Chapter 5
S he pictured this going differently in her head.
Of course, she knew there would be glaring since that seemed to be one of his favorite pastimes, but she could honestly say that she hadn’t been prepared for this .
This was concerning, Dylan thought as she sat there, nibbling on the stale chocolate chip cookie that she found at the bottom of her bag while she watched angry green eyes look from her, back to the phone before that muscle in his jaw began ticking again.
She should probably say something, but…
She was curious to see how this ended.
When he didn’t say anything, not that she expected him to after the glaring began an hour ago, Dylan decided that perhaps this would be the perfect time to take a break and regroup. With that in mind, Dylan moved to climb off the bed only to go still when that glare shifted back to her.
While Quinn continued glaring, and wow, she’d never seen him this pissed before, Dylan ran her eyes over him, taking in his short, messy, black hair, the small scar above his right eyebrow that happened after an unfortunate incident involving a nail gun, dark green eyes that watched her every move, light stubble that had her fingers twitching with the need to trace his jaw, and found herself wondering if he had chocolate milk in the fridge.
When he slowly shifted that murderous glare back to his phone, Dylan decided that this would be a good time to find out.
Clearing her throat, she moved to climb off the bed only to go still when a pair of intense green eyes locked on her.
She watched that muscle continue to twitch as he slowly looked back down at his phone.
As soon as his jaw clenched, and she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t curious about what finally broke him, Dylan climbed off the bed and made her way across the large bedroom and-
God, she could feel him glaring at her.
She probably should have gone about this a different way, but at the time, kidnapping him sounded like a solid plan. It was tradition after all and once upon a time, something that she dreamed about, but now…
She knew that it would never happen.
Granted, it was usually the groom that kidnapped the bride in his family, but since time was a factor here, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
She probably should have tied him up before she announced her plans, Dyan thought with a heartfelt sigh as she made her way down the long hallway, taking in the white walls and matching white doors and trim, the dark wood floor, and wainscotting that made the space look elegant.
She took in the empty rooms as she went, the linen closets, and bathrooms that looked like something that belonged in a luxury five-star hotel before making her way downstairs, through the large living room, noting the only furniture in the room was an oversized leather couch, a coffee table, and a large flatscreen television mounted on the wall and wondered why Quinn didn’t sell the house after he found out the truth about Jenn.
While she’d dreamed of renovating Blackwood Manor and bringing it back to life one day, Quinn had been focused on building Jenn’s dream house.
When Jenn went to college, Quinn worked his ass off at B.T.
Construction, working overtime every chance he got, flipped houses with his cousins and a few of his uncles, and saved every cent he could to buy the perfect plot of land.
While Jenn was in law school and interning in New York during the summer, Quinn was building her dream house.
He took his time, making sure that the house had everything that she ever dreamed of, a large bedroom suite with walk-in closets, a bathroom fit for a luxury spa, a large home office with built-in bookshelves, an in-law suite for when her sorority sisters visited, a dining room large enough for twenty, and a gourmet kitchen with every amenity known to man.
The house had been built solely with Jenn in mind.
There was nothing here that reminded her of Quinn, Dylan thought as she made her way into the kitchen, moving past the expensive appliances that had never been touched, and focused on the obscenely large refrigerator built into the wall.
She opened it and couldn’t help but sigh when she spotted the six-pack of Coke and carton of Chinese food in the otherwise empty refrigerator.
She grabbed the carton of Chinese food and placed it in the microwave before she helped herself to a Coke and couldn’t help but wonder what she was going to do now.
One thing was certain, she wasn’t about to hand over Blackwood Manor to Brooke. She also wasn’t about to lie down and take this. Not without a fight. She was going to do whatever it took to keep Blackwood Manor and stop Brooke from destroying B.T. Construction and-
She had no idea how she was supposed to do that now.
The only thing that she knew was that she was done.
She was done covering for Brooke and she made damn sure that her sister knew that.
Unfortunately for her, when she quit, quite spectacularly in her opinion, Brooke didn’t really seem to care.
She actually looked kind of bored when Dylan announced that she was done covering for her before she told her to go to hell.
The way Brooke yawned had wrecked it a bit, but Dylan thought she pulled it together at the end there when she narrowed her eyes on her sister, muttered, “You’ll regret this,” and then turned around and stormed off before Brooke could say another word.
The fact that she’d promptly tripped over a root didn’t matter.
What mattered was that she was done being at Brooke’s beck and call, and now, her sister was going to regret the day that she decided to piss her off.
Granted, that day probably wouldn’t come for another six months or so since Dylan already came up with designs for the next ten B.T.
Construction jobs, but when it did, she was going to savor every minute of her sister’s downfall.
