by Stacy Gail
Elise’s vexed expression melted away. “You flatter me, sweetheart. Mia is amazing.”
“Way better than that skank, anyway. Don’t go,” he barked when Mia shifted her weight to do just that, then again held up a huge hand when she considered knocking his block off for daring to yap at her like a junkyard dog. “I get it, okay? You’re hung over, and your neck hurts, and you can’t find an aspirin, and it’s a bad idea to laugh at you, and you hate every single inch of my guts. Seriously, I get it. But before you take my head off, you should know that I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because I’m so fucking relieved. You’re the answer to a prayer, girl. You don’t even know.”
Confusion mixed in with the anger, and that didn’t help her pounding head one bit. “What are you talking about?”
“You got whiplash from that low-class piece of trash who offered up her cunt to every Kingfisher within a hundred miles, and you have to ask?”
“Jason Kingfisher, mouth.”
“Babe, I’m going to be who I am because Mia needs to know who that is, just as I need to know who she really is,” he said, giving Elise a philosophical shrug. “That’s why I wanted to bring everything out in the open now, so there’re no surprises down the road.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” Elise’s tone was grudging before she shot Mia a beseeching look. “I know Jase can a little rough around the edges and he looks a bit intimidating. But he’s a teddy bear, I swear, so try not be too overwhelmed by him, okay?”
“Overwhelmed? Babe, I dunno where you’ve been the past few minutes, but considering Mia just tried her damnedest to tear me a new asshole, I’d say she’s nowhere near overwhelmed by me.” Again he quirked a brow her way, this time with another one of those dangerous grins. “Are you, kiddo?”
Mia couldn’t seem to get her jaw unclenched. “Not even close.”
“Good. I like that you’re no pushover. Knowing how to hold your own is a necessity when it comes to the Kingfisher world. We like to fight and yell and cuss whenever the situation calls for it, so delicate flowers who get bowled over easily don’t last long. And you’re sure as hell no kiss-ass. Another bonus. Oh, and let’s not forget about yesterday. Aw, man, I fucking loved what you said yesterday. Nearly cheered out loud, I kid you not.”
“I said a lot of things yesterday. None of it was cheer-worthy.”
“Are you kidding? When you schooled Lorette about what a real woman can do for the man in her life—those intangible things that are the glue that can hold the whole frigging world together—it was one of the best speeches ever. Tits and ass can only go so far before a man realizes there’s got to be more to life than just that,” he added, and she was shocked at how closely he echoed his son. “But until you showed up, I thought Quinn would never get that through his thick skull. That’s why I say you’re an answer to a prayer. That Lorette bitch has been working him for years now, and the harder I pushed him to bounce her, the more he dug his damn heels in.”
“He’s a Kingfisher, and no one can tell a Kingfisher what to do,” Elise drawled, giving him a side-eye. “You should know that better than anyone.”
Jase sighed. “Let me guess. You’re blaming his stubbornness on my side of the family.”
“Of course I am.” Elise gave him a sassy smile before turning her attention back to Mia. “You’ve now met Lorette. It didn’t take her five minutes before she became a literal pain in your neck. That’s how she is, Mia. That’s what she is. Knowing this, I hope you can imagine how Jase and I worried over the possibility of that woman becoming a permanent part of Quinn’s life.”
Mia couldn’t stop herself from shuddering. “That prospect would give anyone nightmares.”
Elise nodded. “Exactly. But, since Quinn was too old for us to ground and send to his room until he came to his senses, we instead tried to keep him distracted with running the family’s newest casino, Hot Ice. It was the only thing we could think of to cut down the amount of free time he had to spend with that woman. It wasn’t much, but we’d hoped that a little separation would help Quinn see her for what she is.”
“The plan backfired on us, though, because we traded one misery—Lorette—for another.” Jase’s amusement faded, and a look of hard bitterness took its place. “Hearing my own boy admit to how miserable he was, living a life that I’d forced him into… that was a hard hit to take yesterday. Really fucking hard. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for that.”
