Chapter 20
Breakfast is as I expect it to be: my whole family giving me shit and trying to embarrass me at every turn.
They don’t, of course, because, like I said, I don’t really care about any of the shit I’ve done.
If I did, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.
So they can try all they want, but it doesn’t work.
But the best part about breakfast is how much my whole family embraces Quinn. I mean, Miles and Daze were a given. They already know her and have spent more time with her, but seeing my parents, who had only met her once, welcome her into our family breakfast is cool.
Really cool.
Dad pays the bill, waving away Quinn’s offer of cash. I know she’s all tied up in this divorce with her ex and him offering her money to stay silent, but she probably doesn’t realize that my family is also pretty okay from that side of things.
I mean, probably not Grammy Award-winning rock star okay, but the family business does well, really well, and none of us are struggling for cash.
“What are you two up to for the rest of the day?” Mom asks as she comes around to hug Quinn.
“Getting Quinn a car,” I reply, which causes my dad to laugh, as I turn and add, “Flynn’s helping us.”
Chuckling, he hooks an arm around my shoulders. “Good, she might get something decent then.”
I give him a playful punch to the stomach. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Dad scoffs, smiling at Miles and me as he says, “You boys are good with your hands, but it’s more of a creating, building kinda way. Not in a fixing cars kind of way.”
“I’m great with my hands in other ways too, Dad,” I say, winking at Quinn.
She snorts out a laugh, immediately blushing at my comment. Dad shakes his head, pulling me in for a side hug before letting me go. “It was great to see you again, Quinn,” he says, hugging my girlfriend.
“Great to see you too, Tanner,” she replies, smiling.
“Make sure you keep this one out of trouble,” he adds, jerking a thumb at me.
Quinn smiles as Miles laughs and says, “Really, you think anyone can keep him out of trouble?”
She laughs now as she says, “I think I can give it a good try.”
“See, now I knew you were a good one,” Dad says, winking at my girlfriend.
“Okay, okay, if we’re all done here, we have a car to buy,” I say, pulling Quinn into my side. “Catch you guys later.”
We all head outside, going our separate ways, as Quinn and I walk hand in hand to my car. I open the door for her, and she smiles as she climbs in. I can’t resist leaning in to press a kiss to her lips before closing the door.
I’m not sure I’d ever admit this to my brother and my friends, but fuck, I’m starting to see what they mean about this whole girlfriend thing. It might still terrify me a little, but it’s also pretty fucking awesome too.
I walk around to the driver’s side, sliding into my seat. I glance over. “You good?”
Quinn smiles, nodding as she says, “I am. Breakfast was really great. Your whole family is really great.”
“They are,” I reply with a grin. “They think you’re pretty great too,” I add.
I watch as Quinn takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly as she takes in my words. I get the feeling she wants to question them, like maybe she doesn’t believe me, because that’s the kind of shit she’s used to. But then she smiles at me, not saying anything.
“You ready to go get a car?” I ask.
“Yep, let’s do it.”
Ten minutes later, I pull around the back of The Pipe Dream, my hand on the horn to let Flynn know we’re here. Seconds later, the front door opens and Flynn and Alana walk out, arm in arm and kissing. I hit the horn again, and I see Flynn smile as he flips me off, still kissing his girlfriend.
“Jesus, you two,” I say as they get in the car. “Do you ever come up for air?”
Alana laughs, leaning forward to hug Quinn around the seat as Flynn says, “If you know, you know, dude.”
I laugh, rolling my eyes as I turn and ask, “Okay, so where are we going?”
Flynn pulls out his phone. “I’ve got a couple of options for you, Quinn, all within your price range. They’re pretty close by each other, so thought we could check them all out?”
“Sounds good, thank you,” she says.
“Cool, okay, let’s head over to Lahaina,” Flynn says.
It takes about thirty minutes, and we spend the drive talking and laughing, Alana and Flynn filling us in on their upcoming surf comps and where they’ll be going.
It’s easy and fun, and once again, I’m hit with the realization of what having a girlfriend looks like and how much I’m really starting to like it.
Not that I think Alana and Flynn know Quinn is my girlfriend. Unless Daze has texted Alana. Which she totally could have, knowing her.
“So there are two cars here,” Flynn says as we pull up to a used car shop. “You want to do the talking, or you want me to do it?” he asks Quinn.
She shrugs, glancing at me before turning back to Flynn. “I literally have no idea what to ask when it comes to buying cars,” she admits. “My, um...my ex bought my last one.”
Flynn grins. “No worries, I’ll take care of it. Just let me know if there’s anything specific you wanna know, okay?”
“I will, thank you,” she says as we all get out of the car.
I throw an arm around Quinn’s shoulders, a move that has very quickly become second nature to me, as I press a kiss to her temple.
“Um, what the hell?”
I turn to see Alana standing behind us and staring, her mouth hanging open.
“What?” I ask with a laugh.
“This!” she says, waving a hand at us. “What the hell is this?”
Flynn laughs, hooking his arm around Alana as he pulls her close and kisses the side of her head. Alana just blinks, still watching us as she waits for an answer.
“Quinn and I are dating,” I say with a shrug.
She blinks again. “What, like dating, dating?”
I laugh. “I mean, I don’t know what the difference between dating and dating-dating is, but yeah, that’s what we’re doing.”
“Since when?” she asks.
