“I don’t care what you say. You’re eating a real meal today, Jaden,” he said as he sat down.
“Hello to you, too.”
“Red meat. Potatoes. Maybe even a glass of milk.”
She laughed. “Trying to fatten me up?”
“Put some meat on those bones.” He picked up his water glass.
“Am I too skinny for you?”
“I didn’t say that. I want you to be healthy, that’s all.” You look like you’re on death’s door.
“So I can write another bestseller for you?” She cocked an eyebrow at him.
Perfect makeup, okay lips, but can’t compare to Susanna.
“Are you writing another bestseller?” Conversation, always a duel with her.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She shot a flirtatious glance his way.
“I would. But one bestseller at a time. Have you decided to sell me the rights to BLIND LOVE yet?”
“I thought we should go out on a real date, not this stupid lunch stuff. I need to know if you have…uh…what it takes to play my hero.”
“I have acting credentials.” Shit, she wants to sleep with me before she’ll sell me the book. No way!
“That’s not what I meant.” She moved a little closer to him on the bench.
“I prefer not to mix business with…uh…personal.”
“And I’m business?” She bristled.
“In the best way, of course. This is going to be the role of a lifetime for me.”
“Is it?” She trained her stare on his face. Her lips wore an amused smile.
“It is if you sell me the rights.”
“Do you have a producer and a studio lined up yet?”
“Not exactly, but I’m working on it.” He began to sweat.
“That’s what I thought. We’ll see.” She took a sip from her water glass.
The waitress arrived.
“I’ll have the steak au poivre.”
“Bring me a salad, a salad with beets and goat cheese,” Jaden said.
* * * *
Quinn was nervous as he, Junior, and Susanna waited for Annemarie. Susanna had fixed some hors d’oeuvres and a plate with cheese and crackers. Quinn prepared a pitcher of margaritas. Damn it, she better come with good news.
Quinn paced, repeatedly looking at his watch. Can’t you be on time for once, Annemarie? Junior fussed. About half an hour after she said she’d be there, there was a buzz from Stokes. He noticed Susanna’s furrowed brow. The sound of the buzzer from the lobby startled them both. A pretty redhead bounced into the apartment all smiles.
“Hey, Quinn. Where’s my baby?” She brushed his cheek with her lips and kept moving.
Susanna sat with Junior on her lap. When Annemarie squealed, Junior looked up and started crying. She rushed forward, plucked Junior out of Susanna’s arms, and chested him.
“There, there, Tonio. My baby! What’s wrong?” She walked the floor with the infant, trying to soothe him.
“Tonio?” Susanna asked.
“That’s his name. What did you call him?” Annemarie asked in a cool voice.
“Junior.”
“Junior?” She turned her green eyes on Quinn.
“Yeah…guess I didn’t like Tonio. Kinda…pretentious.”
“Pretentious? Tell Antonio that,” she huffed, kissing the baby on the cheek.
Before long, he recognized his mother and began to coo and smile. Annemarie kept walking with him, up and down the living room, speaking softly to him and smiling.
“He’s a great baby,” Susanna put in. She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt.
“Were you the babysitter?” Annemarie’s gaze perused the young woman. “Pretty lucky for you, Quinn, to have such a pretty girl living here. What’s been going on?”
Susanna’s cheeks flushed.
“What’s been going on with you?” Quinn volleyed back.
“I’ll leave you two alone. I think you need to talk about the baby and all.” She pushed to her feet.
“No, no. Come back here.” Quinn grabbed her by the arm and turned her around.
“I mean, you’re the parents, and I’m intruding.”
A loud, shrieking laugh burst out of Annemarie, startling Junior, who began to cry again. “Tonio, Tonio…it’s okay. You think Quinn’s my baby’s father?” Her eyebrows shot up.
“It’s logical to assume—”
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.” Annemarie interrupted.
“It’s not that funny,” Quinn mumbled.
She eyed Quinn. “Oh yes it is! My dear…”
“Susanna.”
“My dear Susanna. Quinn is definitely not the father of my baby!”
