Homecoming

by Lacey Baker

  He’d taken Dixi out for her morning walk, which seemed to please her immensely. It hadn’t tired her out, however, so he’d just left her in the basement with her siblings. The noise and energy level had been on high as he’d taken the stairs and thankfully closed the door behind him.

  With no real plans for the rest of the day, he’d thought about sitting down with Nikki to talk more about the B&B and its daily operating expenses. With his mind always on business, Quinn wanted to check out the financial viability of the B&B before he left. He refused to leave Michelle and quite possibly Raine with a sinking ship.

  And he’d wanted to see Nikki again. It seemed he’d gotten his wish.

  “Excuse me?” she asked, turning around to see it was him, then turning her attention back to the book.

  “At first I thought the curls were a little out of control,” he said and was rewarded by a blistering gaze tossed over her shoulder. “But then they were seriously sexy. Now I’m trying to figure out—”

  “You’re trying to figure out if you really don’t like my hairstyle?” she asked with a definite bite to her tone.

  Quinn cleared his throat. “Let me start over,” he said. “Good morning, Nikki.”

  Closing the book—with what could probably be called a very attitudinal slam—she turned all the way around to face him. One elegantly arched eyebrow raised, hands coming around to clasp in front of her.

  “Good morning, Quinn. Is there something I can do for you?”

  Still the chilly tone. He’d botched this up pretty good. But he wasn’t out of the running just yet. Quinn could never be called the ladies’ man his brothers were reputed to be, but he’d never had any problems getting women, either. The problem had always been that he’d never found a woman he really wanted. Not since Sharane. But he wasn’t going there this morning.

  This morning was about the very attractive manager of the B&B and the fact that he’d probably, albeit inadvertently, insulted her.

  “You look really good this morning,” he said, extending his hand to her. “And I apologize if I didn’t say that the way I should have in the beginning. Truce?”

  She tilted her head. This new style of her hair was straight and bouncy so that when she tilted, it moved with her in a sultry kind of motion that had his blood swirling to his groin. Her lips moved. She tried not to smile. He took a step closer because nothing but nothing was going to keep him away from her now.

  He was so wrong.

  She lifted her arm abruptly, clasping her hand in his and effectively putting distance between them. At the same time the phone on the front desk rang and Michelle came through the side entrance with trays in hand. Nikki pulled her hand away from his quickly and Quinn turned as if it were all a natural response.

  “Good morning, sis. Need some help?” he asked.

  If Michelle questioned anything she didn’t say, but thrust the trays at him as if they were some type of disease. “Take these into the dining room. Tanya’s already in there—she’ll know where they go. Then there’s a lot more stuff in my car if you could go out and just bring it in. Thanks!”

  She was gone the second Quinn took the trays from her. He was just about to turn around when he felt hands on his arms, warm hands that made him want to drop said trays and touch in response.

  “Go this way. My mother’s here today with the women’s auxiliary. They had some meeting down at the library and now they’re on their way up here for a luncheon.” Nikki was talking as she walked beside him, then crossed in front of him toward the side door to the dining room.

  The floor plan of the house was basically a circle around the living room and what had been converted into the front desk/check-in. All the rooms had previously been connected by French doors. Only the doors leading from the living room to the parlor and from the parlor to the dining room remained. Open entryways had replaced them between the living room and front desk area, as well as the living room and foyer. The entrance to the kitchen was the only one with swinging doors; their dark oak matched the intricately designed original crown molding that mimicked the house’s Victorian style. Some of the hardwood floors, dainty wallpapers, rich brocade window coverings, ornate lounges, and antiques had been here when the Cantrells were growing up, but most had been brought in over the years to create a very intriguing and homey feel that Quinn admired.

  “Put them here,” Tanya directed, her normally jovial tone a little on the stressed side.

  “She just called. There are five more added to her final count,” Nikki told her.

  “Argghh! Really? I hope we have enough food,” Tanya said, moving quickly to fit the trays into silver stands with domed covers.

