“If I didn’t know any better, QT, I’d think you were blushing.” He crossed an ankle over his knee.
Darn slanted grin. She downed the rest of her OJ. “I’ve always been a little uncomfortable talking about my writing, that’s all.” True enough.
“What do you write about?”
Clearly, he missed the uncomfortable part. Or maybe he didn’t. Punk. She shrugged. “Oh, you know. Stories, news.” Things far more interesting than her own life. She ran a fingertip along the perimeter of her laptop. “I don’t want to bore you.”
Eyes not leaving hers, his gaze somehow deepened. “There’s nothing boring about you, Quinn Mary Beth Thompson.”
What good was chugging OJ when her mouth went completely dry two seconds later? She shielded her face with her hair. They needed a subject change.
Of course, she wouldn’t be that lucky.
“In all fairness, it was more than just your grammar skills that tipped me off. Your mom mentioned you used to write a blog.”
Right. Why couldn’t he have missed that part?
“That was forever ago, and it was stupid.”
“I doubt that.” He took another bite of his breakfast, still looking at her as if what she had to say couldn’t be anything less than fascinating.
Little did he know how easily she could prove him wrong. “Oh, no, I assure you it was. It was called Biscuits and Gravy and All Things Crazy.”
When he struggled to swallow through a laugh, she jutted her glass at him. “See! I told you. Trust me, you can’t even classify it as real writing. It was just a silly blog about family stories and recipes. No one read it.” Thankfully. Just the thought of it still lurking around the internet mortified her. Not that her writing had improved since then. If it had, she’d have more than a single paragraph written for this feature by now.
“You know,” he said, his tone shifting. “About yesterday . . . I gotta admit, I thought your mom wanting to marry you off was kinda cute, but I really wasn’t trying to make things worse for you. I was trying to help.”
“I know.” She dropped her gaze to the puddle of condensation her glass had left on the table. “I’m sorry for how crazy they were acting. I honestly don’t have an excuse for my mom, but my aunt’s been through a lot. She’s the youngest of my mom’s siblings and ended up with some health problems.”
Biting her lip, Quinn fingered a string of moss that’d fallen onto the table. “She and Uncle Carter tried for years to have kids, but eventually he gave up and left her.”
“What?” The disgust in the single word echoed the feelings Quinn kept to herself.
“Ironic thing was, he left the same month she found out about Ginny. On one hand, it was a miracle. She’d finally conceived.” She flicked the moss onto the deck. “On the other, her marriage was already ruined.”
Looking back, Quinn shouldn’t have been surprised to see prayers get only partway answered. Like a tease, the hope they spurred never left a shadow of disappointment too far behind.
Her chair screeched against the grains of wood beneath it when she moved too quickly. “Anyway, I don’t mean to unload a bunch of family baggage on you. Just wanted you to know why she might come off a little man hungry.”
Her laugh fell flat, especially when Cooper’s tender eyes burned a hole of compassion into her chest like he could read the hidden meaning no one else could see.
“I know there’s a lot I don’t know or understand about your past.” He lowered his foot from his knee and dipped his head to catch her gaze again. “But I didn’t miss the way your ex looked at you yesterday.”
She almost snorted. “Like he was trying to figure out why in the world he was ever with me?”
“More like why he’d ever let you go.” Cooper’s sincerity gripped her. “Some guys don’t realize what they have until they lose it.” His brow furrowed with the kind of regret gained from experience, and the stereotype she’d boxed him into crumbled a little more.
A pair of jet skis soared by the end of his property, rousing Brayden awake. He squirmed in his stroller and rubbed tiny fists into his eyes.
Grateful for the distraction, Quinn brought the monitor to her lap and checked the volume. “I didn’t hear him crying earlier.”
“He wasn’t. When I checked in on him, he was just laying there, awake in his crib.”
Lying there. Quinn tamped down the urge to correct his grammar and smiled while wiggling Brayden’s toes. “Was he sucking on his blanket?”
“He did not get that from me.”
“So, he is your son.” The words spouted out on their own like water from a hose. She stiffened, not wanting to meet whatever reactive expression might be on Cooper’s face.
