added two bags of chips and a can of nuts to her basket, and went to stand in another line for coffee. She hoped it didn’t run out before she got to it.
The man in front of her glanced back when she shifted her weight to look past him. After the first quick, casual glance, he took another, longer look, and his demeanor changed. She sighed inwardly. Working in a bar, a woman got a good education on the body language of flirtatious men. And sure enough, the words that came out of his mouth were, “Have I seen you here before?”
“Absolutely not.” She tried to hide her amusement. She had to look atrocious.
They moved forward. “I’m sure I have. I wouldn’t forget a face like yours.” Of course, he wasn’t looking at her face. She wished guys like him thought harder about this stuff. Standing here would be less tedious if he had a unique line.
“You’re up,” she said. He glanced down at himself, then frowned quizzically at her. She jerked her chin toward the coffee. “Your turn.”
“Darn, our fun is over.”
Quinn rolled her eyes and said nothing, standing back while he filled two cups. A woman by the front counter caught her eye. She glared at Quinn, who shrugged. It wasn’t her fault this guy was an ass, and an idiot to boot if he had a girlfriend or wife nearby.
“All yours,” he said, grinning wide. Quinn shook her head in disgust. He joined the woman at the counter, who laid into him. His voice rose in defense, and they were so engrossed in their argument as they went out the door that they almost knocked Nick over.
He stared after them, then narrowed his eyes at Quinn as she approached and handed him his large dark roast, black.
“You do that?”
“Hardly.” She set the basket on the counter. “And both coffees, please,” she told the cashier, who nodded and rang everything up. “All I did was stand there and try not to hurl.” She paid the cashier and accepted the bag. “I can’t help it if men are scum.”
“You don’t have to wear those sexy tops.”
She barked a laugh and went out the door Nick held for her. “My one-hundred-percent-cotton Walmart special?” She plucked at the loose fabric. “The one that comes all the way up to my neck? Yeah, real sexy.”
Nick opened the car door. Quinn slid in. He bent down and said, “Walmart knows how to do clothes that cling in all the right places.” Then he winked and slammed the door, leaving her laughing.
A moment later they merged back onto the four-lane divided highway, sliding between a couple of Toyotas. The one behind them zipped into the outer lane to pass, causing an approaching semi to lay on the horn.
Quinn jerked around to look when the truck honked, but Nick never flinched. “Traffic’s usually a lot lighter through here,” she commented.
“The rain always fucks everybody up.” He checked the side mirror and blind spot and pulled out around the car in front of them, which had reacted to the horn by slowing to forty miles an hour. The rain was still coming down so hard, Quinn could barely see the farmland on either side of the highway. She was glad Nick was driving.
She waited until they’d gone a few miles and traffic thinned out away from the exit. The rain had lightened a little, too, so she opened the bag and offered Nick a sandwich. “Ham and cheese, turkey, or PB and J.”
“Ham. Thanks.” He set it on his thigh. Quinn pulled out the PB and J for herself and flipped up the little tab on her coffee lid to drink. Nick stopped unwrapping his sandwich and looked around, sniffing. “What the hell is that smell?”
“What smell?” She picked up the sandwich and sniffed it. “Seems okay to me.” She unwrapped half and handed it back to him. He smelled it.
“No, not that. Smells…sweet. Like an air freshener.” He looked at her incredulously, then quickly back at the road. Taillights flashed ahead of them. “You didn’t.”
“Didn’t what?” She lifted her coffee cup to her mouth again and realized what he’d smelled. “Oh, my coffee.”
“What the hell? Did you get one of those powdered mix things?”
“No! I drained the dark roast for you. All that was left was decaf or French vanilla.”
He made a gagging noise. “Well, drink it fast. That crap lingers.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nick tore into the sandwich, devouring the first half in three bites. “How long