Chapter 11
FORD
I couldn’t believe Quinn had actually said yes.
Nothing about her would’ve led me to believe she would.
She didn’t jump into things like this lightly—hell, she didn’t jump into anything lightly.
She and I were complete opposites in that, her preferring a detailed map before she took a single step, and me preferring to just start and figure it out along the way.
Which was why, when I’d seen an opportunity—a tempting opportunity to sate my interest in her once and for all, while also getting back at my ex—I’d taken it. Without thought.
And even though I’d had two days to get used to the idea, I was still shell-shocked. But considering I’d just come off a twenty-four-hour shift at the firehouse and then headed straight to One Night Stan’s, I hadn’t really had time to dwell on what Quinn and I would be doing tomorrow.
While I usually liked a little downtime immediately following a shift, I wasn’t going to bail on my entire family celebrating Beck and Everly as they broke ground today on the section of the resort property that would eventually house their forever home and the brand-new vet clinic.
It wasn’t often all six of us were together, and close to never for something not involving the resort.
Even then, it was usually only once a month because Addison refused to allow Levi to skip that mandatory budget meeting, no matter how much he complained.
My youngest brother preferred solitude, even from us.
It hadn’t always been that way, but as he’d gotten older, he’d withdrawn more and more.
And God knew solitude was a far cry from whatever the hell this was.
“Oh! I forgot to tell you guys that Harper’s gonna be back soon,” Addison said before sticking out her tongue in a failed search to find her drink straw, completely oblivious to how everyone’s attention swiveled to Levi to gauge his reaction.
Years ago, when Harper had spent her summers here, she, Levi, and his best friend, Chase, had been thick as thieves, but something had happened in the past ten years, because we couldn’t even say her name without him scowling a hole in the ground.
And he sure as shit wasn’t interested in talking about it.
“I need another drink,” Levi mumbled and stood, turning toward the bar without hesitation.
“One for me too, please!” Addison called after him.
“Let me know when she’s going to be here, so I can clear some space on my calendar,” Luna said from where she sat in Brady’s lap. “The girl loves my massages.”
“Who doesn’t?” Brady asked.
“That reminds me—I wanted to book one with you,” Everly said, shifting in Beck’s lap to face Luna. Everly and Beck had been so sickeningly sweet in the past couple weeks, and if I didn’t love my twin so goddamn much, I’d need to be drunk just to witness it.
“You just let me know,” Luna said, tipping her drink toward Everly. “First one’s on the house.”
“You’re sweet, but I don’t want to take advantage. And after witnessing what I did the other week at the farmers market, I really don’t want Brady to bite my head off for undervaluing you.”
“Brady wouldn’t fucking dare,” Beck said—growled, really.
“Relax, Beck.” Brady curled an arm around Luna’s waist, tugging her back into his chest. “She doesn’t do that anymore, because she knows what’s waiting for her at home if she does.”
“Ew…that sounds like sex stuff.” Addison scrunched up her nose. “I thought we talked about that. If I have to hear it from you, you have to hear it from me. Is that what you want?”
“Fuck no,” Beck, Brady, Aiden, and I said in unison. As far as I was concerned, our baby sister was a virgin and would forever stay one, and I was sure my brothers felt the same.
With a laugh, Everly asked, “When will Harper be here?”
Levi was nearly to the table and stopped dead in his tracks at the mention of Harper’s name, a muttered curse leaving his lips.
No one else seemed to be aware, but I watched as his jaw ticked twice before he finally seemed to steel himself and continue toward us.
He set Addison’s drink down harder than necessary before dropping into his seat with his own glass.
She shot him a bright smile and turned back to Everly. “Sometime in the next couple weeks to do a follow-up on her last article. She’s not sure the timing yet, because she’s going to tack it on to another assignment, so it may be last minute.”
Everly’s gaze flitted between Addison and Levi. “Do we not like Harper?”
“Of course we like Harper!” Addison said, her voice cranked to ten. The girl got loud as hell when she was tipsy. “She’s part of the reason the resort’s not in the red for the first time in a decade.”
Everly tipped her chin toward Levi. “Then what’s with the scowl?”
I was well versed in avoiding topics I didn’t want to discuss with my family. Hell, all of us were. And there was no denying Levi absolutely did not want to go down this path. He never did, and believe me, I’d tried.
