Just the sound of his voice made her feel better about everything. She reported on her call to her mother and told him that everything was handled with Jody.
“Look at you,” he said in that low rumble that turned her insides to mush. “Right on the case.”
She chuckled. Okay, it was a slightly manic sound, but a laugh was better than a cry of misery and frustration anytime. “I’m in the light, big guy. Stalker Ted doesn’t stand a chance against me.”
“Get ’em, killer.”
“You’d better be smiling when you call me that.”
They talked for a little about mundane things.
She had her self-defense class that night and she was looking forward to more tips on eluding an attacker. Also, for the second half of that evening’s class, the guys would finally get into their padded suits. She would have a chance to put some of what she’d learned into practice.
Quinn said that he and Annabelle would miss her at dinner. “Manny’s making lasagna,” he muttered bleakly.
She teased, “I’m so sorry about that.”
Tai appeared in the open doorway to the showroom. A customer wanted an estimate for both a bath and a kitchen remodeling.
Quinn said, “I heard that. See you tonight. I’ll be over as soon as I finish with monster removal.”
* * *
Chloe left her self-defense class that night feeling exhilarated. At first, it was scary, shouting at her “attacker,” kicking and flailing, punching and pushing to get out of his clutches, trying to remember the few fighting tricks she’d been taught in earlier classes, like how to behave counter to your natural reaction to jerk away when an attacker grabbed you. Instead, you leaned in, catching him off balance, and then, using that split second when the bad guy wasn’t braced, you jerked back and started kicking and screaming for all you were worth.
Bottom line: it didn’t pay to be a lady when some scuzzball grabbed you. Once things moved past avoidance and any chance to defuse the situation, a woman needed to be willing to make plenty of noise and fight tooth and nail for all she was worth. She had to accept that she would probably be injured. The battle by then was to survive.
When she got home, she took a long shower and put on cropped jeans and a silk tank top and fixed a light dinner. By then, it was nine and Quinn would be over sometime in the next hour. She went downstairs and checked email, her pulse ratcheting up a notch at the thought that Ted might have tried to contact her again.
But there was nothing from him. Jody had sent her a copy of the note that had come with the flowers, along with the confirmation she’d promised. Chloe copied all that to her TD file. Then she dealt with the few new emails and messages the website and the Facebook page had received.
Finally, she brought up the message Ted had sent her two weeks ago. She and Quinn had agreed that she would answer with a demand that Ted leave her alone and then block the address. She went ahead and composed her reply. It was only two sentences: Never contact me again. I am blocking this address. She zipped it right off, blacklisted [email protected] and updated the information in her TD file.
Not two seconds later, she heard the door open upstairs.
“Angel?” Quinn called.
“Coming!” She ran up to meet him.
“So, how was the lasagna?” she asked when they met in the middle of the stairs.
He had his tablet in one hand. With the other, he reached out, slid his warm fingers around the back of her neck and pulled her up close. “About as expected.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yeah.” He leaned in even closer, rubbed his rough cheek to her soft one. “You shoulda been there to suffer with us.”
“So sorry to miss it.”
“I’ll just bet you are.”
She rubbed her nose against his and then kissed him. When he lifted his head, she stared up at him, feeling distinctly starry-eyed. “How ’bout a beer?” she suggested. “We can sit out on the deck and I’ll tell you all about how spectacular the master bath tile work at your house is going to be and what I learned in self-defense class this evening.”
He held up his tablet. “First, you’re writing me an email to Ted, remember?”
She hadn’t forgotten. Far from it. “Actually, I’ve been rethinking that.”
He guided a hank of her hair behind her ear and chided, “We got this all worked out. It’s only going to take a few minutes.”
Dear Lord, he was a wonderful man. “I’ve done everything you suggested last night. I’m even going to deal with my mother tomorrow. And I want you to be here when she arrives. But this...” She gestured weakly at the tablet.
“What about it?” He didn’t sound happy.
Well, neither was she. “I don’t like it, Quinn.”
