Chapter Fifteen
Quinn’s thoughts brought an uncontrollable grin to his face as he led his lovely, soon to be wife, to the airport exit doors.
She was sassy, naughty, and disobedient, but she was his, every delicious, imperfect part of her.
He would enjoy that he needed to rein her in again, because then the soothing love of aftercare would be needed and enjoyed.
In just a couple of weeks, that would mean so much more.
Cheyenne filled him in on the past weeks; her face was animated, her chatter almost nonstop now that they were in the car.
They hadn’t spoken much on this trip because it had been a busy few weeks for both of them.
Whenever she touched on the club, he informed her that he wasn’t going to discuss the club incident with her yet.
“Wait.” She swiveled in the car seat and rearranged her arms in the seatbelt to sit sideways.
“What about that Maggie incident? You can’t know how devastated I was to find out that you two spoke about something I wasn’t privy to, and the rest of it...
well.” She fluttered her hands as though she dismissed it as irrelevant.
“The man didn’t even ask me if I wanted to scene.
It isn’t my fault he just assumed.” When Quinn said nothing, she continued, disgruntled.
“You can’t just leave me dangling, waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s... it’s cruel.”
“Cruel, huh? Well, you’ll think cruel if you don’t turn in that seat belt right, because you’ll be meeting another kind of belt.” His tone was firm.
“Don’t try to ignore the issue here,” she scolded back as she scrambled to correct her position. “You have been caught. I just don’t know doing what, yet.”
Quinn pulled into her parking spot and turned to her with an amused expression, still trying to give a strong reprimand.
He missed her so much that he just wasn’t sure he could pull it off.
And he knew Josh had already discussed the breach of etiquette with Lars and the dangers involved.
All that was left was his discussion with his lady.
“I think we need to concentrate on how we’re going to address this issue of inadequate food. Do you want to debate the issue or are you simply going to go back to a nutritious and healthy diet?”
“Don’t you want me to look good in my wedding dress?” She sounded hurt.
She was so damn cute with that pouty face. He grabbed her to him and kissed her roughly.
“You’re perfect for me. If I wanted you to lose a few pounds for the wedding, then I would be a blind selfish and foolish man.
Cheyenne, I want some softness, your softness, not this angular woman you’ve become.
You said five pounds. I agreed to five pounds without any thought.
Then, you later present me with an undernourished woman who I know has not been eating properly for a while.
” He shook his head in confusion. “I just want to put you over my knee after I shake some sense into you. I won’t do either.
Just know, I love you no matter your size but adding back half of what you took off, at a minimum, would be my desire.
” He gave her a hard look. “But I won’t say anything else if you will now eat healthily. ”
“Okay.” She nodded in agreement. “Now about the club thing —”
“— isn’t being discussed right now. Do I need to give you an I’m home spanking?” His chin dipped, and an eyebrow spiked to indicate he was seriously considering it.
“Absolutely not but I’ll take another kiss.”
Cheyenne was in a lull at work, which is one reason they chose November to have the wedding.
Even though it was a good time for her business, Quinn watched her become harder to live with each day.
He interpreted her irritability due to the club issue and the fast-approaching wedding date, but he was beginning to doubt he could soothe and ignore things until both were over.
Yesterday, when he walked into her apartment full of boxes, it hit home how stressed she was.
“Hey, a stór,” he leaned closer to kiss her and was met with the back of her head.
“Quit, I’m busy,” she said crossly.
“Okay. Tell me what I can do to help.” He hung his coat in the front hall closet and looked around the room.
“Tell you what to do? Like I have that kind of time these days. You’re a grown man, look around, see anything that doesn’t look settled or that needs handled, then take care of it,” was her terse reply before pushing past him to open the kitchen cabinets.
He hesitated. “I have the guys coming over on Thursday night to grab all of the furniture for storing until January. We’ll need to order pizza or something and have something cold on hand for them to drink. Something besides just water although I’ll grab that too.”
“Sure,” she grumbled, not quite low enough for him to miss. “I’ll add that to the list of things yet to do. I figure it will be about 499 in the priority standing.”
