by Reese Ryan
“Thank you for last night.” Quinn flashed a playful grin, hoping it masked the uneasiness she felt. She lifted onto her toes and pressed a tame kiss to his lips.
Max cradled her face and deepened their kiss, filling her body with heat and making her wish they could pick up where they’d left off last night.
Suddenly, he broke the kiss and released her.
Quinn’s body protested. Her nipples throbbed and there was an insistent pulse between her thighs.
He lifted her chin gently, so their eyes met. “I’m sorry for what you went through in Atlanta, Quinn, and I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to share that with me. But that asshole’s loss is our gain. I’m grateful you’ve come back into my life. These past few months have been so special for me, Quinn. I hope they have been for you, too.”
Max pulled away, not waiting for a response. He shifted the topic instead. “You mentioned a care package you wanted me to take back to the hospital.”
“Yes, right.” She pulled the cardboard box neatly packed with all of the food she’d prepared out of the stainless steel refrigerator. Then she watched as Max loaded up his SUV and drove away. She sighed, missing him already.
Quinn checked her phone. She had a conference call soon with one of the vendors they’d met in Chicago.
Her personal life was a complicated mess, but at least the joint brandy project—though still in its infancy—had already hit a homerun. They’d inked a deal with JRS to carry the KFD line, including their brandies, in all of the restaurants they managed nationwide.
After tasting the product, vendors were clamoring for it and preorders already far exceeded even their most ambitious projections. Duke had indicated that they needed to discuss the possibility of expanding the facilities so they could increase production.
In a few more months, she would turn the project over to Max to be handled in-house, so she could go back to concentrating on the farm and on developing her own consultancy. News that should’ve thrilled her. But the thought of walking away from Max made her chest ache.
This was supposed to be purely physical and just for fun. No hearts involved.
So much for her simple plan.
She hadn’t expected Max would spend the night. She certainly hadn’t anticipated that he’d declare that he loved her and wanted a future with her. But Quinn had lain awake after nights with Max wondering if things could work out between them this time or if she was just setting herself up for more heartbreak. She’d had more than enough of that.
Fear is a piss-poor decision-maker. Don’t ever make a decision strictly out of fear.
More of her grandmother’s wisdom, which she’d invariably heeded in her career. But was she brave enough to follow her advice when it came to her heart?
Twenty-Two
Quinn paid the cashier for two caramel vanilla lattes and found an empty table in a secluded area of the hospital cafeteria. She slid into the chair and wrapped her hands around one of the steaming hot paper cups. A group of women in white jackets and colorful scrubs sat a couple of tables away.
Work had kept her preoccupied for the past two days. But not busy enough to prevent her from obsessively reflecting on her conversation with Max at the cabin. In quiet moments, his words echoed in her head. She could recall nearly every word, every gesture, every expression he’d used. She remembered that he’d smelled of her soap. His mouth had tasted like rich caramel-pecan bourbon coffee and there was a hint of the peach cobbler syrup she’d brought from Georgia by the case on his sensuous lips.
I’m in love with you, Quinn.
I want to be with you and only you.
I want everyone to know I’m yours and that you belong to me.
Those phrases had replayed in her head again and again for the past two days as she’d sorted through her jumble of emotions, confronted her immobilizing fears, and contemplated the realities of a future with Max Abbott—the man she’d first fallen in love with in that misty haze of being a wide-eyed college freshman.
“Quinn, hey.” Max looked handsome but tired as he approached the table. He wore a button-down shirt and a pair of broken-in jeans.
“How’s Grandpa Joe doing?” She resisted the urge to bound out of the chair and wrap her arms and legs around him. It’d only been two days since she’d seen him. Yet she’d missed him desperately, and she had been counting the hours until she would see him again.
“Gramps is good, all things considered. Full of fire and ready to blow this joint. He’ll probably outlive us all.” Max seemed to debate whether he should hug her. But he sat down in the chair opposite her and folded his hands on the table instead. “Thanks for meeting me here. They’re running a battery of tests on Gramps, and I wanted to be here for them.”
“I thought maybe you could use some coffee.” She slid the paper cup toward him.
“Thanks.” He gripped it but didn’t take a sip. His attention was focused on her. “You wanted to talk?”
“I do.” Quinn widened her nervous smile and tucked her hair behind one ear. She extended her hands across the table, palms open.
Max relaxed his cautious smile. His dark eyes seemed hopeful as he took her hands.
After all of the nights they’d spent together over the past few months, his touch still made her skin tingle and sent chills up and down her spine.
“The other day, when you said that...” Quinn stumbled over the word. She’d repeated Max’s declaration in her head again and again, but this was the first time she was saying the words aloud.
“That I’m in love with you?” he offered, a smirk curving one side of his mouth. He was barely able to contain his amusement and seemed to get a kick out of being the one on the offensive this time around.
“Yes.” She took a deep breath before meeting his gaze again. “It was a really beautiful moment. But when you compared what you wanted with me to what Blake and Savannah have... I’ll admit it freaked me out a little.”
