At Your Most Beautiful by Harper Bliss (best free ereader .TXT) 📗

“Tommy likes older women as well,” Quinn mused.

“I don’t think Beth being a few years older than him compares to your over-sized mommy complex.” Griff fancied herself an armchair psychologist at times. After Quinn and Morgan had broken up, she’d given Quinn a long speech on why she believed Quinn liked older women so much.

“Down, girl.” Quinn hadn’t really listened to Griff’s explanation at the time. She’d been too upset to analyze herself for too long because she already felt like such a loser after allowing Morgan to trample over her heart. Griff had warned her about that too; luckily, she wasn’t the type for obnoxious I-told-you-so’s.

“So…” Griff rubbed her palms on her jeans. “What’s the plan? Do you have one?”

Quinn shook her head. “Maya’s not interested in me in that way.”

“How do you know?”

“She very specifically told me she wants to date women her own age.”

“I’m not talking about dating, Quinn. You’re looking for a rebound person, remember?”

“There wasn’t that kind of vibe between us this time.”

“Have you made plans to see each other again?”

“Not as such, although I did invite her to my show next month. And I’ll need to be in touch with her once I’m done retouching her picture. There are options, I guess.” Quinn couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. Seeing Maya had shaken her, which was perfectly understandable, but did she really want to go down that route with her again? On the other hand, there wasn’t any harm in it. So far, Maya was the only woman Quinn could even consider looking at in that way after Morgan, who was by all Quinn’s standards and definitions the hottest woman she’d ever laid eyes on—the cruelest too, as it turned out.

“Indeed, girl, let me lay out your options for you.” Griff tapped her fingers together the way she did when a plan was coming together for her. “Either you listen to what Morgan has to say to you, which I would not recommend. She had her chance. She blew it. She’s out.” She huffed out a breath. “Or you impress the hell out of Maya with the art you’ll make of her, which will also give you the perfect excuse to contact her. Seeing herself in one of your compositions can make a lady go a little weak at the knees, we know this.” Griff winked at her. “Or, you do nothing. Which is also fine. Personally, I have no moral objections against the latter two options.”

“Or we go to Marnie’s tonight and see what the night has in store for us.”

“Ugh, Quinn, don’t drag me out to Marnie’s tonight with your emotional blackmail.” Griff pushed Quinn’s knees out of the way and sank into the couch next to her. “I had a big night of staying in planned.” She gave Quinn a look. “Besides, when have you ever found anything resembling love at Marnie’s?”

“I won’t ask you to go with me, but I might just go and have a look myself.” Quinn knew Griff was probably right. The crowd at Marnie’s was not usually her taste—too young, too post-woke, too Gen Z.

“You do what you got to do, girl.” Griff patted Quinn’s knee. “Hopefully, you’ll be wiser tomorrow.”

Chapter 15

Angus mixed a rum and diet Coke for himself and a vodka and soda for Maya—she needed something to take the edge off, even though it was only early afternoon and she was due at Tommy’s in a few hours.

“So her name’s Beverly.” Angus offered her the drink, sat, and slung one leg over the other. “Are you going to show me her picture or do I need to beg to lay eyes on this hot piece of lesbian ass?”

Maya showed Angus Beverly’s picture on her phone.

“Hm,” he emitted a low groan from the back of his throat. “Is that what’s got you so agitated? She looks fine, but in my very, very humble opinion, you can do so much better.”

“You’ve only seen her picture.” Maya had known Angus for a mere few months, since she’d moved into the apartment across from him, but she knew him well enough to not take his superficial judgements too seriously. “We’ve been chatting. She comes across as very sweet.”

“Sweet? Is that really what you want?” He fixed his dark gaze on her. “Girl, you want someone to blow your mind.” He huffed out some air. “Someone you’re not likely to find on an app like that.”

“Anyway.” Maya put her phone away. She wasn’t going to let Angus ruin her date before it had even happened. “That’s not the reason why I might appear a little tense this afternoon.”

“You should take her out dancing.” It took a while before Angus could settle into listening mode—like many men, gay or straight, he was rather fond of the sound of his own voice. “See what she’s made of.”

As soon as Maya had told Angus she was a dance teacher, he had pushed his living room furniture to the side and demanded she take him for a spin around the floor. He turned out to have a fabulous sense of rhythm and excellent knowledge of ballroom steps. “Don’t date her if she can’t dance, Maya. It will kill your beautifully free spirit.” Maya was quite taken with Angus’ flair for exaggerated dramatics. He was most certainly a high-maintenance man, but he also made her laugh like no one else had in years.

Maya waited patiently for Angus to catch up on what she’d admitted a few seconds earlier. She took a sip of her drink, which he always made too strong. She didn’t mind today.

“Do tell,” he nodded, and fell silent.

“I’ve never told anyone what I’m about to tell you.” She swallowed hard. What would it feel like to give voice to what she had experienced with Quinn ten years ago? There was only one way to find out. “I slept with another woman for the first time ten years ago. It was a