So I played the nice brother and threw him a bone—probably not one he would have chosen, but beggars can’t be choosers. “That’s probably because he’s still feeling a little tender, thanks to his most recent lost bet.”
He shot me a look that wavered between gratitude and irritation, but he and I both knew discussing whatever body jewelry he was currently rocking was the lesser of two evils.
“Um, I need more details, please,” Luna said, dividing a look between Levi and me.
“We had a bet going over who would get the highest bid at the bachelor auction. Loser had to get a body modification.”
“What, like a tattoo?” she asked.
“Not what he chose,” I said, unable to hide my smirk.
“Oh my God!” Addison hissed. “Did you get your nipples pierced?”
“Not sure you want to know this, sis,” he said.
“That feels like a no. So, you mean…” Everly’s brows lifted before she flitted her gaze down toward Levi’s lap.
“Dude, what the fuck?” Beck snapped.
Levi held up his hands. “I didn’t say a damn thing. Blame your twin for bringing it up in the first place.”
“Well, I don’t wanna hear anything more about it.
I don’t care what the hell you do to your junk as long as it doesn’t keep you from finding a wife,” Addison said.
“If we want to capitalize on this avenue and have weddings become the next major draw of the resort, I’m gonna need to use all of you as guinea pigs.
Which means, whichever one of you”—she pointed a finger, bouncing it between Brady and Beck—“gets married first, it has to be at the resort. Swear it, or I’ll kill you. ”
Brady blew out a long sigh. “You can’t threaten an officer of the law, Addison.”
She scoffed. “Oh please. You’re not Sheriff McKenzie right now. You’re just my stupid older brother. And when you get married, you’re going to do so at the resort. Luna’s okay with it. Aren’t you, Luna?”
Thank fuck the attention was off me because I wasn’t sure I could keep a straight face with this line of conversation.
If only Addison knew she was pointing at the wrong brother…
But it would at least allow me some leeway to save my ass from her wrath when she inevitably found out I was actually the first to get hitched.
Not wanting to tempt fate, I pushed back my chair and stood with my bottle of beer. “I’m gonna grab another.”
It didn’t matter what I said, because Brady and Addison were now in a full-blown argument over where his and Luna’s nonexistent wedding would be taking place and didn’t pay any attention as I slipped away.
I hadn’t even gotten three steps before the door to One Night Stan’s swung open and in walked none other than my future bride.
This was nowhere near her normal routine, so she had probably heard about Beck and Everly’s celebration tonight and had decided to swing by.
People had been stopping by to congratulate them all night, so Quinn wouldn’t be the first. But for some reason, I hadn’t expected to see her here.
Or, rather, I’d hoped she wouldn’t be here.
The last thing I needed was for my family to realize prematurely what was going on between us, because someone would inevitably try to talk me out of this.
I might regret that at some point, but I’d never let that stop me before.
Not when I took off to Iceland on a whim or went skydiving in Pensacola or headed to Idaho for the weekend to BASE jump off the Perrine Bridge.
Had any of my siblings known about those beforehand, they all would’ve tried to talk me out of them.
But I didn’t want to be reminded of the reasons this was a bad idea. I never did.
Quinn wore one of those flirty fucking sundresses that she practically lived in and that I foamed at the mouth for. I swore she wore them for the sole purpose of driving me out of my goddamn mind, all thanks to the way the hem brushed her soft thighs, teasing at everything she was hiding beneath.
I whipped my gaze back to where my family was still bickering, confirming they hadn’t yet seen her. Barely allowing her inside the space, I marched up to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and tugged her toward a shadowy alcove in the back where we could stay out of sight.
“What the hell, Ford? Do you mind ?”
With another quick glance back at my family, I turned my attention to her. “What are you doing here?”
“Excuse me?”
“I said, what are you doing here?”
“And I said, what the hell?”
“You can’t be here.”
“I assure you, I can.” She moved to step around me, but I blocked her path.
“No, you can’t.” I ran a frustrated hand through my hair, shooting another look over my shoulder to make sure my family was still occupied. “I don’t want my family to know about what we’re doing.”
She blew out a disbelieving laugh, her eyes flitting between mine. “What do you mean, you don’t want your family to know about this? It was your idea in the first place.”
“Uh…no, it wasn’t. It was your idea. You’re the one who said we both needed a spouse.”