Love, Diamonds, and Spades

by Violet Duke

  “Or mine!” shouted Sienna.

  A few more nods and he clicked off. “Lia’s got an auction this afternoon so she can’t make it to the high school and back in time.” Thumping his hand on the side of Quinn’s car, he asked, “So are you free tomorrow to do the brakes? Or do you want to work on Coop’s tryke first”

  “Hold on just a minute here!” Quinn nearly shouted. The alternate reality broadway show before her had now somehow taken on closed captioned subtitles in a different language.

  She stomped over to Rylan. “Why is this woman working on my car? How did she even get the hood up without my key? What are you two planning to do to Coop’s tricycle? And why is the bouncer at Ocotillos transporting guns on her bike?”

  Truth be told, she really wanted the answer to the last question first.

  “I’m cashing in on some mechanic work that I won in my fantasy football league with Sienna,” he replied, tackling her questions in order. “We didn’t need your key because Sienna has never met a car she can’t break into. Luke and I talked about tricking out Cooper’s tricycle a bit, and Sienna had a bunch of ideas. And finally—you mob show junkie—Lia owns the antique arms shop down the block, remember? She usually transports things in her car but her brother Max had to borrow it for a few days so she only has her bike. Whenever I see her transporting gun cases, it takes another year off my life.”

  Aw, that was sweet. His protectiveness really was one of his sexiest qualities.

  But back to all the anger. “Rylan, you can’t just have random folks work on my car without my permission.” She ducked her head back under the car. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” wafted out the amused reply.

  Rylan leaned against the weird white truck and said matter-of-factly, “I heard your car sputtering the other day so I called Sienna to come check it out. I told you, she owed me some mechanical work at the end of our last fantasy football season. But since your car clearly needed more than mine, I decided to cash in my winnings for your car instead.”

  “Who do you think you are? Why didn’t you ask me first?”

  “Would you have let me get your car fixed?”

  “No.”

  His silent look said, ‘well, then’ while his mouth dug him about a foot deeper. “Besides, you weren’t supposed to find out. If not for you having to throw out this extremely heavy bag of trash,” he lifted up the trash bag she’d shoved in his arms, eyes twinkling, “you wouldn’t even have known Sienna was here…well, aside from the whole your car no longer weeping every time you make it go over thirty-five miles an hour, of course.”

  “My car is not that bad! And are you serious with that defense? I wasn’t supposed to know about it so that makes it okay? You can’t go around just…” She clamped her mouth shut, realizing how silly the rest of her sentence would sound.

  “Doing secret good deeds?” he supplied dryly, a small grin lifting up a corner of that no-good, too-sexy-for-his-own-good mouth. “Saving you from an accident?”

  Of all the sanctimonious— “No one asked you to be my keeper,” she growled. “You have no right railroading into my life like this.”

  “I do when the public’s safety is involved.” He crossed his arms and stared her down, daring her to argue that logic.

  It was wrong on so many levels that he looked even more overbearingly sexy at the moment. “So I missed an oil change or two. I hardly think I’m going to be a danger on these ten-mile-and-hour roads.”

  “Fifteen. And I’m afraid that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.”

  She rolled her eyes, certain there was a silent ‘little lady’ drawled out at the end of that sentence. “Who are you, the sheriff?”

  “Well, actually…” He reached in his back pocket.

  “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” Seriously? Was he also the town mayor and the mail man?

  Her thoughts must’ve been coming through loud and clear on her face because he paused and gave her a stern look. “Look, we may not be as big city as you’re used to but our law enforcement system isn’t anything to look down your nose at.”

  Instantly, she felt bad. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m sure you’re a great sheriff. I just—ˮ

  He chuckled. “I’m just messing with you. I’m not the sheriff. Where do you think you moved to, The Little House on the Prairie?”

  Quinn very nearly took a swing at him.

