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He clenched the steering wheel, fighting the impulse to turn the damn truck around and head back to Texas, disappointing his sister and ruining her wedding. He could deal with their disappointment—he’d been dealing with it his entire life. “Maybe this was a mistake.”
“What?” She frowned. “No way. You helped me out with the demo. I know I’m not exactly kissing your ass in gratitude—”
“Peaches, I’m more interested in your kissing other parts of me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I gathered. What I’m trying to say is that you helped—a lot. And I appreciate that help, so I’m going to stick with our deal. We’ve faced down my demons. There’s no reason we can’t face down yours, too.”
We.
When’s the last time he was part of a we? Never in a relationship—Quinn didn’t make a habit of letting women close enough to gain that distinction. He liked them. They liked him. It was more than enough to spend a few hours losing themselves in each other.
He’d never found those arrangements lacking before now. But after the last few days, it was hard not to compare the two. He’d started out this trip barely being able to stand Aubry, but the longer they spent together, the more things he found about her that he admired. Yeah, her quirks were kind of strange, but they were endearing. And, best of all, he never quite knew what she was going to say next.
And the sex… The sex was out of this world.
He sighed, trying to find the right way to phrase this. “My family is complicated.”
“Every family is complicated.”
Wasn’t that the damn truth? Unfortunately, his family was more than the garden variety complicated. “I didn’t know you that well when we agreed to this.”
“Correction—you didn’t like me that well.” She leaned closer, frowning up at him. “You’re trying to give me an out and that’s really cute, but I promise I can handle this. They can’t say anything worse to me than other people already have, and they’re barely strangers. It’s fine.”
She didn’t comment on the fact that he’d basically just admitted to his being into her, and he didn’t know if it was because she hadn’t noticed or if she didn’t want to deal with it any more than he did.
“They’re awful people.”
She snorted. “Look, I pretty much go into every situation figuring that people are awful and/or actively planning my murder and/or there’s a good chance they’ll turn into zombies and I’ll get to shoot them in the face.”
“Have to shoot them in the face.”
“No, I was right the first time.” She waved that way. “The point is, your family might be wicked rich and all that, but they aren’t going to be any worse than I am prepared for, because I am prepared for the absolute worst. So if you don’t mind me being bitchy—which is why you recruited me for this in the first place, I’ll remind you—then there’s nothing to worry about.”
Nothing except these people were experts at the well-aimed barb that managed to soar right past the best defenses and strike deep. He’d been on the receiving end of them too many times to discount, and he went into these encounters knowing exactly what his family and their peers were capable of. He didn’t like to think of them making Aubry feel…less. She wasn’t. She was better than the lot of them combined.
That was an uncomfortable thought.
“All the same—”
“Quinn, stop.” She was still looking at him as if she’d never seen him before. “Would it make you feel better if I promise to let you know the second I need to get out of there, and then we can flee into the night, howling our victory?”
He blinked and then refocused on the road. “If we’re fleeing, we probably shouldn’t be doing anything in victory.”
“Oh, pish. I’m pretty sure I could do some damage on the way out.” Her smile was downright evil.
Considering she was probably talking about property damage at the bare minimum, he shouldn’t find her so damn cute. He found himself smiling in return. “If anyone can afford it, it’ll be the wedding guests.”
“Exactly.”
He draped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side, and tried not to think too hard about how good it felt to have her there. Like she fit. What the hell did it say about him that he found a woman willing to commit some light felonies for him hotter than fuck?
She was silent for all of ten seconds. “I don’t suppose this trip is going to be as eventful as the one into San Diego?”
He barked out a laugh. “You’re out of control.”
“And you’re the pot calling the kettle black.” She shrugged, her smile wavering. “What can I say? I only have a few more days of this, and I want to enjoy it as fully as possible. So sue me.”
