An Unlikely Setup

by Margaret Watson

  “Bad timing,” she said, watching his hands on her body.

  “The worst.” He let her go and stepped away. “I’m still going to stay here tonight, okay?”

  She stared at him. “No, it’s not okay. Bad idea, remember?”

  “I’ll stay in David’s room. I want to make sure you’re all right.” He let himself touch her hair again. “That you don’t have a concussion or something.”

  “I’m fine, Quinn.” She cupped the bruise on her face. “I didn’t feel a thing when you were kissing me.”

  “Really? I’ll have to work on my technique, then.”

  She smiled. “I meant the bruise. I felt plenty everywhere else. I’ll be fine.”

  “I want to stay, Maddie,” he said quietly. “I feel responsible. I should have headed J.D. off earlier. I should have made sure he didn’t get a chance to punch you.”

  “That’s crazy talk. It’s my own fault. I stepped in front of him.”

  “Yeah, but I won’t be able to sleep if I go home. So I’m going to stay.”

  “Why won’t you take no for an answer?”

  “Because I’m just as stubborn as you are.”

  HE WATCHED MADDIE SHUT the door to the frilly, girlie bedroom, then he walked into David’s room. Quinn had been in here only a few times, all since David’s death, but sadness overtook him as he looked around.

  David was everywhere—from the full bookcases that lined the walls to the pieces of sea glass clustered on his dresser to the walking stick propped behind the door.

  Quinn was still pissed off at David for not keeping his promise. But as he stared around the bedroom, he just missed his friend.

  Quinn found a new toothbrush in the bathroom and a dried-up tube of toothpaste. He managed to brush his teeth and strip out of his clothes, then opened the window and fell into bed.

  Cool air drifted into the room, bringing with it the tangy scent of Lake Michigan. Maddie must have opened her window, too, because the soft sounds that floated into his room drove him crazy.

  He lay in bed, imagining what the sounds meant. The metallic click was her earrings and necklace being laid on the dresser. The slide of wood on wood was a drawer opening. The soft whisper of fabric was Maddie undressing.

  Groaning, he rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head. A picture of Maddie was lodged in his brain and he couldn’t get it out. Her lush breasts, hidden only by the shirt, her nipples tight with arousal against the thin material. Her mouth, lips swollen, moving over his chest. Her red hair caressing his skin.

  “Damn it.” He rolled onto his back, uncomfortable and aching for her.

  He was an idiot. But he closed his eyes and imagined he could hear her sliding between the sheets of the bed next door.

  It was going to be a long night.

  HE AWAKENED TO THE SOUND of footsteps below. For a confused moment he thought it was morning and time to get up. But moonlight still poured into the room. David’s room.

  There was someone downstairs.

  Andre? Quinn had heard about the former employee’s threats.

  He jumped out of bed and grabbed his jeans as he opened the door. He didn’t see any lights downstairs. But he heard someone moving around.

  Grabbing David’s walking stick from behind the door, he crept down the stairs. The intruder was in the kitchen now. Quinn studied the shadows. Wondered where the bastard was hiding. Gripping the walking stick more tightly, he edged toward the kitchen.

  Whoever was there must be holding still, because Quinn couldn’t make out any movement in the moonlight-dappled room. Had the intruder gone out the back door?

  He eased inside, every sense on alert. Someone was close by. As he circled the island, he saw a flash of movement on the screened porch.

  What the hell was an intruder doing out there? There was nothing on the small porch but the couch, table and chairs. Lowering the walking stick, he stepped into the darkened room and saw Maddie curled in a ball on the couch.

  “What’s wrong?” he said as he dropped his makeshift weapon.

  “What are you doing down here, Quinn?” She turned to face him.

  “I heard someone. When I didn’t see a light, I was afraid you had an intruder.” He should have checked her room, he realized. He’d let his fear take over.

  She looked at the walking stick on the floor and her mouth curved up. “Thank you. I’m sorry I woke you. I thought I was being quiet.”