  “Our sheriff is about sixty years old and scarier than a snake. He’s kept me on the straight and narrow ever since he caught me eating strawberries at the market without paying for ‘em.” Rylan shook his head solemnly. “I was headed down a slippery slope for sure. It started out with an innocent blueberry here and there, then I’d worked my way up to a handful of grapes. Next you know, I would’ve been going for a watermelon without thinking twice about it had he not intervened.”

  Quinn fought hard to hold back her incredulous laughter. The man was certifiable. Dammit, how did he always make her want to laugh?

  It almost killed her but she maintained radio silence, keeping her glare on high by literally biting her tongue.

  He gave her a look filled with charm and triumph as he walked backward to his work truck, taking his win gracefully…well, as gracefully as the man could while doing a silent victory dance with those golden eyes of his.

  Giving Quinn a warning look, he called out, “By the way, Sienna isn’t just the town grease monkey, she’s also the town dog catcher and a football coach over at the high school. Woman has a mean tackle so don’t even think of trying to pay her.”

  With that, he climbed in his truck and drove off, smiling eyes meeting hers through the rear view mirror one last time before he turned the corner.

  “That has to be the most exhausting man on the planet,” Quinn said under her breath, to no one in particular.

  The amused laugh from the woman who was now upright and under the hood, fiddling with the engine, told her she hadn’t muttered it quietly enough.

  Going over to formally introduce herself to the mechanic that she was actually thankful for—the car had been making some odd noises lately—Quinn was surprised to find the woman wasn’t at all as tomboyish as she was expecting. Grease-covered, yes, but very pretty.

  “Rylan will grow on you. He’s a big teddy bear. Nice to finally meet you, by the way.” Sienna gave her a friendly grin. “Your reputation is pretty notorious around town. I’m a big fan. I think you’re becoming a little bit of an urban legend with my students.”

  Quinn chuckled, instantly liking the laidback woman. “Oh, so you’re a teacher?” Thinking back to her earlier conversation with Rylan, she cringed. “I’m sorry if I came across like a city bitch earlier. You know, with the whole sheriff thing. I don’t really go around thinking small town stereotypes about everyone here, I swear. I actually like Cactus Creek. A lot.”

  Sienna waved off the apology with a laugh. “He wasn’t teasing you about the last part. I really am the town’s unofficial dog catcher, as well as a football coach at the high school.”

  That was incredibly cool.

  “But otherwise, yes, he did seem to be goading you pretty impressively.”

  Tell me about it. “He’s freakishly good at it, too. Is he that exasperating with everyone?”

  Sienna chewed on her lip in debate for a moment before saying carefully, “Actually, he’s usually the most laidback guy around. From what I can tell, he’s just this way with you.”

  Oh. Well that was kind of…flattering.

  “And Quinn?” Sienna smiled. “Just so you know. I’ve never once lost to him in fantasy football.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  SHE’D ACCUSED HIM of being her keeper. Rylan frowned. Not that the woman didn’t need one; at times, she truly did. But he wasn’t trying to keep her.

  Lie.

  Ignoring the voice in his head that rejected the way he’d worded that last statement, he kept right on trying to figure out his not-at-all normal behavior around Q
uinn. Dani and Sienna were having a freakin’ field day with it all, and he didn’t blame them. He wasn’t acting like himself at all. But the woman just brought out a strange side of him.

  It took a little time, but he came to the conclusion that he wasn’t trying to be her keeper.

  He was simply trying to spoil her.

  She was a hard-working single mom who deserved to get spoiled, he reasoned.

  No big deal.

  What was turning into a slightly big deal today, however, was his own reaction over not being able to spoil her today. For the first time in weeks, he hadn’t been able to drop in to see her at all. And he missed the hell out of her.

  Not that it wasn’t for a good cause. Since his neighbor’s shift at the diner had turned into a double-shift when one of the other waitresses called in sick, she’d called Rylan in a panic and he’d reassured her that her afterschool sitter could drop Reese off at his place this evening.

  So, instead of stopping off at Desert Confections to bug Quinn, he was having a little cook-out with Reese in the backyard.

