Page 39 of Dare To Resist (Dare Nation 1)
Evie glanced at the three different colors on her toes and picked the one she liked best before looking back at Quinn. “I thought I heard you discussing wearing a baby like it was no big deal.”
Quinn pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and released it with a pop. “It isn’t a big deal. I was doing Austin a favor. The man was completely at a loss. Now he’s not a pro but he can really handle the baby better. It’s really cute to watch.”
“I’ll bet it is,” Evie muttered with a smirk on her face. “Hot ex-football player taking care of a tiny baby. Has all the makings of a Hallmark movie with a happy ending if the heroine wasn’t so anti-baby.”
Quinn shook her head and groaned for good measure. “Be quiet and quit reading into things.” She glanced away because she knew Evie would see too much. Like her growing feelings for Austin and Jenny.
“So let’s talk about you. Are you over what that jackass John did to you?”
She glanced at the light leather jacket Evie wore all the time. A woman had hired Evie to follow the husband she suspected of cheating. That husband had turned out to be John, who had lashed out physically at Evie when he’d realized she would cost him his family.
Evie frowned. “You know that subject is not up for discussion.”
Quinn reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. “Someday it will be. You’ll need to talk about it and I’ll be there.” Because the incident had shattered Evie’s confidence in her own judgment and she’d need to get over it to do her job. “You aren’t still drowning your sorrows in chocolate fudge ice cream, are you?” Quinn lightened the subject.
“Because of that jerk? No. But I’ll never turn down chocolate. Speaking of, want a Hershey’s kiss?” Evie reached into her oversized bag and pulled out a handful of chocolate.
Quinn grinned and accepted a kiss. By tomorrow, Christine would take over baby duty. Quinn would move back home, and these silver candies were the only kisses she’d be receiving. At that thought, she sunk deeper into the massage chair and sighed.
Her cell rang and she saw it was Austin. “Hello?” she asked, answering the call.
“Hi. So I have something to tell you.”
She stiffened in her seat. “Is Jenny okay?”
Her words caught Evie’s attention and she unabashedly leaned in to listen. Quinn rolled her eyes.
“Jenny’s fine,” he said and she relaxed. “Then what’s wrong?”
“Well, my mother called, and she picked up a really bad cold on the cruise so she can’t come help out. Yet.”
“I see.”
At her deliberately bland tone, Evie raised her eyebrow in curiosity.
“I’m sorry, Quinn. I know you’re looking forward to getting back to your life.”
She drew a deep breath. “I’ll stay,” she said. “But I have to go. I’m in the middle of a manicure.” She disconnected the call and refused to look too deeply into how she was feeling about the unexpected change in plans.
She’d thought she’d be going home to her own bed for the first time in a week. Instead she was going to maintain the status quo. So why did she feel so relieved instead of disappointed?
* * *
Austin waited for Quinn to meet him downstairs to head over to the Fortieth Annual Joe Matthis Awards Dinner. Matthis had been a quarterback for the Miami Thunder during a particularly spectacular ten-year run years ago. The event benefitted the Miami Special Needs Foundation, which was a fundraising, grant-raising entity that supported programs for children and adults who had intellectual and developmental disabilities in Miami. In essence, the foundation protected benefit eligibility and had been founded by Joe Matthis himself.
The Miami Thunder players would be there, along with Ian and his wife and members of the press. Austin would be proud to have Quinn on his arm and not just as his assistant.
He’d broken the news to her about his mother’s illness and she’d said two words that sent relief rushing through him. I’ll stay. And though he sensed she was fighting herself, enjoying her time with him and Jenny more than she wanted to admit, he wouldn’t press her to say it out loud. He’d just take one day at a time.
Meanwhile, he hoped to have the DNA test results early next week, which would either cement his future with Jenny or put him in the awful position of deciding what to do with the infant who had grown on him in the short week she’d been in his home.
A rustle of noise sounded, and he turned to look up the circular staircase in time to see Quinn descend wearing a red floor-length dress, and damn if that wasn’t her color. The material draped around her body and up one shoulder, leaving both arms bare.
His dick perked up at the sight of her, her beautiful face made-up, smoky eyes lined in black, and lipstick matching her dress.