“So I’m told.”
Her head shot up. “You didn’t know?”
He peeled the lining off one of her banana wheat muffins and balled it into a tight wad.
It all registered then. “His mom?”
Cooper left the muffin on his plate and peered down toward the lake. “Car wreck,” he said faintly.
Her heart sank. “I’m so sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am.” He cleared his throat and turned toward her again, his confident aura back in place. “But we’ll make it.”
“I thought you said Brayden wasn’t going with you.”
He tore a piece of muffin off. “He’s not.”
Quinn’s gaze bounced from him to Brayden’s precious cheeks and back. “I don’t understand. How could his not going with you be right? He just lost his mom. He needs his dad.”
Cooper shoved his chair away from the table and bolted to his feet. “He needs a family who can raise him.”
“What makes you think you can’t?”
His usual charming smile turned piercing. “Based on all your assumptions about me, I’m sure you can answer that.” He strode to the rail facing the lake and clutched the wooden edge.
Brayden started to fuss, and Quinn moved into Cooper’s abandoned seat to try to soothe him.
Cooper threaded both sets of fingers through his hair and then let his arms drift to his sides. “I’m sorry,” he said before turning around.
“No, you’re right. It’s not my place to say anything.”
He wandered back over to the table with his head down in an image of vulnerability she guessed most people rarely ever saw. “I guess we both have things we’d rather not talk about.”
A quick glance at her laptop sent her stomach churning. Her cell went off with an impersonalized ringtone. She grabbed the phone, silenced the call without looking at the screen, and rose beside Cooper. Whoever it was could wait. She rested a hand to his arm. “For what it’s worth, Cooper, I think you might surprise us both.”
His hazel eyes found hers, and her grip around his arm tightened more than she meant it to. Mama used to say windows were the eyes to the soul. Quinn’d had hers boarded up for so long, a guy she hardly knew shouldn’t be able to peer inside without a single word.
Her pulse blended into the growing chirping from nearby grasshoppers.
Neither of them moved until his cell broke the silence. Clearing his throat again, Cooper backed up a step and withdrew his phone from his pajama bottoms’ pocket. “My lawyer.”
She nodded, still searching for her voice.
“I have some business to take care of this morning, but I’ll be ready in time for the cookout.”
“Sure you don’t want to do something else today? Maybe go drown ourselves in the lake?” Reread the entire Lord of the Rings boxed set? Anything?
Cooper laughed while backing up toward the sliding door, phone still ringing. “You just have those cobblers ready, QT. I’ll take care of the rest.” He raised his cell to his ear and stepped inside. “Jim, what’s the word today?”
As he wandered out of sight, Quinn turned toward Brayden, blanket in his mouth. She cracked up. “You learned that from your daddy, didn’t you? I know.”
His face scrunched, on the verge of a
restless cry.
She unbuckled him, hoisted him onto her hip, and walked along the deck’s warm boards under her bare feet. When he still seemed fussy, she dug around his stroller for the plastic keys Cooper had promptly bought him the first day she was here.
Instead of the keys, Brayden’s attention stayed glued to the glass door Cooper had just closed behind him.
Quinn’s stomach pinched. Of course there was more to his story. There always was. But what if it wasn’t what she thought?
Another glance at her laptop sank the blow even deeper. Trying to dislodge it, she kept bouncing Brayden as she walked. “How about we see who called Ms. Quinn, huh?”
She held her cell in place with her shoulder while waiting for the voice message to play.
“Quinn, hi, it’s Brian.”
Her feet stumbled to a stop.
“I’m sorry for how awkward things were at Wakeboard Willie’s yesterday. You caught me a little off guard.” One of his self-conscious laughs trickled over her and blended into the same steady voice she’d curled into so many times. “I was hoping we could get together and talk. Just you and me. This is my new number, so, give me a call when you can. Please. It . . . it’d mean a lot.”
Her pulse ticked in his pause.
“It was good to see you, Quinn. I hope you’ll call.”
Her arm slid to her side, a clear view to the lake grabbing hold of her.
