He was falling into a pool of self-condemnation and she had to somehow yank him out. “You need ice cream. Come on, I’ll share.”
Determined to change his dark mood, Billie went to the dining table and grabbed her dish. “I don’t share my ice cream with just anyone,” she started, “but I’ll make an exception for the guy who’s assigned himself my protector.” She scooped vanilla ice cream onto a spoon and held it to his lips.
He narrowed his eyes at her. “I know what you’re doing.”
“Yeah, what’s that?”
“You’re trying to distract me.”
“Is it working?”
“No.” He hesitated and cracked a slight smile. “Yes.”
“Score one for ice cream.”
Instead of letting her spoon-feed him, he took the utensil from her hand. “I’m a big boy.”
A big boy with a big heart. She felt a knowing smile play at her lips. No matter how guarded and confident Quinn appeared to the rest of the world, Billie saw the wounded man struggling to find peace.
The bedroom door cracked open. “Is it safe?” Bree said.
“Come on out,” Billie said. “Quinn is about to finish off my sundae.”
Bree joined them in the living room. “There’s nothing like ice cream to make everything look better.”
“You’re right about that,” Quinn said, studying Billie.
“So, what’s on the agenda for tomorrow?” Bree asked.
“I’m diving headlong into boxes of stuff I put in storage after Rick’s accident,” Billie said. “There’s got to be something in there that can help the police.”
“But you’re staying here, in your room, right?” Quinn confirmed.
“That’s the plan.”
“I’ll get up early and get some work done, then I’ll come down and help you sift through the boxes,” Quinn said, placing his spoon on the food tray.
“Sounds good,” Billie said.
“All right, I’d better go. I’ve got... I’ve got something to take care of.” Quinn glanced around the room as if he was forgetting something. “Good, okay, well good night.”
But instead of heading for the door, he took a few steps toward Billie and pulled her into a hug. She felt him inhale a long breath. He whispered into her ear, “Sweet dreams.” He broke the hug and went to the door. “Good night, Breanna.”
“Good night.”
The door clicked shut behind him. With a raised eyebrow, Bree said, “What was that?”
“What, the hug? You’ve seen people hug before.”
“Not like that I haven’t.”
The next morning Billie woke up sore all over from shoving Bree out of the way and slamming into a nearby car. Or was it the emotional turmoil that seemed to sap her energy today, the not knowing who was after her and from where the next threat would come?
Feeling more than a little tired, she ordered fruit, eggs and bacon for breakfast, hoping the protein would bring her around. An hour later she’d organized all her files and documents, ready to analyze every word and punctuation mark in the hopes of finding out why Rick’s associates were after her.
She discovered paperwork she’d never seen before: a topographic map with a few spots circled in red, and a legal description of land she wasn’t familiar with.
The suite phone rang and she grabbed it, hoping it was Quinn. “Hello?”
Silence answered her.
“Hello?” she tried again.
No one responded so she hung up. She didn’t think anything of it and refocused on the topo map. Then a thought struck her: What if someone was calling to see if she was in the room? No, she was being paranoid.
But Billie had learned to respect and trust her gut instinct. She opened the door to her room. Joe, the day security guard, sat in a chair reading the morning paper.
“Good morning, ma’am. Everything okay?”
“It’s probably nothing, but I had a crank call and—”
He abruptly stood and motioned her out of the room. “Let’s go.”
“But—”
“It’s better to be cautious about these things.”
“Where are we going?” she asked as they motored down the hall.
“Mr. Donovan said to take you to his apartment if I thought your suite had been compromised.”
Joe kept looking over his shoulder as he escorted her down the hall.
“Shouldn’t we call him first?”
“No, ma’am.” He didn’t even knock when they got to Quinn’s apartment. He swiped a keycard and unlocked the door. Motioning her inside, Joe scanned the hallway and shut the door.
“Mr. Donovan?” he called into the apartment, then refocused on Billie. “Go on in. I’ll keep watch through the door in case anyone shows up.”
Billie wandered into the living room. Two mugs sat on the table, along with two plates of half-eaten food.
The door to the patio slid open and a blonde woman stepped inside, fiddling with her smartphone. She wore a formfitting skirt, teal blouse and high heels. She looked like she belonged here.
Billie felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. The woman frowned at her phone and glanced up, spotting Billie.
“Oh, hello,” the woman said. “You must be Billie.” The blonde winked. “Quinn’s told me a lot about you.”
“Oh really?” Billie said, crossing her arms over her chest.
The blonde’s phone buzzed and she studied it.
“Mr. Donovan is coming,” Joe said from the door.
Billie knew she had no claim on Quinn, that he wasn’t committed to anyone but himself, but still, during the past few days she really thought they’d made progress, that he was ready to be true to his feelings for Billie and...
And what?
The apartment door opened.
“Alicia, I got some cream from the—Joe, what are you doing here?” Quinn said.
“You said if I suspected the suite had been comprised to bring her here.”
