Page 23 of Frequency of Attraction

“Lieutenant Colonel Lew is Chinese. And you already know the answer to that, Jerry. That kind of requirement would be illegal and discriminatory, and we are neither. Our mission is full inclusivity. OrbitAll.” She stressed the latter half of their name.

Jerry, an obvious idiot, plowed on. “George was a red-blooded American, at least. Has it been determined that he went down due to pilot error?”

Vadim knew next to nothing about George except that he’d started OrbitAll’s test flight program and had fatally crashed during a flight at a different space tourism company a couple of months ago. Quinn’s sharp intake of breath was a clue how she felt about George, and the comment.

Vadim frowned. “Hey, Jerry, why don’t you come back another time? Or not?” He stood, using his frame to intimidate the small man below him.

Jerry huffed an annoyed sigh as Vadim continued to glower at him. Quinn didn’t move from her seat. When Jerry turned at the door, still scowling, she wiggled her fingers at him with a tight smile.

She waited a few seconds before letting out a frustrated growl. “I was going to give him an exclusive for your first T-38 run, but no longer. Xenophobicconnard. And I can’t believe he had the nerve to bring up George.”

Vadim chuckled. The venomous French curse word sounded unnatural in her soft lilt.

Quinn gave him a small smile. “I forgot you know French.”

Vadim could bring women to their knees, literally, in four languages. He leaned closer to test his theory. “J’ai hâte de te lécher la chatte ce soir.”

Her mouth popped open. He studied her wide, pink lips before meeting her eyes again. Vadim figured she wasn’t on her knees only because she was sitting in a chair. “Tonight?”

“That’s what I said. I’ll make you forget all about Jerry.”

Vadim mentally chastised himself as she rose to leave, much pinker than when she walked in. He wouldn’t be able to study after picturing himself buried between her legs. And not after he’d been reminded—again—that he needed to prove his worth to fucking everyone. Untested. Untried. Foreign. Vadim in a nutshell. At least at OrbitAll.

He watched Quinn’s round ass as she made her way to the door. “Don’t forget what I said.”

She shot him a look over her shoulder. “Which part?” Her face was lively but her voice was soft. “That I’ll be naked, or what you said just now? That you can’t wait to lick my…you know.”

“Say it.”

“Chatte.”

“Not in French,” he growled.

“Pizda.”

Vadim barked out a laugh as she waltzed away. The little blonde knew how to say “pussy” in Russian.

13

Quinn didn’t feel quite so bold when she showed up at Vadim’s apartment after work that night. His sexy promise had simmered under her skin all day, but Jerry had tainted it. As had her cousin’s heartbroken face.

People sucked. Love sucked.

Stupid Jerry. Of all the reporters they had relationships with, Jerry, as local press, might be the most important. They had experimental technology in place, training jets clocking hundreds of hours above the small town, and a spaceplane blasting into Mach speeds several times per year. OrbitAll was always under scrutiny. Most people in Victory loved OrbitAll and Tate, foreign-born or not. The citizens of Victory viewed OrbitAll astheirspace company. Quinn had made sure of that by encouraging the hiring of locals when they could, hosting regular open houses, and alerting the town via mass communication when things would be getting loud over at their airstrip. But not everyone was appeased. She hoped Vadim didn’t get any blowback from kicking the area’s most prominent reporter out of his office.

Vadim answered her light knock shirtless again and smoldering like a damn forest fire. “Quinn.”

Her stomach quivered every time he said her name.

Quinn’s eyes swept up his torso, taking in the sights from cities around the globe—some she’d visited and some she hadn’t. Smaller details and patterns filled the skin between the large pieces. He hadn’t confirmed her guess that he’d captured his travels on his body, but he hadn’t denied it either. He didn’t talk all that much, really.

“You done ogling?”

Glaring, Quinn marched by him and into the living room. She noticed two glasses of water full of bobbing ice cubes sitting on the coffee table. Refreshments. That was new.

“Phone and watch.”

She turned toward him, clutching the phone to her chest reflexively. “What?”

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