Page 58 of Frequency of Attraction

Just business. It had just so happened that their business had been pleasure. Quinn must have misread his relaxed behavior around her lately, the shift she’d felt between them in Boston. Or what Vadim had shown her of himself had scared him. Either way, the heart she’d given to him had been flung back, tossed around and pockmarked, like a moon marred by collisions. In that moment, the old idiom rang true: Don’t mix business with pleasure.

And this is why I don’t do relationships.

She left the simulation bay with his words still burning on her cheeks and made her way back to her office, where she collapsed in her chair. After a few minutes of unproductive silence, she picked up her phone to compose a text. Elle would understand. Elle had been hurting for weeks.This is what heartache feels like? I should have hugged you more,she wrote.

Her phone rang immediately.

“Talk to us, Quinn.”

“Us?”

Rosie’s Disney-princess voice came on the line. “Elle’s freeloading at my place while her house closes. We’re making popcorn for dinner right now.”

Elle’s period of unemployment had been very productive as she searched for her first permanent home. Quinn was proud of her. Or she had been, before this pain had taken over.

When Quinn didn’t reply right away, Rosie continued. “We both know broken hearts, Quinn. You can talk to us if you want.”

Quinn exhaled. She’d kept tears at bay. She wouldn’t cry over a man who didn’t want her. If she was going to cry, it would be over losing her connection to the Milas.

“My heart hurts.”

“Vadim?” Elle asked.

“Oui. How dumb am I? He screams untouchable. I should have known better.”

“There is nothing wrong with Vadim, or you.” Rosie’s tone sounded like she wanted to be reassuring. “Every one of us is worthy of the greatest kind of love.”

“A different tune than you were singing in recent weeks, you complicated rosebud,” Elle chided.

Quinn frowned. “I hope you’re not talking about Tate being unworthy.”

“Tate is more than worthy. Sometimes I doubt that I am. Certainly not of someone like him.”

“You still love my cousin.” Quinn couldn’t decide if that made Tate’s situation better or worse. At least Rosie saw him for who he was.

“I do still love him.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Quinn let out an exasperated sigh. “If two people love each other,what is the problem?”

“You tell us,” Elle said.

“My problem is there’s not two people in this together; there’s just me. Rosie and Tate don’t have that. Neither do you, Elle. You have a problem of geography.”

“Love is always more complex. Always,” Elle answered.

Quinn disagreed. Love shouldn’t have to be complicated. It should be attraction plus faith, the simplest equation in existence. But what did she know? “Well, I’m over it. Look at how attempting a relationship worked out for all of us. I was right. All risk, no reward.”

Matching sighs came through the line. “Hard to argue that from where we sit,” Elle agreed. “But I wouldn’t trade my time with Chen. Would you?”

“With Chen? Sure,” Quinn sassed.

“Don’t be a pill.”

Would Quinn want to take back how intimately Vadim had learned her body? The orgasms that followed? The neck massages and small talk on his soft couch? Would she want to ignore the handful of kisses that had awakened her to her core? Would she want to skip past Vadim meeting Mila and the emotions that followed? Would she want to pretend he hadn’t forced her to slow down and enjoy her time in the French Riviera? She currently sported a tan line for the first time since childhood. “No, I guess I wouldn’t.”

“Me, either,” Rosie added.

“Where does that leave us?” Quinn asked. She’d never been at this crossroads before. Where do you go after love is lost?

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