by Joss Wood
“What do you want?” Cal asked, tipping her head back to look at him, wishing he would touch her, kiss her.
“You. Any damn way I can get you.” Quinn’s gaze dropped from her eyes to her mouth, where he lingered as if he was fighting the urge to kiss her. Cal sighed when his hand cupped her shoulder, skimmed up her throat, her jaw, stopping when his palm rested on her cheek, his fingers in her hair.
Cal needed to touch him so she placed her hand on his chest. “Your heart is racing,” she murmured.
The corners of Quinn’s mouth kicked up. “Yeah, it started doing that when I saw your name on my screen and it went into overdrive when I realized you are here, in my home, and not a continent away. Why are you here, Cal?”
She tried to tell him why, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead of telling him that she loved him, that she wanted a lifetime with him, she bit her lip.
“Why were you going to hijack the company jet to come to me?” she whispered, hoping he was braver than her.
“I was going to fly over there and beg you to come home. To me.” Quinn’s voice was saturated with emotion. “My life...is not that exciting anymore. Not without you in it.”
She needed clarity, needed to know what he meant by that statement. “As a friend? As a lover?”
“As my everything,” Quinn whispered the words against her lips and the last, tiny kernel of fear dissolved. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, the only person I fully trust.”
“Quinn.” Cal bunched the fabric of his shirt in her hand, closing her eyes when his lips touched her temple, her cheekbone, the lids of her eyes.
“Nothing gives me as much of a thrill as I get when I wake up with you in my arms, when I come home and you’re here. Nothing gets my heart racing like making love to you. Nothing feels as good as watching you shatter when I’m inside you. You are my highest peak, my biggest wave, my fastest ride.”
Cal linked her arms around his neck and stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips against his mouth, to push her breasts into his chest, her hips into his. If she could climb inside him, she would. “Quinn.”
Quinn kissed her and she felt his love in his lips, in the way he tasted her. His lips sipped at her; his tongue traced the fullness of her bottom lip, the edges of her teeth, before it slid inside to tangle with her tongue. It was a kiss that promised, that soothed, that excited. It told the story of their past and painted a picture for the future, of a friendship set on fire.
Then his kiss slowed, he hesitated and pulled back to look at her, a question in his eyes.
“Why did you come back?” he asked, his hands on her hips, the tips of his fingers digging into her skin. Cal touched his cheek and realized there was doubt in his eyes, and fear. Fear that he was the only one feeling this way...
Cal swallowed, humbled by the fact that this strong, brave man was insecure, that he needed her reassurance, that he wasn’t the only one who was risking his heart. “I came home because you are, simply, my home. You have always been my deepest connection, my best friend. You bring out the best in me. You make me want to be better, do better.”
Quinn’s eyes softened, turned a brighter green. “Are we saying that we love each other?”
Cal nodded her agreement but didn’t drop her eyes from his. He just looked at her, waiting for her to verbalize her thoughts, to make them real. “I do love you.” But she’d always loved him, so she thought clarity was needed. “I am so in love with you.”
“As I am with you,” Quinn replied, resting his temple against the top of her head, hugging her to him. “God, baby, I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you too. I never knew how long nights could be without you beside me,” Cal said, snuggling in as her tension drained away. “I didn’t think you could love me, but I knew I had to be near you, if only as a friend.”
Quinn’s hand squeezed her butt in a way that was anything but friendly. “Like we could be in the same room without wanting to get each other naked. Talking about getting naked...”
“Were we? I thought we were going to spend the next couple of hours being all mushy,” Cal teased him, not quite able to imagine her adrenaline-seeking man being ridiculously romantic.
“I do my best romancing naked,” Quinn assured her, his hand tugging on the hem of her flowing, rust-colored sweater.
Cal lifted her arms and he pulled the sweater over her head and tossed it to the floor. Instead of reaching for her, Quinn held her away from him, his face questioning. “Is that what you need from me, romance?”
