“You said had jobs. Have they already retired?”
“Sort of...they sold their house in Portland and found a mobile home in Myrtle Beach. Not ‘on’ the beach, of course. They’re just happy to be away from winters in Maine. They’ve found part-time work in South Carolina that helps pay the bills.”
“Is their move why your sister is looking for an apartment? Didn’t she live with them?”
“Yes.”
“And what about the loser boyfriend? Is he still in the picture?”
Katie had one foot propped on a smaller rock. Her hands were linked around her knee. “I’m not comfortable talking to you about Jimmy,” she said. “Let’s change the subject, please.” The words were curt.
He deserved that. Katie’s sister’s boyfriend had sparked one of the biggest fights Quin and Katie ever had. He sighed inwardly. “I’m sorry.”
“Did you check the forecast?” she asked, not acknowledging his apology.
“I did. They’re expecting the storm to be a strong category three as it scrapes over the Outer Banks. Then it will track like Sandy did or Bob in ’91. We’ll get some damage for sure, but not catastrophic.”
“I thought Maine was mostly hurricane-proof, because of the cold ocean waters.”
“Technically true, but even a tropical storm can bring down trees.”
“Are you worried?”
“No. If a hurricane makes it to Maine, it’s usually downgraded rapidly.” He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “You don’t have to be afraid, Katie. I would never let anything happen to you, I swear.”
“I’m not worried, Quin.” Her body was stiff at first, but gradually, she relaxed. They sat in silence, enjoying the perfect afternoon. Trouble would come soon enough.
Being near her like this produced an odd mix of reactions in his gut. He wanted her. He was beginning to think he would never not want her. Even more than that—at least for now—he found himself surprisingly content. Almost alarmingly happy.
It had been a hell of a long time since he had experienced either of those emotions.
“I think I know why you broke up with me,” he said.
“Oh?” Katie’s reaction was hard to miss. He was holding her closely. Her body leaned into his. Right up until the moment he spoke those ten words. She jumped to her feet and went back to the water’s edge. If he wasn’t mistaken, the tide was about to turn.
When she didn’t say anything else, he sighed inwardly. Maybe this was a bad idea. But he had started down this road and there was no room to turn around. “You wanted a family someday,” he said. “And I was a guy with no roots. Just a passport and a determination to make it to the next city, the next tournament. Am I right?”
He joined her for a second time.
She nodded slowly. “That was part of it. But I wanted to know you. Really know you. And I wanted you to know me. You were so focused on your skiing that any woman who tried to fit into your life would always come in second place. Sometimes I think you were more emotionally connected to your stupid mountains than you were to me.”
He grimaced. “You weren’t wrong,” he said quietly. “I was obsessed, determined to make it to that elusive first place podium before I hung up my skis. My plan was to continue competing until I was at least thirty-five, maybe longer. That seems laughable now.”
“I’m sorry, Quin. I really am. You were so good at what you did and so buoyed by that dream. Is there even a tiny chance that you can go back to the World Cup alpine circuit, maybe as an experiment?”
“None. I would only embarrass myself. As I said before, if I’m lucky, and if I don’t do anything else stupid, the docs think that skiing for pleasure can definitely be part of my future.”
“Will that be enough for you?”
“It will have to be.” He paused. “Things are different now, Katie. I’m different now. Perhaps you and I could try again.”
Still, she stared straight out to sea. Her cheeks were pink. It was hot in the full-on sun. Finally, she shot him a sideways glance, brown eyes judging him. “I don’t think you realize how you sound, Quin. What you’re saying is that I could be your consolation prize now that you’ve had to give up everything else you care about.”
He winced. Was he really so clueless? “I didn’t mean it like that,” he muttered.
Katie laughed wryly. “I’m sure there are any number of women who would line up to take your mind off your troubles.”
“You’re the only one I want.”
“At least for the moment. You told me you hadn’t been with a woman since the accident. Was that true?”
His pride took a hit. “I am not a liar.”
“Eighteen months. How is that possible? The Quin I knew could barely go eighteen hours without sex, much less eighteen months.”
“I told you. I’ve changed.”
“Why? How?”
Women always had to dig deeper. He didn’t want to examine his inadequacies. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he squinted into the sun, looking for dolphins or the spume of a whale, anything to distract her.
“The car crash was bad. I was in and out of the hospital for weeks at a time. One of my incisions got infected. You saw me at the funeral home after Dad died. Those crutches? I was still using them months after the accident.”
“Some women like nursing a wounded hero.”
“I was surprised to see you at the service. For days afterward, I lay awake at night wondering what it meant.”
She snorted softly. “It meant that I had sympathy for you and your brothers. Sorrow for your loss. It meant that the head of Stone River Outdoors was gone. It meant that I felt obligated to be there, even though I had to face you again.”
“It had been six long months at that point,” he said. “You avoided me at work. I wasn’t stupid. I knew it.”
“That’s the downside of having an affair with the boss. When it ends, things get messy.”