Brayden’s keys clattered onto the deck and elicited a round of cries, but she simply stood there. Staring. Remembering. A flag whipped in the wind along the edge of the dock as written-off emotions blew through her.
Brayden rubbed his face back and forth against her shoulder.
She blinked toward him then. “Shh. It’s okay,” she whispered, maybe more to herself than to him. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Swaying, she fell into a natural rhythm she’d long given up on feeling. When he cuddled his head under her chin, she gripped the railing and breathed in.
Cooper stood in his office, wielding his commanding presence on the phone. One glance from him to Brayden, and Quinn’s insides constricted. Could she really keep doing this?
She smoothed Brayden’s hair across his forehead and forced herself to turn back to the lake she’d left four years ago. Heaven knew she needed a breaking story more than anything. But what happened if coming home broke her first?
Chapter Eight
Intrigued
Quinn dropped her elbow from the car’s door panel and fidgeted with her seat belt. Other than swinging by the kitchen for some lunch and a peek at her cobblers, Cooper had stayed busy with work all day. She should’ve been grateful for the distance and chance to gain her wits about her. Still, rehearsing her last conversation with Cruella wasn’t getting the job done.
Spit it out already. She unwrapped her fingers from the seat belt and tapped her thighs. “It’s really peaceful here, isn’t it? In that off-the-beaten-path kind of way.”
Cooper checked his rearview mirror before making a right-hand turn. “By peaceful, you mean boring?”
Man, she stunk at this. “No, really. I mean, it’s not for everyone, but there’s a certain appeal in avoiding crowded cities, traffic . . . the stress of corporate life,” she slipped in quickly. “Is that why you moved out to the middle of nowhere?” Holding her breath, she looked across the console.
He didn’t let an iota of a reaction pass his face. “Guess you could say that.”
Okay, this wasn’t working. Quinn twisted in her seat toward him. “Seriously, Cooper? C’mon, you gotta give me something. No one just up and leaves a business like Shore Corp for no reason. Especially to move here. Were they not paying you enough? You found out someone was cooking the books? Had a blowout with the boss?”
Circling the wheel, he sent a smile her way. The kind that said, “Don’t you wish you knew.”
Two could play this game. “It must be some big secret for you to be all closed-mouthed about it.” She pinned two satisfied arms over her chest and cocked her chin the way he usually did. “Cooper Anderson has a few skeletons in his closet, doesn’t he?” How was that for bait?
One amused dimple chased the other. “How else can a guy keep a girl intrigued?”
Crazy. The man was driving her plum crazy. She pulled her Converse up to the edge of the seat and retied her shoelace, feigning disinterest. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
His warm laugh filled the car and dismantled her attempt at not returning it. Why’d she ever bother? Stinking charm.
Quinn let her foot drift back to the floorboard. “Well, you can’t blame people for wondering about you. Shore Corp undergoes a major investigation right after you quit. Then you reappear on the radar out of nowhere as a self-made billionaire up for Top Entrepreneur of the Year. People are going to talk. You have to admit. It does sound a little susp—”
The car braked out of nowhere. Her head pitched forward and then hit the headrest while a family of geese took their sweet time crossing the road like they owned it.
The distinct furrow pinching Cooper’s brow softened at the sight of them.
“Just be glad they aren’t cows,” Quinn said, only half joking. A second later, her stomach lurched. She’d been so preoccupied with cracking Cooper’s secrets, she’d sidetracked herself from worrying about the cookout. Or maybe she’d just flat-out repressed the idea of going home at all. Four years of practice was bound to catch up eventually.
She rubbed the skin between her eyes. “Uh, Cooper? Speaking of cows . . . If my mom comes running out with a herd like some sort of dowry, feel free to bolt in the opposite direction. I’ll make sure they don’t chase you. My mom included.”
Another laugh soothed and prodded in its usual unfair way. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad. It’s just lunch with family, right?”
“Right.” She dished a you’ve-been-warned expression at him. “Just a little family time. I mean, you might be walking into an episode of Duck Dynasty, but” —she raised her shoulders and batted her lashes— “How else is a girl to keep a guy intrigued?”
