Chapter 11
Knox showered and glanced at the clock. It was almost seven at night. He picked up his phone and sent a text to Quinn asking if she was still at work.
I am. It’s going to be a very long night.
Knox told her to be safe and not work too late and then moved on to his plan. He picked up the phone and placed a phone call. “Landon, hey. Can you pack up two specials and two desserts for me?”
“Two?” Landon asked as Knox heard his smile over the phone. “So, Kate was right. You and Quinn are on for date number two.”
“How did you know it was my second date?”
Landon just laughed. Yeah, Knox knew the answer.
It was a stupid question to ask. His father told his mother who probably called every single Davies wife, mother, or sister, and told them all.
“I’ll have something ready in twenty minutes,” Landon told him, not bothering to answer the question since it had been a stupid question.
Knox dressed in jeans and a hoodie and drove over to Landon’s. Landon held a brown bag with his restaurant logo on it, but wasn’t handing it over. Knox thought he was waiting for payment, so he pulled out some cash and held it out.
“Don’t insult me,” Landon said. “You don’t pay in cash. You pay in gossip that I can then use to place bets. When should I place the bet for you and Quinn to get engaged?”
“May 25th,” Knox replied blandly.
Landon yanked the bag away. “If you’re going to lie, then get your romantic dinner at a drive-thru.”
“We’ve had one date. I don’t know when we’re going to get engaged or if we are even going to get engaged.”
“Would you do anything to make her happy?” Landon asked.
“Yes,” was Knox’s instant reply.
“How would you feel if someone hurt her?”
“I’d kill them.”
“Is she the first person you want to talk to when something good or bad happens?”
“Yeah, so?” Knox answered.
Landon rolled his eyes at him. “Then this isn’t some casual date where feelings aren’t involved. You love her, probably have since college. And you’re telling me you don’t think it’s endgame?”
Knox pursed his lips. Not because he was angry, but because to him he’d always known Quinn was endgame. “She might be my end game, but am I hers?”
Landon handed the bag of food back to him with a confident smile. “With this dessert, you will be. So, say two weeks?”
“Two weeks? I’m in the middle of the season. I hardly have time to date her as it is.”
Landon looked thoughtfully at that and nodded. “Got it. Thanks.” He pulled out his phone and began searching for something.
“Thanks for the food.”
“Thanks for the insider information,” Landon replied as he found what he was looking for and opened the betting app.
Knox tried to open the door to Quinn’s workplace, but it was locked. He saw a head pop up from behind a lobby desk. An older gentleman wearing a white shirt and black tie stood up from behind the desk. He had to be security.
He walked to the door, but shook his head. “Sorry, the offices are closed,” he called out from behind the glass door.
“I know. My . . . Quinn Kennedy is still working. I brought her dinner.”
“What’s your name?” he asked, his gray mustache moving as he talked.
“Knox Everett.”
That caused his bushy eyebrows to raise as recognition hit him. “I’d love to let you in, but company policy is that after-hours guests have to be signed in by an employee. One moment.”
The security guard went back to his desk and picked up a phone. He talked into it and then headed back to the door. “Quinn will be right down, Mr. Everett.”
“Knox, please.”
It didn’t take long for the elevator door to open and there was Quinn. Her hair was falling down from some updo and while she looked stunning in her fitted suit, she padded out into the lobby in fuzzy socks.
“Knox? What are you doing here?”
“You said you had a long day and were still working. So, I brought you dinner.”
The security guard gave him a thumbs-up behind Quinn’s back. “Can you sign your guest in, Quinn?”
“Of course!” Quinn sniffed the air and they all heard her stomach rumble with hunger. “We can eat in my office. Thanks Sammy.”
“Enjoy your meal,” Sammy called out as they headed to the elevator.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Quinn told him, shaking her head.
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
“It’s a very good thing. Thank you so much for thinking about me. And thank you for the flowers. I needed them more than you know today.” Knox hated that she was having a tough day, but loved the way she didn’t appear to even notice she had moved to lean against him.
The doors to the elevator opened and the floor was mostly dark.
There was a light coming from an office, which is exactly where Quinn headed.
Knox followed and entered the room behind her.
It was a hundred percent, Quinn. Soft, serious, but also welcoming.
There was a photo of her and her best friend from college in a light purple frame on the corner of her desk right next to the gift he’d given her in college.
The flowers he sent earlier sat on the other corner of her desk.
Knox took a seat on the small couch against the back wall and set the food on the coffee table. “So, what’s the problem you’re having today?”
“I wish it were just one problem.” Quinn sighed as Knox handed out the food. “There’s a work problem I can’t figure out and Nico had me call in my old team from SA Tech to help me fix it. That’s problem number one. Then problem number two is that I don’t get along with my old team.”
Knox scoffed. “You’re the easiest person to get along with, Q.”
“That might be, but not when one person wanted the job you got and another person is your ex-boyfriend who spent the whole relationship putting me down to make himself feel better.”