The righteous fire inside Mia slowly eased off at this, and with the first stirrings of sympathy she watched Elise reach for his hand. “Quinn didn’t tell us how he felt, honey. We’re not mind readers.”
Jase shook his head. “If I’d known he felt the way he did about the business, I never would’ve heaped so much work on him. I ground that boy down to almost nothing without realizing what was happening. I nearly broke his spirit and made him come to hate the family business, all just to scrape off a ho not fit to breathe his air.”
“It worked.” Then Elise grimaced. “Just not in the way that we’d envisioned.”
“I’m not going to lie, it was one helluva shock when Quinn up and quit, sold everything that had to do with Kingfisher Corporation and sank every penny he had into Whiteout Mountain. Thought he’d lost his damn mind and told him so. The only good part about it was that Lorette was so upset at no longer being part of the casino Kingfishers, she immediately broke up with him. That made me so damn happy, my first instinct was to mend fences with Quinn right away, but by then I’d pretty much painted myself into a corner.”
Mia frowned. “I don’t follow.”
Jase’s expression hardened once more. “For years, I tried to force my kid into cutting that leech loose, but would he listen to me? Hell, no. I swear to God, he held on all the tighter every time I told him to dump Lorette, because that’s just who he is. So now she was gone, but it hadn’t been Quinn’s decision. She was the one who’d bailed.”
“You thought he might still have feelings for her?”
“I wasn’t sure whether he did or not. What mattered was that she’d dumped him because she didn’t want to be with a Kingfisher who was a nobody. And let’s face it, once Quinn jumped ship to go out on his own, many family members were pissed off enough to treat him like that—a nobody.”
The fury began to pound all over again. “And you were okay with that?”
“Hell no, I wasn’t okay with that. But if I’d made a move toward Quinn, shown the world that I was ready to do everything I could to bring him back into the fold, Lorette would’ve been back all over him like a bad rash. Since he hadn’t been the one to break things off with her, I feared he’d welcome her back with open arms.”
That made sense, but there was still an obvious problem that bothered the hell out of her. “Why didn’t you at least pick up the phone and tell Quinn all of this? Lorette’s not psychic, she wouldn’t have known you’d reached out to him that way. Even a text message would have explained you hadn’t cut your son out of your life in favor of the family business.”
“Didn’t you hear me when I said that my son does the exact opposite of whatever it is I want him to do, at least where that bitch is concerned? To explain any of this, I’d have had to admit that I’d been trying to manipulate his life. Considering how he had a history of doing the exact opposite of whatever it was I wanted him to do, I figured he’d go right back to her and we’d be back at square one. It was risky, but I decided to sit back and wait.”
“Wait? Wait for what?”
“For you.” He shrugged as if the answer was obvious, while Mia gaped at him. “Honest to God, I didn’t think it’d take Quinn two fucking years to find someone new. But I had to be certain he’d finally put Lorette in the rearview mirror once and for all before trying to talk to him.”
“The other day,” Mia said, finally putting it all together. “Olivia said she’d called you, worried that Quinn and Brody were going to tear each other apart. Then all of a sudd
en you magically appeared out of nowhere. She was surprised at how quickly you’d gotten to Whiteout. Were you…?”
“I was already on my way,” he confirmed, nodding. “I’d heard about you from Elise, who thinks you’re the best thing since sliced bread, and since Quinn reportedly felt the same way, I figured the time had finally come for me to work on getting my son back. I think you know the rest.”
But she didn’t, not really. “When you took your family into the conference room, did you tell Quinn all of this?”
