I didn’t think we were here yet. I mean, I feel it too, but I didn’t know we were ready for the full-out I love yous—except, holy shit. I am. I know I am. I want to lean in and kiss him speechless, but it seems he really does have more to say.
“I fell for different parts of you, separately at first, and I was so torn thinking I was in love with two women. Thank fuck you were Sherlock4Love because now I love every piece of you. I love the playful arguments, the way you go after what you want, your intelligence and wit, and your Sherlock-loving heart. You made me fall for you twice, and I can’t imagine a better sign than that. You and me? I think we were always going to find our way to each other.”
A tear escapes my welling eyes, and he wipes it away with a sweep of his thumb. “What’s that favorite Sherlock quote of yours?”
I frown, searching my mind for conversations I’d had with Prof.M., trying to figure out just what he’s referring to. “You mean the one about how when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? That’s not the exact quote, but that’s the sentiment.”
He smiles. “At first, I kept thinking about how we seemed like an impossible match. I couldn’t wrap my head around why I kept thinking about you the way I did. And then I held you, kissed you, and I never would have thought it, but as improbable as we seem with all of our arguing, there is truth between us. There is understanding. And there is love. At least, I think so.”
I can’t hold it in any longer. “Damon, I love you.”
“You do?” He grins and pulls me against his chest.
I nod, soaking in this moment. “I do love you. Especially when we argue, so don’t stop doing that. It’s actually kind of hot.”
“Well, then let’s hurry and tell Mrs. Smith and Jake our decision, so I can get you the hell home and argue with you some more. I want to argue with you every day and burn for you every night.”
“You’d better bring your A game, then, Professor Moriarty.” I smirk as we turn to leave the conference room.
Before I can open the door, he grips the back of my neck, turning me to face him and kisses me hard.
“Always, Sherlock. I’m looking forward to facing off with you again and again.”
Epilogue
Quinn
We’re gathered around a table at my mom’s bakery, all talk of our book selection abandoned in favor of the latest girl gossip. Again. Not that I’m against that, per se, even if the sci-fi, blue-alien romance had been my pick. In fact, I seem to be well on my way to instigating some of it.
“So, wait, explain what happened again? You both declined the position without telling the other?” I laugh inwardly, silently cracking up that these two people who have wanted the same position for so damn long both decided they’d rather have each other. Kind of poetic, if you think about it—and that’s quite the opinion coming from a science teacher, let me tell ya.
Madison and Zoey both cover their giggles with their hands, but Sophia and Hadleigh do no such thing, choosing to just let the belly laughs out.
Piper crosses her arms over her chest and gives us the stink eye. “Yes. We’re just idiots in love, I guess.”
Well, she just let that one drop, didn’t she? I smirk, waiting for the others to catch up.
Hadleigh and Sophia both look at each other, mouths dropping open.
Hadleigh lightly slaps at Piper’s arm. “Oh my God, how crazy fast did the no-pants dance turn into love?”
I snort, unable to help myself. Hadleigh just kills me. She says all the stuff I want to say, but manage to keep under wraps. She’s refreshing in her honesty.
“Pretty fast. Though, to be fair, I think all the fighting and bickering was some weird dating ritual, or as his sister said—”
“Foreplay.” Sophia grins. “I saw that a mile away.”
Zoey shakes her head. “So, you’re sharing the position? Is that what it comes down to?”
“Pretty much. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t know what he’ll think about it, but I’m going to suggest we move in together over the summer so he can still put the same amount of money toward Elena’s college savings as he’d planned to if he’d gotten the position.”
Madison grins. “That’s brilliant. Do you think you’re ready for that?”
“We haven’t spent a night apart since we figured things out, so I don’t see what the difference is, honestly.” Piper shrugs. “Speaking of, I’ve got to leave soon. I promised him we’d continue our Sherlock marathon tonight.” She takes a second to pat her hat and gloves, absentmindedly. They’ve been sitting on the table in front of everyone this whole time, practically ratting me out.
