not here in a parking lot, both the sky and Quinn stormy.
    His body relaxed.