“We’ve been all through this last night and you agreed—”
She cut him off—but gently. “Yes, I did. And since then, I’ve had time to think it over a little more and I just...”
“You just what?”
“I just don’t want you contacting him. You are not getting directly involved in this—not with Ted. Uh-uh. That is not going to happen.”
His eyes had darkened and now his jaw was solid as rock. “You better tell me right now. You think you need to protect that guy from me?”
She gaped in hurt surprise. “No. No, of course I don’t. This is about you, not him. This is about—”
“So you’re protecting me? You think I need protecting from a slimeball like that?”
How had this gotten so out of hand so fast? She drew in a slow breath and told her racing heart to settle the heck down. “Please. Can we dial this back? Can we not have this argument right here in the middle of the stairs?”
He answered much too quietly, “Sure, Chloe. Where, then?”
“How about if we just don’t have this argument at all?”
He was not about to let it go. “Where, Chloe?”
Fair enough. She gestured toward the top of the stairs. “The great room, then.”
He turned around and marched back up. Reluctantly, she followed.
In the sitting area, he took an easy chair and she took the sofa. They faced off across the coffee table.
He asked, oh so reasonably, “Did you write that sucker an email and tell him to leave you alone?”
“Yes, I did. And then I blocked the address he used.”
“Good.” He dropped his tablet on the coffee table and leaned toward her, powerful forearms braced on his spread knees. “So, what’s the sudden issue with letting him know that you’re with me now and I know what he’s up to?”
“It’s an overreaction.”
“The hell it is.”
“Flowers, Quinn. He sent flowers once, a month ago. And he emailed me two weeks ago. That’s all he’s done.”
He made a low, angry sound deep in his throat. “All he’s done? He hit you, more than once. He cheated on you. And then when you divorced him, he wouldn’t leave you alone. It got so bad you moved back home. And now he’s started in again.”
“I’m talking about recently.”
“You’re lying to yourself.”
“Two times,” she repeated. “Two times he’s contacted me in more than a year. Flowers and one email. And now I’m keeping a record of every move he makes on me. I’ve blocked his email address and he won’t be sending me flowers from Bloom again. I’ve told him, in no uncertain terms, to get lost. That’s enough for now. That’s...appropriate to the situation.”
“Appropriate.” He said it as if it tasted really bad in his mouth. “Tell you what. Forget it. Let’s drop this right now. Have it your way. Let it go.”
“Great. All I need is your word that you won’t be looking him up online or calling some private investigator to find him. Promise me you won’t go off on your own and contact him.”
“I’m not agreeing to that.”
“Then we’re not done here. I mean it, Quinn. You have to stay out of this. Ted is not your problem.”
“You keep saying that.” He sat back, then forward again. She saw the born fighter in him so clearly right then. Testosterone seemed to come off him in waves. “Ted is my problem.” He growled the words. “Anything that ties you in knots and keeps you awake nights and drives a wedge between us...” He jerked his thumb toward his broad chest. “My problem.”
She folded her arms protectively across her middle, realized she was doing it, and unfolded them again. “Ted is... He can be a real snake, Quinn.” Across the low table from her, he shifted again, furious, coiled, ready for action. She went on before he could interrupt. “He’s a really good lawyer. Clever. Ruthless. You get in touch with him, you could end up slapped with a restraining order, or even a lawsuit.”
Quinn shot to his feet, the move lightning-fast. He was sitting across from her—and all at once, he was looming above her. But when he spoke his voice was careful and even. “You think I give a good damn about his dirty tricks?”
She answered truthfully, “No, I don’t. But I do. I care if he makes trouble for you. I will not be the cause of that. I just won’t.”
“You won’t be the cause of anything. Your ex, he’s the cause. And I’m responsible for my own actions. It’s not on you if I communicate with Ted. So whatever he tries on me, fine. He can bring it.”
Where to even start? “Will you please just...sit down?”