  “You know Michelle cooks for an army every time,” Nikki added with a chuckle. “And you, sir, need to get outside and get the rest of those things before Michelle goes off. She gets a little crazy when we have catered gatherings.”

  Quinn took that to mean he was now a part of the staff for this gathering and did as he was told. For the next four and a half hours, to be exact.

  * * *

  It was almost six o’clock that evening when Quinn had a chance to sit down with a glass of lemonade. Of course the momentary solitude was interrupted—but by a prettier face he couldn’t have found.

  “Look who’s ready for some attention,” Nikki said coming out the front door with a very happy Dixi trailing behind her. “Michelle said you left this downstairs with her this morning.”

  She handed him the leash he’d purchased for Dixi. “It’s nice that you bought her some personal things. Does that mean you’re thinking about keeping her?”

  Throughout the day’s business her hair had taken on its usual flyaway look, without the curls. The long strands lay seductively at her shoulders, daring him to touch just once. Quinn refrained only by grasping the coolness of the glass of lemonade in his one hand and using the other to grip the leash she’d just handed him.

  “I figure she needs these things no matter who her owner is.”

  “I guess you’re right. Well, I’m going to leave for the evening. Since there are no guests, we don’t need anyone on duty.”

  “When are the next guests due to come in?” he asked, taking a final drink from his glass before standing. Dixi was at his feet the moment he did, going between his legs and coming out the other side as if she were chasing something.

  “Not until Friday. Check-in is at three so we’ll open the windows to refresh the rooms in the morning. It’s a few sorority sisters meeting up after twenty years.”

  Quinn nodded. “How many?”

  “Six. Two to a room.”

  “So you’ll need us to bail out before then?” he asked.

  Nikki spun around. She’d been standing at the edge of the porch near one of the wooden railings, looking down the street. The sun was just setting; slashes of its rays fell over her profile, giving her skin a golden glow.

  “Oh, I didn’t think about that. Hmmm, do you know when Savannah’s leaving?”

  Quinn shrugged. “She hasn’t said anything about it.” When he noticed the shocked look on Nikki’s face, he smiled. “I know, we can’t believe it, either. Parker’s strangely content here for the moment so he hasn’t mentioned leaving. I think Preston has a trial coming up he needs to get back and prepare for. It doesn’t matter. If need be, we’ll go to one of the hotels.”

  “Nonsense, this is your home,” she told him.

  “It’s a business and we all need to respect that. We’ll have it worked out by Friday,” he told her finally.

  For a few moments Quinn couldn’t keep his eyes off her and she seemed held in his gaze. Then Dixi’s noise permeated their silence.

  “I think she needs a walk. Mrs. Cantrell used to take them out in the morning and the evening. She had Sonny Windsor from down the street help her so all of them could go out at the same time.”

  “Yeah, I took her out yesterday evening and again this morning. So I guess it’s time for her next round.”
He bent down using one hand to try to hold Dixi still while he clamped the leash onto the collar. “Ready to go?” he asked. She wagged her tail so exuberantly it looked like it might fall off. Quinn heard himself laugh as well as Nikki’s cute chuckle.

  “She’s so sweet,” Nikki said as he stood up.

  “You drive in today?”

  She shook her head even though she was still looking at Dixi. “No. I walked. Gas prices are too high to drive all over Sweetland every day when I can just as easily walk. If it’s not raining and I’m not running late I usually walk back and forth. Now, if I go out later I might take my car, or if I have somewhere to go after work, but … I’m talking too much,” she said with a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning, Quinn.”

  “Nonsense, Dixi and I will walk you home.”

  “I’m not a kid, I can walk home by myself. I’ve been doing it for years now.”

  “Believe me, Nikki. I know you’re not a kid.”

  A kid would never elicit this type of heat from Quinn. All he had to do was stand near her, smelling the soft floral scent of her perfume—strangely absent the lemony fragrance he’d begun to associate with her. And no kid had a butt and breasts like hers, that was a definite.