  “You were.” His cop instincts always bubbled just below the surface. An unidentified sound still woke him from a deep sleep.

  He lowered himself onto the other end of the couch. Her hair was a dark mass around her shoulders, and she wore the same shirt and plaid pajama pants. “Couldn’t sleep?”

  “No.” She rested her chin on her knees. “I can’t shut my mind off. I’m thinking too much.”

  “About what?” Him? That kiss?

  “Everything.” She traced one of the flowers on the couch upholstery, then finally looked at him. “J.D., for one. Why is he so angry?”

  Quinn sighed. “His wife ran off with one of his friends. After the divorce, he started seeing Crystal Evans, your predecessor at the Harp. Then Crystal dumped him because he was still upset about his wife. He got a lot of sympathy, but he’s been such a jerk lately that people are getting over it.”

  “Poor guy.”

  “That doesn’t excuse him.”

  “I was stupid to step in front of him. Everyone in town is going to be laughing at me.”

  “Yeah, everyone will be talking about how you stood up to J.D.” He smiled. “They might laugh, too. But at J.D.’s expense.”

  She stifled a yawn. “Jen told me that dumb-ass Gervano paid his bill at the Cherry Tree with a YourMarket credit card. Everyone in town is going to know we met.”

  “Don’t worry about that tonight. Just go to sleep.”

  She leaned her head against the cushion. Her eyes were starting to droop. “Quinn? I’m glad you stayed.”

  “I didn’t stay tonight because you’re an employee.”

  “No?”

  He rubbed his finger over her knuckles. “I have pretty generous employee benefits, but sleepovers are definitely not part of the package.”

  “You mean you wouldn’t stay with Andre?” Her eyes were closed and he could see the tension draining out of her muscles.

  “Not Andre, not Jen, not another waitress. Only you, Maddie.”

  “That’s good,” she said, her voice soft in the darkness. Her hands slipped off her knees.

  “Why?”

  She smiled dreamily. “Because I want you for myself.”

  God. She must be talking in her sleep.

  Moving slowly, his body painfully aroused, he slid her onto his lap. “Go ahead and sleep, sweetheart,” he whispered. “You’re safe with me.”

  Except she wasn’t. Because he wanted her.

  She snuggled into him, resting her cheek against his chest and wriggling her rear end into his groin. Clenching his teeth, he stroked her back and pushed her hair out of her face.

  Faint freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. Her lips were parted, and he wanted to run his tongue over them and taste her again. One dark red curl lay over her nose, lifting with each breath she took. He tucked it behind her ear.

  She shifted in his arms, brushing her breast against his hand. He had promised himself he wouldn’t look below her neck, but he couldn’t help himself.

  Her T-shirt was white, the material thin and worn. The steady rise and fall of her chest pushed her nipples against it. Their dark shadows mesmerized him.

  He hadn’t wanted a woman this badly in a long time. Maybe not ever. He tangled his fingers in her hair and pressed her head closer. The way he felt would be way too scary if she lived in Otter Tail. He’d back away so fast he’d leave skid marks on her porch.

  But Maddie didn’t live here. She was just staying for a while. Until she sold the Harp.

  Then she’d leave, and he would be safe again.<
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  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  MADDIE SURFACED from sleep slowly. The sun pressed against her eyelids, and she turned her head to soak it up. It was as comforting as an embrace.

  Her legs were warm, she realized drowsily. Warmer than the rest of her. She must have flung off her covers.

  She opened her eyes and saw leaves fluttering on the maple tree on David’s lawn. The tree outside the screened porch. She blinked, then remembered coming down here last night. She must have fallen asleep.

  She tried to sit up and her feet pushed against a body.

  Quinn. She’d been sleeping with her feet draped over his lap. He was slumped on the couch, his head against the cushion, his legs sprawled out in front of him. Asleep.

  How had that happened? She remembered coming downstairs and curling up on the couch. She remembered Quinn finding her in the dark. She remembered him sitting down, vaguely recollected talking to him. But she had no memory of what they’d said.