Cal cocked her head. “Would you give it to me?”
“I will try to give you whatever you need to make you happy. Fidelity, respect, love—that’s a given. I’m not a romantic guy, but if that’s what you need to feel secure, I’ll try.”
His sincerity hit her in the gut and her jumpy heart settled, sighed. “I don’t need the gestures of romance, Quinn. I just need you. The Quinn I’ve always known is the Quinn I want in my life. I just need you to tell me you love me occasionally and to get me naked as often as possible, and I’m grand.”
“I have no problem with telling you I love you. I always have and it seems to be as natural as breathing.”
“Me too.”
Sadness dimmed the happiness in his eyes. “What about kids, Cal? I can’t give you kids.”
Cal hastened to assure him that her love wasn’t conditional. “I’m still not convinced about that, but we’ll work it out. You and I, we can work anything out, as long as we do it together.”
Cal’s eyes drank him in. His beautiful eyes, his jaw rough with stubble, his relaxed mouth. His hair was longer and not so spiky and...
Cal laughed and she lifted her hand to a spot just above his ear.
Quinn raised an eyebrow. “What?”
Cal tugged the white feather out of his hair and held it up for him to see. “I think my mom approves.”
Quinn touched the feather with his index finger before pulling Cal into his arms and dropping his face into her neck. “I do love you, Red.”
Cal felt his heart thudding under her hand and knew her happy-ever-after had arrived. Their life together, she decided, was going to be an amazing ride.
Epilogue
Three months later...
“Now tell me this wasn’t a grand idea,” Mac demanded, lifting a champagne bottle to refresh Brodie’s and Rory’s champagne flutes. The six of them, with Rosie and Cody, were sitting on the veranda, having just come back to the luxury house after an afternoon spent on the beach.
Cal had no problem telling Mac that his impetuous decision that they spend a week at the house they jointly owned in Puerto Rico was a fine idea and she lifted her untouched glass in his direction. “Fantastic idea, Mac.”
“Wait until you live through a hurricane here,” Rory muttered, but her eyes laughed at her husband.
Mac took his toddler daughter from Rory and dropped a kiss on her puckered lips. “It was just a little wind, Rorks, and you took shelter in my big, brawny arms.”
“Well, one arm. The other was fairly useless at the time,” Rory corrected him. “God, you were a terrible patient.”
Their friends laughed when Mac scowled at her. Cal leaned back in her chair and picked her feet up to tuck her heels on the edge of the chair, thinking that it wouldn’t be long before she wouldn’t be able to sit like this. She was surprised Quinn hadn’t noticed her rounder shape.
For the last day or so, since they’d left Vancouver, she’d been wondering how to tell him he was going to be a dad, probably in around thirty weeks or so. He’d be surprised and, she hoped, ecstatically happy. Even happier than they presently were...if that was even possible.
Quinn, sitting next to Kade, picked up Cody’s foot and bent his head to gently nibble the baby’s arch, causing Cody to
chuckle heartily every time. They’d been playing this game for ten minutes and neither of them was bored with it yet. Cal felt her eyes fill with tears and after she’d blinked them away, she caught Kade’s gaze and saw him tip his head, his eyes quizzical.
Kade always seemed to sense a secret just as it was ready to be divulged. And what was she waiting for? These were Quinn’s best friends—her best friends—their family. Quinn wouldn’t care how he heard that he was going to be a dad, and they’d get a kick out of seeing his happiness.
Cal flicked her eyes to Cody, gave Kade the tiniest nod and his eyes flashed with understanding and joy.
“Quinn—” she started to speak, but her words drained away. She bit her lip, her mind a blank. It was such good news, crazy-good news, but her throat had closed from too much emotion.
“Hey, butthead—” Kade jumped into her silence, winking at Cal “—did you ever go back to the doctor to redo those fertility tests?”
Quinn looked up at him and scowled. “I’m playing a rather excellent game with your son and you have to spoil the moment by raising that subject? Thanks, Webb.”