She couldn’t wait, Dylan thought as she grabbed the carton of Chinese food out of the microwave, made herself comfortable at the kitchen island and dug in, all while imagining telling her sister to go to hell again.
In the meantime, she just needed to figure out how she was going to pull this off since the incredibly handsome man currently glaring at her while he reached over and snatched the carton of Chinese food from her had turned her down.
Not that she really expected him to say yes, but it really would have made this easier.
“What did he say?” Dylan asked, moving to take a sip of her Coke only to grumble when Quinn reached over and snatched it from her, keeping that glare locked on her as he finished it off.
Biting back a sigh, Dylan climbed off the stool and made her way back to the refrigerator and grabbed another Coke before she returned to the kitchen island only to frown when Quinn pushed his phone towards her.
She picked it up and read through his conversation with his father only to feel her stomach drop when his father let him know that Brooke could do whatever she wanted with B.T. Construction once it was hers.
Swallowing hard, Dylan looked up and-
“How sure are you that she’s planning on doing this?” Quinn asked as he watched her from across the kitchen island.
“She already has the land picked out for her first project,” Dylan said, only to add, “Blackwood Manor,” at his questioning look. He released an inventive curse as he stabbed his fork in the carton of lo mein noodles.
“Has she managed to buy it yet?” Quinn asked, rubbing his hands roughly down his face.
“Not yet,” Dylan murmured, not quite able to look at him as she took a sip of her Coke.
Dropping his hands away with a sigh, Quinn said, “As long as Blackwood Manor has the historic designation, she won’t be able to demolish it and build on the land,” making her wince.
Clearing her throat, Dylan said, “She may have been able to get around the historic designation and got the house condemned.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he grabbed hold of the edge of the granite countertop, the move causing his large biceps to flex along with every golden muscle in his impressive torso.
“But I happen to know that Blackwood Manor has a new owner who refuses to sell it to her,” Dylan reassured him with a firm nod as she went to take another sip of Coke only to go still when Quinn slowly, ever so slowly, looked up and had her quickly amending her previous opinion that she’d never seen him looking this pissed before when angry green eyes locked on her.
“Tell me that you didn’t pay five hundred thousand dollars for that dump,” Quinn bit out, definitely looking more pissed than he did earlier, letting her know that she’d made a tactical error somewhere along the way.
“I didn’t pay five hundred thousand dollars for that dump,” Dylan reassured him with a nod that had his eyes narrowing dangerously on her for some reason.
She watched him close his eyes as he slowly exhaled and-
“Dylan?” Quinn said, not bothering to open his eyes as the muscles in his arms clenched in time with that muscle in his jaw.
“Perhaps we could discuss this over another Coke and some lovely, stale chocolate chip cookies?” Dylan suggested with a hopeful smile that quickly died away when he opened his eyes to glare at her.
“Start talking,” Quinn bit out through clenched teeth.
Swallowing hard, Dylan said, “When I was five, I realized that Brooke was possessed by a demon,” watching as his eyes narrowed on her.
“About Blackwood Manor,” he said with a look that told her just how close he was to spanking her ass.
“I suppose I could do that,” Dylan murmured, pausing to slowly exhale before admitting, “I bought the house for two hundred thousand dollars.”
When he didn’t say anything, Dylan stood there, doing her best not to wince as she watched that muscle in his jaw twitch faster. That led her to blurting out, “He got desperate to sell,” for some reason.
“Probably had something to do with the fact that it will cost close to a million dollars to fix and the city was on the verge of condemning it,” Quinn snapped.
Clearing her throat, Dylan said, “I planned on doing most of the work myself to save money.”
When that was met with another glare, Dylan found herself glancing at the backdoor and debating the odds of reaching it before Quinn could-
“How does Brooke fit into all of this?”
“She promised to give me access to B.T. Construction’s equipment and resources when the time came,” Dylan said, really hoping that he would leave it at that.
“For…”
“Because she adores me?” Dylan said with a hopeful smile only to swallow hard when that glare somehow intensified. She-
Sighed heavily as she climbed off the stool and said, “It’s probably better if I just showed you,” before making her way back the way they came.
A few minutes later, she was dropping down on the edge of his bed and searching through her backpack until she found the black notebook that she was looking for and handed it to him.
“She threatened to tell our father about Blackwood Manor if I didn’t let her take credit for my designs,” Dylan said as she watched his glare disappear only to turn into confusion and-
“Jesus Christ,” Quinn said hoarsely, swallowing hard as he stared down at the sketch she made this morning.
“Now that our parents offered B.T. Construction, Brooke decided to cut her losses and had Blackwood Manor condemned so that she could-”
“I’ll marry you.”