Loving Dallas - Caisey Quinn Page 0,30
door and told myself this was for the best. What would having breakfast together or sharing a cab to the airport change? Nothing, that’s what.
This time, I’d been the one to leave. For the sake of my sanity and my heart, I could never fall into bed with Dallas Lark again. Here I’d been hoping that one day we could be friends, and our first actual attempt turns into . . . I don’t even know what. I’ve never been a fuck-buddy type of girl. Not that I don’t see the appeal to an exclusively physical mutually beneficial relationship, because I do. But it always seemed like a silly distraction, a waste of time that could be better spent finding something stable long term. But that, last night . . . I may not know exactly what it was, but it sure as hell wasn’t a waste of time.
I couldn’t stop thinking of him, of the way he looked at me, the smell of him, the way his calloused fingers felt on my skin, that stubble on his jaw, and dear Lord in Heaven, those sexy as sin whispered confessions. But now I was in Los Angeles getting ready for the National Business Bureau’s award ceremony, where I was accepting the award for Most Successful Family Run Business for Midnight Bay and I needed to focus. I called Katie to run through the reminders for the Kickin’ Up Crazy show she was handling in Kansas City and she wasn’t going to just let it go. Even though I was desperately trying to.
“Come on, Robyn. You never came back to the room last night. You expect me to believe the two of you spent the night reminiscing about the good old days? Have a sing-along, did you?”
I laugh at Katie’s pouting. I did get to hear him sing a little and her words conjure the erotic memory but I shake it off the best that I can. “No sing-alongs.”
I’m not like her. I didn’t have a lot of female friends growing up. I had Dixie, but she definitely didn’t want to hear about my sexual exploits with her brother. I had sorority sisters in college but mostly I kept my private business to myself.
“You’re really not going to give me any details?” Katie whines as I step into my four-inch heels.
I can already tell how badly my feet are going to hurt later. Between these shoes and my night with Dallas, I’m starting to wonder if maybe I’m a masochist.
“I’m going to give you lots of details. That’s why I called.”
She squeals and I grin wickedly in the mirror above the bathroom sink.
“First, make sure the VIP sections are spaced far enough apart for separate lines. Jase’s line will be crazy long so make sure it doesn’t interfere with any of the entrances or exits or crowd flow into the amphitheater. Second, make sure you upload the pictures Drew takes to the cloud so that I can access them and get them to the social media guys. Third—”
“You are no fun,” Katie interrupts flatly.
“I was plenty of fun last night. Today is about business.”
“I don’t think I like you anymore.” There’s a smile in her voice so I’m not too worried.
“Yeah, yeah. You love me. Anyway, I need to go but I’ll text you the rest, okay?”
“Got it.” Katie’s quiet for a moment before she says, “Hey, Robyn?”
“Yeah?” I give my hair one last tousle with my free hand.
“Um, it really is none of my business. And I am totally not judging you because I don’t think a girl in the world would’ve been able to turn that guy down after the show he put on last night, but . . .”
I freeze where I’m standing, hand still in my hair, while I wait for her to finish.
“It’s just . . . it’s him. So . . .”
I sigh and let my hand fall. “Just say it, Katie-O. Whatever it is, just say it.”
“I hope you know what you’re doing. And that you don’t get hurt like before.”
Staring at my too-wide eyes in the mirror, I ask myself if I know what I’m doing. My brain morphs into a Magic 8 Ball that only answers me with “outlook not so good.”
“Me, too, Katie. Me, too.”
I woke up alone.
Feeling cheap and used.
I had a great time, girl.
But you left me sore and abused.
Song lyrics. Dallas is texting me song lyrics in the middle of the ceremony that has already dragged on entirely