Page 23 of Sin for You

No, I wanted this change for me. I just had to work out where to start. I took in the overstuffed racks again and sighed.

The bell above the door jingled and I looked up as Cal’s fiancée, Cassy, walked in. Cassandra Deighton had been born into a wealthy family, was extremely beautiful, and from what I knew of her, was an awesome human being.

Her face lit up when she saw me, which was a nice change from the frowns Bull had been liberally throwing my way since the incident in his room at Rocktown Ink three days ago.

“Hey, Quinn.”

I smiled, and it wasn’t hard. I genuinely liked this woman. A lot of horrible things had happened between her family and Cal’s. Dane and Bull had been caught up in the fallout of an awful situation and had paid the price for it. Dane being put into the system at twelve, and in Bull’s case, a stint in prison, was the result.

But Cassy wasn’t like her ruthless father. She was good people. And if Cal and Dane and Bull, after everything that had happened between her family and theirs, trusted and liked her—and in Cal’s case, loved her like crazy—then I had no reason not to like her as well.

“Hey, how’ve you been?”

She grinned. “Pretty good.” The grin softened. “Couldn’t be better, as a matter of fact.”

“You can cut that out,” I said, smirking at her.

Cassy blushed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You loved-up types make me nauseous, seriously.”

She paled a little, her smile slipping. “Quinn, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think, that was insensitive…”

I held up my hands, stopping her. “Hey, you have nothing to be sorry about. Honestly. You and Cal are perfect together. Even if Dane told me he’s stopped going to your place because you’re all over each other,” I said teasing.

The last thing I wanted was her censoring what she said because of my crappy luck with men or apologizing for being happy.

Her smile came back. “The boy has a weak stomach, obviously. We’re a joy to be around.”

I chuckled and watched as she flicked through a rack then glance at me out of the corner of her eye. “Looking for anything in particular?”

“You saw me come in here, didn’t you?”

Her mouth twisted to the side. “I thought you might like some help. I take it you’re looking for something for the exhibition?”

“Am I that obvious?”

She shook her head, her expression all too knowing. “I just noticed that you liked jeans…a lot. Don’t get me wrong, you look good in them, really good, but I know how hard it is to step out of your comfort zone when it comes to clothes, and other things. I just…” She looked kind of shy all of a sudden. “Tell me to butt out if I’m overstepping.”

Yep, I liked Cassy a lot. And right then I thought I might actually love her. “If you try to walk out that door and leave me here, I’m going to tackle you on the pavement and drag you back inside.”

She laughed.

I glanced around the room at the groaning racks. “I’m not sure we’re going to find what we need here.”

“You’d be surprised. No harm in looking.”

I watched as Cassy combed the store, like every rack, front to back. And Morning Glory had a lot of racks. Every now and then she’d pull something out, give it a once-over, screw up her face, and put it back. But there were a couple of times she’d whipped something out and handed it to Glory, the owner of the store, to take to the changing room.

Finally, Cassy lifted her head, blue eyes lit up with pleasure, and rubbed her hands together. “Are you ready to try them on?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

* * *

Cassy threw her head back and laughed so hard she almost fell off the couch.

“What?” I said innocently, then gave up and laughed with her. “Okay, my early dating life was…eventful.” I’d been regaling her with tales from the crypt. Or rather tales from bad dates past that I’d locked away in a mental catacomb, never to be thought of again.