“It kind of freaked me out to realize it.” He brushed his lips over the back of her hand. “But it’s the truth. We’ve already missed so much time together, Quinn, and I know that’s my fault,” he added quickly. “But I don’t want to miss another minute with you. I want you in my life, in my bed. I want you to be my plus-one. And I want you beside me at those Sunday night family dinners. To quote Roger Troutman, I want to be your man. Plain and simple.”
Quinn laughed at his mention of yet another song he’d played for her that summer. Her vision blurred with tears. “Good. Because I love you, too, Max. And I want all of those things with you, too.”
“God, I’m glad to hear you say that.” He stood, rounding the table and pulling her into a tight hug. Max breathed a sigh of relief that gently rustled her hair. “When I didn’t hear anything from you the past couple of days... I’ll admit I was a little worried.” He chuckled. “But I would’ve waited for as long as it took to hear those words.” He gave her a quick kiss, his gaze lingering on her lips.
“We should get out of here before we’re thrown out for making out in the hospital cafeteria.” Quinn’s cheeks warmed as she glanced around at the people staring at them.
“Good idea. Besides, Gramps is really looking forward to seeing you,” Max said. “Walk back with me?”
She nodded and they grabbed their lukewarm coffees and linked hands as he led her toward a bank of elevators. Max pushed the button.
“In case it wasn’t already obvious, you’re invited back to my place for part two of our sleepover. We have some unfinished business, and I’ve been thinking of creative uses for that peach cobbler syrup.” Quinn smirked.
“Ooh...not fair.” He tugged her onto the elevator once the door opened and pushed the button for the fifth floor. “You’re not the one who’ll have to hide a raging hard-on from his entire family.”
He backed her up against the elevator wall and
kissed her, both of them trying not to spill their coffee. They got off on the fifth floor and he pulled her aside before they entered a set of secure doors. “Before we walk through those doors, you need to understand what you’re getting yourself into,” he said ominously.
“Okay,” she said apprehensively. “Let’s hear it.”
He drank most of his cooled coffee then discarded the cup.
“My brothers will tease us mercilessly. My sister will try to push us down the aisle. And my mother will start dropping hints about grandchildren in a month or two, tops.”
“You’re exaggerating, Max.” Quinn laughed, relieved. “Besides, I adore your family, and I’m prepared for whatever they dish out, as long as we’re in this together.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Max kissed her, then pulled away. He stared at her for a moment, a blissful smile animating his face. “By the way, not a proposal, but if I haven’t already made it clear, I have every intention of marrying you, Quinn Bazemore.”
“You’d better.” She grinned. “Otherwise, good luck explaining to some woman why my initials are inked on your chest. Awkward.”
“Good point, and that reminds me, we need to talk about which of my favorite poems you should incorporate in your tattoo,” he teased, barely able to restrain his grin.
The two of them broke into laughter as they walked through the doors and into a private family waiting room, hand in hand.
Iris’s brows furrowed with confusion and she whispered loudly to Duke, “I thought Quinn was Cole’s girlfriend.”
His father responded, “I think Cole did, too.”
Cole shot them both a death stare and shook his head. “No one in this family ever listens to me.”
He stood and hugged Quinn, then he shook his brother’s hand. They’d been making more of an effort to get along since Quinn had been spending time with both of them. “About time you two knuckleheads figured this out. And absolutely no pressure, but it would be nice to have someone else in this family besides Zora who actually gets me.”
“I thought you said Zora would be the one pushing us down the aisle,” Quinn whispered to Max loudly.
Zora bounded out of her chair and launched herself at Max, hugging him and then Quinn. “We can tag team the whole wedding thing,” she said to Cole.
Max and Quinn settled into chairs next to each other amid the questions and excitement of his family. They were all inquisitive and teasing, but also warm and welcoming, making her feel like she was already one of their own.
Maybe she and Max had taken the long route to get here, but she was exactly where she’d always wanted to be.
* * *
One by one,
the Abbots are falling
for that special someone.
Now it’s Zora’s turn...
Don’t miss the next
installment in
The Bourbon Brothers saga
by Reese Ryan!
Available February 2021
exclusively from
Harlequin Desire.
Keep reading for an excerpt from One Last Kiss by Jessica Lemmon.
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One Last Kiss
by Jessica Lemmon
Prologue
Five and a half years ago, New Year’s Eve
“Daddy,” Gia Knox said from between clenched teeth. But her father, busy bragging on her as per his usual, wouldn’t be dissuaded. His current brag was her graduating the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with honors, and the impressive work she would soon do at the family company, ThomKnox.
“She inherited her brains from me, of course.” Jack Knox gave his only daughter a wink and wrapped an arm around her.
“Don’t be silly, Jack,” Gia’s mother, Macy, interjected. “Everyone knows our daughter inherited her intelligence from me. Let’s leave these kids alone. We’re ruining their fun.”