“I’m confused. Why is Junior…I mean Tonio…here then?”
“To make a long story short, Tonio’s father, Antonio, and I have been…uh…together for the past year. When I got pregnant, he got on his high horse and said it wasn’t his. We fought and split up. I had a commitment to do a supporting role in a movie and, after he left me, I needed the money.”
“He left you, pregnant?” Susanna sank down on the couch.
“Not pretty, is it?”
“Tell her the rest,” Quinn urged.
“Okay. So after I had the baby, I worked on convincing Antonio. I even agreed to do a DNA test. But I had to go on location and do the part. I didn’t have anywhere to drop off my baby. Since we weren’t married, giving him to my family was not an option, and Antonio wasn’t ready to accept the responsibility.”
“Why did you choose Quinn, a single man who knows nothing about children?”
“Quinn was my first boyfriend. We went to high school together and have been friends forever. In this business, old, reliable friends like Quinn are hard to find.”
“Did you have to say old?”
“Didn’t you think that was a pretty big thing to ask?” Susanna ignored Quinn’s remark.
Annemarie blushed. “You’re right, of course. I didn’t realize it at the time. And leaving Tonio was excruciating for me. I’ve missed him every single day.” She hugged the baby then put him on the floor on the blanket.
Quinn shifted his weight from foot to foot.
“Quinn’s really not the father?” Susanna asked.
Annemarie burst out laughing. “Lord, no!”
“What’s so funny about that idea?” He asked, his feathers ruffled.
“Nothing, Quinn, darling. You know. But you and me? Really? After all these years? I knew that Antonio was weakening. He was getting used to the idea and maybe a little excited to be a father. The picture I sent him convinced him my words were true. I knew if I worked on him, he would come around.”
“Did he?” Susanna asked.
“At first, he was scared. But since I was on location in Brazil, it was easy to work on him in person.” Annemarie blushed again and gave Susanna a knowing smile. “A pretty girl like you knows what I mean, eh?” Annemarie picked up Junior.
Now it was Susanna’s turn to blush. Before Susanna could answer, the buzzer rang again.
“That must be Antonio. We got married, by the way.” Annemarie flashed a diamond wedding band on the fourth finger of her left hand. The doorbell rang, and Quinn answered it. A handsome Latin man walked in, shook Quinn’s hand, bowed to Susanna, and then joined his wife.
“Cara…so this is my son?” He looked at the redhead then at the baby. She nodded.
Antonio picked up the child, who had settled down in his mother’s arms but began to howl when transferred. The father quickly returned the infant to his mother. She placed a kiss on Antonio’s lips then swayed back and forth, rocking Tonio, cuddling him to her chest.
“She was Tonio’s nanny?” Antonio arched an eyebrow and leered at her. “Quinn, you’re a lucky man.”
Annemarie smacked him in the arm. “You’re married now. Don’t forget it.”
“Cara, you are the love of my life, but the eyes in my head still see.”
Susanna shift
ed uncomfortably in her chair. Quinn piped up. “I was very lucky. I wouldn’t have found her without Junior.”
“Junior? Who is this Junior?” Antonio asked.
“Your kid. How can you call him Tonio? He deserves a separate name, Annemarie.”
“You’ve been calling him Junior?” Antonio raised his eyebrows. “We’ll have to fix that.”
Susanna turned to face Quinn. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
“Quinn agreed not to tell anyone. I pleaded with him. He gave me time to convince Antonio this is his baby. Look at them. Can’t you see the resemblance?” Annemarie held the baby up next to his father. Antonio beamed with pride.
“Now that you mention it, I can,” Susanna said.
“The press would have had a field day, and Antonio and his family would have been publicly embarrassed. I needed the privacy to get this straightened out.”
“This baby caused a lot of trouble in the press for Susanna. I didn’t even think about that possibility when you came here. Susanna’s had her name dragged through the mud.”
Annemarie put her hand on Susanna’s shoulder. “Oh my God! I’m so terribly sorry. I had no idea. I wasn’t thinking. I dropped him and ran. What can we do to fix it?”