Sophia frowns. “Wait a sec. Aren’t those the gloves and hat that you pouted about leaving at the cider mill?”
Piper frowns. “Well, yeah. But Quinn went back that night and got them for me. She brought them to the last book club meeting.” She glances in my direction, curiosity sliding across her features. “That reminds me”—her gaze darts to mine—“when I asked you about going back to pick them up, you got a really weird look on your face.”
Uh-oh. Shit, shit, shit. How am I going to get out of telling them?
Zoey pokes me. “Oooh, somebody’s keeping something from us. I can tell by the look on your face, Quinn.”
Oh, shit. I wet my lips. “Um, yeah. I went back and grabbed Piper’s things when I saw how upset she was about it.”
Sophia squints her eyes at me. Dammit. She knows me way too well for this. “I seem to recall you saying something about needing some help for your dry, dusty lady parts that night …” She drums her fingers on the table in front of her, assessing my rapidly reddening face, slowly nodding.
As I look around our circle, all five sets of eyes widen and, all at once, their mouths drop open in surprise. I’m pretty sure they’ve figured out I hadn’t only gone back for the gloves and hat.
I’d gone back for Liam.
SNEAK PEEK
* * *
FALL FOR YOU
CHAPTER 1: Quinn
I break off a piece of Mom’s decadent chocolate cupcake and shove it into my mouth as my friends look at me with wide, assessing eyes. Do they realize? Have they figured it out? I finish chewing, eyeing each of my friends, trying to determine whether they think I’ve gone completely off the deep end. I’m being secretive, which isn’t completely abnormal for me, but it is when it comes to our little tribe of friends. The looks on their faces range from surprise to amusement to cautious interest. I lick a bit of frosting from my lip.
“Okay, fine. I went back that night to see Liam. Piper’s forgotten gloves and hat were just a convenient excuse.” Oh my God, please don’t let them ask more questions than that. I’m not used to the focus being totally on me.
No. Such. Luck. I can already see I’m in for a veritable interrogation from these ladies.
“And … you like him, Q?” Sophia pauses, bottle of water midway to her lips, and studies the emotions as they roll across the features of my face, plain as day. She’s my closest friend in the group, and we also happen to work side by side in the science department every day. I fully expect her to be able to read me like a damn road map.
“I do. He’s really nice.”
Hadleigh makes a pfft sound, tossing aside my choice of descriptors. “Nice sounds boring. I did not get a boring vibe from him.” She wiggles her eyebrows. “More like a sexy panther on the prowl, just waiting to be unleashed by the right woman.” She makes a little roar sound complete with bared claws.
I give a little giggle-snort and shake my head at her in amused disbelief. She’s so infamous within our group for her bawdy comments and sexual innuendo, we now know something is very wrong if she isn’t right on us with them. Seems like Hadleigh’s doing just fine tonight. All must be well with her and Sawyer, even though he’s just wrapped up his student teaching with her and they aren’t seeing each other as much.
“He’s single?” Zoey sucks in air thro
ugh her teeth and toys with her necklace. “Sorry, I always feel like such a bucket of cold water, but better to ask now than later, right?”
I glance over with a frown at her words. “Oh. Um, I would think so.” I grimace, realizing she’s put her guidance counselor hat on for this particular discussion. Then I roll my eyes at myself, also aware that I don’t want anyone to tell me that what I’m doing is wrong when every moment has felt so damn right. If nothing else, at least I know myself.
“He’s got to be mid-thirties, wouldn’t you say?” Madison taps her finger to her lip, thinking. “I mean, he owns the cider mill, right? He’s not just a manager or something like that, like Shawn is for his bar?” Her boyfriend runs one of our favorite places to hang out, especially now that they’ve started doing karaoke on Friday nights.