Macy whisked Jack away so suddenly, Gia was left alone with one of the most talented web designers in the company. She shuffled her feet as best she could in black Louboutins, clasping her hands in front of her black glittery skirt. By the time she was fiddling with her long beaded necklace over her sequined top, she realized she was having a rare awkward moment.
“Sorry about that,” she muttered to the man before her. “They’re proud. Anyway, it’s great to meet you, Jayson.”
“Cooper,” he said, the deep timbre of his voice glancing off each one of her ribs. “No one calls me Jayson.”
“Well, then I definitely won’t call you Cooper. I pride myself in being unique.” She’d meant the quip to be a cute conversation salve to the embarrassing display by her dad, but it came out sounding flirty. And Jayson responded.
“You, Gia Knox, are definitely unique.” His smile twitched beneath a trimmed neat goatee before vanishing. That half smile was completely attractive. Disarmingly so. All of him was. He had broad shoulders and wore a suit well. She’d surreptitiously checked him out more than once while her father was rattling off her GPA.
Jayson’s thick wavy dark hair was cut professionally and close, but his facial hair lent him an air of mystery. And those eyes. Blue and piercing, she’d bet they didn’t miss a thing.
“Well, then, Jay,” she said, testing the new nickname and receiving an eyebrow arch in response, “you’ll either be enchanted or disappointed to hear I’m joining the tech team.”
“Enchanted,” he answered without hesitation. “Definitely enchanted.”
“Sixty seconds!” Her brother Brannon called out, blowing into a noisemaker and earning a round of cheers and applause. Nearly every employee of ThomKnox was present at the New Year’s Eve celebration, including Gia’s family since they were ThomKnox.
Partygoers followed Bran’s lead and pressed in toward the center of the ballroom, leaving Jay and Gia to watch them go.
“The moment we’ve all been waiting for,” she said as the crowd began a sloppy midnight countdown at the thirty-second mark. “A bunch of employees making out at the stroke of the new year.”
This time when her gaze clashed with Jayson’s, it stuck. She found herself unable to look away. The moment his eyes left hers they took an inventory of her mouth.
She felt the brush of his gaze the way she might have felt his hand. Or his lips. It was intimate. It was heady. He had her thoroughly distracted and totally off-kilter. She’d had one glass of champagne, no more, but felt as if she’d polished off a bottle and then someone had hit her over the head with it.
Had she ever met a guy and felt this much longing? And what was it about him—but she knew. Jayson was as charmed by her as she’d been by him. Rarely was attraction ever that equal.
At that second—and the three that followed—she imagined satisfying her longing and kissing Jayson Cooper. Lifting to her toes and pressing her mouth to his. He smelled good from where she stood, and she’d bet he was absolutely intoxicating close up.
There’s only one way to find out.
Jayson, his gaze trickling back up to hers, leaned forward the slightest bit.
Then a red-haired woman who was even shorter than Gia and wearing a skirt that was a lot tighter than Gia’s, crashed into him.
“Cooper, come on! We’ll miss the countdown!” The redhead bounced as she wrapped both her arms around one of his. Her headband bobbed, the words Happy New Year waving. “Hi,” she chirped. “I’m Shelly.”
“Gia Knox.” Gia shook the other woman’s hand, feeling the loss of Jayson’s attention when he rigidly looped his
arm around his date’s waist.
As if summoned, Gia’s boyfriend, Tom, approached. “There you are.”
Tom leaned in to kiss her cheek and she pasted on a plastic smile.
“It was nice to meet you, Jay,” Gia called as Tom pulled her toward the crowd. Jayson nodded, his frown slight but visible, as Shelly towed him to the middle of the room.
Gia and Jay watched each other as the countdown continued, as more and more distance separated them and more and more people came between them.
Three.
Two.
One.
“Happy New Year!” the crowd shouted as silver and gold confetti rained down on the ballroom.
“Happy New Year, baby,” Tom said to Gia and then captured her mouth in a kiss. She pushed aside the inconvenient—and possibly insane—attraction she felt toward Jayson and focused on her date. But Tom’s kiss barely registered on her oh, baby scale. Her heart wasn’t racing the way it was a moment ago. Her stomach wasn’t clenched in delicious anticipation as it had been a moment ago.
She leaned into the kiss, determined to bury that errant blip of lust. She was soon going to be working with Jayson Cooper, and indulging in anything, especially a fantasy, wasn’t a great start to her career at ThomKnox.
That night became a night she never ever forgot. Not because of Tom or the party or the tepid New Year’s kiss. No, the most memorable part of that night was meeting a handsome, blue-eyed stranger that, little did she know at the time, would soon become her husband...and soon after that, become her ex-husband.
Copyright © 2020 by Jessica Lemmon
SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM
West Caldwell has come to Redemption Ranch to put his past behind him. Flirting with a pint-size police officer who thinks he’s bad news is definitely not part of the plan, but it’s deliciously easy to get under Pansy’s skin. In her arms, West feels like the man he always wanted to be—but can he become the man Pansy deserves?