Their stay at the Four Seasons seemed like it was weeks ago instead of two days ago. Quinn and Rain had to check out the next morning after a ridiculously lavish breakfast and one more trip through the giant marble shower. Quinn found that she was sad to leave. That hotel room was like another world. One where anything was possible and she could allow herself to feel the things that she’d once considered forbidden.

It was easy to feel those things about Rain. He was good. Like deep down, soul deep good. It was unnatural, and made Quinn feel totally inadequate. Who would have thought that spending a night with a virgin would make her feel like the one without any experience?

He fell into the couple thing so easily. It was like he’d done it before even though he swore he hadn’t. She believed him now. It was something inside herself that told her to trust him and let that part of her worry go. Rain Rochon was a gentleman. An honest to god, hold the door open, hand at the small of your back gentleman.

It was a measure that Quinn had unknowingly established from watching too many romantic movies. The hero in those movies seemed to orbit around the object of their desires. She’d always thought it was a Hollywood trick.

Except that from the moment she’d met Rain, he had been holding her hand, positioning her away from cars or traffic, offering her food, or checking her temperature. That was a big thing for him. He’d literally asked her dozens of times if she was warm enough.

She wasn’t incapable of caring for herself. She’d been doing it for a very long time, and it was a heady responsibility knowing that she had someone that would jump for her if she asked. She also had to wonder if there was a limit to that selflessness and care. Could she be too much of a taker? Yet, Rain didn’t seem to mind. He’d smile when she accepted anything he offered. It made him happy to take care of her, that was clear. So who was she to deny him a little happiness?

“Keep telling yourself that,” she murmured. She was sitting in the child development class that she was taking as an elective. They were supposed to have broken up for group work and she must have looked like she’d scratch out anyone’s eyes that approached since they’d all found other partners. She didn’t care, it was a role-playing assignment, and it wasn’t something she was at all comfortable with. It was awkward and made her stand out even more that she didn’t have the empathy skills she needed. Quinn imagined that Rain was all empathy.

The idea of feeling for someone that was going through something you hadn’t was odd. Why not just leave them to their own life? Why does everyone have to have feelings for others?

“You are going to rock as a social worker,” she mumbled.

When it came to dealing with children, Quinn had tons of sympathy because she’d been through some of the same things they were struggling with. It was adults she tended to want to smack and tell them to figure it out for themselves.

Watching her fellow students pretending to be children was beyond obnoxious. She glanced up at the clock and saw there were another ten minutes left in the class. Was she grumpy because she had seen too much of Rain, or not enough?

He’d walked her back to her dorm after their morning class together and promised to call her later. He did, right on time, and they talked until they were both drowsy and finally hung up. Thursday she had to work so she texted him and he showed up at her door when she was leaving with a coffee in hand and a kiss. It was a really good kiss, so she forgave him for creeping outside her door.

“Are you following me?”

“Nope, I’ve got plans today. Just wanted to make sure you had your caffeine before your shift. Be careful, look both ways before crossing the street, and don’t talk to strangers.”

She shook her head at him like he was nuts. “My job is talking to strangers all day, Rain.”

“Well, try really hard to just guess what they want. You never know what kind of insane juice maniacs there are out there.”

“I’ll take that into account. Okay, well bye?”

“Bye, baby,” he said, kissing her hard and fast.

He walked away from her but then turned back and smiled and waved. She’d realized she’d been watching to see if he turned around. Of course he did.

She had to wonder if she would have turned back. Her immediate answer was no. But that was a total lie, she would have looked back to see if he was watching her walk away. Damn him. A few days in and she was a love junkie.

This is what made women so stupid. Love was a blinding fog that made everything seem warm and fuzzy. It was like an illusion that you were more than happy to fall into.

She hadn’t seen him since yesterday. There had been texts and a totally inappropriate round of phone sex last night, which had been totally hot.

Now she didn’t have plans for the rest of the afternoon and she didn’t know what she was going to do with herself. Not knowing if she’d see him, she changed out of her work shirt before she left.

She looked down at her faded Firefly t-shirt, that said, Not to fret, everything’s shiny captain, it was one of her favorites but had a fair sized hole in the hip. She didn’t want to spend the money on replacing it right now. Especially since she was saving up for the summer and her eventual need to move into her own place. There were going to be electric and internet bills to contend with soon.

There might have also been a part of her that was starting to wonder what Rain thought of her clothes. Did she dress too… un-feminine? Or maybe he’d like it if her hair was more normal? Brown, or blonde maybe. He’d never said that he didn’t like it. In fact, he rarely looked at her clothes. He was always so focused on her face.

The possibility that she was in a shitty mood because she missed him was becoming more obvious.

She glanced up at the clock at the same time her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from Rain.

Sorry, I was going to meet you after class. I need to run an errand, but will meet you at your room later?

A weird knot formed in her stomach as the thought of seeing him later made her happy. Then the knot twisted as she realized that he wasn’t going to be waiting for her when she walked out of class.

It didn’t set well with her that she was already feeling like she needed him to feel right or whole. That was scary as shit, and Quinn wasn’t sure that she could give up that much control.

Texting him back she said it was fine and she’d see him later. She resisted asking where he was going and who he was going with. That would be crazy girlfriend territory and she was stronger than that.

Glancing up when people started to move, she saw that class was breaking up. She made a beeline for the door so she wouldn’t have to wait for the crowd of slow walkers to meander out. Quinn kept her head down and went straight back to her dorm. Keeping her eyes on her feet, she managed to not bump into anyone on the way back. She felt like crying. That pissed her off and scared her at the same time.

She made it to her building and ran up the stairs. Fumbling for her keys she stopped short when a pair of high-heeled black boots with ankle chains wrapped around the leather came into view.

Those boots were familiar, oh so familiar. She let her eyes roam up the tight stretch pants to a crop top with fringe along the bottom that said Drunk Dingo in gold glitter writing. The shirt was covered with an old black leather jacket that was cracking along the creases that showed just how old it was. She wanted to stop at the jacket, but she had to keep going. Bright red lips, platinum blond hair that was long and braided, except for the teased bangs that were straight out of the nineties.

Then she got to the eyes. The eyes that were identical to hers. Still pretty after all these years, even under a heavy layer of black smoky eye shadow.

The woman looked her up and down then reached into her mouth with a hand sporting dagger-like orange acrylic fingernails and pulled out a wad of gum.

“What? You don’t have a hug for your momma?”

Letting out the breath she had been holding, Quinn waved weakly. “Hi, mom.”