  She tried to slide her legs off his lap. Without opening his eyes, he put his arm across them, trapping them on his thighs. One of his hands slipped into the leg of her pajama bottoms and lazily caressed her calf.

  Okay, then. He was awake, and she wasn’t going to be able to pretend this hadn’t happened. “Quinn?”

  “Hmm.” He pressed a finger against the back of her knee.

  “You want to let go of my leg?”

  “Not particularly.”

  She bent forward and brushed his hand away, then swung her legs off his lap. “Did you spend the night there?”

  “Yeah.” He sat up.

  “You shouldn’t have done that. You’re going to be stiff,” she said.

  He opened his eyes and gave her a slow smile that made her heart flutter. “Promises, promises.”

  “You wish,” she said, standing. Her muscles quivered as he watched her from half-open eyes. “I’ll make coffee.”

  “Not yet.” He caught her hand as she tried to walk past him. “Sit down and talk to me first.”

  “I don’t talk to anyone before I have coffee,” she said, disentangling her hand from his.

  “That doesn’t include me, does it?”

  “Especially you.”

  She stepped into the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. Then, looking down at herself, she ran upstairs and threw on underwear, jeans and a different T-shirt. She was not having breakfast with Quinn in her pajamas, especially after last night. Finding herself practically sleeping in his lap was unnerving enough.

  By the time she walked downstairs, he was standing in the kitchen with a coffee. He handed her a mug and she took a drink.

  “Let’s see your face,” he said, setting his cup on the counter.

  “It’s fine.” It looked horrible—an ugly mix of purple and red. “Just a little sore.”

  Ignoring her, he tilted her head to the side. His hands dropped away and curled into fists. “I’m going to beat the crap out of J.D.”

  “Let it go, Quinn. I don’t want to bail you out of jail.” Her body might still want him, but she knew better. She hoped.

  After another sip of coffee, Quinn said, “You always this surly in the morning?”

  “No. I’m trying to control myself because I have company. Usually I’m worse.”

  “Good to know,” he said, letting his eyes drift over her. “Next time I won’t take it personally.”

  Thank goodness she’d gotten dressed. Her nipples tightened beneath his gaze. “There isn’t going to be a next time.”

  He raised an eyebrow. But instead of challenging her, he pulled a stool up to the kitchen island and sat. She was vaguely disappointed.

  “Tell me about when you used to come to Otter Tail.”

  “What?” She set her coffee on the granite counter. “Where did that come from?”

  “I spilled my guts last night. This morning it’s your turn.”

  “Why do you think there’s anything to tell?”

  “We teased you when you were a kid,” he said. “I’m guessing we were mean. You must have hated it.”

  “You didn’t tease me.”

  “I was a self-absorbed little prick. I probably ignored you.”

  “Pretty much.”

  “You said David was your father’s best friend.”

  He wasn’t going to let this go. “They met in college. My father died when I was a baby, but David kept in touch with my mother. He was my godfather. When I was thirteen, he invited me to stay with him for the summer.” She stared into her coffee, remembering how much she’d adored David. How much she hated everything else about Otter Tail.

  “Your mother didn’t mind you being gone for so long?”

  Her mom had been thrilled to be rid of her. “She thought it was good for me to get out of the city.”

  “How many summers did you spend here?”

  “Four.”

  He cocked his head. “So what did you do all summer?”

  She smiled. “David had just bought this house. He was fixing it up, and he had a new project every year. I—” she mimed quotation marks “—helped him. I’m sure I was in the way, but he told me what a great job I was doing and how I made everything easier. I ate it up with a spoon.”

  “David didn’t say things he didn’t mean.”

  Except about the Harp, apparently. “I loved feeling useful and appreciated. He even got me my own set of tools. And I learned how to use them.” Those tools had been so important to her. So much that she’d tried to emulate David in renovating houses, with disastrous results.

  “You didn’t hang around much with the other kids, did you?”

