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It felt weird to talk about it, but not in a bad way. She trailed off, waiting for Quinn to jump in with… Hell, she didn’t know—some sort of reaction—but he just motioned for her to continue.
“I was supposed to marry a nice boy with a wad of cash and take care of her the rest of her life, but I got all these ‘funny ideas’ about feminism and getting my own job, and so when she found out I applied to colleges out of state, she lost her shit. We had…words…and I left in a hurry afterwards.” Words where her mom told her that all the college in the world wouldn’t change the fact that she was, at heart, a mean trailer trash little bitch.
Aubry shook her head. “Long story even longer, we don’t talk much anymore—and by much, I mean at all.”
He turned those blue eyes on her, the look of anger searing away the little pain that talking about it had brought up. “She doesn’t deserve you.”
“In that, we agree.” She shrugged. “The point is if my own mother can’t knock me down for good, your family sure as hell can’t.”
That wasn’t completely true, though. A small, disgustingly weak part of her wanted their approval.
It doesn’t matter what I want. I won’t get it. Best to know that going in.
“If at any time you change your mind, say the word and we’re out of there.”
When had anyone ever made her an offer like that? To put her first, completely and without caveats?
Never.
Jules would happily walk through fire for her—and she’d return the favor without a second thought—but that was different. Jules was the sister she’d never known she wanted. Quinn was…something else altogether. She took a deep breath, trying to ignore the steady warmth pulsing through her at his words. “That won’t be necessary.”
“All the same.” He reached over and squeezed her thigh, the move comfortable and reassuring and—
I like Quinn Baldwyn.Chapter FourteenQuinn’s stomach was in knots as he pulled up to the hotel in Napa Valley. He’d seen his family less than a month ago, but this felt different. Important. The fact that Aubry had revealed her hellish upbringing only made it more so. He knew she was trying to reassure him, but it only made him that much more determined to spare her from this whole fiasco.
He parked, fighting down the urge to ask Aubry for the third time if she was sure she wanted to do this. She wouldn’t thank him for the question, and it would probably just piss her off. To distract himself he reached over and pulled her across the seat and into his lap. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She settled there, straddling him, her amber eyes seeing too much. “You wouldn’t be stalling, would you?”
Definitely. He toyed with the edges of her shorts, running his hands up her sides to inch her closer. “Are you complaining?”
She rocked against him, her grin doing funny things to his stomach. “It’s been hours since I had you last. I need my Quinn fix.”
“Good to know we’re on the same page.” He palmed her ass, bringing her closer so she lined up where he wanted her. Her sigh was a reward in and of itself, but he wanted more. He wanted to lose himself in her body until this whole damn wedding passed and nothing mattered but the next looming orgasm. Quinn leaned in to kiss her—
And froze when someone rapped on the window to his truck.
He looked over and cursed under his breath. “My sister.”
“Oh good. This is exactly the kind of first impression I wanted to make—necking with the bride’s brother in his almost-broken-down pickup.” He half expected her to scramble off him, but she just seemed to get more comfortable, offering Jenny a finger wave.
Quinn bit back a grin at the scandalized look on his little sister’s face and rolled down the window. “Hey, Jenny.”
“You’re late.” She looked over her shoulder as if expecting someone to materialize—probably their mother. “The rehearsal dinner is in an hour and you haven’t even checked in yet.” She barely spared Aubry a glance, but, out of all his family, he could guarantee that it wasn’t rudeness so much as panic. Her eyes were too wide and her breath was coming too fast and too shallow.
Shit.
“Hold on, peaches.” He slid Aubry off him and opened the door enough to slide out of the truck. “Breathe, Jenny. I’m here now and I’m not going to hold up your special day.”
Her laugh was high and hysterical. “It’s not my day and you know it. It’s Mother’s.”
Hell, he did know it. Their mother had always looked at Jenny like her second chance at youth, driving her to participate in everything from cheerleading to beauty pageants—things his sister never would have chosen for herself.