Sophia nods her head as she sits up straighter in her seat. “I’m positive. It’s his business. When Heath and I first met him at the grand opening, he introduced himself as the owner.” She hesitates for a second, her brows pinching together. “I agree, though. Mid-thirties. And cute as hell.”
Piper’s brows raise. “Kind of makes you wonder why no one has snapped him up yet.” At my startled look, she holds up a hand. “Maybe he’s just been too busy with his career. What did you say he did before the cider mill? Must have been something pretty lucrative. That, or his family has a lot of money. One or the other.”
My throat goes dry. With every word dropped from Piper’s lips, I realize I know next to nothing about Liam. To be fair, I hadn’t shown up at the mill that night to get to know him. I’d been drawn back by the look in his eyes. Sounds silly, but it’s true. In my head, I’d imagined him eating me right up. It’d felt like he’d been talking to everyone at our table, but at the same time to me and me alone. It’d given me the sense that we had some sort of chemistry. That something in him called out to the same something in me.
And Lord help me, that very first night I met him, I’d flirted like my friends have never seen me do before. Yeah. The laugh was on me there. Never say never because I totally had gone all in with it. Me, Quinn—ever responsible, inherent caretaker, faithful steward of our friendship circle who always puts everyone else first—would never in a million years have thought I’d get up the nerve to initiate, and then dominate, the conversation with him. Lucky me, the whole group had noticed. And I’d plainly admitted to them once he’d walked away to attend to other customers that I’d be interested in having him give me a hand with parts that have gone untended in a very long time. So, yeah. Never say never.
I didn’t mention to anyone but Piper that I’d gone back there—and I’d only shared that with her because I had actually picked up her left-behind gloves and hat and needed to return them to her.
Time for a distraction. “So, what was with this blue alien romance?” I pick up my iPad Mini and begin to scroll through the book to look at the About the Author section. “Who thinks this stuff up? I’m curious to know more about what kind of person writes this stuff.”
Hadleigh gives a loud cackle. “Girl, even a blue alien with two dicks isn’t enough to sidetrack me from your real-life drama. You’re not fooling us for one second.” She sends me a sly wink as the rest of the table bursts out laughing. It takes us a few moments to calm ourselves, and as we do, I make a valiant attempt to figure out just what to say about the whole Liam situation. I really don’t know what we are doing, so how can I begin to explain it to anyone else?
“Okay, okay, is everyone calm now? Can we go back to the Liam discussion?” Zoey sets her cupcake down and wipes her fingers on her napkin. “I’m confused. You went back to get the hat and gloves. And? What happened?”
My gaze follows my mom, Meg, as she goes back into the kitchen area of the bakery. I wouldn’t care if she were listening, but … I don’t want to get her hopes up. She’s been fussing at me lately for the lack of dates on my social calendar. The harping has gotten worse as each of my friends found a special someone, one after the other. I’ll admit, watching Sophia and Heath, then Madison and Shawn, Hadleigh and Sawyer, and now Piper and Damon, all pair off has done a number on my ego. I guess the most terrifying part is that I feel excited about Liam, but I can’t tell if he’s the one or just a bit of fun. I don’t often open up about this kind of personal stuff—the relationship stuff—since it usually blows up in my face. I can’t tell them things may have gotten more than a little heated between Liam and me. I mean, I barely know the guy. Who does stuff like this? Oh, right. That’d be me. A warm blush creeps across my cheeks.
Once I’m sure Mom’s out of earshot, I take a deep breath. What would they think of me if they knew what I’ve been up to? Maybe that you’re attracted to him? Duh, Quinn.
And then there’s the fact that I just saw him again last night … I don’t have a good explanation for why I’d shown up at the cider mill again. There was no emergency hat and gloves rescue. I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, and before I knew it, I was pulling up in his parking lot, ten minutes to closing time.
“I like him, I just don’t know if it’s going anywhere.” I shrug. “If something more happens than that, I’ll share.”