“Is Billie okay?” Quinn said in a frantic voice.
“I’m fine,” she called from the living room, not taking her eyes off the blonde woman.
He came into the living room and made a beeline for Billie. He reached for her, but she turned away and went to the sliding door. “I could use some air.” She opened the door, wanting to escape the scene in the living room.
Alicia was beautiful, to be sure, with perfectly applied makeup that accentuated her catlike eyes. She was one of the glamorous types, like the ones Quinn used to bring home for dinner in Waverly Harbor.
“Joe, watch the hallway,” Quinn said. “Alicia, I’ll be right back. Make yourself at home.”
Make yourself at home? Billie fumed, stepping outside onto the patio. She wanted to slam the patio door shut and take off across the property, but she wasn’t a foolish woman. She wouldn’t put herself at risk because she’d made a wrong assumption about Quinn. She’d thought they shared more than a dysfunctional rescuer-rescuee relationship, but apparently she was way off base.
“Billie?” Quinn said from behind her.
“I’m sorry we intruded on your privacy. Joe thought it would be best if we left my suite because I received a crank call.”
She heard the slider shut and sensed him step close. “That was a good decision.”
“How long do I need to stay here?”
“I’m not sure. Perhaps you should stay in my apartment permanently.”
She spun around. “Are you crazy? I have enough stress with strangers trying to hurt me. I don’t need people I care about hurting me, as well.”
“Billie—”
“I watched you date women in Waverly Harbor and I managed to deal with it, barely, but I managed. I told myself I was vulnerable because my husband had died and you were so generous an
d strong, so I developed an attachment to you. But this—” she motioned to the sliding door leading to his apartment “—this is torture, Quinn. I will not watch you march women in and out of your apartment because you’re trying to drive me away again.”
“You...you knew that’s what I was doing?” he whispered.
“Sure, I got the message and finally left town. But now you’ve assigned yourself my protector and I felt like we were getting closer. I thought you’d outgrown your fear of being in a relationship with me, and now you expect me to be okay with a blonde woman in your apartment? I’m not okay, Quinn. That’s certainly not okay.”
She started for the door, but he blocked her. “Let me explain.”
“Don’t, I’ve heard all your lines.”
“She’s my cousin.”
Billie snapped her attention to him.
“She texted me out of the blue last night and asked if she could swing by. She’s a sales rep and was going to be calling on customers in the area. I comped her a room down the hall. We haven’t spoken since before my father died.”
“Oh,” Billie said, feeling embarrassment color her cheeks. “Was she here when you came to check on me last night?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I didn’t want you to feel bad about taking me away from my family, so I didn’t mention it.”
Billie glanced down at her sneakers. “Wow, talk about the world’s most embarrassing moment.”
“Don’t be embarrassed. Everything you said was right on the mark. I brought women home to push you away, to make sure you knew what kind of man I was so you wouldn’t develop an attachment to me.”
Billie glanced at him. “Why?”
“You’d just lost your husband, sweetheart. You were vulnerable and I’m a selfish jerk. I didn’t trust myself not to let something develop between us. I cared about you too much to allow that to happen.”
“You cared about me? Back then?”
“Yes, but it was totally inappropriate.”
“And now? Is it still inappropriate?” She searched his bright blue eyes.
“I don’t have an answer for that.”
“Maybe I do.” Billie leaned forward, stood on her tiptoes and kissed him on the lips.
Warmth drifted across her body. This felt so right, so perfect, as if they were meant to kiss like this, touch like this.
Quinn’s phone vibrated. He broke the kiss, pressing his forehead against hers. “We’re not done...talking, but I need to get this.”
“Yeah, okay.” She smiled and wandered a few feet away, running her hand across the wooden railing of his patio.
“Yes, she got a crank call so she’s here at my place. So that was you? Okay....I see. Sure, bye.”
She turned to him. “Everything okay?”
“That was Detective Issacs. He called your room, but had a bad connection.”
“So he was the crank caller? Great, I set everyone into panic mode for nothing. What did he want?”
“He had an update. The company your husband drove for, Marshall’s Scrap Yard, is closed so that was a dead end.”
“So we’re no closer to putting an end to this, yet someone still tried to run me down at the hospital.”
“Maybe they were trying to grab you, not run you down.”
“Which is just as bad,” she said.
“There’s more. The bearded suspect they took into custody?”
“Yes?”
“He claims the head of the theft ring is an active SAR member.”
ELEVEN
“No, I won’t accept that,” Billie said.
She considered the SAR group her family, which they were, since both her parents were gone and she didn’t have aunts, uncles or cousins close by.
“I’m sorry,” Quinn offered.
Billie paced a few feet away, trying to make sense of it all. An SAR member was in charge of the burglary ring? Besides church, the SAR group was the one place she felt safe, surrounded by loyal and honorable friends.
“Quinn, I can’t believe it’s someone so close to me.”
