"Not any good ones, either," Quinn retorted.
Before any of his brothers could chime in, Rose re-entered the dining room holding a cheesecake. "Lemon?" Quinn asked hopefully.
"What do you think?" his mother said.
Quinn smirked at his brothers. "Guess we all know which of us Mom likes best."
"I made it for Tessa," his mother said, frowning at Quinn.
"And I brought Tessa," Quinn said. "Follow the dots."
Tessa walked through the kitchen door, carrying a stack of plates. "What are you talking about?"
"Quinn said Mom made the cheesecake because she loves him best." Connor grinned. "She said she made it because you were going to be here. We were discussing."
Tessa set the plates down in front of Rose, then sank into her chair, staring around the table. "You joke about which one of you is your mom's favorite?"
"Can't let them forget," Quinn said.
"He's delusional, but we love him anyway," Brendan said with a grin. "Everyone knows it's me."
"It's always the oldest," Mac said.
"It's always the baby." Mia brought a pot of coffee into the dining room and set it on a trivet on the table. "Discussion over."
"I don't even have to say it, because it's so obvious." Connor shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
Tessa's gaze hopped from one of them to the next. "Wow," she finally said. "I had one sister, and she was a lot older than me. But we never joked about that."
Rose reached over and patted Tessa's hand. "Just means every family's style is different. All of my kids know I love them equally." She grinned. "But they can always dream."
Helen walked in, carrying cream and sugar. When she heard the conversation, a shadow crossed her face. "Really? You're arguing about which of you is Rose's favorite?"
Rose stood and embraced her sister. "Helen, you'll be listening to these arguments eventually, too. You haven't been trying that long." Rose whispered, but Quinn was close enough to hear. "You're going to get pregnant. Give it a little time."
Instead of answering, Helen clung to her sister for a moment. Then she took Jamie's hand. He kissed her palm and whispered something in her ear. The tension in Helen's shoulders eased.
As his mother cut the cheesecake and Mia poured coffee, Quinn watched Tessa. She looked stunned. What kind of family did she have? It sounded as though they took themselves a lot more seriously than the Donovans.
Finally Tessa smiled at him. He reached out and took her hand, and she tensed. But finally she relaxed and twined her fingers with his for a moment before letting go.
His brothers and Mia had noticed. So had his mother, who beamed at him. Clearly, she approved of Tessa.
It wouldn't have mattered. It wouldn't have changed the way he felt about Tess. But knowing that his family liked Tessa made him more determined to take things farther with her. More determined to allow her to see how much she meant to him.
***
Tessa leaned forward in the car and waved to Rose, Mia and Mac as they pulled away from the curb in front of Quinn's mother's house. Helen and Jamie had left right after dessert. Connor had been on call, and he'd had to go into work. Later, Brendan had been called in, as well.
"Your mom didn't seem too upset that Connor and Brendan had to leave," she said to Quinn.
"She's used to it. When you have kids who are cops, it comes with the territory."
"Is it hard for her?"
"Having us leave early from dinner? Yeah, she misses us. But she never seems upset by it."
"I meant having all of you working as police officers. Doesn't she worry about you?"
"I'm sure she does," he says slowly. "But she knows it was our choice. She knows we love what we do. And Dad was a police officer, too. So I guess she's gotten used to it over the years."
"Was your father working when he was killed?" She held her breath. Quinn had only told her how his father had died. How hard would it be to continue working as a cop if your father had been killed on the job?
"On the way home from work," Quinn said.
She put her hand on his arm and held onto him. "What happened to the woman who killed him?”
"Reckless manslaughter. She got four years."
"I'm so sorry, Quinn."
"It almost wrecked us. Really hard for my mom. They were...very close."
"And yet she watches all five of you go off to dangerous jobs."
"What can I say? Best mother ever." He put his hand over hers, squeezed once, then put his hand on the steering wheel again. "How about your father? And your sister?"