He surprised her by doing what she asked, dropping back into the chair and leaning forward on his spread knees again. “I told you last night that I’m not going to be anything but polite and respectful to that piece of crap.”
“You’re missing the point. I’ll say it again. This is my problem and you don’t get to solve it. I don’t want you to solve it. That wouldn’t be right.”
“Yeah, it is right. You’re with me and I stand up for what’s mine.”
“No, Quinn.”
“Wait.” His eyes burned into hers. “Now you’re telling me you’re not mine?”
So strange. Such fury in him right now—and yet she wasn’t in the least afraid of him. She knew he would never hurt her, never lay a finger on her in anger, that all he wanted was to protect her.
But in this particular situation, she couldn’t let him do that.
“Are you mine or not?” he demanded again.
And she gave him a slow, very definite nod. “I am yours, Quinn. Yes. Absolutely.”
Heat flared in his eyes and he said, low and evenly, “Give me that email address.”
“No.”
“Damn it, Chloe.”
“Don’t swear at me. Listen. I don’t feel I have to protect you from Ted and I certainly don’t feel I have to protect him from anything. I am with you and only you. You’re the one for me. I want your help. I want your strength and your support and I’m grateful for your advice. What I don’t want is you standing up for me. The whole point here is that I have to learn how to stand up for myself.”
He seemed unable to stay in the chair then. Shooting upright again, he glared down at her. “I don’t like it. That guy needs to know you got backup, that you’re not alone and the man you’re with now will fight for you.”
“It’s my choice, Quinn. Tell me that you will respect my choice. Please.”
“Angel, you ask too much.”
“Please.”
He turned from her, went to the wall of windows and stood staring out, feet apart, hands linked behind him. She resisted the powerful need to plead with him some more. Finally, he said, “I don’t like it.”
“I get that. It’s painfully clear.”
He faced her again. “Do I still have your word that you’ll tell me if he sends you more flowers or tries in any way to get in touch with you again?”
“Yes.”
“Then all right. I won’t contact him. Until he makes some other jackass move, I’ll stand down.”
Chapter Twelve
After Quinn agreed not to contact Ted, the night went on pretty much as usual. They sat out on the deck under the clear night sky. They made beautiful, passionate love.
But it wasn’t the same, not really. Except for their lovemaking, which was as intense and ardent as ever, something was missing. There was a certain edge between them. A certain distance.
Chloe hated that distance. But what could she do? No way would she give him her blessing to get into it with Ted.
The next evening, he came over at six-thirty. In the half hour before her mother’s arrival, Chloe reminded him that she was running this little talk. He was there to lend support.
He didn’t even argue. “I get that. No problem.”
His immediate acceptance of her terms surprised her a little after how hard he’d fought her on the issue of his contacting Ted.
And he knew it, too.
He said wryly, “No worries. I don’t want to give your mom a bad time. She’s going to be my mother-in-law, remember? Eventually I’m hoping she and I can get along together.”
“Have you met my mother?”
He chuckled then, an easy sound. She dared to hope that maybe they were getting past their disagreement of the night before.
The doorbell rang right at seven.
Chloe opened the door. Her mother stood there in tan trousers, a cream-colored silk blouse and the triple strand of Mikimoto pearls Chloe’s dad had bought her for their thirtieth anniversary four years ago.
“Chloe,” Linda said with a cool nod.
“Mom.” She stepped back. “Come in.”
Linda spotted Quinn as she crossed the threshold. She put her hand to her pearls and arched an eyebrow at Chloe. “I didn’t realize he would be here.”
Quinn moved closer. He didn’t seem the least offended by her mother’s snotty tone. “Good to see you, Mrs. Winchester.”
Her mother blinked at his outstretched hand as though she feared it would bite. But then she gave in and took it. “Hello, Quinn.”
Quinn might not be upset by Linda’s attitude, but Chloe had to resist the urge to boot her mother right back out the door. “Tell him to call you Linda, Mother.”
Her mother sent her a barbed look—then caught herself and said in a tight voice, “Yes. Please call me Linda.”
