Free Test Shot by Cari Quinn Page A

throughout the meal about a wide range of subjects. Sports earned the bulk of the conversational time. Sawyer preferred the Marlins because he’d attended college for two semesters in Florida. Aidan commented on his love of the Bears. She didn’t have a team because she didn’t care about sports and didn’t care if that meant she wasn’t an evolved female.
    “What’s your family like?” she asked, reaching for more butter.
    “Well, my older sister Patty’s an oncologist. She also participates in triathlons and—” Aidan stopped at Layla’s eye roll. “What?”
    “Not you, smart-ass. Sawyer.”
    “Sorry.” Aidan tried to hide his smile behind his napkin.
    Sawyer reached for another roll. He’d gone through two of them so far. Where he put all those carbs, she had no clue. “Small family. My mom raised me, and my little sister, Colleen, on what she made as a secretary until her back gave out and she had to go on disability. I dropped out of college and started working construction not long after. Then Colleen got married and had a baby. Husband left, Colleen and Max moved in with Mom.”
    “What about your dad? Any grandparents?”
    “Dad’s remarried with a new family. Don’t talk to him or his side of the family. Mom’s parents died years ago.” He shrugged again and forked up green beans. For a big, hardy guy, he seemed to like his veggies well enough. “It’s always been my mom, my sister, and me. We’re pretty tight.”
    Sounded like the antithesis of Aidan’s family, she mused, picking up her glass of water. They had the intact nuclear unit, but she’d always believed Aidan’s parents had married for appearances more than love. Aidan barely talked to his sister except at holidays.
    Her family was different. Her brothers were her best friends. She adored her parents and loved that they still treated each other like high school crushes rather than as people who’d been married thirty-plus years. Being so far away from them was beyond difficult, and no amount of phone calls or e-mails alleviated the pain.
    “You must miss them.” She rested her cheek on her fist. Sawyer would understand how she felt, she just knew it. Not just empathize as Aidan did.
    Sawyer looked up from buttering his roll. “Every hour.” His quick smile didn’t lighten the heaviness in his eyes. “But here, I can do some good for them. I can make some decent money and send it back home. And thanks to you, I might make a lot more.” He toasted her with his roll and bit in.
    She caught Aidan’s glance across the table and sat back in her chair. All of a sudden, her dinner weighed like a boulder in her stomach, though she hadn’t eaten much.
    “Now you’ve done it. You’ve made Layla feel even guiltier than she did before.”
    “Why should you feel guilty?”
    “Why?” She gaped at Sawyer. “You contacted me for work, and now you’re here eating our steak and beans so we can fuck you later.”
    Aidan cocked a brow. “Careful with the we ’s, darling.”
    A smile crept around Sawyer’s mouth. “Bonus round, far as I’m concerned.”
    “It won’t have anything to do with Hot Shots. You can still deal with any of the agents you’d like, and I’ll stay out of it.” She leaned forward until Sawyer met her gaze. “Everything can still proceed as planned, if you decide to sign with us. It’ll all stay way above board, I promise.”
    “Layla, I love you, but Christ, you’re clueless when it comes to setting a mood.” With a sigh, Aidan rose and tossed his napkin on the table. “I’m going to take a shower. I trust when I return you’ll have settled this once and for all so we can proceed.”
    Silence followed his exit.
    Layla stared miserably at the hands she’d fisted in her lap. “This feels wrong. I don’t know what we’re doing.”
    “What feels wrong? Having me here?”
    The gentleness of Sawyer’s tone made her eyes smart. “No. That feels right.” Too right, from where she was sitting.