Kade wasn’t remotely chastised. “Well, did you?”
Quinn reached out and took Cal’s hand in his and she felt the tension in his fingers. “Cal and I decided that we’d do it when the season ended, when we had a moment to breathe. We’re taking a little time for ourselves before we go down that road.”
“But you do want kids?” Kade demanded.
Cal saw Quinn’s Adam’s apple bob and the slow, definite nod of his head. “I want whatever we can have. As long as Cal is at the center of our family, I’m good.”
Tears, silent and powerful, rolled down Cal’s face. Her small sob had Quinn whipping his head around to look at her and his eyes widened in shock. “Crap! What did I say? Red, don’t cry—jeez! I’m sorry, I know it’s a sensitive subject and Kade is a moron for bringing it up.”
“I agree with that,” Mac chimed in.
Cal let out a laugh and placed her hand on Quinn’s cheek, pulling his frowning face back to hers. “Stop looking at Kade like you want to thump him, darling. He’s actually being a good guy, trying to help me out here.”
“Told you so,” Kade said with a smirk, rubbing his unshaven chin across Cody’s fuzzy head.
Quinn frowned. “What do you mean?”
Cal blinked away her tears and smiled. She reached past Quinn and tapped Cody’s foot. “We’re going to have one of these.” She looked at Rosie, who was dipping her fingers into Mac’s beer glass and shoving her wet digits into her mouth. “Or maybe a pink one, like Rosie. Um...maybe you should move your beer glass out of your daughter’s reach, Mac.”
Mac picked up his drink and Rosie let out a yell of protest.
Rory covered her eyes with her hand. “Oh, God, she’s definitely a Maverick. Heaven help me.”
Quinn shook his head, still confused. “I don’t understand. What are you trying to say, Red?”
Cal smiled and pulled his hand to her stomach. “Do you remember I asked you for some of your boys?”
He was still confused. “Yeah, and I told you that I don’t have any.”
Cal laughed. “Four pregnancy tests and a scan the day before yesterday says you do, my darling. So, do you want to come on an adventure with me, Q? You, me and our munchkin?”
Quinn lowered his forehead to hers, his eyes glistening with hope, excitement and undiluted joy. “Red, I love you to distraction and you should know by now that I would go anywhere with you. You, and them—” he jerked a thumb toward his friends “—are my family, but I’m thrilled, ecstatic, that we’re making it bigger.”
“We’re halfway to having our own junior Mavericks team, men,” Mac drawled. “Another from each of us and we can put a team on the ice. But, really, to make an impact, we’d need a couple more...”
* * * * *
Read on for an extract from THE BABY PROPOSAL by Andrea Laurence.
The Baby Proposal
by Andrea Laurence
One
Showtime.
The rhythmic sound of the drums pounded in the distance. On cue, one spotlight, then another, lit up the stage at the center of the open courtyard. With loud whoops and cries, the Mau Loa Maui dancing troupe took the stage.
Kalani Bishop watched the show begin from the dark corner of the courtyard. Spread out across the lawn of his resort were hundreds of hotel guests. They were mesmerized, as was Kal, by the beautiful movements of the traditional Hawaiian dancers onstage. He had no doubt that he had the finest traditional dancers on the entire island of Maui. He could have nothing less at his hotel.
The Mau Loa Maui had been the brainchild of Kal and his younger brother, Mano. Their family hotel, the original Mau Loa, was located on Waikiki Beach on Oahu. Growing up, they had dreamed of one day not only taking over the Oahu location but expanding the resort chain to other islands. First—Ka’anapali Beach in Maui. Kal had fallen in love with the island the moment he arrived. It was so different from Oahu—so lush and serenely beautiful. Even the women were more sensual, in his opinion, like ripe fruits waiting for him to pick them.