“Funny you should ask,” Quinn glanced at his watch, “because in twenty minutes the press is gathering downstairs in the lobby, and you’re going to clear this up. You two are married now. Make up anything you want, but tell them this is not my baby and not Susanna’s either.”
Annemarie nodded. “Of course. Thank you for taking such good care of Tonio, Susanna. He looks wonderful, round, and healthy. Send me your expenses, and Antonio will make good.”
“I pay for my child. Please.”
Conversation turned to movies and Antonio’s farm in Brazil. Susanna sat quietly, taking in everything, munching on cheese. At the buzzer, they piled into the elevator, carrying Junior’s belongings, to attend the press conference in the lobby.
Annemarie was stage center, telling her story, cooing over her baby and her man. Susanna slipped quietly to the sidelines. No one noticed, and she was relieved. The press peppered Annemarie and Antonio with questions about where they would live and Annemarie’s next movie. A few reporters had questions for Quinn, too.
When it was over, Annemarie stopped to hug Susanna and let her say farewell to the infant. Her eyes clouded with tears. She had become attached to Junior. She stroked his head and spoke softly to him. His big eyes stared at her face, and he smiled at her. When they finally left, Quinn took her hand and led her toward the elevator. Once the doors closed, her tears burst through.
“Attached to the little slugger, weren’t you?” She could only nod. “Me, too.” She looked up and saw him mist for a moment. “This is why I wanted you here, why I distanced myself from him. I hate goodbyes.”
“I’m so sorry I doubted you…thought awful things about you when you were a hero. World’s greatest friend.” She placed her hand on his arm.
“You understand why I couldn’t tell you? It wasn’t my secret to share.”
“I get it. That was an amazing thing you did.” They entered the apartment.
“Annemarie had time to make up with Antonio. Now they’re married and a family. Who knows what would’ve happened if she didn’t have those two months.”
She got on tiptoes and kissed him. “She owes you big time.”
“Maybe. She’s done a lot for me over the years.”
“Should I ask what?” She cocked an eyebrow at him.
“I plead the fifth,” he laughed, closing his arms around her. “Now, life is just about us. What should we do first?”
Susanna started to unbutton his shirt. “I have an idea...”
“Hmm. Yes, an offer I can’t refuse,” he said, lifting the back of her T-shirt.
* * * *
After making love, they showered together in the huge stall built for two in Quinn’s bathroom. He reserved Bobby’s services for the night. The lovers dressed in their finest clothes and headed for the nightlife in the city. Susanna wore a shimmery, dark pink, short dress with black patent leather, high-heeled sandals. Quinn wore beige linen pants, and a black shirt open at the neck. The sparkle of the shiny dress reflected off the cool gray of her eyes, making them glow. Some mascara, subtle eyeliner, and purple shadow turned her into a star.
First stop was Harbor Inn, a posh seafood restaurant. After a dinner of jumbo shrimp cocktail, steamed lobster with drawn butter, Caesar salad, and crème caramel, Bobby drove them downtown.
Quinn took her to his favorite clubs. First, they went to Moulin Rouge in the West Village. After a drink there and some jazz, they had recovered enough from dinner to go to The Red Tail Lounge. There the music was loud and the dance floor not big enough. More margaritas and dancing worked them into a frenzy and wore them out at the same time.
Light bulbs flashed at The Red Tail as a few reporters and fans snapped pictures of Quinn and Susanna dancing. She didn’t care. Scandal time was over, and she was back to her low profile life. Though she missed Junior, she was happy to stop looking over her shoulder when they walked down the street.
The music rocked on and Susanna and Quinn danced fast and slow until two in the morning. Bobby whisked them home, and they were still dancing as they came down the hall, at least Susanna was. In the apartment, Quinn went into the spare room and opened the closet door. He pulled out all her clothes and dragged them down the hall to his room.
“You belong here.”
She fell down backwards on the bed, giggling and watching him hang up each garment next to his. Quinn had not had quite as much to drink as she had.