“Will do.”
Chloe gestured toward the sitting area, and they filed over there. Chloe and Quinn took the couch. Linda perched on one of the chairs.
“I thought maybe you would bring Dad with you,” Chloe said.
Linda carefully placed her folded hands on her pressed-together knees. “He wanted to come. But I was under the impression it would be just the two of us, just...between us.” She sent a disapproving glance in Quinn’s direction and then swung her reproachful gaze right back to Chloe. “So I insisted that I would come alone.” She cleared her throat, an officious little sound. “That’s a beautiful ring. I hope...you’ll be very happy.” The words seemed to stick in her throat. Still, they were a definite improvement over the awful things she’d said about Quinn a few weeks ago and yesterday on the phone.
“Thank you, Linda,” said Quinn.
Chloe put in, “Give Dad my love, will you?”
A grudging nod. And apparently, Linda had decided she’d had quite enough of making polite noises. “Now, what’s this about?”
“It’s about Ted, Mother.”
Linda stiffened. “What more can possibly be said about Ted?”
“Well, Mom. In the past month, Ted has sent me flowers and then contacted me by email. I want nothing to do with him and I have told him that repeatedly. I’ve told you that often. But I got the impression from what you said at the first of the month that you and Ted have been in touch.”
Her mother sniffed. “Oh. I see. Now it’s my fault if Ted sent you flowers.”
Quinn shifted beside Chloe. She reached over and touched his arm, reminding him of the agreement they’d made half an hour before—that he was there for support.
She said, “I’m going to ask you a direct question, Mom. I want a simple yes-or-no answer.”
Linda wore her I-am-gravely-wounded face. “What is this, an interrogation?”
“Have you been in contact with Ted since I moved back to town? Yes or no?”
“I don’t see what—”
Quinn spoke up then, his voice coaxing and gentle, “We just want your help, Linda. I realize that you know already, but I think it can’t hurt to say again that Ted Davies wasn’t a good husband to Chloe. He punched her more than once and he betrayed her with another woman.”
“Well, I... Ahem. Yes, I’m aware. Chloe has told me all that.”
Chloe took the lead again. She tried really hard to keep the antagonism out of her voice. “So, have you been in touch with him since I moved back to Justice Creek?”
“I don’t...” Linda patted her hair, straightened her shoulders. And then, finally, she confessed, “He called me.”
“How many times?”
“Once.”
“When was that?”
“The middle of July. A week before we left for Maui. He was, well, you know how kind and flattering he’s always been toward me. He just said he was thinking of me and hoping I was all right. At first, when he started talking, I reminded myself I needed to tell him that I didn’t approve of the way he had treated you and I was going to say goodbye now and I didn’t want him to contact me again. But then he just kept on talking and telling me how horrible he felt about how it had gone with the two of you. He said you were the best thing that had ever happened to him and he missed you every hour of every day. He said that things weren’t going well with him and that new wife of his, that he deeply regretted letting you go. He just...seemed so sincere.” She let out a small sound of honest distress and brought both her hands up. Pressing her fingers to her mouth, she looked at Chloe through pleading eyes.
Chloe made herself speak gently. “Ted is very good at seeming sincere.”
Linda drew in a steadying breath and put her hands in her lap again. “Yes. Yes, he is. Before he hung up, he asked me not to tell you that he had called. He said that he...didn’t want to cause any trouble.”
Not cause any trouble? Ted? Now, that was a good one. “What did you tell him about me, Mother?”
“Nothing. I promise you. He did all the talking. At the end, he said he would like to send you a little card or something, just to say he was thinking of you. He asked for your address. But I told him I wasn’t at liberty to give him any of your personal information. And he said of course, that was all right. He completely understood. He said if he decided to reach out to you, he would get your address some other way. He said it wouldn’t be a problem. He seemed...very confident about that.”
The Good Girl's Second Chance (The Bravos Of Justice Creek 2) Page 15