“She died on a hiking trip. Got disoriented and fell off a cliff. The guy she was with ended up with TBI.” Noticing his questioning look, she explained, “Traumatic brain injury. My dad had a heart attack ten years later.”
He touched her hand. “Lot of pain for one family,” he said quietly.
“Yeah.”
“You and your mother must be close.”
“I see her once every few months. Thanksgiving and Christmas.” She stared out the window, comparing her bloodless relationship with her mother to the happy chaos of the Donovans. “Even before my dad died, we weren’t very…close. Not like your family.”
Quinn looked puzzled. “Your family isn’t close?”
“I was ten when my sister died,” she told him, staring out the window as she remembered the carefully suppressed grief, the atmosphere of tight control that filled their house. The sense that loving each other, being involved in each other’s lives was too big a risk to take. She clenched her hands together in her lap. "After she died, everything changed. It was like being close, sharing stuff was dangerous.”
"That’s a sad way to grow up."
"Maybe.” She shrugged. "At the time, I didn't know any better. My friends' families were different, but they complained about stuff, too." She lifted one shoulder. "Would I raise a family differently? Yeah, I would. I'd want my kids to be raised like you and your siblings obviously were – lots of love, the freedom to be who you were, parents who understood what children needed. My mom and dad might not have been demonstrative, but I knew they loved me.”
She’d always assumed they did, anyway.
"Thanks for sharing that with me."
"Seems only fair, since you shared your family with me for the whole afternoon."
"I'm glad you came."
Pushing her own family memories out of her head, she said, "I am, too. I was nervous about it, but I really like your family."
"They clearly like you, too."
"Connor invited me to come to his next softball game. He said he's on a team from your precinct." She shifted in her seat. "Do you play softball, too?"
"I like a more...physical game. Basketball. Con and I are both on that team. We play in the winter."
"Hmmm. You are a physical guy," she said, watching the play of the muscles in his thigh as he pressed the brake, then the accelerator. She’d been trying hard not to stare at his legs all afternoon.
It was one thing to run her hands and mouth down his muscled thighs and calves in bed. It was quite another to see them in the daylight, the sunlight glinting off the dark hair and highlighting the flex and bunch of strong muscles.
Now, cocooned in the car, she was finally able to do what she'd been aching to do all afternoon. She slid her hand beneath his cargo shorts, fingers skimming his skin, the hair on his thigh tickling her palm.
"Tessa," he groaned. His muscles twitched beneath her hand, and she drew one finger along the inside of his thigh.
"Is there something wrong?"
"Not a damn thing that you can't fix," he said through clenched teeth.
"Yeah?" She let her fingers creep higher, and he pressed his hand into hers, holding her still.
"When we get home," he said, his voice hoarse. "Not now."
"Okay." She drew small circles with her index finger and smiled at his sharp inhalation.
"You're trying to kill me, aren't you?" He turne
d the corner onto their block, and his tires squealed as he swung into the parking lot behind his building.
The car shook as he leaped out and slammed the door. Tessa was only halfway out the door before he grabbed her hand and pulled her the rest of the way.
Instead of heading toward her building, he tugged her into the vestibule of his own apartment. "We're not going to my place?" she asked.
"Too far." He took the stairs two at a time, finally shoving his key into the lock on his door with a shaking hand. As soon as she was inside, he slammed the door shut, clicked the deadbolt into place, then shoved her up against the wall.
"Did you like driving me crazy?" he said against her mouth. He slid his hands beneath the skirt of her sundress. His fingers were hot on her skin. Trembling. "Because you've been driving me crazy all day with this dress." He sucked on her breast, and the thin fabric barrier did nothing to disguise the heat of his mouth, or his hunger.
She arched against him, unable to stifle her moan. Her clit was swollen and throbbing, and she needed to feel Quinn inside her. Right now.
Holding onto his shoulders to keep herself upright, she fumbled with the buckle of his belt. "What you deserve," she managed to say. "Wearing these shorts."
