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“Because Quinn is short for my last name as well.” Then, before he can ask me what it is, I reach for the door handle and hurry inside where I’m welcomed with a wealth of new conversation topics, from the adorable décor to the heavenly scents wafting toward us from the dining room.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

RIKER

Time is passing too quickly, and I don’t know how to stop it. Two weeks. Two weeks is all I have left, and it isn’t nearly enough.

I stroke her hair and watch her sleep, her head on my bare chest, her warm breath sweeping over my skin. I don’t want to give this up. I don’t want to giveherup. But she’s still leaving. It doesn’t matter how often I try to bring up staying, she won’t talk about it and she won’t tell me why. And I know it’s killing her. Whatever it is. It’s eating away at her. Taking small pieces of her soul and destroying them with every day that passes us by.

Several times I’ve wound up standing on Kirsten’s doorstep, fully prepared to demand a fucking explanation for Quinn’s secretive behavior. And every time I’ve turned back and left without ever ringing the doorbell. Because those secrets aren’t Kirsten’s to tell. And they aren’t mine to know. Not until Quinn decides they are.

She moans in her sleep, and my gaze drops to her mouth. She’s smiling. And I’m smiling. It’s been weeks since she had a nightmare. Weeks since she cried in her sleep or woke up screaming. When she first started staying over it happened all the time. Now, even if I can’t keep her nightmares away forever, I can at least hold onto the fact that she felt safe in my arms for a while. She found peace with me. The same peace I found with her. I just wish she would let me hold her longer.

She moves her feet, a sign I recognize now as the beginning of her waking up. I like that. Knowing these things about her. I want to know more. I want to know them all.

I press my lips to the top of her head, and she grins without even opening her eyes.

“Move in with me.”

Her lids fly open so fast I’m surprised they didn’t disappear in their sockets. “What?”

“Until you leave. Stay here with me. What’s the point of going back and forth every day? You sleep here every night anyway. Why bother going to Kirsten’s just to shower and change?” I’m hoping if I make it sound like it’s motivated by a desire to be more practical as opposed to a desire to just be with hermore, she’ll actually go for it.

“I don’t just change clothes when I go back there, you know. I have a job, for example.” She lifts herself up on my chest, resting on her arms to face me.

“Yeah. On your laptop. Pretty sure those can go anywhere you do.”

She peers around the room skeptically. “Do you even have internet here?”

“Yes, I have internet. I run a business, too, you know.” Lately I’ve even been something one could consider proactive in that arena, doing more than just the basics required to keep my father and grandfather’s empire afloat.

She rolls onto her side and scans the whole apartment. “With what? There isn’t a single electric device in this entire place. You don’t even have a freaking TV.”

“I have an office. It’s just not connected to the apartment. It’s on the other side of the house. Used to be the third garage. In fact, there’s a spare desk in there you could use.” I trace down the middle of her exposed back. I want to memorize it—the way her skin feels against mine. The way her body moves under my touch. Every curve. Every freckle. Every scar. I want to brand them into my mind forever so I can keep her with me even when she’sgone.

“You’re serious about this. You want me to move in with you. A step which usually occurs when a couple is moving forward, making a commitment. Not when they’re about to say goodbye.” She’s spelling it out for me again. Reminding me. She does that a lot. Honestly, I think she does it for herself.

“Yes. I’m serious. And why does it have to represent anything? Why can’t it just be a fun way to spend two weeks? Not to mention, I could save some gas money not having to pick you up for our nightly outings.” As soon as I stop talking, I realize that saving the environment with less exhaust pollution would have been a more reasonable argument. Especially considering she’s been well aware of my abundant bank account ever since Nate outed me in his living room. The fifty cents it costs to cover the trip back and forth every day is hardly hurting me.

“You’re weird.” She smirks like she’s made a joke only she knows is funny. “But I’m not going to let that stop me. I’ll pack up my stuff and bring it over here in a bit.”

It’s taking all I’ve got not to shoot straight to my feet and start jumping up and down on my bed like a five-year-old. “Cool. That works for me.”

QUINN

I’ve lost my ever-loving mind. Clearly. Why else would I agree to move in with Riker? Unless I’ve lost it. Every last little brain cell. Gone. Poof. Now I’m but one pair of ruby-red slippers away from representing the entire cast ofThe Wizard of Oz,because the second I break this news to my sister, I’ll even have my very own good witch, all sparkling and shit, waving her wand to help matters along whether I’m ready for the trip or not.

“Hey, Kirsten.” Took me almost ten minutes of walking around this giant-ass house to locate her in the laundry room.

“There you are. I went downstairs looking for you earlier, but you weren’t back yet.” She’s busy folding the laundry straight out of the dryer. I wish I was organized like she is. I’m lucky if my clothes make it out of the laundry basket and into my dresser before I wear them and they land back in the hamper.

“Oh, did you need something?” I’m stalling. I know what she needed. To have her curiosities satisfied. She checks on me almost every morning now to find out what romantic date thing Riker cooked up the night before. And he’s been on a roll, so the stories have been good.

“Just wanted to hear about last night.” She smiles. As much as she hated Riker at first, I think she might be a little too enamored with him now. But I get it. I was enamored with Nate, too, when I first saw how happy he made my sister. Especially after I’d seen what she went through losing Levi. If Nate had the power to put light back into my sister’s beautiful green eyes, he was a hero in my book. So I can see why Riker is riding high on a pedestal these days with Kirsten.

“I’m not sure you would have liked last night’s outing. It was very outdoorsy.” Not my sister’s speed at all.

“Hmm. Well, you’re into that sort of stuff, so I’m still liking it. What did you guys do?” Her voice echoes slightly as she’s headfirst in the dryer searching for the missing socks to the two lonely ones she’s holding.

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