Page 11 of Temptation

“About two minutes ago.” Quinn looked up as her tall, muscular brother walked into the garage. Everything about Quill Turner was precise, from his neat, close-cropped beard to his tousled light brown waves of hair that just touched his shoulders and matched her natural hair colour to the jeans and t-shirt that fit him perfectly. His eyes, the same shade of green as hers, were studying her face anxiously. “Are you okay?”

“What do you know?” Quinn narrowed her eyes at him; he was very concerned for someone who should be in the dark about things, and she wondered what Bishop told him. Since they all had independent friendships with one another, they usually respected each other's boundaries and right to share information with each other when they were ready. While she figured Rilla would tell Bishop about Joel, she would have been very surprised if Bishop told Quill before she got a chance to tell him herself.

“That you're getting your hair dyed and a new tattoo, so something's up?” He raised his eyebrow as he smiled at her but still looked concerned.

“Joel's cheating on me with the new receptionist at the dealership.” She watched him carefully. When Joel confessed he caused her last relapse, Quill had broken his nose and a rib and busted his lip up. He was very overprotective of her, and she was a little concerned about his reaction to the cheating.

“Excuse me.” Quill turned to leave the room, rage blooming on his face.

“Quill, stop, please.” Quinn chuckled and grabbed his arm. “Killing him won't fix it.”

“It'll make me feel better.” Quill rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “It's been a few years since I had to defend my sister's honour, but I'm up to it.”

Quinn laughed harder. “Come hold my hand, and I'll tell you what's going on and my plan.” Quill pulled up a chair and took her hand, letting her squeeze when Bishop ran the needles over her collarbone. When Quinn finished, he sat back and regarded her with a smirk.

“So basically, you're gonna make them think you and Tenn are cheating on them with each other and rub their noses in it.

“Exactly.” Quinn nodded. “Then when they lose their shit, we'll hand them the proof and kick 'em to the curb.”

“I like the revenge idea.” Quill nodded. “How are you doing otherwise?”

“Fine.” Quinn fought the urge to roll her eyes, knowing he was just doing his thing and looking out for her. “I ate a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs last night, and I ate breakfast on my way here.”

“Good.” Quill let her hand go as Bishop finished the tattoo, cleaned it, and covered it so it wouldn't get infected. Quinn followed Rilla from the room to get her hair rinsed. When she was done, Quill came down and handed her his credit card. “New clothes are on me.” He turned and left before she could protest.

“He knows me so well.” Quinn chuckled, putting his credit card in her pocket. She would use his card for a couple of things, knowing he’d be insulted if she didn’t.

“Pretty sure that's because you guys practically share a brain.” Rilla grinned.

“Haha. Very funny. Come on, let's go shopping.”

Chapter Six: The Rose Garden

Tenn glanced at his watch for what seemed like the thousandth time since Quinn had texted him that morning. She was having a girl's day with her friend Rilla, suggested meeting at the Rose Garden behind the museum after supper and said she would bring dessert. He was looking forward to seeing her and tried to pass the time by playing his favourite video game, but he couldn't get into it. He worked out for a bit but kept losing count of his reps as his mind drifted to the project and working with her.

He shook his head, realized he had been sitting with the dumbbell in his hand, not moving for ten minutes, and gave up. He was wiping things down when Viki appeared in the doorway. “You didn't come to bed last night.”

“I decided I didn't want to catch whatever you had.” He shrugged. He was going to need to come up with a permanent excuse to sleep in the spare room. “I slept in the spare room.”

“Oh. Okay.” She looked at him suspiciously, and he couldn’t blame her. Even at the lowest point in their relationship, he would refuse to sleep anywhere but his own bed, insisting she could sleep in the spare room or on the couch if she didn’t want to sleep with him. “I'm gonna go out with Annie for a bit.”

Tenn repressed his snort of derision. Sure. Annie. “Yep.” He said as he brushed by her and headed across the rec room and up the stairs to the kitchen. “Have fun.” She followed him closely, clearly wondering what was going on with him; normally, he would say something about her constantly being out of the house.

“Are you going anywhere?”

“I'm meeting Quinn at six.” Tenn glanced at the clock. Two hours. By the time he ate, showered, and got ready, he could leave and wouldn't get to the garden too early.

“What are you guys doing?” Viki pouted. “When will you be home?”

Tenn pulled out the stuff to make himself a sandwich, fighting to maintain a pleasant expression so he wouldn’t snap at her to mind her own business. “We're going to nail down some logistics and start on an outline for our project. I'll be home when we're finished.”

“You can't give me a time?” God, he hated how whiny she got. He couldn’t believe he’d once thought it was a cute little quirk.

“Nope. It probably won't be that late. We both have work in the morning.” He looked up to see her staring at him, anger tightening the corners of her mouth.” What? You're going out with Annie, what am I supposed to do? Sit at home and wait for you?”

“I like knowing you'll be here when I get home,” she frowned. “I was hoping we could spend some time together before bed.”

Tenn raised his eyebrow. “I have plans with Quinn. A little more heads up would have been nice.” He watched as a flush rose up her neck with a sense of deep satisfaction as he ate his sandwich.

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