  It was a little disconcerting how much he was affected by not having his little daily Quinn fix. Almost like…

  No. He wasn’t going to make a comparison between his very platonic friendship with Quinn—his feelings aside, of course—and his unhealthy relationship with Lacey.

  Therein lay the path to insanity, for sure.

  Thankfully, Reese was a hilarious little kid who was serving as the very best distraction.

  So this was good. Probably all for the best. Maybe this was all meant for him to be able to wean off this strange need to see and talk to Quinn every day—get her out of his system.

  “Rylan?”

  Or maybe not.

  Clearly he had it bad. Now he was even hearing the woman’s sexy voice in his head.

  “Rylan, are you back here?”

  Holy shit. Rylan jogged over to the side gate and devoured the sight before his eyes.

  His little hellcat was standing on his driveway.

  Sure, it’s not like he’d just discovered penicillin or nothing but hell’s bells, finding her on his driveway sure did feel like some kind of miracle.

  Quinn on his driveway.

  Quinn here to see him.

  Quinn nervously here on his driveway to see him, and biting her lip as a result.

  That last one had the biggest effect on him…which would soon be a noticeable effect if he didn’t get a grip. Silently counting back from a thousand, he unlocked the gate to let her in.

  “What are you doing here, sunshine?” Nice. Impressive voice control there, Grey.

  “Here.” Quinn took a few steps forward and thrust a piece of paper at his chest.

  It really shouldn’t feel this good just to have her fingers brushing over his sternum. With considerable effort, he doused the resulting thoughts of her hands touching him elsewhere.

  “What’s this?” his voice sounded rough and shot to hell but there was little he could do about that.

  Nine hundred eighty-three, nine hundred eighty-two…

  “It’s my number,” replied Quinn, looking down at the ground to step over the treacherous two pebbles in her path that were requiring all her focus to avoid. “I wrote down my number so you don’t have to get Dani to relay me a message. I don’t know if I can handle another one of her interrogations about my love life.”

  “Ah,” he grinned, pocketing the number. “Good call.” He’d only mentioned to Dani to let Quinn know that he was doing a favor for his neighbor this afternoon, if Quinn happened to ask where he was. Not that he’d expected Quinn to ask, but…just in case.

  “That was nice of you,” continued Quinn awkwardly, interrupting his ponderings. “To let me know you weren’t coming by, I mean. Not about the whole siccing Dani on me part. I would’ve waited…and worried. That you got into an accident or gotten amnesia. Or suddenly acquired a non-aggravating personality transplant that you were selfishly going to withhold from me meeting.”

  He let out a sharp bark of laughter. His feisty little hellcat was so damn entertaining. He never knew what was going to come out of her mouth, or what new way she was going to find to bust his chops.

  Just as she was starting to relax and almost crack a rare smile, a small body leapt out at her with a loud, “Boo!”

  Quinn jumped back, startled, and Reese fell back onto his heels in peals of laughter.

  Rylan picked Reese up and threw him over his shoulder. “Sorry about that. This is Reese. He’s seven; no other excuses for his behavior but that. He and his mom are my neighbors, and I watch him sometimes when her shifts at the diner put her in a bind.”

  Quinn tilted her head to the side and smiled at the upside-down Reese.

  “Reese, this is Quinn. Quinn, meet my neighbor Reese.”

  “Hey Reese.”

  “Oh! I know who you are!” exclaimed Reese. “Everyone in town says Rylan loves y—” Reese screeched out, and then giggled with glee as Rylan flipped him around like a baton.

  Planting him gently back on his feet, Rylan pointedly glanced at his watch. “I’ll give you a two-minute head start this time,” he declared.

  Reese scampered away to find a hiding spot.

  “Sorry about that. We were playing hide and seek before you came.” Rylan rocked back on his feet. “You want to hang out with us by the fire pit for a bit? I have bratwursts and hot dogs on the sticks, and veggies on the grill grate. Plenty of food. You can wrap some up for you and Cooper to eat tonight.”

  The timer on his watch beeped and he called out, “Ready or not!”