Quinn’s gentle hand touched her shoulder. “Let’s talk about this inside.”
She glanced at the sliding door and hesitated. “I wasn’t very nice to your cousin.”
“I’m sure it’s not the first time she’s dealt with a jealous female.”
“I shouldn’t have been jealous.”
“At the time you didn’t know she was my cousin.”
“I meant, I have no right to be jealous. It’s not like I have any claim over you.”
Quinn studied her for a second and burst out laughing.
She stared at him, aghast. “What’s so funny?”
“You have no claim over me? That’s a joke, right?”
“No, I—”
He cut off her response with a kiss. Sweet, tender and full of promise. The door slid open. “Oops, sorry.”
Quinn broke the kiss, leaving Billie a little off balance. When he kissed her it was as if she was transported to another place, a safe place.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Alicia said from the door.
“It’s fine, we were about to join you.” Quinn slipped his fingers through Billie’s and led her inside.
Billie offered Alicia an apologetic smile. “Sorry if I was rude before.”
“No problem. You thought I was the competition—I get it.”
“I’ll make some tea.” Quinn’s fingers eased from Billie’s and she was reluctant to let go.
“Can I help?” Billie offered.
“Don’t trust me?” he winked.
Her tummy fluttered, but not because of the wink. He’d kissed her, after laughing at her comment about not having a claim on him, which meant...
She couldn’t think about that now. She had to figure out which SAR member was involved in this mess. “I should head to my suite and continue my research.”
“Detective Issacs wants us to let him do his job, remember?” Quinn said from the kitchen.
“I know these people better than he does. I could help.”
Quinn poked his head around the corner. “I’m sure you could but how about we take it easy for a few minutes and visit with Alicia?”
“Okay, sure.”
Alicia extended her hand. “Let’s start over. I’m Alicia Harper, Quinn’s cousin.”
“Nice to meet you.” Billie shook her hand and sat on the couch. Alicia joined her.
“Quinn said you two haven’t seen each other in a while,” Billie said.
“Years. Our families weren’t close after Quinn’s dad remarried. That woman was a piece of work.”
“So I’ve heard.”
The wall phone rang in the kitchen. “Hello?” Quinn’s voice echoed into the living room.
Billie leaned forward. “Before when you said you’ve heard a lot about me, what did Quinn tell you?”
“He didn’t have to tell me anything. It’s obvious he’s in love with you.”
* * *
The women were giggling. Quinn should be glad that Billie was doing something other than hiding or running, dodging an oncoming car or...kissing him.
Man, that was incredible and unexpected. Quinn had no idea how to respond, so he kissed her back.
“Quinn? Are you listening to me?” Quinn’s brother, Alex, demanded through the phone.
“Yeah, sorry.”
“What’s going on over there?”
“They’re giggling in the living room,” Quinn said.
“Alicia probably told Billie about the time you lost your trunks diving into Lake Serene.”
“Thanks, that makes me feel much better.”
“Ten years old and already trying to impress the ladies with
your diving skills.”
“I’d rather not relive that memory if it’s all the same to you.”
“You’re right, I don’t have to embarrass you since you’ve got Alicia there to do it. Telling your girlfriend about your most embarrassing moments as a kid.”
“Billie’s not—never mind. Did you call for a reason?”
“I heard you chased down and caught a viable suspect in the theft-ring case.”
“What, does Issacs have you on speed dial?”
“Issacs? No. A friend with Lake Stevens P.D. called to tell me about my brave little brother.”
“I’m thirty-four. I can take care of myself.”
“No argument here. Only next time call the police before you walk into a dangerous situation.”
“I didn’t know it was dangerous.”
“Sounds like everything involving Billie Bronson is dangerous until this case is solved.”
Quinn peered around the corner into the living room. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
“Tell Alicia to swing by Waverly Harbor and I’ll introduce her to Nicole,” Alex said.
“How is your lovely fiancée?”
“She’s great. Her personal-assistant business is really taking off.”
“And the wedding plans?”
“Good.” He paused. “They’re good.”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. I was just thinking how close I came to losing her.”
“But you didn’t. You taught her how to defend herself and she survived.”
“It could have gone a completely different way,” Alex said.
“But it didn’t, and you’re getting married.”
“And hopefully you’ll be right behind me.”
“Come again?”
“You couldn’t ask for a better woman than Billie.”
“Well, there’s always Nicole.”
“Very funny. Look, bro, I don’t want you to lose Billie because you think you can protect her by yourself. Help the police do their jobs here, Quinn. Don’t play superhero.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Gotta go.” Quinn abruptly ended the call.
He found himself doing that every once in a while when on the receiving end of a lecture from his older brother. Quinn respected Alex, but he didn’t like being bossed around by a guy who barely knew him. Until this past year, Alex and Quinn had spoken infrequently and argued most of the time when they did.
Mountain Pursuit: Smoky Mountain Investigation ; Mountain Rescue Page 32