“Com’ere,” she said, motioning at the bed. “…sexy man. What you did for Annemarie is the sexiest thing. I want to kiss you.”
He hung up the last dress then crawled up the bed until he reached her. She fisted his shirt and pulled him down on top of her. First, she kissed his lips then his neck. She unbuttoned his shirt and ran her hands up his amazing chest. “I love your body,” she whispered.
“Same here.” His hands covered her breasts while he nuzzled her neck. “Let’s get that dress off.” Sliding his hands behind her, he unzipped it all the way to the bottom. Susanna sloughed it off as if it were an old snake skin and slithered it to the bottom of the bed before she pushed it off.
A sharp intake of breath from Quinn when he saw her black satin bra and panties made her giggle again. “Like ’em?”
“Love ’em. Now let’s take ’em off.” He deftly unhooked her bra with one hand and eased it off with the other. Susanna unzipped his pants and moved them down his body.
“Take ’em off,” she commanded, mirroring his words. He leapt off the bed and quickly shed his pants and boxers, leaving only the shirt on. “Ooohh, that’s sexy. Keep the shirt open and on. Just like that. Let’s make love with you dressed like that.”
Quinn’s attention was distracted by her bare breasts so close to his lips. He buried his face between them and sank to his knees, supporting himself on his forearms. Susanna tipped her chin up and closed her eyes. He kissed a trail down her belly until he came up against her panties. Hooking his thumbs in each side, he slid them down and off. He gripped her bottom with his hands and squeezed, groaning as he pulled her up against his erection.
Susanna reached for him, but he was too far away. He lifted her up easily then placed his mouth on her core. She let out a moan and relaxed, letting him turn her on until she began to squirm. “Quinn, please. I’m dying, please, I want you…soooo much.”
He let her down gently then rolled her over. He gripped her hips and pulled them up until she was resting her weight on her knees and shoulders. Separating her legs with his, he inserted himself inside her and thrust up. She shrieked, not expecting to make love doggy style.
“Are you okay?” He asked, stopping his motion, his hand stroking her hair.
“Oh, God, yes. It’s…wow…amazing!” She turned her head sideways as he res
umed pounding into her. Holding her hips prevented her from moving at all. Her mind was liquefied into one giant sensation of pure pleasure as he rocked in and out of her. When he picked up the pace, the tension grew quickly inside her, coiling tighter and tighter, until his fingers found her nipple. A gentle squeeze was all she needed to go over the edge. Sounds flew from her throat as a glorious, heat-filled shock shot through her body.
Suddenly he stopped and pulled out. “Roll over,” he said. She obeyed. He planted one of her legs over his shoulder and settled between her knees again. He plunged into her and thrust in and out hard and fast, causing her to find release a second time, just as he got lost in a powerful orgasm.
Sweat dripped from his face onto her breasts before he collapsed against her, kissing her neck. “You are amazing,” he breathed into her hair. She closed her arms around his torso and clung to him.
“Always wanted to try doggy style.” She muttered.
“Was that okay?” He brushed her forehead with his lips.
“More than okay. Phenomenal!” She planted tiny kisses on his neck.
“I want you any way and every way I can get you.” He pulled her into his arms and switched out the light. Susanna snuggled into him and snoozed like a baby.
Quinn and Susanna slept in the next morning. It was eleven by the time they got up. When Susanna awoke, she was a little freaked out to find Quinn on his side with the flat of his hand on her belly, staring at her. She looked down, but her body appeared the same. Her gaze met his with a quizzical glance. “What?”
His smile was enigmatic.
“You’re freaking me out here. What are you looking at?”
“You.”
“And?” She rested her palm on his shoulder.
“Imagining.”
“Imagining what?” His hand moved up and then down a little bit. “What you’d look like…if.”
“If?” Her brows knitted.
“If you were pregnant.”
“Bite your tongue. I’m on the pill now, so it…” He raised his hand to stop her speech. She quieted down.
Red Carpet Romance Page 17