by Amy Brent
“No,” She was still shaking her head, her brows furrowing in worry as she went on, “No way. We can’t tell him, Leo. You don’t…you don’t know how overprotective of me he is. He’d kill you if he ever found out we’re together.”
"How long can we keep sneaking around?" I asked, voicing the question that had been most on my mind. I was tired of keeping us a secret. I knew how ironic it was. Leo Delaney wanted to tell the world about a girl. But there was something about Quinn that kept tripping me up, making me act differently than I ever had before. Making me think things I'd never thought before.
But I also knew the truth of what Quinn was saying.
I’d heard the horror stories, and Quinn had been kind enough to fill in the details of what I’d missed. Like the time Jonah had gone after a boy with a baseball just because he’d tried to ask her out on a date. I could only imagine how he would react to finding his best friend who was known as a player was dating his little sister.
“As long as we have to,” Quinn said, answering my question as she pulled me back in, wrapping her arms around me in a way I had no defense against, “We could always leave the state.”
“Now that seems a bit drastic,” I chuckled, giving in and hugging her back, “I suppose we can keep it a secret a little longer.”
“Or a lot longer,” Quinn’s voice was muffled from where she was pressed against my chest and I chuckled again, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling. The other shoe was bound to drop sooner or later. I just hoped it was later. Much later.
Chapter 21
Quinn
I sat back on my heels, rubbing at my aching spine but filled with a fierce joy as I looked around the front room. What was once a heap of rubble, crumbling plaster, and a fireplace on its last leg, now looked transformed.
After pulling up the atrocious forty-year-old carpet to find the original farmhouse hardwood floors, it had taken weeks of elbow grease to get the floorboards cleaned, sanded down and re-stained but now they glowed with a deep amber sheen that set off the warm taupe and French gray color I'd just finished painting on the walls perfectly.
Two months. Two months until the deadline. The thought echoed in my head, my constant companion over the past weeks as time had continued to speed by faster and faster. The main spaces were almost done but the bedrooms were all still half-finished and then there was the furnishing and decorating, the marketing and promotion.
I’d found the time and scraped together enough to put a small ad in a local tourist magazine about the springs and surrounding area. I’d already gotten two calls about customers interested in booking a room for the summer. Now, I just had to make sure there were rooms they could sleep in.
Panic tried to rise inside me. The same panic that told me I was a failure. The same panic that told me I could never make it, never be a success. Two months. How can I possibly finish this in two months? It’s impossible.
I’ve done impossible things before, I reminded myself fiercely. I went to college when no one thought I could. I got out of this small town.
And now you’re right back where you started, no better off now than you were then. For a moment, doubt threatened to beat me, but I pushed back. All I had to do was think about all the hours of hard work I’d put into the Mayhew house. How many hours Lily and Charlotte and the boys had put in. And Leo.
The thought of him sent the last whisper of doubt fading away as confidence replaced it. I knew what I was doing. I knew I could turn this place into a successful business. And I knew I wasn’t doing it alone. That made all the difference.
Things had begun to change between Leo and I. Deepen, become more serious. And it wasn't only our relationship that had changed. I had changed as well. I had never opened myself up to anyone like I had with Leo. Not just because Jonah would have beat the living daylights out of them, but because it was hard for me to trust. I could be honest with myself about that.
Because of mom and dad. The thought echoed and I nodded to myself. I’d had plenty of years to determine just how badly my absentee, drug addict parents had screwed me up. A pang of guilt shot through me. They were gone now, I shouldn’t still feel guilty but there it was.
It happened at odd moments. I’d be talking with Jonah or grocery shopping or any of the hundreds of normal everyday things we do and I would remember, like a bolt of lightning. My parents were dead. Even being at the ranch house was a reminder of them.
Months had passed and I still didn’t know how to feel about it. Throwing myself into work had helped. And throwing yourself into Leo. I flushed at the stray thought, my heartbeat picking up its pace as a picture formed in my mind.
“Hey, sunshine. There you are.”
I jumped at the sound of Leo’s voice, wondering at first if I’d imagined it but when I glanced over my shoulder he was standing there in the doorway, all six foot of tall, dark, and so handsome it should be against the law of him.
“H...hey.” I finally managed to mutter as I got to my feet.
“How’s everything going down here?” Leo asked as he walked towards me, his gaze took in the trim I’d just finished painting. “It’s looking good.”
“Isn’t it?” I looked around the room, feeling that same sense of satisfaction that had filled me earlier start to rise again. It really was looking good. The doubt tried to creep back in but I ignored it, shooting Leo a fierce smile instead. “What about upstairs?”
“The upstairs bathroom is nearly ready. Just hooked up that fancy round bathtub you got.”
"It's a Japanese soaking tub," I said, still smiling as I met him halfway in the middle of the room. "And, it's wonderful. Or it will be. For the guests."
“Just for the guests?”
I paused at the note of mischief in his voice, “What are you talking about?”