"This dress." He tore off her panties and covered her with his palm. Heat roared through her, and she couldn’t stifle her needy moan. He alternated stroking her and pressing her clit, driving her higher and higher. He stepped out of his shorts as he curled two fingers inside her. Her climax crashed over her, and as she cried his name, he lifted her and slid home.
Cradling her head in one hand, holding her hips with the other, he thrust into her hard, making her back slam into the wall. "God, Tessa. I've wanted to do this all afternoon."
Another climax roared through her, and she sobbed as he thrust into her one last time. His hands shook on her head and her ass, and his legs were trembling as much as hers. He switched positions with her and slid to the floor, holding her in his arms.
Hearts thundering, limbs trembling, they clung to each other, tangled together on the floor. Finally, when she could breathe again, she carded her fingers through his hair.
"Can't believe I did that." His breath whispered against her ear, and she shivered.
"Can't believe you did what?" She turned her head and found his mouth, tasted the cheesecake and coffee as he kissed her back.
"Took you up against the wall like some kind of...of animal."
"Really?" She nipped his lower lip. "You didn't like it?"
"Oh, yeah, I liked it. But I want to treat you with respect."
She grinned against his neck. "Believe me, Quinn. You respected the hell out of me. Twice. In fact, I'm wondering if you could respect me all over again. This time, maybe, in a bed."
"Yeah, I could. As soon as I get the feeling back in my legs.”
Chapter 18
Tessa leaned against Quinn on the metal bleachers, glad he'd brought a blanket with him. "I can't believe it's sixty-five degrees in August," she said.
"Feels good after all the heat we've had."
She pressed against him from their shoulders to their knees. "I guess my blood thinned out, because I'm freezing."
"I'll keep you warm," he murmured.
"Counting on it," she replied, snuggling into him.
Beneath the blanket, he draped his arm over her shoulder. But instead of holding onto her, he let his hand dangle over her shoulder. When she shifted on the metal of the bleacher, his fingers brushed her breast.
The first time she froze, sure it had been an accident. When she glanced at Quinn, he was staring at the baseball diamond, as if all his focus was on the game.
She moved again, tentatively, and his fingers skimmed over her nipple with the barest of touches. Sucking in a breath, she leaned closer to him. "What are you doing?"
"Watching the game," he said without looking at her. "Aren't you watching, too?"
"No! I'm getting felt up in public, in front of a whole bunch of people."
A tiny grin curled his mouth. "Are you sure? Because I'm focused on the game. Just like everyone else."
She leaned forward a little, as if studying the diamond. This time, he lingered a little longer, catching her nipple between his thumb and index finger and squeezing gently.
It felt as if an electric current shot through her, and she shifted on the metal bench. "This is payback, isn't it? For the car last Sunday."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ms. Porter."
He cupped her whole breast, his fingers tracing the bottom curve, his palm pressing against her nipple. Her breath hitched and she gasped, "Quinn!"
"Hmmm? Do you want something to drink? Eat?"
He squeezed her breast again, and she pressed her thighs together, too aroused to sit still. "I am so going to get you for this."
"Looking forward to that."
He continued to touch her breast and caress her nipple until she wanted to drag him beneath the bleachers and jump his bones. Until all she could think about was his hand on her body and the heat of him, pressed against her side.
"Hey. Can I share that blanket with you?"
Rose Donovan was climbing the bleachers, smiling at her and Quinn. When she sat down on Quinn's other side, he slid his hand off Tessa's shoulder, took the blanket off their shoulders and opened it more widely, letting his mother drape the other end over herself.
Tessa began to slide over, creating some space between her and Quinn, but Rose waved at her. "You're fine. I have plenty of room."
She wasn't moving to give Rose more room. She was moving to try and get a little distance from Quinn. She had to calm down with his mother inches away from them.