“And then—lucky for you—I was in a car crash, and you didn’t have to worry anymore about bumping into me in the hallway.”
Katie faced him, her expression stormy. “What a terrible thing to say. Maybe we weren’t still together, but when I heard about the accident, it tore me up. It’s true I didn’t believe we had what it took to be a couple. I didn’t hate you, though, Quin. I didn’t want you to suffer.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You didn’t really answer my question. Why were there no women in your bed for a year and a half? I would have thought sex would take your mind off your troubles. A bit of oblivion occasionally.”
“When life is reduced to its barest essentials, Kat, the truth becomes clear. I still wanted you.”
* * *
Katie’s heart jerked hard, then settled back into a boring rhythm. He was saying what he thought she wanted to hear. Surely, she wasn’t going to be gullible enough to fall for his tempting exaggerations.
“It wasn’t me,” she insisted. “It’s just that I represented a time before bad things happened to you. It was therapeutic to think about our affair.”
“If you say so.”
Goose bumps covered her bare arms. “I suppose we should go back to the house.”
Quin stepped behind her and folded her in his arms. His big body radiated heat and a feeling of security. “You should gather your things and bring them down to my room. It will be safer to ride this thing out on the main floor. The wind will come off the water. My bedroom faces the forest.”
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she teased.
He rested his chin on top of her head. His thumbs slipped under her shirt and caressed her belly. “There are two guest rooms on the first floor. You’re welcome to the second one if you don’t want to sleep with me.”
Katie turned around and tipped back her head. Even then, she couldn�
�t see the expression in his eyes. He wore expensive aviator sunglasses. “Don’t play games with me, Quin. Admit it. You’re not going to let me sleep in another room.”
He shrugged. “I won’t force the issue.”
She cupped his sex through his pants. “Maybe I will.”
Finally, the tension in his body relaxed. A sexy smile tilted his lips. “I like it when Kinky Kat comes out to play.”
Beneath her fingers, his sex lifted and hardened. “I don’t know about kinky,” she said. “But I’m not dumb enough to give up having sex with you when we’re living under the same roof. All our differences aside, we’re good in bed, Quin. I can’t deny that.”
A tiny frown creased the space between his eyebrows. “Do you want to, Katie? Deny it, I mean?”
She chewed her lip. “It would be easier to walk away from you if there were no sparks. I’m as predictable as the next woman. When a hot guy wants to give me multiple orgasms, it’s hard to say no.”
“So you’re using me?”
Was he serious? It was hard to tell. “I think we’re using each other. And for the moment, I’m okay with that.” She slid her hand into his and linked their fingers. “Come on. If I have to leave the guest suite and slum it downstairs, I’d better get to it. Besides, don’t you have manly things to prepare? Generators and flashlights and all that disaster prep stuff guys like doing?”
He resisted her efforts to pull him toward the path. “Indeed, I do. But first things first.” Before she could protest, he pulled every pin out of her lopsided topknot and tucked them in his pocket. Then he tunneled his fingers through her windblown hair and sighed. “New York was great, but I like having you under my roof.”
He slanted his mouth over hers and took the kiss deep. Her toes curled into the sand. Her body heated from the inside out. The man was a fantastic kisser. Really good. Her hands clung to his shoulders.
When he released her, they were both breathing hard. He still wore those damned sunglasses. She reached up and removed them slowly. Brilliant blue eyes sizzled with heat.
“I’m a fan of good communication,” she said. “For the record, I’m glad I’m here in Maine with you, Quinten.”
He rubbed his thumb across her cheekbone. “Me, too, Kat. Me, too.”
* * *
After she and Quin climbed back up from the beach, the remainder of the day passed uneventfully. They worked in tandem, making preparations for the storm to come. While Quin bungeed the outdoor rockers to the porch and secured other loose items, Katie moved her things downstairs.
The whole exercise felt oddly domestic, as if she was making the choice to move in with him. That wasn’t exactly what was happening, but the situation was sexually charged, nevertheless. Sharing a hotel room with a lover was different than sharing a man’s bedroom. Though she couldn’t have explained why, it just was.
At dinnertime, Quin surprised her once again. She had assumed she would be the one in charge in the kitchen. Instead, Quin took over and put together an impressive meal of beef Stroganoff and Caesar salad with homemade bread. Admittedly, Mrs. Peterson had begun the preparations, but Quin handled himself in the kitchen as if he was comfortable there.
When she teased him about it, he shook his head. “Don’t be sexist, Kat. It’s the twenty-first century. I’m a single man. Of course, I cook a little. Most guys my age can throw together at least one or two decent meals.”
“I suppose I thought you would order takeout when your housekeeper was off duty.”
“Takeout? In the middle of the Maine woods?”
“Well, I hadn’t seen your house at that point, now, had I? My vision of you is changing. You’re a chameleon. I can’t decide if you’re a Thoreau wannabe who loves the hermit life or the world-weary jet-setter looking for the next big thrill ride.”