“Yeah, I did. And though he wasn’t exactly thrilled, he’s grown up a helluva lot in the past two years, so much so that I’m impressed with the man he’s become. He didn’t like hearing that I’d resorted to manipulating his work schedule since direct pressure to get rid of Lorette hadn’t worked. But even he had to admit that back then, he’d been a contrary sonofabitch who refused to hit the eject button on Lorette—even though he wanted to—because I kept telling him to do it. Holding onto her was his way of controlling his life, even if his decision made that life a living hell. At least he was in control of it.”
“It made both your lives a living hell. You could have lost Quinn forever over this, and your relationship still isn’t back to where it should be.”
“I know that, but for the sake of my son’s happiness, it was a risk I was willing to take.”
“That’s beautiful. And, holy crap, it’s also really nuts.”
Elise chuckled. “That’s my man.”
Her man hugged her to him before looking back to Mia. “When you become a parent, kiddo, you’ll understand. Even if my son had wound up hating me for the rest of my life, at least he wouldn’t have that miserable woman clamped around his throat for the rest of his. He has a chance at happiness now, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”
Mia stared at Jase, and as the enormity of what he had been willing to sacrifice for his son began to seep in, a wave of horror hit her hard. “Uh, okay. About my thinking you were a terrible father for abandoning your son, and then wanting to beat the shit out of you for it—”
His sharp grin suddenly appeared. “Oh man, that was hilarious. I bet Quinn busts a gut laughing whenever you lose your shit.”
Seriously, did he have to look so damned amused? “Quinn thinks it’s cute, and you think it’s hilarious.” Not sure if she should be grateful he wasn’t angry or exasperated he hadn’t taken her seriously, she shot a vexed look Elise’s way. “I’ve never met anyone like the Kingfishers. Is their wiring screwed up, or am I losing my edge?”
“It’s their wiring,” came the prompt response. “If it helps any, I was terrified of you.”
“Thanks… I think.”
“My boy’s got his hands full with you, no doubt about that.” Jase looked down at his wife with an expression of wicked glee and gave her what had to have been a bone-creaking squeeze. “Just think how much fun it’s going to be watching these two kids settle into each other’s lives while getting this place up on its feet.”
“They’re certainly going to be busy.”
“Busier, if a kid or two’s thrown in for good measure.”
“Oh! Oh Jase, think how much fun that’s going to be,” Elise said, bouncing. “With so much going on it’ll feel overwhelming from time to time, of course, but that’s okay because we’ll be there to help when we can. It’ll be the best days of their lives, all that happy chaos. Mia, you do want children, don’t you?”
“Whoa.” Mia sucked in a sharp breath, because Elise’s words had hit her like a physical blow. “That sure escalated quickly. All that talk about settling in and chaos and kids… you weren’t talking about Quinn and me, were you?”
Jase nodded. “Of course we were.”
“Oh. Oh, no. See, we’re not… it’s not like that.” Again she felt her face sizzle with heat, if only because she had forgotten until that moment how brazenly she’d kissed Quinn in front of their entire family—a move that no doubt made a lot of people believe that she was putting her claim in Quinn. Crap. “See, let me explain. I’m here only temporarily. My family and work is in Chicago. And I was never planning on coming to Montana. I was just flying over it. I mean, I wasn’t flying, but the plane I was in was flying over Montana. Then bad weather hit, my plane almost crashed and I just happened to land here. I was actually on my way to Seattle, and I still have to take care of some very important unfinished business there.”
“Business? What business?”
“Uh, well… that’s a personal matter.”
“You’re not talking about that shithead who used you like his personal ATM, then dumped your ass the moment you were no longer useful, are you?” Jase said without blinking, stunning her so hard she was pretty sure her chin hit the ground. “The way I heard it, that idiot didn’t even have the balls to break things off with you in person after he’d robbed you blind. Piece of shit sounds like he’s a perfect match for Lorette, both Elise and I agree on that, don’t we, babe?”
“What?” Mia could barely get the word out, she was so flabbergasted.
Jase nodded decisively. “Yeah, you don’t have any business with him anymore, kiddo, you hear me? You just put Seattle right out of your head. That’s done.”