It was without question the most beautiful hotel on the island. The look on his grandparents’ faces when they arrived at the resort the first time was proof enough that they approved of his work. The tourists certainly did. Since they opened, the resort had remained at capacity and had reservations booked solid a year in advance. They made vacation fantasies come true.
Part of the Hawaiian fantasy included attending an authentic luau with the kind of dancing seen in movies. At the Mau Loa Maui, the luau took place three nights a week and included a full dinner of kalua pork, poi, fresh pineapple, mango rice and other traditional Hawaiian foods. The guests sat on pillows around low tables that surrounded the stage.
Kal had worked hard to craft the perfect atmosphere for this hotel. Flames leaped from torches stationed around the wide lawn, lighting the area now that the sun had finally set into the sea beyond the stage. The fire cast shadows that flickered across the faces of the dancers and the musicians who beat drums and chanted along with them.
One of the female dancers took center stage. Kal smiled as his best friend, Lanakila Hale, commanded the attention of every person in the courtyard. Before she even began her solo dance performance, she had captivated the audience with her traditional Hawaiian beauty. She had long, wavy black hair that flowed over her golden brown skin. A crown of Plumeria flowers sat atop her head and circled her wrists and ankles. She was wearing a skirt made of long, green ti leaves that showed the occasional flash of her upper thighs and a bright yellow fabric top that bound her full breasts, leaving her stomach bare to highlight her toned core.
He couldn’t help admiring her figure. They were friends, but it was impossible to ignore that Lana had an amazing dancer’s body. It was hard, sculpted and lean after years and years of professional dance training. While she specialized in traditional Hawaiian dance, she had studied dance at the University of Hawaii and was well versed in almost every style including ballet, modern dance and hip-hop.
As the drums continued to beat faster, Lana kicked her movements into high gear. Her hips gyrated and swayed to the rhythm as her arms moved gracefully to tell the story of that particular hula dance. The hula wasn’t just entertainment for tourists; it was his culture’s ancient storytelling method. She was amazing, even better than she had been the night he first saw her dance in nearby Lahaina and knew he wanted her at his new hotel as the head choreographer.
Lana was the human embodiment of contradiction. She was both an athlete and a lady: strong and feminine, hard and yet with womanly curves in abundance. He couldn’t imagine a more physically perfect specimen of a woman. She was an amazing person, too. Smart, quick-witted, talented and not afraid to call him on his crap, w
hich he needed from time to time.
He turned away to focus on the crowd as he felt his body start to react to her physical display. He didn’t know why he tortured himself by watching the show when he knew what it would lead to. With each beat of the drum and thrust of her hips, his muscles tensed and his pulse sped up.
Kal reached up to loosen his tie and take a deep breath to wish away his attraction to Lana. It happened more often than he’d like where she was concerned, but who could blame him?
She might be his best friend, but she was undeniably his type. She was every red-blooded male’s type, but she specifically checked every one of his boxes. If he had a list, and he didn’t, because Kal didn’t do relationships. Even if it wouldn’t damage their friendship—and it would—there were other issues at play. Namely that he wasn’t interested in the family and the white picket fence, and of course, Lana wanted the whole shebang more than anything. He couldn’t risk sampling the forbidden fruit because she’d want him to buy the whole fruit basket. Giving in to his attraction for her could be a disaster, because if she wanted more and he didn’t, where did that leave them?
Former best friends.
That wasn’t an option, so they were to be friends and nothing more. He just wished he could convince his erection of that. They’d been friends for over three years now and he’d been unsuccessful so far. That meant the occasional cold shower to keep things in check, but he was managing.
The other female dancers joined Lana after her solo to complete the routine. That was a helpful distraction. When they were finished, the male dancers took the stage and the ladies made a quick exit to change into their next dance costume. At the Mau Loa, the show went through the whole history of hula, covering years of styles and dress as it evolved. Kal didn’t just want some cheesy performance to entertain the hotel guests; he wanted them to learn and appreciate his people and their culture.
“Do we meet with your approval, boss man?” a woman’s voice asked from beside him.