Chapter 11
Checkout Time is at Eleven
Quinn bolted up the stairs so fast Sarah nearly dropped the mug of steeping tea. “Wow, I can see a contrail coming off of you, Sparky.”
He came to an abrupt stop and stared at her like he had no idea who she was.
Wet hair was plastered against his head, and sweat was beaded on his face, neck, and chest, as though he’d been drenched in a thunderstorm.
“Just finished an intense workout,” he panted.
His eyes drifted to the cup she held. “What’s that? ”
“Stress relief tea for your mom. Want some?”
“Stress relief? Why? What’s got her stressed out?” His eyes brightened as though a switch had flipped on, then a look of panic overtook his features. “Shit. You’re stressing her out, and now she’s gonna fire your ass, and I’ll have to start all over again.”
“Hang on just a hot minute. I am not stressing her out.”
His head turned one way, then another. “Where is she?”
“She’s relaxing in the hot tub, and I’m taking the tea out to her. Three bucks for the swear jar.”
He did a double take, then pinned his eyes on her. “How so?”
She counted off on her fingers. “Two bucks for ‘shit,’ and a buck for ‘ass.’ That’s what Liz told me.”
“Wait. Did she give you a price sheet or something to torture me with? And ‘ass’ is not a swear word.”
Sarah gave him an exasperated eye-roll. “No, she didn’t give me a price sheet, but she did make me put a few bucks in for ‘shit’ a little while ago. Oh, wipe that ridiculous smirk off your face.”
His dark eyebrows quirked. “And she pegged you for ‘ass’ at the same time?”
“No, just the one word, but she said lesser swear words are a buck.” She paused a beat. “Is ‘ass’ really not a swear word?”
“Nope. Know why? I could say, ‘That woman has a very fine ass,’ and I wouldn’t be swearing, whereas ‘shit’ is ‘shit.’ It’s a pure swear word.”
“That’s ridiculous. You could also say, ‘You look like shit,’ but you wouldn’t be swearing.”
He pointed at her. “Two bucks.”
“No! That was an example.”
“Technicality.” He shrugged. “And speaking of money, do you use Zelle? I need to deposit your first paycheck.”
Sarah couldn’t stop her mouth swinging open. “I just got here. You’re supposed to pay in arrears, not in advance.”
He shook his arms and rolled his neck in a loosening-up motion. “Well, I’m paying in advance. And I have a feeling you’re going to need every penny for the swear jar, toots.”
A phone rang—it was an old-fashioned kind of ring—and he slid a device from his pocket. Huh. Which of his two phones is that one, I wonder?
“Aw, shit!” He shot her a warning glare. “Don’t say it.” He pressed a button and put the phone to his ear, barking, “Now what?”
Sarah took it as her cue to clear out, and she carried the mug outside to Liz, who looked as though she were being blissfully boiled in steaming bubbles. “Here you go.”
Liz flashed her a happy smile. “Aw, thanks, doll.”
Sarah had grown up wary, thanks to her mother drumming daily messages into her head that most people—especially men—were only interested in what they could get from you.
As a result, she didn’t usually bond with people quickly, and certainly not people of her mom’s generation.
But this woman? Inwardly, Sarah admitted she’d already developed a big soft spot for her.
She was drawn to Liz’s smarts and her lively spirit.
As Sarah watched her take a careful sip, two things occurred to her.
One, why couldn’t her mom be more like Liz?
And two, how could someone like Liz raise a womanizing, conceited, pretty boy like Quinn?
A pretty boy who wanted to pay Sarah early. Okay, so he wasn’t all bad. Then again, with what he got paid, he could afford to be generous. Oh shit! Is he getting paid? No play, no pay? She had no idea.
“I’ll come back and help you when it’s time to get out, okay?” Sarah leaned down to pat Archer, who lay on the hot tub decking.
“Take your time. I’m in no hurry.” Liz made a shooing motion with her hand.
Sarah eyed the phone within Liz’s reach. “Just call or text if you need an early rescue from prune skin.”
Back inside, Quinn was still on the phone.
He was shaking his head, unknowingly flicking his wet strands, and his face was a study in frustration.
“Yeah, I get it,” he huffed. “Right. I’ll make sure I’m ready.
” A beat passed. “Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll be wearing the biggest fucking smile you’ve ever seen. ” He grumbled a good-bye and hung up.
Sarah decided to hold on to the swear jar snark itching to leap from the tip of her tongue. “Troubles in Sparkyland?”
A distant look haunted his eyes. He dragged a hand over his face, which was when she noticed his dark whiskers. Nice. No! Not nice. “I guess there’s no point keeping it quiet. You’ll find out, if Gage hasn’t already mentioned it.” He told her about slapping microphones at a press conference.
