Free Hearts in Motion by Edie Ramer Page B

up the ladder until she was on the perch below Quigley’s. Quigley, that’s very smart of you.
    I can be smart.
    Of course you can. Minnie reached up a paw and patted his head. It was important to encourage him when he did something right. Maybe he might even do it more often.
    Then she turned and jumped down, perch by perch.
    She would wait until Mom came home again. Then she would see if she should tell Quigley to use his claws to rip the man’s face open.
    ***
    Music spilled out of the bar, onto the sidewalk where Abby sat at a small table, holding a beer and leaning toward her surprise date. It was dusk out, day blending into night, and three young women walked past them, three young men following close behind, like bloodhounds after rabbits. Abby felt free and young herself tonight, her blood pulsing in time with the music.  
    “I still can’t believe your aunt fixed me up with you.” She grinned at Ryan Ramsay. He was still a hunk with his tousled, golden-blond hair and his bright blue eyes. He even came with dimples, the whole package. Maybe too much of a package. For her, at least. Already tonight, a couple young women had strutted by, giving him the eye and sticking out their assets, top and bottom, for him to ogle.
    “You know what Aunt Daisy said?” he asked.
    “That I was funny and cute and smart?”
    He laughed. “That you were all wrong for me. We’re too alike, and we wouldn’t have a speck of attraction.”
    “And she’s right.” Abby lifted the beer to her mouth.
    “Nope, she’s wrong.”
    Abby fought to swallow the beer before she laughed. “You mean you’d do me?”
    “In a second.”  
    “A second? Is that how long you last?”  
    The waiter, stopping at their table with a cheeseburger and chips for him and fries for her, laughed.  
    Ryan grinned. When the waiter left, he said, “Hey, give me credit. I can go for at least twenty seconds.”
    She smiled at him, relaxed and in her zone. No tension, which was good. No sexual tension, which wasn’t good.
    In another time and place—the awful years after her parents had died—on the few nights Grace slept over at a friend’s, she would’ve done him, too. Just to feel alive and wanted and not alone.
    It was a good thing she hadn’t run into him during those years. Not while...
    Well, it didn’t matter, she reminded himself. His brother was engaged to the perfect Portia, and she doubted they were celibate.
    “Hey, something wrong with the fries?”
    She shook her head and forced a smile. “They’re greasy and unhealthy as hell. The best kind.”
    He lifted his burger, took a large bite, and chewed with his mouth closed while a glob of ketchup dribbled down the corner of his mouth.
    If he’d been a different man—like his brother—she might be tempted to get up, lean toward him, and lick the ketchup off his face.
    Life was playing tricks on her again.
    Instead, she handed him a napkin and pointed at his chin.
    “Something’s wrong?” He wiped the ketchup from his face. “What is it? I’ll take care of it.”
    She wrinkled her nose and shrugged one shoulder. “You don’t want to hear about it.”
    “I’m a good listener.”
    “Really?”
    “Ah, a skeptic.” He leaned forward. “It’s true. The secret of my success with the opposite sex. The best aphrodisiac is just listening to a woman. Not trying to fix her, just listening.”
    She chuckled. “That sounds like you. I admire your honesty. It’s too bad I’m not attracted to you.”
    “Shouldn’t I get a consolation prize for making you laugh?”
    “Sure.” She held out her plate to him. “Have a fry.”
    He took one. “Worth the evening out. So what have you been doing since we last saw each other?”
    “Your brother didn’t tell you?”
    “Tell me what?”
    “That I’m in the same business as your family.”
    His brows slashed down, the easygoing enjoyment on his face wiped out. “A furniture company?”
    She nodded. “So far, we’re going