“Sorry, it got away from me. But jeez, toots. That’s your third or fourth pass. Miss me that much?” he taunted.
She parked her fist on her hip. “In case you didn’t know, there’s a laundry room down this way. I’m doing the dirty clothes—including yours—and this is the shortest route, so passing by your office is a necessity, not a desire.”
“So sue me for not knowing. There are like five laundry rooms in this place. Wait. You’re doing my laundry?” Why the hell was she doing that? She wasn’t the damn maid.
“Uh, because your mom can’t and she asked me? No maid service while we’re sheltering in place, Sparky.”
Oh. Right. Well, didn’t he feel like an ungrateful jerk. “Uh, thanks for doing that.”
“How’d the interview go?”
“Meh, about what I expected. You know, though, there’s one thing that always bugs the shit out of me.” Why was he going here?
“What’s that?”
“Whenever they find out I’ve got an engineering degree, they act so damn surprised. Like I’m too stupid to have graduated in basket weaving, let alone earned a BE.”
“I get the same thing.”
“You do?” Stupid and Sarah didn’t go together. Annoying and Sarah, yes, but not stupid.
“Oh yeah, but it’s a little different. It’s more of a shocked look they get when they discover a woman could be a structural engineer.”
“No way. Not in this day and age.”
“Way. There are lots of holdouts who haven’t caught up to the twenty-first century. I feel like I’m being patronized sometimes, like they think what I’m doing is ‘cute’ when I really should be home taking care of my man.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” He knew better, he really did, but he couldn’t keep from needling her. Nor could he keep from making it worse. “Maybe if you had the right kind of man at home—”
“You’re really going there?” She shot him a look that told him he was skating on thin ice. “Don’t tell me, let me guess. If I had someone as awesome as ‘The Mighty Quinn,’ he’d become the center of the universe and I would be completely fulfilled?”
He grinned. “Sounds about right.”
She stooped, and before he knew what was coming, she hurled the beanbag at his head—and connected—then stomped off.
Chapter 13
Caution: Slippery When Wet
What an ass!
Sarah huffed and puffed into the kitchen. “Jerk! Why do I even try talking to the man? And why, oh why, do I let him get under my skin?”
“What did you say, Sunshine?” His closeness caught her by surprise, and she wheeled and yelped. When had he come up behind her?
“I need to hang a bell around your neck.”
He snorted. “Not gonna happen. Now what did you say?”
Instead of backing away, she pulled herself upright with all the kick-ass she had and waved him off. “You talk as if I’d be helpless to resist the Mighty Quinn if you decided I wasyour type.” What was wrong with her? She knew better than to goad him, damn it! Even knowing she was playing into his hands, she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
Amusement flickered in his warm cocoa eyes, and his fresh man-and-soap scent wafted up her nose. She gave herself an inner shake and reminded herself how everything about him irritated the hell out of her. Except he’d gone to special lengths to make sure she and Archer were well accommodated—hell, Sparky wasn’t even a dog lover—not to mention how generous he’d been with her salary. He’d opened up his house to her, making her feel as though she belonged there. Crap, he’d even thanked her for how she’d been treating his mom, as if it were a big burden, which it wasn’t.
With a shrug and a smirk, he plucked a trio of limes from a bowl on the counter and began juggling. “Lots of women seem to like the Mighty Quinn.”
“Is that a pet name for your dick?”She let out an unabashed bahaha.
He ignored her.
“Just because you’re a hotshot hockey player with a great smile doesn’t mean you know what a woman wants in the sack.”
Eyes trained on the limes, he broadened his grin, displaying his pearly whites. “You think I have a great smile?”
“Seriously? That’s all you got out of that?” Her eyes followed the circling green mini-footballs, then came to rest on his handsome face, decorated in day-old scruff, as he concentrated on what he was doing. His tongue protruded, caught between his teeth. Yeah, add that sculpted body to the mix, and she got why women fell all over themselves for this cocky, class-A jerk. He’d be hard to resist once he pulled out all the charm stops. Well, not hard for her to resist because she knew who and what he was. That probably didn’t apply to the rest of the female population, however—especially blond bimbos in danger of being dragged down from the weight of their boobs and lack of anything in their heads.
“No, I got the whole thing. But I gotta say—and not to brag or anything—if we’re scoring by orgasms, I’m pretty sure I’m okay in the sack. The Mighty Quinn doesn’t do anything halfway.” He caught all three limes and leveled a devilish look at her.
Heat surged in her core, and she burst out with a laugh to mask it. “You do understand women fake orgasms. All. The. Time.”
“Yeah, well, that may be …” He sounded mildly irritated, which made her smirk. Snatching up the limes once more, he tossed them in the air.
Whoa! He’s pretty damn good at juggling. “How long have you been doing that?” She tracked the limes, letting them lull her.
He didn’t take his eyes off the spinning fruit. “Juggling or having sex?”
She stifled the urge to reach out and snatch one of his stupid limes just to watch him screw up. “Juggling. I
