Quinn no longer seemed amused. “No. Nope. That’s completely unnecessary, Lovebug. I know you have your own very important work to do, and so do we.”
I did. I definitely did. I needed to get the hell out of there and get on with my day.
“You’re so thoughtful, Kittycat.” I leaned over and placed a kiss on the tip of his nose.
“Kittycat?” he grumbled.
“That one’s gonna stick,” I murmured back with a smile.
“I’m still waiting for my apology,” Quinn muttered.
“Don’t hold your breath,” I said the same way. “Oops! Phone call. Let me just grab this really quickly, Sugar Bear.”
While Quinn led Marissa and Trey to the front of the shop, I took the call from Hux.
“Sitrep,” I demanded.
“You were right.” Hux sounded out of breath. “Trixie had it but said she sold it to a collector from Nashville.”
Fuck. “Any intel on who the collector is?”
“Not yet. Riggs is still sweet-talking her. And you weren’t kidding about the paranoia level. They’re right now discussing government surveillance mosquitos, and Riggs just shared his recipe for homemade insect repellent. I’m wondering if Riggs’s boyfriend should be jealous.”
I glanced through the doorway to the front of the wedding planning shop, where an older couple had just joined the party. The older man had the same dark, wavy hair the bride had.
He looked really familiar for some reason, but I couldn’t place him.
But Trey had used their entry to sidle a little closer to Quinn.
“Told you,” I said absently.
The bride was waving her hands happily in the air as she seemed to be explaining to her parents that Quinn was a bride too. “Well, not a bride, obviously, but like… a groom? Is that right? Wait…” She frowned. “We need a new name. A gride! Or a broom!”
Quinn’s eyes widened, and his lips opened as if to explain why broom might not be the best choice. But then he bit his tongue and glanced over at me. My eyes were still frozen on his lips as I remembered all of the ways those lips had made me feel the night before.
Quinn Taffet had magic fucking lips.
“Boss?” Hux prompted.
I blinked. “Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Yeah, so… wait. Doesn’t your friend Kev know any game collectors from Nashville? He used to live there, and he’s as obsessed with the game as you are. Find out.”
Hux hesitated. “First, Kev is not my friend. He’s Riggs’s boyfriend’s cousin, and he’s insufferable. And second… he and I are kind of still on the outs from when I accidentally commandeered his orc forces to storm the Forbidden Quagmires of Sod.”
I hated when my team talked in gamer speak. Even though HOG Corporate was one of our biggest clients, I wasn’t familiar enough with Horn of Glory to understand half the shit Hux and the others talked about.
It was kind of a point of pride.
“Dude, just… mend your fucking fences, throw Kev an orc or two, and get me some intel.”
I ended the call and slid the phone into my pocket. I needed to get to the office and do some research before my client meeting, which meant I needed to leave… but when I peeked back out into the shop, I saw Trey eyeing the chair beside Quinn at the small conference table.
Without thinking, I strode out to the front room and shoved a chair between Quinn’s and the one Trey had been eyeing.
What was I doing? Not a clue. But I was going to keep doing it.
“Pardon,” I said, giving Trey my best eat-shit smile.
Quinn’s eyes narrowed as I brushed shoulders with him. “Pumpkin Roll… I’m fairly sure you were adamant you were running late when you so lovingly left me earlier this morning. You should go to work.”
I flashed him a big grin, which seemed to startle him. “Nonsense. I wouldn’t miss a chance to watch you perform your magic. You know I’m a sucker for weddings.” Quinn gaped at me. I couldn’t blame him. “Marissa is right, Dumpling. You’ll make a lovely broom.”
He opened his mouth to say something—probably something really snarky that I shouldn’t have been looking forward to hearing but was—when Trey spoke up.
“We should get on with this,” he said listlessly. “I have some calls to make.”
A tiny wrinkle formed between Marissa’s eyebrows. “You promised to take the day off, Trey. Mother and Daddy have luncheon scheduled at the Prim, and we’re choosing wedding favors.”
“Nothing could be more important than that,” Marissa’s father said firmly.
Trey nodded quickly.
Quinn’s face lit up. “I love eating at the Primrose. You must try their pimento cheese quiche and peach mojito fizz.”
Marissa reached her manicured hand over and placed it on Quinn’s forearm as she leaned closer. “Oh my gosh, right? And their Vidalia Hoops. To. Die. For.”
This was a side of Quinn I’d never seen before. After as much time as I’d spent with him, mostly naked and sweaty, discovering he had a Southern socialite side was a surprise. Maybe it shouldn’t have been. He was a wedding planner in Tennessee, after all, but it made me a little curious to find out what else I didn’t know about him.