  As if she could sense his arousal, or probably because she could see him staring, she folded her arms over her chest and shrugged. “Well, if you say so.”

  “I say so. Come on, Dixi,” he said to the puppy as he and Nikki started down the steps.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes into the walk Nikki couldn’t stand it a moment longer: She just had to know.

  “So how does your girlfriend feel about you staying away from her for a whole week?” she asked.

  Quinn had just come back to stand beside her after Dixi had seen a pretty black-and-gold butterfly and decided she’d chase it as far as her leash would take her. The rest of the way Quinn had run behind her until finally he’d pulled on the leash, calling her name in a stern voice that stopped her cold. She was definitely going to need some formal training; otherwise Quinn was going to strangle her.

  When he came back they resumed walking and were now actually crossing onto Elm Road.

  “You asked about my girlfriend?” he asked while wrapping the leash around his wrist so that Dixi had a much smaller berth.

  “Yes. If I were in a serious relationship I would have wanted to be with my partner in his time of grief. But maybe she couldn’t get off work. I guess that’s a good enough excuse. Maybe she doesn’t like small towns any more than you do. I was just wondering.” And babbling. God can you please get a grip? Nikki all but screamed the last comment to herself.

  Quinn just smiled. “I don’t have a girlfriend, Nikki.”

  “Oh,” she said quickly. “Why not? I mean, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  He shook his head. “No. I don’t mind. Especially since you already told me about that hole in your lip.”

  She decided to laugh off the embarrassing fact that she’d actually told him that, and that he’d actually remembered.

  “I don’t really have time for a relationship,” was his reply.

  “Oh, right. You said you work long hours. Are you treating patients all that time?”

  “I treat patients most of the morning into early afternoon. Then I do administrative stuff.”

  “And what do you do at night? When you go home I mean? Do you just sit alone and watch television? Because reality TV really sucks.”

  Quinn nodded his agreement. “From the tidbits I’ve seen, I have to agree. But no, I usually do research at night.”

  “Hmmm, what do you do for fun?”

  They stopped at the corner of Pinetree for the red light. “I don’t really think I have fun.” He gave a wry chuckle but she sensed his response was dead serious.

  However, she liked his laugh, even though it sounded a little stilted. Probably because he didn’t do it often enough. Another thing Nikki liked was walking with Quinn. He was so much taller than her that he made her feel safe—as if nothing could touch her when he was around. And each time his arm brushed against hers warm spikes trickled up and down, filtering through her body until by now she was practically humming with desire.

  What she really liked was that he walked on the curb side of the sidewalk. When they’d come down the steps she’d been on the curb side and he’d immediately walked around her, saying men should walk on the outside. She’d never heard that before and thought it was the most chivalrous thing she’d ever experienced.

  “I hear fun is overrated,” he was saying.

  She shook her head. “That’s because you’re not having enough of it. And neither is the person who told you that.”

  “What do you know about fun? You live in Sweetland.”

  “Out of respect for Mrs. Cantrell I’m not going to take that as an insult,” she told him. Then a car passed and she waved at Natalie Hall, the daytime desk clerk at The Silver Spoon and her younger brother Beau as they turned the corner.

  “We should go crabbing one day and then to Vito’s Pizzeria for dinner. They have the best Hawaiian pizza ever, and they also have pinball machines like they used to have way back when. Now, that’ll be fun,” she suggested.

  They were about two houses down from hers and Dixi was going about her business as they walked. The sky had grown darker but the heat hadn’t lifted much. The sound of crickets and other night bugs indicated that summer would definitely start soon.

  “Are you asking me out on a date, Nikki?” he said.

  She had to look up at him because something told her he was staring at her. It was a feeling she had whenever his gaze was on hers, a molten heat moving like lava over her skin. Now, that sounded really intense, but that’s what it felt like to hold Quinn Cantrell’s gaze. She wasn’t complaining at all.