It didn't help. Heat from his body wrapped around her, and his scent had her quivering beside him. After a minute, Tessa stood abruptly. Her face and every other part of her body were on fire. "I'm going to get something to drink. Would you like anything, Rose? Quinn?"
"I'll come with you," Quinn said quickly.
"No, stay and visit with your mom." Tessa put her hand on his shoulder and pressed him into the bench. Having him with her would not help. In fact, it was guaranteed to make things worse. "I'll be right back."
***
Quinn watched Tessa walk away, her hips swaying a little more than usual, and blood throbbed in his groin. If she was doing it on purpose, to drive him crazy, it was succeeding. His mom had arrived in the nick of time – another couple of minutes and he would have dragged Tessa away from the bleachers to somewhere private. Somewhere he could do everything he wanted to do with her.
"She's a lovely young woman, Quinn," his mother said.
He dragged his attention away from Tessa and glanced at his mom. "Yeah."
"I'm so happy you fell in love with someone like Tessa. She's a good person. She'll be a good cop's wife."
In love? Wife? "Mom, I only met her a month ago. It's a little early to be talking about love and marriage."
"Nonsense. I knew the moment I met your father. And I'll bet you knew, the moment you laid eyes on Tessa, that she was someone special."
Quinn shifted uncomfortably on the metal bench. He was still half-aroused, and having his mother talk about the first time he'd seen Tessa wasn't helping him get control. "The first time we met, she'd been a victim of a crime. It was business." Not completely. Even then, he'd wanted her.
Rose laughed. "I doubt it was all business. I saw the way you looked at her on Sunday. You're besotted, Quinn."
Trying to lighten things up, he said, "Who uses words like besotted?"
His mother patted his knee. "Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me. I just wanted to let you know that I approve. And that I'm happy for you."
"That means a lot to me, Mom." A part of him he'd been trying to ignore knew she was right. He was in love with Tessa.
And that was scary as hell. Tessa was adamant about keeping things casual between them. Determined not to get too involved with a cop. Falling in love with
her was stupid. Dangerous. She'd probably end up breaking his heart.
But his mother was right. She was it. His one and done. Now he just had to figure out how to deepen their relationship, how to nudge Tessa into taking this more seriously. It wasn't going to be easy.
He'd start by telling her the truth about that day he'd watched her. That memory had burned in his brain since the day he'd actually met her. He'd been terrified to tell her about it, afraid she'd be offended. Or repulsed. Or angry.
Afraid it meant he'd never see her again.
If he wanted to find out why she was so opposed to getting involved with a cop, if he wanted to draw her out, he was going to have to give up some of his own secrets. He needed to tell her what he'd done.
If he wanted the truth from Tessa, he had to open up himself.
***
Quinn was awfully quiet on the way home from the softball game. Tessa glanced at him and saw his jaw was clenched as he stared out the windshield. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
"Hey," she said softly. "You're awfully quiet. You okay?"
He turned and gave her a strained smile. "Yeah, I'm good."
"You look like your dog just died."
"Tough loss for Connor's team. Might not make the playoffs."
She stared at him for a long moment. "It's not the game. What's going on, Quinn?"
His hands shifted on the steering wheel. "Okay, there's something I need to tell you, and I'm not looking forward to it."
"It can't be that bad," she said, trying to lighten the mood.
"We'll see."
When he didn't say more, she curled to face him. "So...what is it?"
"Not now. When we get back to your place."
Unease slithered through her. "That sounds serious."
"It is."
Panic fluttered in her chest. Was he going to break up with her? Tell her that this...whatever it was, wasn't working out for him?
No. He couldn't do that. She'd never been so comfortable with a man before. Before Quinn, she'd never counted the hours until she saw a guy.
She'd never had so much fun with a man, both in and out of bed.
If things weren't working for him, she'd find out why and fix it. Because she wanted him in her life. She wasn't anywhere near ready to say goodbye to Quinn Donovan.
Watch Me (The Donovan Family Book 2) Page 16
