Free Designated Hitter (Reedsville Roosters Book 4) by Holley Trent Page B

leave, but that’d be contrary to my other needs, I suppose.”
    “Fire me,” he said stupidly. “I’ll do what you want.” Just keep me .
    He didn’t want to be fired. He just wanted Marina more than he wanted money. Maybe that sort of logic was how he’d ended up in the hole he was in at the moment. His feelings always got in the way of common sense. He didn’t even know what the sensible thing was at the moment.
    She returned to the bedroom with two washcloths. The damp one, she handed to Quinn. He cleaned himself up with it and watched her mop up the mess on the floor with the dry one.
    “Is that what you want?” She wadded the cloth and cast a dark gaze up to him. “Me to fire you?”
    “No.”
    “What do you want, then? You know, this… thing is getting complicated. Complicated scares me.”
    It didn’t exactly make him feel warm and fuzzy, either. He knew one thing for sure, though, and he was going to say it even if it got him in trouble with her. “I want to be your lover, Marina. The only lover, not just one of them.”
    She canted her head, eyes narrowed in mirth.
    He shrugged. He wasn’t going to lie. “I don’t share, and I don’t like to be shared.” He wanted a one-and-only, not a sequence of part-time lovers. That was probably one of the few ways he was old-fashioned.
    “Nor do I,” she said finally. “I’m greedy that way, I guess. I suppose when you’re selective about who you allow to be in your space, you crave that much more of those few people who make the cut.”
    “Do I make the cut?”
    She drew in a quiet breath, stood, and gently took the washcloth from him. “You… surprise me, Quinn. You’re not who I thought you were, and so far, I like what I know about you. I want to know more about you and what makes you tick.”
    “Same here.”
    She bobbed her eyebrows and shifted her weight. “Well, that puts me into a situation that has me questioning my ethics. There are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, and I’ve been ignoring them since the moment I agreed to let you do the work.”
    “So fire me. I always land on my feet. I’ll find something else.”
    “That’s mighty reckless of you.” Her tone might have sounded scolding, but her expression was thoughtful. Her gaze fixed on nothing in particular as she worried at her bottom lip. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. Contrary to how some of your former clients behaved, the contract I signed for the agency expressly discouraged this kind of fraternization.”
    “Does it feel dirty to you? Me being here?”
    She gnawed on that lip some more, not answering.
    “I’ll quit, Marina. Call the agency tomorrow,” he urged. “Tell them you’re all set and don’t need me anymore. I’ll go by the house and finish things up. I’ll make sure folks there know they’re not gonna be able to pull one over on ya. Let’s give this thing a go. If it doesn’t work?” He shrugged. “Fine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
    Except his broken heart.
    He had to try, though. He so badly needed to belong to someone—to her . She was the only woman he’d had anything more than a superficial relationship with in longer than he cared to recount.
    I’m a fucking loser .
    She furrowed her brow. “You sure?”
    He put on a smile for her, and it was probably weak. It was easier to smile big when he didn’t have shit at stake—when he didn’t give a damn. “I’ve never been surer about anything. It’s almost a relief.”
    She pushed a swath of her long, curly hair behind her ear and swallowed. “Okay, Quinn. Let me think about it.”
    He nodded and went to fetch his clothes. Before he got too far, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to her, flashing him that grin that made him want to prop a sword atop his shoulder and go out and conquer entire nations for her.
    “I didn’t say you had to leave,” she said. “You can stay here while I’m doing my thinking. I’ll toss these cloths into the hamper