With eyes that seemed far more intrigued by her than they should be, Cooper set one hand on the wheel, the other on the gearshift, and smiled with enough fuel to rocket them the rest of the way to the house. “If that’s a challenge, QT, you’re on.”
A challenge against a guy with breath-stopping eyes. Yeah, that was a grand idea.
“The road’s clear,” she managed to eke out. Because, obviously, that was the only logical response to make. Smooth, Quinn. Real smooth.
He started forward again while she contemplated diving into a ditch on the side of the road. But when her childhood home came into view, another unbidden rush of nostalgia rolled in with the scent of overgrown grass waving in the neighboring fields.
Cooper eased his SUV along the bumpy dirt driveway and parked behind Mama’s old caravan. “Ready?”
Did hyperventilating count? “Yep.” Quinn sucked in a breath like she was about to plummet to the bottom of the lake and got out of the car. She went to unbuckle Brayden from his car seat, but Cooper was already on it.
She raised an impressed brow. “You’re getting good at that.”
“Don’t sound so shocked.”
Before she could tame his gloating expression, Aunt Loraine came swishing down the driveway on an automatic path straight for the baby. “There he is. Just look at those cheeks. Did you miss me?”
Cooper strolled up beside Quinn. “How you doing, Ms. Thompson?”
“Just fine now that I’ve got my hands on these adorable munchkin legs.” She swung Brayden up and planted a raspberry on his chubby thigh. Brayden’s giggle must’ve sufficed as a reward. Aunt Loraine’s face lit up, and so did Quinn’s heart.
The screen door opened on the porch, followed by Mama zipping down the stairs toward them. “Well, aren’t you three just adorable together.”
Oh boy, here we go. Quinn glanced behind her mom. No cows. That was a good sign.
<
br /> Mama gave Aunt Loraine a pointed look. “Don’t think you’ll be hogging that sugar all night, now.”
“He remembers who gave him ice cream.” She wiggled a finger over his belly button. “Don’t you? And guess what Aunt Loraine has for you today? Watermelon.”
Brayden’s wide eyes mimicked her excitement.
Cooper leaned over to Quinn and whispered, “I’m a little scandalized. You, using a baby for distraction like this. Very cliché.”
“Funny,” she mumbled through the smile she’d managed to keep plastered on so far.
Aunt Loraine turned for the backyard.
“Wait.” Quinn handed her his diaper bag. “Be sure to put sunscreen on him.”
“Oh, and here.” Cooper reached back in the SUV, swung around with a miniature version of his Tar Heels hat, and fit it onto Brayden’s head. “There ya go, hoss. Now you’re rocking.”
He thought to get Brayden a matching hat?
“What?” He eyed her surprised expression.
She pinched her lips together. “Nothing.”
Aunt Loraine brandished a telling grin, then moseyed toward the backyard with Brayden, leaving Quinn and Cooper standing in front of Mama like two deer point blank in shooting range.
She slid an unabashed smile down Cooper’s tall profile. “It’s a good thing my daughter met you before I did.”
“Oh, Mama, really? Can you at least let him make it inside before you completely gross him out?”
Cooper rested his hands on Quinn’s shoulders from behind, his lips to her ear. “Luckily, I’m already taken.”
More like he was lucky his touch incapacitated her. Quinn maneuvered out of danger territory and started for the house—away from ridiculous attractions that’d end up going nowhere. Aside from being unprofessional, letting misguided feelings take root would only result in hurts she knew to avoid.
“There’s nothing wrong with letting a man know he’s attractive, sugar.”
Quinn didn’t turn to witness the wink she was sure Mama had just flaunted at him.
“I’m only teasing, dear.” She scooted past Quinn on the porch and opened the front door. “You know how foolish I am about your daddy.” A glint of mixed emotions trickled from her eyes to a smile that seemed to struggle to stay in place. She blinked away. “You all come on in and make yourselves at home. Food’s almost ready.”
Just Maybe (Home In You Book 3) Page 7