A laugh like the crack of a whip escaped her. “What are you, five fucking years old?”
His eyebrows knotted together in a fierce glower.
“You gotta admit, even for you that was really dumb.”
“What do you mean, ‘even for me’? Never mind. Management agrees because now I have to do this PR connect-with-the-fans virtual interview thing in a few days. And apologize to the stupid-as-fu—reporter.” His shoulders sagged, and he nodded his head solemnly.
She almost felt sorry for him. “Hindsight’s twenty-twenty,” he groused.
Says the man who seems to live by impulse.
His head snapped to hers, and his eyes zeroed in on her. “Did you say something?”
“Me? Nope. I was just wondering where your second phone was.”
His head did a little jerky shake thing. “My what?”
“Your other phone. The one you had on you last night. What’s it for?”
“Jesus Christ, you’re nosy.”
Yeah, none of her business, but she couldn’t resist needling him. “Does ‘Jesus Christ’ fit in the swear word category?”
“No. And speaking of Mom, why’s her wheelchair in the family room and she’s outside in the hot tub?”
“Well, she says her legs felt pretty good after the stretching, and she wanted to walk to the hot tub and back. I thought that was a good sign, so I encouraged her.”
A look of alarm spread over his features. “You weren’t just planning on leaving her out there, were you?”
“Of course not! What do you take me for?”
His lips quirked. “Don’t even get me started.”
Her mad-o-meter started to climb, and she narrowed her eyes at him. Why did this guy get to her anyway?
He took a step backward. “Whoa! What’s with the stink-eye? Seriously, what did I ever do to you?”
She smirked. “It’s not about what you did or didn’t do. It’s about what you want to do—well, not to me, per se, but to women in general—and what you want to do is completely controlled by that.” She pointed at his crotch but kept her gaze fixed on his.
He gave her a cocky grin. “Well, at least you noticed I have one. Envious, toots?”
“You’re such a tool.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “The more I’m around you, the harder it is to believe you and Gage are related. For one thing, I think you swear more than your brother does, and that’s saying something considering he plays hockey for a living.”
“Gage is the polite one.”
“Yeah, I totally get that.”
Arms still firmly crossed, he seemed to appraise her. His scrutiny made her insides squirm like tadpoles teeming in a pond. Well, that and the modicum of guilt building inside of her for disparaging her brother’s teammate.
“So tell me something,” he drawled. “Did you acquire your sunny personality in engineering school, or do you come by it naturally?” His smirk deepened, making one dimple appear. She felt an overpowering urge to scrub it off his smug face.
“No, I learned it in common sense school—someplace you obviously didn’t attend.”
“Oh, ow. Burn, Sunshine.” He covered his heart and laughed, then spun and headed toward his wing. With a backward glance, he said, “This has been fan-fucking-tastic. Let’s do it again real soon. And yeah, I owe the swear jar five bucks for that. Totally worth it.”
With that, he jogged down the hall. God, it was only her second day, and she wanted to throttle him even more than she had on day one.
This wasn’t going to work out. Suddenly, Daisy’s bubble gum room was looking a hell of a lot better.
Damn it, even Gage and Lily’s couch held more appeal than Sarah’s sumptuous suite if it meant not living under the same roof as Quinn “God’s-Gift” Hadley.
Why not go back to Gage’s? She could take care of Liz during the day and let Quinn handle the nights since he was stuck here anyway.
As her mind ran through various scenarios for setting that up, her phone rang.
She hadn’t loaded in Liz’s number yet, but the Colorado area code was a dead giveaway Liz was calling, looking for hot tub rescue.
Sarah answered it. “Ready to get out now?”
“Well, well, well, she does answer her phone,” said a sinfully silky male voice.
Sarah’s jaw clamped down like a pair of fully locked vise grips. Damn it!
“Sarah? My love?”
I am not your love! “What the fuck do you want, Wolf?” she hissed. She was already kicking herself for being so damn stupid. Of course he’d figure out a way to get a local number. She shouldn’t have expected anything less; he’d proved how adept he was at deceit.
“My sweet, fierce little ball buster. It’s one of the things I love best about you, you know.” His chuckle slid a greasy chill along her spine. How had she never seen this side of him before? “What I want, Sarah, is that dirty mouth of yours. God, I’ve missed it.”
Her cheeks blazed, sending sparks skittering across her scalp. Every hair stood on end. Every nerve ending zipped, then zapped, and not in a good way. “I told you I never wanted to hear from you again,” she gritted out. “What part of that did you not understand?”