He tweaked her nose and reached for a bottle of merlot, removing the cork with impressive ease. “Can’t I be both?”
As he poured the wine and handed her a glass, Katie pondered his question. The truth was, she hadn’t known Quin at all when they started dating. He’d been nothing but a name and a face to her—the youngest Stone sibling who was, more often than not, somewhere on the other side of the world.
It was only after his father’s death that Quin had been handed the CEO job. A year or so before that, he had begun to take a more active role in the company, but even then, Katie had never met him up close and personal. Though she worked for Farrell, her path and Quin’s had not crossed in any kind of meaningful way. It was that weird quirk of fate at the communal water fountain that had thrown them together.
Now, here she was.
As they sat down to eat, she noted the flickering lights. “Do you think we’ll lose power soon?”
“The generator is hardwired into the house...runs off propane. But even though I have a large tank, if we have severe storm damage, we could be stranded for days. We’ll want to be cautious in the beginning.”
Thirteen
Quin could see on Katie’s face that she hadn’t thought through the implications of the upcoming storm. It was one thing to get clobbered in a city where fire and police and emergency responders would immediately start working to repair infrastructure. Where Quin and his brothers lived, they were miles from the nearest house.
Their needs would fall way down the list. As they should.
He paused to kiss his cute houseguest on the cheek before setting the salad bowls on the table and waving her to a seat. “Don’t worry, Kat. We’ll be fine. It’s summer. If we have to, we can sleep outside when it gets too hot.”
“Oh goody,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
What struck him during the intimate dinner was how the conversation never lagged. Katie always referenced how good they were in bed, and damn, that was true, but Quin also knew that he’d met few women who challenged him on an intellectual and emotional level the way Katie did. He found himself wanting to be a better man when they were together.
“I have a surprise for you, Kat,” he said, finishing off the last bite of apple pie.
“Oh?”
“Farrell and Zachary and I have been putting together a scholarship program for young people whose parents work for Stone River Outdoors. We want to make sure every kid who wants a college education can get one.”
She beamed at him. “That’s wonderful! Let me know if I can help with any of the paperwork.”
“I might take you up on that. And we’re also setting up a family relief fund. For the kinds of emergencies that drag people under. Any employee can apply and get help, depending upon the severity of the situation and how long they have worked for the company.”
Katie came and wrapped her arms around his neck from behind. “I’m so proud of you,” she said, brushing a kiss at his nape.
He shivered and caught her hands in his. “It’s all because of you, Katie. When we were together, you kept ragging my butt about how my family’s wealth was a great responsibility and how I needed to keep perspective about the world. You wanted me to always be aware of how much I have and how little others get by with. I heard you, Kat. Loud and clear.”
She released him and sat down again, her gaze troubled. “Am I really such a sanctimonious prig? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be. You should have told me to shut up. It wasn’t my place to criticize.”
He stood and began clearing the table. “It was a much-needed wake-up call for me. My father was not a generous man at all. Charity was never a word he taught us. But we’re all grown men now, and I’m determined not to follow in his footsteps.”
Katie’s smile of approval warmed him. She began to help him with the dishes, but her cell phone rang. She glanced at the number, and her demeanor changed visibly. “Excuse me,” she said, her face flushing. “I need to take this in the other room.”
She didn’t go far. Only out in the hallway. Quin didn’t e
avesdrop intentionally, but it was hard not to overhear.
* * *
Katie lowered her voice and answered the call. “Delanna. What’s up?”
Her sister’s voice had that squeaky note that always preceded a request. “I know you’re helping me with all my utility deposits,” Delanna said, “but I could really use a couple hundred more to get a few things I need. I’ll pay you back, I swear. I’m just a little short right now.”
“Delanna.” Katie screwed up her courage. She hated these confrontations. “Are you giving part of my money to Jimmy?”
Long silence. “Why would you say that?”
“Because he always begs, and you roll over. I’ve helped him again and again. You know he’s an addict. He’s not going to change.”
“He’s trying, Katie, I swear he is. He just got out of jail this past weekend. He’s been sober for three straight weeks.”
“Until you hand over enough cash for him to hit up his dealer.”
“Why are you being so mean?”
“I’m not mean, sis. But you’re enabling him. You deserve better. I’ve done everything I can to help both of you, but I’m tired of being an ATM. You have a good job and a place to live. Please don’t let Jimmy drag you down a dead-end road.”
“I don’t even know why I called,” Delanna said, her tone indignant. “You think you’re better than everybody else, don’t you?”
The jab hurt, particularly after the recent conversation with Quin. Katie’s throat tightened. “I’m sorry you feel that way. I have to go. Take care during the storm.”
Katie tried blinking back the tears, but they spilled over. Lifting the hem of her shirt, she dried her face and took a deep breath. Had she done the right thing?
She leaned against the wall and thought about everything Quin had said. He really was changing. Was she the one who needed a wake-up call now?
When she was relatively calm, she returned to the kitchen.
After Hours Seduction (The Men 0f Stone River Book 1) Page 11