Chapter 4
H e should probably stop her, Quinn thought as he lay there, watching Dylan as she tried to break into his room, but…
He was curious to see where this was going.
His gaze flickered to the alarm clock on his nightstand and absently noted that it was a little after five in the morning before he looked back to find the small woman, who clearly had no fucking clue what she was doing, adjusting her hold on his window and-
Muttered angrily to herself around the penlight held between her lips before she dropped her hands away, glared at the offending window, grabbed the black backpack by her side and shifted to the next window where she started doing whatever the hell she was doing all over again.
He watched her struggle for another minute before he pushed the covers off and sat up, yawning as he got up and made his way to the bathroom, well aware of the small woman pressing her forehead against the window so that she could glare at him every step of the way.
A few minutes later, Quinn stepped out of the bathroom and absently noted that the little pain in the ass had gone back to work on the first window.
She really was too fucking adorable for her own good, he thought, watching the way that her eyes narrowed when she saw him.
He briefly debated leaving her out there, but with his luck, the little pain in the ass would fall off the roof and he’d be forced to drag her to the emergency room.
Again.
Yawning, Quinn made his way back to his bed, pausing along the way to unlock the window before he dropped face-first on the bed.
He felt his lips twitch a moment later when he heard the pained grunt along with the muffled sounds of Dylan hitting the carpeted floor.
He listened as she struggled to bite back a groan, got to her feet, grumbled, sighed, and then-
“What the hell are you doing?” Quinn asked when he felt her small hand wrap around his ankle.
“Taking one for the team,” Dylan said with a heartfelt sigh that had him frowning as he glanced over his shoulder and-
Found himself wondering what she was planning on doing with that rope.
He watched as she moved to wrap one end of the rope around his ankle, only to rethink that decision and gesture for him to roll over. When he continued lying there, Dylan reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose as she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled.
“Look,” she began, “I realize that I’m about to make all of your dreams come true and you’re overcome with joy, but I’m really going to need you to focus here and help me out.”
“What exactly am I helping you with?” Quinn mumbled into his pillow as he closed his eyes, praying that the little pain in the ass took pity on him so that he could go back to sleep.
“Making you the happiest man on earth,” Dylan said, making him frown as he opened his eyes to find her gesturing for him to get on with it.
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that?” Quinn asked, already closing his eyes again and-
“By marrying you,” she said, making him forget how to breathe as he slowly, really fucking slowly, opened his eyes to find the small woman who knew better than to toy with him once again gesturing for him to get on with it.
“That isn’t funny,” Quinn finally said because she knew better than most why.
“Do you see me laughing?” Dylan asked, only to follow that up with a frown as she considered him. “Although I feel like, at the very least, that you really should be overcome with joy at the moment since I’ve decided to bestow this honor upon you.”
“Start. Talking,” Quinn bit out, watching as she tossed the rope on the bed.
“We don’t have a choice,” she admitted with a helpless shrug.
“About…” he said, letting the word trail off while he waited for her to say something that made sense.
“The deal,” Dylan muttered unhappily as she toed off her shoes and-
Tore a pained grunt from him when the little brat decided to continue this conversation from the comfort of his bed by crawling over him.
Glaring, Quinn turned his head in time to watch as the little pain in the ass settled in more comfortably against his pillows with a satisfied sigh. Once she was done, she reached down and pulled the comforter over herself, shifted, sighed, and then murmured, “Much better.”
“Dylan,” Quinn bit out, putting a world of meaning into that one word.
“It’s a long story,” Dylan said after a slight pause.
“I’ll make the time,” Quinn said dryly, shifting to get comfortable only to end up narrowing his eyes on the little brat when she reached over and yanked his pillow away before shoving it behind her head with a heartfelt sigh and-
“Brooke,” she said as though that would explain everything, and normally, it did, but right now, all it did was piss him off.
“I’m going to need full sentences,” Quinn bit out as he reached over and stole his pillow back and then, just to piss her off, he stole hers as well and shoved them behind his head.
“Is it not enough that I’m willing to settle?
” Dylan demanded with a heartfelt sigh as she reached over and stole her pillow back so that she could shove it behind her head.
That was followed by rolling onto her side to face him, shifting and then, murmuring, “Much better,” simply because she knew it would piss him off.
God, did she love to piss him off…
Ever since Dylan was little, she went out of her way to screw him over for her own entertainment.
If she wasn’t going out of her way to piss him off, she was stealing his food.
Christ, she was more of a Bradford than he was.
A few times over the years, he’d wondered if she was really a Bradford and asked his father if he had something to tell him, but each time, his father’s lips would twitch, and he would murmur, “This is going to be so much fun,” with a satisfied sigh.
“Start talking,” Quinn said, reluctantly rolling onto his side so that he was facing her.
He watched as bright blue eyes that normally lit up before she fucked him over considered him as she debated where to start. He watched her open her mouth, close it, sigh, and then finally, blurt out, “We have to get married.”
“No,” Quinn murmured softly as he reached over and pushed a strand of her black hair behind her ear, unable to help but notice just how soft her hair was before he added, “we don’t.”
“We don’t have a choice. Not if we want to save B.T. Construction,” Dylan said, making him bite back a sigh.
“We don’t need to save anything. B.T. Construction is going to be fine,” Quinn said, because the last thing that he wanted to talk about right now was their parents’ asinine plan.
“It’s really not, though,” Dylan said, shaking her head as she grabbed hold of his comforter and pulled it over her shoulder.
“Even if Brooke decided to go through with the deal, B.T. Construction will be fine,” Quinn said, praying like hell that she didn’t take their parents up on their deal so that he was able to buy B.T. Construction.
Either way, he wasn’t going to worry about it.
They had five years, and as far as he knew, Brooke wasn’t seeing anyone.
He’d worry about it when the time came. Until then, he was going to do what he always did, work until he was too fucking exhausted to think about just how badly he’d fucked up his life, sleep, and do it all over again the next day.
He-
“She plans on having B.T. Construction build luxury condos instead,” Dylan said, making him frown.
“We’re not equipped to handle that,” Quinn said, wondering what the hell she was talking about. They didn’t have the manpower, equipment, or resources to build condos. Renovate them? Yes, but building them was out of the question.
“I told her that,” Dylan said, releasing a frustrated sigh.
“And?” Quinn asked, wondering what the hell Brooke was thinking.
“She pissed me off,” Dylan muttered with a sniffle. “Hence, why I’m here, willing to take one for the team.”
“You don’t want B.T. Construction,” Quinn reminded her, sighing heavily as he grabbed his phone off the nightstand.
“I’m trying to save it,” she pointed out.
“By pissing me off?” Quinn asked as he glanced over his shoulder and watched her close her eyes as she snuggled beneath the blankets.
“That’s just a bonus,” Dylan admitted.
“You really are a pain in the ass,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he unlocked his phone.
“And my offer to make you the happiest man alive?” Dylan mumbled sleepily.
“I’ll have to pass,” Quinn said dryly as he scrolled through his phone until he found the number that he was looking for and-
“Your loss,” she said with a sniffle, making his lips twitch before asking, “What are you going to do?”
“Stop this before it’s too late.”