His arms wrapped around me, pulling me close as he whispered in my ear, “Want to go try it out?”
Our eyes met for a moment but it wasn’t long before a husky laugh was bursting from my mouth.
“We probably shouldn’t.” I said, trying to sound like the reasonable one but the thought of Leo, naked and dripping, was too much to resist, “Oh hell. Why not?”
“That’s the spirit.” He grabbed my hand was tugging me along behind him up the stairs before the words were barely out of his mouth.
By the time we reached the second floor I was already panting with desire and laughter. Leo tossed another mischievous grin over his shoulder at me, not stopping until we were falling through the open bathroom doorway.
Before I had the chance to even see the tub, he was kissing me, blocking out everything else until all that was left in my world was him and the way his arms felt holding me tight against his hard body.
I could feel the length of his erection beneath his paint-splattered jeans where his thigh pressed against my hip and the desire that was always on a simmer burst into full flame.
“Leo, I want you.”
"I want you too, sunshine," He gasped against my lips, "but damned if all I could think about all day was getting you wet and naked in this thing. What do you say? Make my fantasy come true?"
I kissed him back with all the passion I had pent up inside me. It was all the answer either of us needed.
The next instant he was moving, tearing at my clothes, pulling at the hem of my shirt but my mouth was fused with his and I didn’t want to let him go long enough to let him get it all the way off.
He was like a fever in my veins, lighting me on fire and driving me higher and higher but there was only one thing that would satisfy me.
“Leo, let’s skip the bath.” I whispered, feeling drunk from the kiss, “Maybe we should try out one of the bedrooms instead.”
“There aren’t any beds in any of the rooms yet.” Leo countered, still pulling me towards the waiting bathtub that sat in the corner of the room.
My lips curled up into a small smile that was swallowed as Leo kissed me again. After a m
oment, I pulled back, breathless and weak with wanting him.
“We haven’t needed a bed before.”
Leo threw back his head on a loud belly laugh, warmth and humor and some other emotion shining from his dark eyes. Something deeper and sweeter than anything I’d seen before.
“And who’s fault is that?” He drawled, his hands still moving, pulling my shirt over my head in one frantic movement before leaving a trail of kissed down the side of my neck.
I could admit it. “Mine.”
“That’s right. Yours.” He punctuated each word with another touch of his lips to my skin, “Now it’s my turn.”
He didn’t wait for my answer before his mouth angled over mine, drawing whatever I might have said from my lips and drowning the words with his kiss. I could feel his hands, tracing every bare inch of skin they could find, and his tongue teasing mine. As if it had done so a million times, my body melted against him.
We were so lost in each other that neither of us heard the footsteps outside the bathroom door until it was too late.
“What the fuck is going on?”
All the breath I had left shot from my lungs in a pained gasp.
“Jonah! Just calm down-.”
“Leo? What the fuck man, my sister? How could you?” Jonah’s face was red and mottled, his jaw so tense it looked like it was about to shatter as he glared at Leo. It’s like I hadn’t spoken, like I wasn’t there at all. That made it somehow so much worse.
Leo flinched under his best friend’s angry stare, struggling for the words but before either of us could explain Jonah’s expression froze as he turned and walked away without another word.
Chapter 22
Quinn
“Jonah! Jonah, wait!” I shouted, chasing after him but by the time I got down the stairs, I was too late. He’d already slammed the door of his truck and was peeling out of the driveway before I’d even made it outside.
I slowed to a stop in the middle of the gravel lane, my heart in my throat and a feeling like a lead weight in the pit of my stomach. I had to swallow back a wave of nausea as even the sound of Jonah’s angry departure faded into silence.
“Hey, Quinn,” Leo said softly and I jumped. I hadn’t realized he had followed us outside, “Are you okay?”
I turned the question over in my head. It wasn’t about if I was okay. It was about if Leo was still going to be okay after Jonah got over the shock and his temper kicked in.
“I have to go after him.”
“I know. I can drive you-.”
“No. I need to go on my own. If he sees you again right now…” I let the thought trail off. It was too painful to finish. I glanced at him from the corner of my, watched him reach one hand out toward me pleadingly before letting it fall listlessly to his side.
"You don't have to do this alone." He finally said, the words rough like sandpaper as they fell into the open air between us. But he was wrong. This was something that I had to do alone. It was time to face Jonah. And I would have to live with the consequences.
“I’m sorry, Leo,” I mumbled, already walking to my car, “I have to go.” I prayed he wouldn’t follow after me. I was afraid I wouldn’t have the strength to say no to him a second time if he offered to come with me.
I was shocked to realize that he’d become a safety net to me over the past few months. The person I turned to when I had a problem or needed comfort. Because I knew he would wrap me in his arms and keep all the monsters away. But this was one monster he couldn’t defeat. I’d have to face this one on my own.