She slammed the cabinet door and tried to push out of the room, but Quinn filled the exit with his body.
“Get out of the way, I’m working here. If you are just going to slow me down, just... just, go home. I can do this myself.”
Reminders of the near disaster that happened when Liam and Jocelyn were moving Jocelyn to Montana came to mind.
He had thought it funny at the time, but when it was his woman, things took on a whole new dimension.
Quinn tried to always learn from other’s mistakes, making his next move more confident.
He snagged Cheyenne around the waist and stopped her, pulling her into his broad chest, stilling her movements when she struggled.
“Stop it and tell me what’s wrong. I can’t help if I don’t know how to help.”
She wrestled with him for a moment and then grunted in frustration when it didn’t produce the results she wanted. He wisely stopped his lips from sliding into an amused smile. A flash of understanding and love tightened his gut.
“I’m tired and I don’t have time to direct you.
I hardly remember what to do myself sometimes.
Can we just elope? Maybe change the date to next November.
That would be perfect.” Her pleading plight, made vulnerable to him, was not going to change the wedding plans.
But he could alleviate this strain. She was overwhelmed.
He held out his hand. “Give me your list.”
“What?” Helplessness disappeared as she looked at him hard. “No, I know what I’m doing.”
“Yes, you do, now give me the list.”
“I have three.”
“Okay, I have a plan. You walk through the apartment tonight and take everything you are going to need between now and Montana. Then load up your car with it and take it to Mom’s.”
“I can’t do that, she’ll be inconvenienced.”
“Do it, Cheyenne.” The familiar, bossy Quinn had shown up to this little party, and he watched as she relaxed her stance a little.
“I’m not going to do it. I won’t barge into your mother’s house before it is time and start putting my stuff there.”
Quinn pulled out his cell phone and dialed.
“Hey, Mom, do you mind if Cheyenne brings over the things she needs to have out from her apartment so we can finish it up before the weekend? Right, that’s what I thought.
She will be over with the first load tonight.
Can she stay there starting tonight? Good.
Thanks. See you soon.” He turned and looked at a peeved Cheyenne. “Done.”
“What the hell, Quinn? What if I didn’t want to sleep there tonight?”
“Well, it’ll be hard to stay here after tonight, but you could do one more night if you like. Packing and moving things around is something I know about. We are always doing that in the barns at the ranch.”
“But I was on a plan.”
“Good, that makes it easier for me to follow. You, lómhara, have a new plan.”
Quinn moved out of the doorway to allow her to get started. He watched her stomp into the bedroom and then heard something hit the wall. He shook his head. He was familiar with that sound from living in a house full of mostly “A” type people.
He strode into the room with a frown of determination on his face.
Looking to see what it was that she had thrown, he spied a brush on the floor.
A paddle brush—that would be perfect for what his lady needed.
Walking over and grabbing up the brush, he turned to see tears streaming down Cheyenne’s cheeks.
Aww, hell. Brush tossed on the bed, he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her face.
“Cheyenne, this is just not going to do, beag amháin. I need you to relax. We’re going to get this done.
The first thing about the time limit is this apartment and if you get what you need out now, I can get some help and we can have this packed up in no time.
Throwing things, however, is not allowed. Ever.”
There were muffled sobs, and his heart went out to her. “What do you need, honey?”
She talked into his shirt so quietly that it came out as almost a whisper. “I need my daddy.”
Quinn relaxed. She hadn’t asked for him in quite this way before.
He thought she needed her daddy too, but other times when he suggested it, she usually refused.
He was proud of her. She needed love, comfort, support, a stress reliever, and he needed to consequence her.
Throwing shit when you got angry was a seriously dangerous habit to get into when she was in need of something else entirely.
He squeezed her tight and then stood back, never releasing her from the circle of his arms.
“Daddy’s here, baby. I know you’ve been dealing with too much and you need to let Daddy take this over, okay?”
She nodded and gave him a tentative smile. “Yes, Daddy.”
“Good. Now,” falling into the role, he asked, “what was that noise I heard banging in here a few moments ago, young lady?” It was time to get serious and give his woman what she needed.
She shrugged. “My brush slipped out of my hand.”