Hoping she was done, Riley sighed when another question popped up.What kind of music do you like?She groaned and wanted to throw her phone across the kitchen.They were mean questions that didn’t do people like her any good. They made her feel inadequate and robotic, like she wasn’t a real person if she couldn’t answer them. Randomly selecting a few genres, she was relieved to see the message,Congratulations! You’ve now set up your profile. Just a few more steps.
“Thank God,” she muttered under her breath. The only thing left to do was to choose her radius, which she set to within twenty miles of Mystic, and her sexual preference. She selected “men,” then hovered over the “women” and “both” options.What am I doing?She frowned as she felt a hint of excitement. The subtle tingle in her belly made her pause, and she put her phone down and topped up her wine. Taking long sips, she stared at her screen while she tried to analyze what was going on. Why was she even considering women? Was it because of Quinn? Was she suddenly feeling adventurous in her new life stage? The answer had been straightforward before, but she wasn’t so sure anymore.Men. Women. Both. Come on, Riley. It’s a simple question.
What if she checked the “both” box? That meant she could look at female profiles and get an idea of what kind of women were on there. If she browsed tonight, she could change the setting back tomorrow and no one would know. There was nothing wrong with a little snooping to pass the time. Right?
After downing her glass of wine, Riley bit the bullet and ticked “both.” There. She’d done it. Feeling a little tipsy, she went to the profile section, and the first seven profiles were men. Two of them seemed okay, but she wasn’t that interested. Truthfully, all she really wanted to do was look at women while she had the chance. When she swiped to the next profile and saw a pretty, dark-haired woman, she tapped her screen to look at the other pictures. A picture ofEmpress2000,as she called herself, in revealing lingerie put her off, so she continued browsing the five hundred and thirty profiles left. There were far less potential female matches, and that made sense, as most of the population was straight. Many clearly had a fake profile picture, which made Riley think they might be married, or perhaps they were men pretending to be women.
Getting bored as she didn’t see anyone who spiked her interest, Riley was about to give up when a picture of Quinn appeared, with the profile nameMystic84. She slammed a hand in front of her mouth and sat there, frozen. It wasn’t strange that she showed up; Quinn was single, gay, and lived nearby, but Riley was still shocked to see her. It was a great picture of her face against a blue sky that was almost the exact same color as her eyes. She smiled into the camera and Riley goofily smiled back at her screen while she poured herself more wine. Then she tapped the other pictures and indulged. There was one of Quinn with a beer on the roof of a barge, and one of her and Lindsey on a beach, which especially caught Riley’s attention, as Quinn was wearing bikini shorts and a flimsy white tank top. She had a great body, toned and tanned, and her wet hair was slicked back.
Riley felt it again: the tingle. It was stronger this time, followed by a flash of heat that shot between her thighs. She hadn’t felt anything like that in years, certainly not as intense. Quinn turned her on, and now that she had the chance to really look at her, she couldn’t stop. The profile told her that Quinn loved to swim, spend time with her family and friends, and eat Italian food, but she didn’t give much else away apart from that she was looking for “something casual.” Riley squeezed her legs together at the latter, and her mind filled with fantasies. Quinn was looking for sex, and for some reason, that fired her up.
Then another thought made her stomach drop. If she could see Quinn’s profile, Quinn would be able to see her too. Riley had been so busy staring at her pictures she hadn’t noticed the green light above them that indicated Quinn was online. “Fuck,” she hissed, then quickly went into her own profile to change her settings. In her panic, she couldn’t find where to untick her preference for “both,” and terrified she’d show up on Quinn’s feed, she deleted her profile altogether.
When the termination of her profile was confirmed, Riley leaned back and let out the breath she’d been holding. Her pulse was racing, her hands were shaking, and as she got up from her chair, she realized she’d had too much wine.
20
QUINN
“Anything interesting?” Lindsey asked, scrolling through dating profiles on her phone. She propped her feet up on the coffee table, grabbed a cookie from the box on her lap, and broke half off for Quinn.
“Not really. Same old, same old. You?” Quinn was sitting next to her, equally slouched.
“I have a match with someone called Nick. He’s a lawyer, and he lives nearby.” Lindsey held up her phone to show Quinn a picture of a man sitting on a beach with his dog. “He’s cute, right?”
“Don’t ask me if he’s cute.” Quinn scrolled through his profile and nodded. “But he seems nice. He’s got a dog, so he likes animals. I see a wine bottle on the table, so that’s one thing you have in common…” She smirked as she read up on him. “But his passions are running, climbing, and he’s a clean eater, so you may not be the best match.”
“I can be a clean eater,” Lindsey protested.
Quinn laughed and pointed to the cookies. “You’re addicted to sweet stuff. You could never be a clean eater.”
“Hey, I only eat half of everything.”
“Sure. You give me half, and then when I start declining the other halves, you still end up eating the rest, which is eighty percent of the box.” Quinn handed the phone back to her. “But go ahead and message him. He’s probably got great stamina after all that running and clean eating, so if you’re looking for a one-night stand, he’s perfect.”
Lindsey rolled her eyes and chuckled. “You know what? Fuck it. I’m going to message him. It’s been a while and I could do with some action.”
While Lindsey typed a message—Quinn suspected she was lying about her slouchy lifestyle and telling him she was a marathon runner—she continued to scroll through the profiles. A notification appeared, telling her there was a potential new match in close proximity, so she clicked on it and frowned as she stared at a picture of Riley. Instinctively, she gasped, and her initial reaction was to show Lindsey, but something told her that was a bad idea, so she kept quiet. With her friend distracted, she shifted on the couch so Lindsey couldn’t see her screen and read the profile ofAster1. Apparently, Riley’s job was in renovations now, and that amused her. No one was ever entirely honest on these apps, and she occasionally told a little white lie herself.
“What’s going on?” Lindsey looked up from her screen but only for a moment.
“Nothing. Already swiped past her. You know what it’s like.” Quinn hoped Lindsey was too busy with Nick to notice the tremble in her voice, as she was utterly shocked to see Riley in her pool of potential matches.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” Lindsey mumbled, engrossed in her message.
Quinn studied Riley’s picture and felt that old familiar stir again. She was simply beautiful, and apparently, she had an interest in women.I knew I was right. She’d felt it when they were repairing Riley’s door; she had an instinct for women checking her out. Should she give her a “like”? Sipping her tea, Quinn thought about that, but just as she decided to do so, Riley’s profile disappeared. She went back, trying to find it and even used the search option, but there was no sign ofAster1on the dating site, and the only conclusion she could draw from that was that Riley had deleted her profile.How strange.
“How about this?” Lindsey asked, showing her the message she’d typed to Nick.
Having trouble concentrating after what she’d just seen, Quinn glanced over it and nodded. “Go for it.”
“What? You’re not even going to tell me I’m a liar?” Lindsey’s eyes widened. “What’s up with you?”
“Nothing. It’s a great message.” She glanced over it again and vaguely registered Lindsey had announced she was an ex-professional athlete. “Lying is okay as long as it’s only for a one-night stand.”
“Good.” Lindsey propped her feet underneath her and helped herself to another half cookie. “I hope he gets back to me tonight. He’s not online right now.” Then she slammed a hand in front of her mouth and turned to Quinn. “What if he wants to meet up tonight? I’m not even decent. I haven’t shaved in weeks.”
Quinn laughed. “It’s not like he’ll expect you to be up for sex on the first date, let alone rock up straight after he’s messaged you back.” She rolled her eyes. “You’re always so invested. Just chill out. If it happens, it happens.”