“Since last night,” I say, glancing at Quinn. She’s looking up at me, a soft smile on her face, and I can’t stop myself from leaning in and kissing her. The second I do, Alana is squealing so loudly, they can probably hear her on Oahu before she pulls Quinn from my arms and into hers.
Flynn laughs, watching the girls before he turns to me and says, “Finally went there, huh?”
“Yeah,” I reply with a shrug, trying to act like it’s no big deal as I wait for the shit he’s surely about to give me.
He laughs again as he says, “Cool, looks like Eli owes me fifty bucks.”
“What?” I ask.
Flynn grins, grabbing Alana’s hand. “You have it bad,” he says as he walks past me. “Was always gonna happen.”
I watch as he and Alana walk over to a car, Flynn checking the sign in the window before he opens the door and pops the hood. Alana follows him, the two of them constantly touching, even as he looks inside at the engine or whatever it is he’s doing.
“You okay?” Quinn asks, coming up beside me.
“Yeah, of course.”
“You don’t mind all your friends knowing about us?” she asks, slipping an arm around my waist.
“What? No, of course not,” I tell her. “I like them knowing. Even if they will give me an endless amount of shit for it. And apparently bet money on me too.”
Quinn laughs. “Yeah, Daisy might have mentioned something about that when we were leaving breakfast,” she admits.
“You knew?” I ask.
She shrugs, a blush coloring her cheeks. “I literally only just found out. I was going to tell you,” she says, smiling.
“Cheeky,” I whisper, closing the distance between us as I press my lips to hers.
The sound of a horn fills the lot, and I return Flynn the favor, flipping him off as I continue to kiss my girl, not giving a single shit about who knows or who’s taking bets on us or whatever.
Because I get to kiss Quinn whenever I want now, and that’s pretty fucking great.
Quinn eventually settles on a small SUV, Flynn negotiating her a good price as he checks out every single part of the car, Alana letting him know just how much watching him is turning her on.
After we’re done, we drop them back off at home, and I watch as they disappear inside, once again all over each other.
No guesses for what they’re heading inside to do.
“You want to do anything else today?” I ask, pulling back out onto the road. “Need to go anywhere?”
“Nope, I’m good,” she says.
I nod, heading toward her rental, which is just down the road from the shop. I pull into the long drive, the sound of gravel crunching under the tires.
This place is truly hideous, but it’s also got huge amounts of potential. There’s just so much land out here, and as I pull to a stop in front of her house, I can’t help scanning the area, thinking about all the possibilities for this place if I were to own it.
It wouldn’t be to build a hotel either, like these fucking developers who went after The Pipe Dream want to do. They might claim it’s going to be small and boutique and just what the island needs, but we all know that’s bullshit.
The plans they had for the land The Pipe Dream was on were public knowledge, and it was a huge five-hundred-room hotel with two pools and four restaurants. Exactly what this island doesn’t need.
Besides, Owen’s family are the people who know what the island needs and wants, their hotels both tasteful and respectful of the island and its people. It’s why so many people stay there, why so many locals recommend it or work there. Because they treat this land and its people like ohana.
“You want to come in?” Quinn asks.
I kill the engine. “Yeah, sure,” I reply, wanting to do a whole lot of things right now.
We walk in silence up to the front door, the air surrounding us almost electrified, as a strange but intoxicating tension pulls at us.
Now that we’re dating, my want for Quinn has only intensified.
And while normally I’d be all over it, trying anything to get her into bed, that’s not what I’m doing this time.
Even if fucking her is all I can think about.
I watch as Quinn fumbles with her key in the lock, swearing a little as she finally slides it in. Before she can unlock the door, though, my hands find her hips, spinning her so she’s backed up against the door. I step closer, my body pressing against hers as my hands move to her jaw.
“Fuck, you are beautiful,” I whisper before kissing her hard and deep.
Quinn lets out a soft moan, her lips parting as my tongue finds hers in a slow, sexy-as-hell kiss that is far different from the quick, almost innocent kisses we’ve shared before this.
“Kai,” she murmurs, her hands fisting the front of my T-shirt.
I smile against her mouth as mine trails a series of kisses along her jaw to her ear. “I wanna fuck you so bad, Quinn,” I whisper.
This earns me another moan as she pulls me closer, my hips pressing against hers, my hard-on obvious. I chuckle, nipping at her earlobe before tracing my tongue along the shell of her ear.
“We’ll get there, babe,” I tell her, kissing behind her ear. “But not today.”
She huffs out an annoyed breath, her head falling back against the door with a soft thud as she looks up at me, her lips swollen and her eyes hazy with lust. “What, why not?”
Chuckling, I slide my hands slowly down her sides, past her hips to her thighs, my fingers gripping the fabric of her dress. I lift it slightly, teasing her a little as I press my hips even harder to hers, letting her know exactly what this is doing to me.
“We’re dating, remember?” I say with a smile. “We’ve only had one date.”
“So?”
“So, you don’t sleep with someone on the first date,” I tell her.
Quinn narrows her eyes at me. “Wasn’t breakfast our second date?”
I laugh at this, leaning in to kiss her again. “Maybe,” I tell her, my gaze finding hers. “But I wanna do this right, Quinn. You’re not just a hook-up for me, remember?”
She releases my T-shirt, sliding her hands up my chest to the back of my neck. “You’re not just a hook-up for me either,” she says.
“Good,” I tell her, pulling her by the hips to one of the old wooden chairs on the front porch. I sit, taking her with me so she’s in my lap as I say, “So how ‘bout we just make out for a while?”