Knox saw red. He wanted to find the guys and flatten them for making her feel bad about how smart she was or whatever else they had issues with. “Your ex made you feel bad about yourself?”
Quinn nodded and he saw the sadness in her eyes. He also saw the way a slight pink tinged her cheeks. She was embarrassed.
“If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”
Knox handed her some plastic cutlery that Landon had included and she took a bite of her food.
“Oh my gosh. This is amazing.” She was quiet for a moment and even though she kept her eyes on her food, she began to tell him about her ex.
The snide comments about her intelligence, her weight, and the way she dressed.
Knox set down his fork and placed his hand on her thigh.
“Q, look at me. None of that is true. Any man who is intimidated by your intelligence isn’t a real man.
And he’s certainly blind if he doesn’t appreciate your body.
I know I love it. I dream of it every night.
Now, to be fair, I don’t think about your clothes.
When I dream of you, you’re naked and in my bed.
Or my shower. Or on my kitchen island. Or the stairs.
Or the wall by the front door. The living room couch. ”
Quinn started to laugh as all the tension left her body. “Is there anywhere you haven’t dreamed of us having sex?”
Knox thought about it. “The garage. That’s about it, but I’m sure I’ll dream of it tonight. Now, what’s this work problem?”
“I won’t bore you with that. Besides, I can’t tell you much since I don’t know the solution.”
“Nothing you do bores me. Do you remember in college when I would hit a problem that I didn’t know how to solve?” Quinn nodded. “What did you have me do?”
Then she chuckled as she remembered. “I made you talk it out and most of the time you’d solve the problem on your own.”
“So, go ahead. Let’s talk it out.”
Quinn took another bite of the dinner Knox had brought before explaining the betting tickets and what was going wrong. Then she told him what the reports were reading—that the system was working correctly.
“And the tickets are printed correctly?” Knox asked to confirm.
“That’s right. The problem comes when the barcode is scanned . . . Oh my gosh! That’s it. The barcode. The system might not register the problem, but it has to originate there. I can at least band-aid the issue by writing a new barcode program and uploading that.”
“Told you that you were smart enough to figure it out,” Knox said with a proud smile.
“And I’ll add some security so I’m the only person who can change it. It’ll operate on its own system as opposed to being part of this larger program.”
“Are you doing that to try to see if it was a coding program or if someone was attacking the system?” Knox asked.
“Exactly.” Quinn knew it wasn’t ladylike, but she took big, quick bites of the remaining food. “I have to work on this.” She jumped up from the couch and headed to her desk. “Thank you, Knox. For everything.”
“Just get to work. I’ll wait and walk you to the car when you’re done.”
“I don’t know how long I’ll be,” Quinn warned.
“Take your time. I have some film to watch on my phone.”
Quinn watched as Knox leaned back against the couch and pulled out his phone. Okay then. She had an idea and she wasn’t going to waste time convincing Knox to leave when she didn’t really want him to leave. It felt nice having him here. So, Quinn put her head down and let her fingers fly.
Three hours later she leaned back in her chair and stretched. Knox was still on his phone, but he looked at her the second she sat back from the computer.
“How is it going?” he asked.
“I have a good frame for a new program. I can finish it tomorrow.”
“Then let me walk you to your car. Make sure you take your dessert with you. Landon thinks it has magical properties.”
Quinn smiled at that as she picked up the dessert container while Knox took the trash with him and threw it out in the large trash can in the break room.
It was night and day. Or in her case, day and night.
During the day, she had to deal with Karson.
During the night, she had Knox. The two couldn’t be more different.
Not that she thought she was dating Knox.
They were . . . well, she didn’t know what they were.
“Goodnight, Quinn. Knox, make sure she gets to her car safely,” Sammy called out as they walked by his desk.
“I’ll always look out for my girl. And thank you for looking out for her when I can’t be here. I’m sure she tries to tell you not to bother walking her to her car if she stays late.” Quinn had been busted by Knox as Sammy gave her a grandfatherly look.
“You sure know your girlfriend,” Sammy teased.
“I like to think I do, but you know women. They love to surprise you.”
“Don’t I know it. Married thirty-eight years.”
“That’s great, Sammy. See you tomorrow!” Quinn called out, trying to get Knox out the door before they both decide she needs a tracker.
“I like him. I feel better about you staying late now.”
It was easy to find her car. There were only a couple left in the parking lot and one was Knox’s. “Thank you for today.”
“Is tomorrow going to be another long day?” Knox asked with no admonishment in his voice, just curiosity.
“Probably,” she told him, stopping at her car and unlocking it.
Knox opened the door, but before she could get in, he leaned down and put a soft kiss on her lips that left her melting. “Then I’ll see you at the same time, same place. How do you feel about Italian food?”
“I feel very passionately about Italian food. Especially tiramisu.”
Knox winked at her and she knew that tomorrow night he’d bring her tiramisu because he was the best not-quite-boyfriend there was.