Sophia’s giving me that look that says I know damn well you’re not telling us everything before giving me a short nod. Changing topics, she asks, “So, is everyone ready for parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday?”
Ugh. Well, it’s a good deflection, anyway, as everyone takes a second to groan aloud. I send her a weak smile, and she just raises one brow a fraction of an inch at me to let me know she’s onto me.
Yes, yes. I’ll tell you all the sordid details of what’s going on later.
Piper rolls her eyes to the ceiling. “Honestly, conferences are my least favorite part of teaching. I can’t stand parents who think their kids are either angels or smarter than everyone else.”
I hold up a finger, happy to have the conversation moving in a different direction. “Or worse, they assume we are responsible for bad behavior.” I shake my head. “I swear, if I ever have kids, I will not be like that. And I won’t be one of those parents who behaves badly either. You can hold me to it.” I hold out a finger to Piper for a pinkie swear.
“Ditto.” Piper chuckles as she links fingers with me. “Speaking of parents behaving badly, I finally told my parents about the co-department chair decision.”
Sophia’s eyes get wide. “Oh, man. How’d that go?”
Piper shrugs. “Not great. Damon and I are happy, and that’s all that matters to me. Of course, my parents reined in their objections about it with Damon right there with me when I told them in person.” Her cheeks take on a rosy hue and her eyes go a little dreamy.
“Aw, she really does love him.” If Zoey were an ice cube, she’d have just melted into a puddle on the floor.
I smile. “I would have paid to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.”
“You can say that again.” Madison meets my eyes and laughs behind her hand. “I imagine they didn’t know what to think when you brought your co-chair home to them.”
Hadleigh nods, a smirk lighting up her face. “I knew he’d be so good for you. Damn studly beast of a man.” She cracks up and the rest of us follow.
A few minutes later, we’re talking more about our upcoming parent-teacher conference day when Madison holds up a hand to get our attention. “Hey, how about we order pizza and have it delivered for lunch on conference day? They are giving us a whole hour and a half break. I can place the order while you all are finishing up with your morning conferences. We can meet in the library at one, and I’ll have a yummy lunch already waiting for you.”
We all nod eagerly and with that decided, Zoey perks up. “It’s my turn to choose a book for next time. I think you all are going to love this one.” She gives a little giggle and pulls her e-reader out of her bag. Still trying not to head into full-fledged laughter, she turns it on and pulls up the cover of the book. “Falling for the Pterodactyl.”
“What
in the name of all that’s holy is that?” Hadleigh shrieks with laughter.
Oh my God, I didn’t think it could get worse than the two-dicked blue lover from outer space.
Zoey shakes, her body practically convulsing with her mirth. “I—I don’t know. I found it on Amazon.”
Madison groans. “At this point, I think we are all just trying to outdo each other with the insanity.”
“Truth.” Sophia waves her hand in front of her face, trying to calm herself. “Okay, fine. Up next is a little dino lovin’.” She stops to laugh. “So, where do you want to meet next time?”
Zoey, who is normally so quiet and not at all an instigator, flashes me a wicked smile. “How about the cider mill?”
Oh yes, let’s. Right back to the scene of my crimes. I’m sure they are thinking maybe they’ll find out more about what it is I’ve been up to if we go there. Not that I don’t want to see Liam again. Because I do. He’s hot and sweet … and oh my gosh. I glance around at the delighted looks on everyone’s faces, and my face flushes pink. How long have I been sitting here thinking about him while they’ve been staring at me waiting for my reaction?
I nod, raking my teeth over my lower lip. “Sounds good.”
Hadleigh grins. “Awesome. I can’t wait to go back to the cider mill and talk about dino porn.”
We dissolve into another puddle of laughter and that’s how Mom finds us a full five minutes and several jokes later. Damn, I love these women.
Also by Amanda Bailey
Change of Heart series
PREQUEL: Meant for Each Other
Burn for You (Flirting with Forever Book 3) Page 18