  Her smile faded. “No. I was chubby and shy, and self-conscious the way only a teenage girl can be. I had acne and much brighter red hair than I do now. I was a freak.”

  “Considering how you look today, I highly doubt that.”

  “Thank you, but you wouldn’t have noticed me back then.” Even when she’d asked him to.

  “My loss.”

  “No, it wasn’t. I was a total goofball.” She sighed. “Too bad you can’t just skip your teenage years.”

  “You know an awful lot about Otter Tail kids for someone who didn’t hang out with us.”

  She felt her face flame and sipped her coffee to hide it. “I used to watch you all…”

  “Were we that interesting?”

  She jumped up too quickly and the chair almost toppled over. He steadied it. “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t remind me how pathetic I was. I’d walk to town and see everyone in the Cherry Tree. Or hanging around in Mrs. Madsen’s general store.”

  “What aren’t you telling me, Maddie?”

  He’d always been observant. Even that night at the beach. Maybe it was time to tell him what she’d done. To reveal the secret that had both shamed and thrilled her.

  She walked over to the window and looked out at the lake. The beach at the bottom of the hill was barely visible, a sliver of golden sand against the blue water.

  “I used to spy on the kids who used the beach below David’s house,” she said in a low voice. “They’d have parties there, drink beer, make out. I watched them from the woods.”

  He stood behind her but didn’t touch her. “You wanted to join them.”

  “Desperately.” But she’d been too afraid of rejection, so she’d hung back. Once, she’d heard one of the girls describe her as “that city girl who thinks she’s better than everyone else,” and Maddie had been shocked. She’d thought she wasn’t good enough, that none of them would want to be friends with her.

  “You should have. They were nice kids, for the most part. They would have welcomed you.” He touched her shoulders, caressed her upper arms.

  Okay, she had to finish this. She turned to face him. “I saw you once.”

  “Yeah? I used to drink beer there pretty regularly.”

  “You weren’t drinking that night.”

  “What was I doing?”

  She took a deep breath. “
You were having sex. And you saw me watching you.”

  “What?” His hands tightened on her arms. “That was you? Watching me make out on the beach?”

  She nodded.

  She remembered him kissing the girl, and the moonlight had played over his naked body as they moved together. He must have felt Maddie watching, though, because he’d glanced up. She hadn’t looked away. Neither had he.

  She’d wished it had been her on the beach with Quinn. The idea had both shocked and aroused her.

  The girl’s low moans had gotten louder, then she’d cried out as she climaxed. Quinn had closed his eyes and groaned as he joined her, and Maddie had realized she was damp and aching. When Quinn collapsed onto the blanket, still entwined with the girl, Maddie had crept away.

  The next week, she’d tried to seduce Quinn at the party. She hadn’t cared if he was in love with that other girl. She’d wanted him that badly.

  That was the last summer she’d spent in Otter Tail.

  “I remember,” he said in a low voice. “I was dating Amber Detweiler. I saw someone watching us, and…” He paused. “And it turned me on even more. I can’t believe I’m saying this. I always wondered who that was.”

  “It was me. I knew it was wrong.” But she hadn’t stopped watching. She’d been both terrified and hopeful that he’d realize it was her.

  “Is that why you didn’t want to tell me who you were when you came back? You were afraid I’d recognize you?”

  “It would have been completely mortifying.” It still was. But she wanted him to know.

  He traced a finger down her cheek. “Did you wish it had been you naked on the beach? Making love?” he asked, his voice raspy.

  Yes. “I was only sixteen,” she said, her voice breathy. “I’d never even had a boyfriend.” Let alone sex. But she’d known exactly what they were doing. Wanted to be doing it herself. With Quinn.

  “You’re not sixteen anymore,” he said. He watched her with half-closed eyes, his face taut with desire. “And I’m not a kid who’s too horny to have any finesse.”

  “Amber Detweiler didn’t look like she was complaining,” Maddie said, stepping away from him. Away from temptation.

  “I’d make sure you wouldn’t have any complaints, either.”