Page 94 of Just Let Go

“What’s wrong?”

She turned and found him looking at her. “Just thinking through the steps. I want to make sure I get it right.” Back to focusing on the wall, head tilted, imagining the way it would look once it was finished.

He leaned across the counter from the opposite side, still watching her.

After too many unnerving seconds, she dared a glance in his direction. “What?”

“Is this normal for you?” He folded his hands, and leaning on his elbows, he looked relaxed.

“Is what normal for me?”

“All of this second-guessing. Making sure things are perfect. It’s no wonder you never try anything new.”

She spun around and faced him. “I went skiing yesterday.”

“Practically on a dare.”

“Can we not talk about this again?”

“Because you know I’m right.”

She turned back around. “Well, is it normal for you to wake up with women you hardly know?”

Quinn had the sensation of watching the words spiral away from her as she tried to throw a lasso over them and pull them back in. What was wrong with her?

He pushed himself upright—thankfully, because now he was behind her and couldn’t see how red her cheeks must be. “You’re talking about Ashley.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “No, it’s none of my business. Forget I said anything.”

“She bothers you, doesn’t she?”

For the love. Why couldn’t she just have kept her mouth shut? “No, she’s fine. Ashley is a perfectly lovely girl. I hope you guys are very happy.”

Sarcasm did not become her.

He moved to the other side of the counter, the side where she was standing.No, no, no.She didn’t trust the way it felt when he was close—edgy and out of sorts.

“I don’t know what you read about me,” he said.

She stared at the wall. “Grady, really, forget I said anything. This is not my business. I mean, we aren’t even friends.” She glanced at him just in time to see his face fall.

“We aren’t?”

She had a choice and she knew it. She could continue to be cruel and feel terrible about it tomorrow, or she could swallow her pride and extend the man even a little bit of kindness. That wouldn’t hurt, would it?

“I mean, we haven’t known each other long,” she said.

“Ashley came to the house this morning. I didn’t invite her—she just showed up.”

Why did the tightness inside her soften when he said that? She didn’t even know if it was the truth. “What did she want?”

He looked away, but his expression told her what she needed to know.

“Oh,” she said quietly.

Ashley was willing to give Grady things a man wants—things Quinn wasn’t willing to give. Not without a ring on her finger. And if that made her old-fashioned, so be it, but it was a decision she’d made a long time ago when Carly announced she was pregnant, later confirmed when Hailey found out she was pregnant too.

And it had cost her many second dates.

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