Her jaw went from unhinged to clenched while a slow tidal wave of anger began to flow. “Quinn told you about that?”
“Of course he did. It’s not like it was a big secret, right? In families like ours, everyone knows what everyone else is up to. You’ll get used to it.”
Elise’s eyes widened as she watched Mia’s face. “Um… uh-oh. Honey—”
“Not to mention I needed to know what kind of person you were. After all, Quinn’s a smart guy, but his track record with women is shit, you know? But he put all my fears to rest when he told me your story, and how you did your damnedest to support that waste of space you thought you got engaged to—”
“I did get engaged to him.”
“Yeah, but now you’re not. Or was Quinn wrong when he told us that the shithead made the most epic douche move ever by announcing online that he’d gotten engaged to another woman?”
I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him so incredibly dead, then give him CPR to bring him back so I can kill him again…
Out of the corner of her eye she saw a familiar figure heading their way. She turned to stare pure death at Quinn, who raised his brows at the hostility, but otherwise kept coming.
“Well, well, well. Look who’s here,” she growled. “Dead man walking.”
“Oh dear,” Elise muttered while her husband grinned like a maniac.
Quinn’s brows stayed raised as he joined them. “Who lit your fuse?”
“You did, you jerk.”
“What’d I do?”
“Here’s a hint. The personal shit going on in my life is just that—personal. If your brain can’t grasp that concept, let’s make it simple and put it in terms of making a deal. The next time you get the itch to broadcast my personal shit like you think it should be up on a billboard to amuse the masses, I get to see how quickly I can tear your head off with my bare hands and use it as a bowling—Quinn!” She screeched out his name in shock and fury as he bent, stuck his shoulder into her middle and hauled her up unceremoniously in a fireman’s lift.
Without so much as a word of farewell to his parents he carried her off, with Jase’s roars of laughter ringing through the cavernous lobby.
Chapter Seventeen
When Quinn entered the offices behind the front desk, all conversation came to an abrupt halt. He looked to Emma, Otto and Thomas, who had come to a collective standstill when he’d entered with a furious Mia beating on his ass like she thought it was a damn set of bongos.
“Out.” He jerked his head toward the door.
They did a quick vanishing act, with Emma whispering a quick, “Morning, Mia,” before closing the door behind her and shutting out the world.
“Okay.” Carefully he dumped Mia back onto her feet, then took a wary step back jus
t in case the smacking of his ass progressed to the smacking of other parts of him. “Go ahead. Whatever it is that’s got you so riled up, let it all out.”
“Whatever it is?” Her hair was a riot of curls around a face that was bright pink from either anger or being held upside down, he couldn’t tell which. “Are you serious?”
Ah. So it was anger. “Yeah.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that a smart man like you has no clue why I’m so pissed off?”
“There’s a trick question if I’ve ever heard one.” And by damn, he had to admire the hell out of her for it. Even in the midst of a full-blown snit, Mia was still scary-clever. “If I say I have no idea what you’re talking about, I look like an idiot. But if I say yeah, I am a smart guy who’s figured it out, then I’m walking bang into a trap that’s going to string me up by my balls.”
“Then let me make it clear for you—don’t tell people about my personal shit.” She shouted it out at what had to be the top of her lungs, her eyes squinting closed in the effort. “They say women are hopeless gossips, but holy crap, you’ve got us all beat by a mile.”
“I didn’t tell my family anything that I consider personal information about you. For instance, they’ll never hear it from me that you open your eyes real wide right before you come, or that you talk about cats in your sleep, or that your skin tastes like honey. That’s personal, and that’s the kind of shit only I get the privilege of knowing.”
She stared at him as if she didn’t know whether to thank him or slug him into next week. “I’m talking about details of my life, damn it. My very personal, very fucked-up life that you chose to share with your parents for reasons known only to you.”
“Oh. That.” Then he shrugged. “What’s wrong with that?”