  “I guess I am,” she replied boldly. In all her life Nikki had looked ahead. There wasn’t a time when she felt like she couldn’t do something or shouldn’t do something. She’d grown up with two very protective brothers and a loving but often bossy older sister, so at an early age she’d learned to stand her ground. Inside, those butterflies that had reappeared days ago, when she’d watched Quinn walk into the B&B for the first time in years, were scrambling through her like a hoard of bees were chasing them. On the outside, though, she held her head up and looked directly into his eyes. “So are you accepting?”

  The smile that spread across his lips was slow, but it was knock-down, drag-out, faint, get up, and faint again gorgeous.

  “Sure.”

  “Great!” she said, unable to hide the relief that washed over her. “How about Saturday morning? We have to get up early to get a good spot on the river because you know everybody’ll be out there trying to make a catch. You do remember how to crab, don’t you?” When he didn’t answer right away she stopped where she stood. “Or were you planning to be back in Seattle by Saturday?”

  He turned back to look at her but still didn’t reply. He appeared to be contemplating what she’d asked. As if this were really the first time he was considering when he would leave Sweetland.

  “I’ll be here Saturday morning,” he said. “What time shall I pick you up?”

  “You don’t have a car here,” she told him as she resumed her steps.

  “Oh, right. Habit. I’m sorry, I usually like to pick up my dates.”

  “Well, since I asked you on a date—and I do have a car—I’ll pick you up around five. Bring Dixi with you, she’ll love being out on the water.”

  “She’ll wake everyone else out on the water, including the crabs,” he added with a chuckle.

  “Here we are,” Nikki said, not without a hint of sadness.

  “You still live here, huh?” He looked up at the pale blue siding of the house she’d called home. “I remember coming past here to pick up Parker more times than I could count.”

  “Yeah, he and Cordy were pretty hot there for a minute,” she recalled. “I live back here now, over the garage. I
t’s small but it gives me some privacy.”

  They walked to the back of the house and stopped right at the stairwell that led up to Nikki’s front door.

  “So thanks for walking me home,” she said. Then she bent down to grab Dixi up in her arms. “And thank you, too, Sweet Dixi. You were such a sweet girl to walk with me.”

  When she stood again it was to be captured in Quinn’s gaze once more.

  “Why don’t you have a boyfriend, Nikki Brockington?” he asked at the same time he lifted a hand to touch her hair.

  It was a barely-there touch, one that if done by anybody else on this planet she would have brushed off. But this was Quinn and they were standing in the dark backyard of her house all alone.

  “Had one,” she said nonchalantly. “He didn’t want to stick around.”

  “Idiot,” he quipped, taking another step toward her.

  “I guess you could call him that,” she replied, the calm in her voice wavering. She hoped Quinn couldn’t tell.

  “What if I don’t stick around?” he asked when his face was only inches from hers.

  It was the kiss! The evening-star wish was coming true and he was talking too much. Why had he asked her that? Why, when he should have known it would be like splashing ice-cold water on her very hot body. She took a deep breath, her eyes closing of their own volition.

  “I didn’t ask you to,” was her reply. She hadn’t asked. Told herself she wouldn’t be fool enough to make that mistake.

  “Good,” was his barest whisper a second before his lips touched hers.

  Nikki was up on her tiptoes, arms wrapping around his neck in a greedy stance that she wasn’t taking back no matter how desperate it probably made her look.

  The first touch was tentative, just a whisper of his lips over hers. Her breath hitched and she struggled not to pull him down and take more, take faster.

  The second touch was like chocolate chip ice cream, sweet and so damned good. His lips brushed over hers once more, more persuasively this time, the tip of his tongue running slowly over her lips.

  Then the fireworks came and Nikki struggled to keep all the feelings and sensations inside from bursting free. His kiss matched his personality, seriously intent on making whoever was on the receiving end drown in everything about him.