  “I’ll be right back.” He nodded over at the fire pit. “Meet you over there in a few?”

  * * * * *

  QUINN WASN’T SURE why she liked it that Rylan pretty much maneuvered her right on over to the fire, but she did. He just didn’t talk to her the way other men did.

  He sure didn’t act like them either.

  No other guy she’d ever dated would be running around the yard right now chasing someone else’s shrieking kid in circles while she was standing there watching.

  A shame, really because as she was quickly discovering, a big hard man being a big ole teddy bear to a kid was one of the sexiest things she’d ever seen.

  She watched in amusement as the two seemed to be starting in on some serious negotiations on the other side of the yard. Reese was clearly playing hardball, shaking his head while Rylan rolled his eyes. A minute later, the deal must have gone through because the two shook hands. Reese promptly crawled into the tent that was set up in the corner of the yard as Rylan headed back over to her.

  “You didn’t have to bribe him to stay by himself.” Quinn looked over at the zipped tent, feeling bad for intruding on their fun night. “I can just catch up with you tomorrow.”

  Rylan blinked, startled. “I didn’t. He’s finishing his homework in there. We were just playing a quick game of hide and sneak because he was getting frustrated with his math assignment. The running around helps clear his head.”

  Oh. Jesus, he was so different from the men she’d dated in the past.

  He pulled a chair up for her to sit on. “Can you stay and eat? Or do you need me to pack some food for you to go?”

  Well, she did have the next three hours free—it was her one night to do errands. And the food did smell really good; she couldn’t remember the last time she ate camp fire food. “If you’re sure I wouldn’t be imposing. I feel bad I didn’t bring anything.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I always make extra so I can pack a sack lunch the next day.”

  “That means I’m eating your lunch for tomorrow.” She shook her head and stood back up. “I should go. I have leftovers to heat up at home.”

  “Stay. Honest, I’d prefer it if you did.” He grinned, brows quirked. “Because that means you’ll owe me lunch one day in the future. I’ll keep you posted as to my selection of fine dining choices for when that day comes.”

  The man was incor
rigible.

  “So is Cooper with your sister tonight?” he asked as she sat back down, a small smile lighting his face when she did.

  She nodded. “Tonight’s my night to pick him up after dinner. Tomorrow, we switch.”

  “You’re lucky. My neighbor doesn’t have any family in Arizona so it’s tough for her to balance everything.”

  He handed her a fire-poking stick and a juice box. A juice box. Like it was the most normal thing in the world. And just like that, this not-a-date night was already better than every date she’d ever been on, combined.

  They sat in silence poking at the fire and drinking their apple juice when he cocked a grinning brow up. “So you missed me, huh?”

  Just when she thought he really did get that personality transplant she’d mentioned earlier.

  “Not in the least.”

  Golden eyes twinkling, his gaze tangled with hers. Then in a voice that wasn’t at all teasing, he said quietly, “I missed you too, sunshine.”

  The sound of Reese hooting and hollering from the tent broke up the moment.

  “I did it! I did it!” The tent unzipped and Reese came shooting out, and running toward Rylan, arms raised in triumph like Rocky. “I finished that last page! You were so right, I just needed to try it again.”

  “I’m proud of you, little man. Okay, go turn off the light in the tent and be sure to bring your jacket with you. Dinner’s all ready.”

  Grabbing a plate and tongs, Rylan loaded up three plates of food with veggie cabobs, ears of sweet corn, hot dogs, bratwursts, and buns. Quinn’s mouth watered the entire time. Over the food, of course.

  Although she had to admit, there was something pretty appealing about a guy who grilled.

  While they all waited for the hotdogs to cool down a bit, Rylan moved the rest of the food off the fire before handing Reese a ziploc bag of granulated sugar. “Okay, so now my end of the bargain. Try sprinkling some on the fire.” He demonstrated with a small pinches of sugar and Quinn watched as the fire sparkled and flashed in a cool light show of sorts. Reese hopped up and down excitedly. “Not too much though. And remember, don’t pass the line we drew in the dirt.”