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And now he knew he didn’t have any of Juliette Wallis-Bisset’s genes. None of her kindness and charm. He was just the blunt businessman his father had raised him to be.
Quinn had all of her clothes back on and came toward him, barreling for the bathroom. He stepped back, not sure what she was going to do.
“I need my phone.”
She reached the counter and took it before turning back to him. “I thought you felt lost and maybe you weren’t sure who you were anymore now that you found out that Juliette isn’t your mom. But that’s not it, is it? You’re still your dad’s Mini-Me. Still the man who needs no one but himself and, hey, congrats, that’s exactly what you’re going to get from me and probably every other woman you have a relationship with.”
Her words hurt and, as much as he knew he deserved them, they weren’t the kind of words Quinn usually said to anyone. He’d hurt her that much that she was starting to be more like him. Cold, calculating.Congratulations,he thought,you’ve made Quinn into a nasty person just like you.
“I’d tell you I hope you’ll be happy, but that’s not really your thing, is it?” She didn’t wait for an answer but just walked straight through the suite and out the door. And he stood there wondering if he’d made the biggest mistake of his life or not. He knew that Quinn would be happier without him and, as she’d pointed out, he was the kind of man who liked to be alone.
He’d be fine.
As he got ready to take a shower, he pretended that whatever else happened today, he was okay with her leaving the way she had. He almost convinced himself it was true too until he went to the balcony and saw her walking across the parking lot. Her steps were clipped and angry.
He knew that he was never going to be okay with how things ended. And he didn’t deserve to be.
Adler took one look at her best friend’s face and realized she’d been with a guy. It had to be Logan. He was the only man who had ever put Quinn off her stride. Of course, the man she’d have said had nothing in common with her fiancé except for their business acumen would be able to hurt Quinn deeply.
“Come on, let’s talk,” Adler said, looping her arm through Quinn’s and dragging her to the second bedroom in the suite. She closed the door behind them, so they’d have some privacy.
Quinn wore a pair of black jeans and a black T-shirt under her silk bomber jacket. She was ready to work; she had her hair pulled back into a ponytail and hadn’t bothered with makeup. Her creamy complexion complete with freckles made her seem younger than her age.
“Why didn’t you say you were with Logan again?” Adler asked.
“How’d you find out?”
“You look ready to spit nails and like you’ve been crying. He’s the only one I’ve ever known to affect you like that,” Adler said. “Plus, given all the shit that’s going on this weekend, it’s logical.”
“There’s nothing logical about me and Logan. It’s just hormones and stupidity.”
Adler gave a shout of laughter before she shook her head. “What has he done?”
“Nothing. It’s not important. You and Nick are fighting? That’s what Mari texted Iris who texted me.”
“You guys need a better way to communicate. That is so last night. Nick and I sort of made up.”
“How do you sort of make up?” Quinn asked.
Adler was wondering the same thing herself, but Nick had come to her this morning and said that they shouldn’t let the events of the last few days derail their wedding. He still wanted to marry her. But he hadn’t said he’d loved her when she’d left and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was going through the ceremony because he needed a distraction from the scandals swirling around him.
“We’re getting married. We still haven’t sorted everything out, but with the ceremony being televised and all the family stuff, we just have to go through with it.”
Adler hated the way that sounded. She hadn’t been looking to get married just to be a man’s Mrs. She’d thought she’d found her soul mate and the man who’d be her partner through the rest of her life. That she’d made a better choice than her dad, who had taken a long time to find Sonia. But maybe she’d been a little too big for her britches by thinking that way.
“Oh, no, Ad, you guys are the perfect couple. I’m sure this is going to blow over.”
She smiled at Quinn but could see on her friend’s face that she didn’t believe it. Too much had happened for any of them to go back to where they had been before. She hoped that the wedding would be a step to her and Nick finding the way forward, but frankly he was drinking a lot and brooding. That wasn’t the kind of man he’d been before. He was driven but he’d always been sort of open and upbeat, unlike the men in her family.
“No one is perfect,” Adler said. “We’re going to figure it out. What about you and Logan?”
Quinn shook her head. “There is no me and Logan. There’s Logan, and he’s pissed at the world. And there’s me, who tried to make him see that this too shall pass.”
Of course, Logan didn’t want to hear that. Adler knew her cousin well enough to know he wouldn’t be appeased by that. “He probably wants his pound of flesh.”
“He got it last night. He said some really mean things to his mom and his dad,” Quinn said. “I thought he was hurting and that he just needed some time—Never mind. You don’t need to hear that.”
“I’m sorry,” Adler said. And she was. She wanted her friend to find happiness and the only man she’d been interested in seriously in a long time was Logan. There was something between the two of them that Adler didn’t get, but that was love, wasn’t it?