The sound of the driver’s side door slamming shut seemed overly loud and my ears rang with a buzzing noise like an alarm going off in my head. I met Leo’s eyes once more, his gaze questioning and restless, as if he was moments away from charging forward but before he could I started the car and drove down the long driveway, kicking up a cloud of dust as I left the Mayhew house.
I pulled in front of the apartment building I shared with Jonah and parked, sitting there for a long moment. I didn’t even remember the drive there. My mind was filled with dread and I had a sour taste in my mouth like bile. This wasn’t going to go well. I already knew that, but it didn’t stop me from getting out of the car and forcing my feet to carry me forward.
I didn't stop until I was standing in front of the door. The dilapidated apartment building loomed large and intimidating in front of me but one thing gave me the strength to open the door and walk inside. And it was Leo.
That first night together had been all about fun, forgetting about my failures, losing myself in him so I wouldn't have to face my problems. But things had changed between us. Grown deeper, more intense. And in the end, he'd actually helped me to face my problems head-on rather than trying to avoid them.
I walked inside but stopped on the threshold, frozen by the look of disappointment and anger that Jonah shot me from his seat in the kitchen. He didn't come any closer, didn't move at all except to open his mouth and speak.
“How could you have been so st-.”
“I’m in love with him.” The words flew out of my mouth like startled birds and I surprised myself nearly as much as I surprised Jonah.
“What did you just say?”
"I'm in love with Leo," I said the words again, tasting them in my mouth, something strange and new and terrifying but at the same time, perfectly right. "I'm in love with him, Jonah."
“You’re in love with him? Leo? Leo Delaney?” Finally, Jonah rose to his feet, walking towards with a plaintive look on his face, “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Leo?”
“I know, it sounds crazy.”
“No, it doesn’t sound crazy, Quinn,” Jonah huffed, “It sounds downright mental.” He was shaking his head as pulled to a stop in front of me. “The man is the worst womanizer I’ve ever met. He’s got a different woman in his bed every night, he’s slept with all the single women in Coral Springs, and half of the married ones! And he messed around with my sister! How dare he-.”
"Jonah, listen to me," I interrupted, seeing the red-hot anger erupt again as he spoke, "He's different. He's changed. We both have."
“I don’t believe it, Quinn. And neither should you.”
“It’s the truth.”
“It’s not, Q. He’s playing you, and I’m not going to let you get hurt.”
“What are you going to do, ground me?” I snorted, “Forbid me from seeing him like I’m back in high school? You have to let me live my life, Jonah. Mistakes and all.”
“You’ve made plenty mistakes for a lifetime,” He shot out and his words hit their mark, hitting me square in the chest. For a moment it looked like he was about to apologize but then his expression hardened again.
“I’m going to fix this one, just like all the other ones.”
“I don’t need your help, Jonah. There’s nothing to fix!” I tried to plead with him, tried to make him understand but before I could get any more words out a pounding sounded from the ceiling.
"You kids keep it quiet down there! I'm trying to watch my programs!" Lola's haggard voice reached us from the second-floor apartment and Jonah and I shared a look. It was so much like old times that for a moment I thought that my brother would relent, but then the moment was gone as if it had never been.
“Stay here, Quinn. Try not to get into any more trouble until I get back.” Jonah said, each word hard enough to make me flinch but I couldn’t stay silent as he stalked towards the door.
“Get back from where?” I called after him as he walked out into the night, “Get back from where Jonah?!”
But it was useless. He was already gone.
The nausea that had been with me since Jonah had burst in on us rose up with a vengeance and I barely made it to the bathroom, heaving until my stomach was dry. I had to bite back tears as I brushed my teeth, spitting into the sink to try and get the foul taste out of my mouth. The stress of the day had just built too much, leaving me drained.
With one
last look at myself in the mirror, I shut off the light and left.
***
Leo
I glanced around Lucky's. It was still pretty quiet for a mid-week day evening but the regulars were scattered around the bar, drowning their sorrows in their beers.
"Just like me," I muttered to myself before taking another long swig.
“What was that, stud?” Stella asked from behind the bar as she wiped down glasses, stacking them in a neat triangle.
“Nothing, Stella,” I shot her a grim grin, “Just feeling sorry for myself.”
“Never had no use for that,” The bartender said, shooting him a sideways look. “I always say if you have a problem, best to deal with it head on, you know?”
"What if that problem wants to break my kneecaps and murder me for messing with his little sister?"
Stella went quiet for a long moment, “Is this about you and Quinn?”
I glanced up at her, my brows raised in question, “You know about that?”
“Honey, you ain’t been as secretive as you thought you were being. I started getting suspicious when you stopped hitting on anything that moved. And then I saw her coming around a few times. Don’t worry though, I’m the only one that knows.”
“That’s not true. Jonah knows now, too.” It hurt to say the words, as if saying them out loud made them more real somehow. Stella shook her head, pouring me another pint from the tap and sliding it in front of me on the bar.
