Page 15 of What Love Can Do

“What I mean is, what have you done lately? Tell me more about yourself, Miss Lilly Parker. Besides the fact that you surprise me every time you open your mouth.” His eyes focused on her lips when he said it, sending a warm shiver down her body.

Now he had a sexy mouth. Would she ever feel them on her lips or body? She desperately wanted to know and secretly thanked the beer for helping her loosen up, or else she’d never find out.

“Well…I know what you mean about wanting to open up your own restaurant,” she began. “You know how you liked my muffins this morning?” she asked. Quinn nodded slowly, briefly closing his eyes, remembering. “And you know how my mom owns and runs Parker House?”

“Let me guess…you want nothing to do with it.”

“I want nothing to do with it.”

It shocked her how easily the words came out. She’d never actually vocalized them before quite that way. Yet Quinn seemed to understand in a way nobody else could. He’d experienced a change in career a couple times now.

Lillian sighed. “That’s not exactly true. I love Russian River House. I grew up there. I love this town for the same reason. I just—I just don’t want to be tied to either one before I’ve had a chance to see the rest of the world. I didn’t always think that way. I went to school to study Hospitality, Food and Beverage, with the intention of continuing the family business. But there are so many cities I want to see. Plus, I took a baking class for fun and couldn’t get enough of it. Haven’t stopped since. I want to open my own bakery in a big city but I haven’t had the courage to tell my mom how I feel. We’ve been going through a hard time these last two years, financially and everything else…”

“Ah, sorry to hear it. Bad dose of luck, I take it?”

“You could say that. My father was ill.” She paused, fingers trembling around her glass. She didn’t want to talk about the ALS. It wasn’t why she came. But she’d loved talking about her father before the disease. She looked up with a sad smile. “He was a brilliant wine enthusiast. He loved the vines. Loved the winery. Loved making sure his products were top-quality. He really took pride in the place, more than he cared about making a ton of money. But after he fell into decline…my mother threw herself into caring for him, and well…we all lost sight of business for a while there.”

“I hear ya,” Quinn sighed. “Boy, do I hear ya.”

She nodded quietly for a minute, her eyes focused on the football game.

“Seems like we both need to get away then. Find courage. Find our way. Say what needs to be said.” Quinn stared through her, and all flirting aside, he had the kindest eyes. He was listening, interpreting her words. She wondered what other things he needed to say, what else was on his mind. For a man who loved to talk and joke, he still kept very private.

He was right about one thing, though—she did need to find her voice, as much as it would hurt her mother. It wasn’t just a matter of hiring someone to take her place—her mother felt Lilly needed to be there.

“All for what?” She spoke through a slight fog of tipsiness. “So I can go chase my dreams of opening a bakery in a big city? What if I fail? Sure, my baking is great here in a small town, but if I go out there, I need to compete with the big dogs, and I don’t know if I’m good enough.” She slapped the counter a little too forcefully.

Quinn scooped up her hands. Warm. Strong. Swoon. “Listen to me. You’re good enough. I say you are. And anyone who says you’re not can go suck it.” He gave her a devilish smile.

God, don’t say suck it. Don’t say such things looking so damned delicious, Lilly thought.

“I tasted them,” he said adamantly, “and guess what? I’ve been around restaurants and pubs my whole life, so I would know. They’re good. Better than good. Frightfully good. You just need the experience, Lilly. That’s all there is to it.” His fingers grazed hers, and her heart palpitated a little bit faster.

Experience. Was that something you could offer, Quinn?

Lilly didn’t have an awful lot of experience. Aside from being with Ben Miller for a year, she’d had one boyfriend her junior year in high school, Orlando Bines, which lasted four months and never got past the kissing-touching stage, and another her sophomore year of college, Harris McGuirk, who’d been her first sexual experience. None of them had made her feel the mindless passion she read about in romance novels. Lilly learned early on that the key to sexual fulfillment was being able to please herself through any means possible.

She’d lost hope a while ago that any man could “do it” for her.

Maybe it was the beer whispering in her ear, but she thought Quinn looked like that type of man. Then again, she’d known Quinn could do it for her when she’d headed over here. “Right,” she breathed, barely above a whisper. What were they talking about again? Oh right, muffins. Baking. Good God, was it warm in here? “Thank you, that’s really sweet of you to say. I guess I’m just a big dreamer at heart. Some might say I have a good thing going right where I am, and I’d be stupid to consider making any career changes. But I have this opportunity, you see, and it would mean leaving next month…”

“It’s not stupid to consider a career change. Not at all. And dreaming is pivotal for that road to success, as long as your brain is riding shotgun. You remind me of my mother, Lil, in so many ways,” he said, smiling at her affectionately. “She was a big business dreamer, like you.”

Lilly furrowed her brow. “Why do you talk about her in the past tense? Is she not with you anymore?”

He stiffened a bit, still looking straight at her, but the light slowly died from his eyes. “My mam passed away recently.” He pursed his lips and played with the edge of his glass.

“Oh, my goodness. I’m so sorry to hear that,” she gasped.

He shrugged, nodding a bit, his stare never wavering. It was like he was looking right through her, maybe seeing his mother in her eyes. Lilly dared not move. “No one could’ve expected it. She was only fifty. That’s nothing,” he whispered, leaning in. Lilly leaned in too. “That’s about Paul’s age too.” He nodded in the direction of the pub owner fixated on the final moments of the game.

Lilly knew this pain all too well. She took his hand. “I lost my dad too…last year. I know how you feel, Quinn. When we’re little, we expect our parents to be around forever, or at least to grow old and gray. We never expect to lose them so early in life. I’m so sorry.”

He nodded, lips pressed into a stiff smile.

“So this is why you’re here. Why you came to Green Valley.”

“Yes. My mam, she married my dad and moved to Dublin, and since then, it’s been all about Dad and the family. Dad and my brothers. Dad and us. That was it. I never saw Mam take a trip for herself, never watched her have a gal’s night out, and if she settled down to do anything for herself, and one of us needed something, she popped right back up again to take care of it.”

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