Page 7 of Kiss and Tell

Connor looked up thoughtfully at the ceiling.

“Seven?” he guessed.

“You tried working with seven different people and none of them worked out?” I asked.

“It’s not my fault,” Connor insisted. “None of them got my vision.”

“What vision would that be?”

It was important for me to understand what the client wanted, which wasn’t always easy. People without an eye for design weren’t always able to describe what they wanted in real, concrete terms.

“Why don’t we go to my office to talk about it?” Connor suggested.

That discernible spark of interest was back in his eyes, just as it had been when we’d first met.

He hadn’t said a thing about our previous flirtation in front of Jessie, but I had to wonder exactly what he might say if he got the two of us alone.

“You sure you want to take her back there?” Jessie asked.

“Why not?” Connor asked.

“That’s exactly what scared off the third guy,” she replied.

I suppressed a grimace. Maybe it wasn’t a come-on. Maybe whateverback theremeant, it was a test of some kind.

I couldn’t decide whether that was better or worse than being hit on by my hot, charming, and clearly interested new client.

“I want to see if Quinn can handle it,” Connor told Jessie.

That was hardly reassuring.

Connor gestured for me to follow him.

“You coming, too?” I asked Jessie, faintly nervous.

“Right behind you,” she replied.

We headed down the long hallway toward what I assumed was one of the rooms with his office. Instead, he continued walking to the end, until we reached the restroom with theout-of-ordersign on it.

Connor put his hand on the doorknob.

“Um… Are you—?” I began.

He twisted the knob and opened the door.

It wasn’t a bathroom inside.

It was another bar.

This time I couldn’t prevent the grimace.

This bar was dimmer than the one we’d just come from. It was danker. Stickier. The tables and chairs were all mismatched and there were unidentifiable stains on every surface.

“What…” I started to say.

“This would be the complication I was telling you about,” Jessie said.

“What is this place?” I managed to finish.