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I couldn’t help curling my lip. She laughed and hugged Quinn hard. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Relief ballooned in my chest. If Renee was around, nothing could happen. “I’ll cook.”
“I’ll eat,” Renee said. She looked at me. “Joanne and Mia know she’s in town.”
I hesitated. The fewer people who knew where Quinn was the better, but I saw the way her eyes lit up at the mention of their names. “Bring them,” I said, pushing down my reservations.
Renee looked surprised. “You sure?”
I wasn’t. It was an unnecessary risk, and Inevertook unnecessary risks. I opened my mouth to tell her I’d changed my mind, it wasn’t smart. Then I made the mistake of looking at Quinn again. I couldn’t bring myself to put out the light in her eyes. She’d have to hide out here all day. At least she could hang out with her friends in the evening. “Yeah,” I said, the agreement rough and unnatural in my mouth.
Anything to keep from being left alone with her.
After Renee left, that’s what Quinn and I were–completely alone as we stood together in the foyer. The silence echoed around us. Renee had taken all the easy comfort with her. I glanced at my watch, but it was only eight thirty, so I could hardly claim that I was going to bed. I was about to say that I needed to get some work done but Quinn spoke first.
“You mentioned a nightcap?” Her big gray eyes were back on my face. I felt like she could see through me.
“Sure.” There was nothing else to say. I’d been the first to suggest it, after all. It was ironic that my ploy to keep my sister here so that I didn’t cross the line with Quinn had turned on me. I led the way into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. A bottle of white wine rattled in the door, but I didn’t reach for it. I’d never once seen Quinn drink wine.
“Wow,” she said, coming up beside me. “Did you become a teetotaler on me, Callum?”
“Hardly.” I pushed aside the large jug of apple juice and found the beer hiding behind it.
“Now we’re talking.” Quinn reached past me and hooked two by their necks. I felt the brush of her soft hair on my arm. “Where do you keep your bottle opener?”
I moved past her to pull it out of the drawer. It felt like we were doing a strangely intimate dance. Orbiting around each other, even though the kitchen was plenty spacious. I popped the cap on the first beer and handed it to her, then did my own. We clinked rims and then raised them to our lips. Our eyes caught, and I realized she hadn’t moved back after taking her beer.
Once again, my body responded before my brain could catch up and remind it that this was Quinn Collins. She’d practically been my little sister growing up. And even if she hadn’t been, she was in trouble. I was supposed to be protecting her, not imagining how good it would feel to slide my hand around the back of her neck and pull her closer. How good her lips would taste, like cherries and Sam Adams.
“You look like you have something on your mind,” she observed, a glint in her gray eyes.
I cleared my throat then took another pull from the bottle. “I’m thinking about your situation.”
Quinn glanced around and then back at me. “It’s improved dramatically in the last forty-eight hours.”
“You won’t feel like that for long,” I warned. “If this takes more than a couple of days, you’re going to be climbing the walls.”
She smiled faintly. “You know me too well.”
I nodded. That was true. I knew her too damn well to be having these thoughts about her. And putting aside everything else, Quinn was not the kind of woman I should get involved with. In a couple of years, I would find someone who would be good with Noah. Someone who didn’t mind my work schedule or the bullshit events we’d have to go to. Someone whose life was malleable enough to align with the demands of mine.
Renee thought that was shitty. She didn’t want to end up with a robot for a sister-in-law. Or worse, a Stepford wife. Hell, I wasn’t exactly inspired by it either, but that was what I needed. Quinn was good with Noah, but as for everything else–hell no. Her career was just as demanding as mine. She’d laugh at me if I asked her to host a dinner party for the senior executives. And she had never once bothered to make nice if she didn’t feel like it.
“I can never tell what you’re thinking,” Quinn said, interrupting my train of thought. She tilted her head and peered up at my face.
I snorted at the idea of telling her what had been on my mind just now.
She smiled too, waiting to be let in on the joke.
“Umm,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose as I realized my mistake. “Nothing. Just work shit.”
“Yeah? Some really amusing work shit?” She stepped forward.
“Yeah. Fucking hysterical.” I raised the bottle back to my mouth and drained it. Quinn’s eyebrows went up, and she offered me hers.
My restraint frayed further. “Listen, Quinn.” I set both bottles down on the counter and turned back to her. “I’m just going to be honest with you.”
Her eyes widened. “Please do.”
