As he walked over to the bed, he saw the message notice on his cell phone.
He punched the number from memory, then waited for the answer.
“Banner.”
Quinn heard the familiar voice of his CO. “It’s Reynolds.”
“There’s been an unexpected development. I need a shooter. You interested?”
Quinn glanced down at the blank pad of paper. He’d been promising himself that he would make a list of the pros and cons of staying in his present job. But what was the point of that? He either wanted in or he wanted out.
If he left...then what?
He thought about Gage and Kari – their engagement, their marriage, their plans to have a house, kids, grandkids. He thought of Travis and Kyle, of Rebecca who loved her husband. Of the women like her. Could he have that?
“Quinn?”
“I’m still here.” He shook his head. “No can do.”
“This assignment or all of them?”
He thought of D.J. She didn’t make it easy, but that was how he liked it. If he could have her...
“All of them. I want out.”
His CO sighed. “You’re going to be hell to replace. You’ve been the best.”
“What does that say about me?”
“Good question. I’ll need you to come in and formalize all this. No rush.”
“I’ll let you know when.”
“Fair enough. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Quinn pushed the off button, then tossed the phone on the bed.
He’d just closed a door. Now he would wait to see what the view was like out the window.
“You reviewed the material, right?” D.J. asked, wondering why she was so edgy. She’d done this a thousand times before. Except she’d never done it with Quinn along. Could that make all the difference?
The man in question pulled the bag of supplies out of her SUV. “I looked it over several times. Relax.”
“But you’ve never participated in this kind of a demonstration before.” She led the way toward the elementary school. “I want to get it right.”
He shook his head. “D.J., it’ll be fine. Based on what you told me, I don’t even have lines. I’m just your punching bag.”
She looked at him. “We’re going to be demonstrating basic self-defense for these kids. If anyone tries to abduct them, this training may be all that stands between staying safe and getting kidnapped. I take that very seriously.”
“So do I.”
She nodded. “I know. It’s just this is important to me.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
His steady gaze reassured her. Normally she had one of the deputies from the sheriff’s office help her out, but instead of calling Travis, she’d asked Quinn.
Really stupid, she told herself. Because it smacked of finding excuses to spend time with him. Which she really hated. Life had been a whole lot easier before the war games. Back before she’d known Quinn Reynolds existed.
“You’re nervous,” he said, sounding surprised.
“Of course I’m nervous,” she snapped as they entered the school and headed for the front office to sign in. “I’m a person, not a machine. I have emotions.”
“Most of the time you try to ignore them.”
She stopped in the middle of the hall and glared at him. “This is a really bad time to psychoanalyze me, okay?”
He cupped her cheek. “You’ll be fine.”
She practically growled. “Of course I’ll be fine. I’m not the problem.”
“Meaning I am?” He dropped his hand. “Not true, Daisy Jane.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Hmm, so if it’s not me and it’s not you, then what has your panties in a bunch?”
She stalked to the front desk and signed both their names. “I could kill you right now,” she muttered under her breath. “I have means and motive.”
“So much violence.”
He waited until they were out of earshot of the secretary, then leaned close. “Someone is just a little frustrated. Or is she worried that people might think she likes a certain someone? Are you afraid the kids will see that you want me to be your boyfriend?”
She grabbed the front of his shirt. “I do not want you for my boyfriend,” she told him, her voice loud enough to echo in the empty hallway.
D.J. instantly dropped her hand and wanted to curl up in a ball. Embarrassment heated her cheeks.
“I’ll get you for this,” she told him.
He chuckled. “I can’t wait.”
Determined to ignore him, what he said, how he made her feel and every other thing about him, she walked toward the classroom. When she reached the door, she turned back to him.
“I expect you to behave in here.”
“Yes, ma’am. But if I don’t, are you going to punish me when we get back to my hotel?”
She rolled her eyes, then stepped inside the room.
The teacher smiled and greeted her, as did several of the students. Most of them she’d already met. When Quinn followed her in, she introduced him to the kids, and told them why they were here.
In the middle of her explanation, she saw Quinn wink at one of the little boys. At the sight, the last of her nervousness faded and her heart gave a little squeeze.
Everything was going to be just fine.
Quinn wasn’t surprised when D.J. hopped out of the car as soon as he put it in Park. He figured her allowing him to drive in his vehicle was as much of a victory as he was going to get at one time. And it was enough.
He’d invited her to join him for a barbecue at Travis’s house, and she’d accepted. Two weeks ago the mention of it would have sent her running, or put her into combat mode. She’d come a long way in a short period of time. He wondered if he was the only one who noticed, or if she’d seen the changes, too.
“Thanks for being my date,” he said when he’d caught up with her.
She paused in midstep and looked at him. “Your what?”
Okay, so messing with her probably wasn’t wise, but it was too much fun. She grabbed the bait each and every time. He liked how her eyes got all bright when she was riled and how she glared at him. As if she could really take him. She was tough and determined, and underneath that facade was a heartbroken woman desperate to be held.
“My date. I asked you to join me and you accepted. What would you call it?”
“Momentary lapse of judgment,” she muttered.
He ignored that. “I know you want to compliment me on how things went at the school last week. You’ve been trying to figure out how to tell me I was brilliant.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don’t actually need me here for this conversation, do you?”
“Come on. Admit it. I was good.”
She sighed heavily. “Fine. You were good. You made the kids feel comfortable and that’s important.”
The compliment surprised him. He hadn’t expected her to go along with him. “You were great, too,” he told her honestly. “You’re real sweet with the kids. They trust you. You’re giving them information that can save them. You get them to see it’s important but you don’t scare them.”
She turned away. “Thanks,” she mumbled, and kicked at the grass. “I want to keep them safe.”
“I know.”
He knew more than that. He knew she worried about them, and that some of her concern came from the fact that she’d never felt safe herself, growing up. He wished he could change that. He would like to go back in time and make her world right.
A burst of laughter caught his attention. For the first time he actually looked at the large house in front of them. It was a three-story Victorian on a huge lot. Half a dozen kids played in a side yard. Two young girls sat on the massive covered porch. There was a board game on the wood floor between them, and a tray with drinks and cookies.
He put his arm around D.J.’s shoulders and started forward. “Cops make more here in Glenwood than they do in Possum Landing,” he said.
“I don’t think so. This house, and the equally elegant homes the other Haynes siblings own are paid for by dividends from Austin’s company. He’s an inventor of heat-resistant polymers, or something like that. I can’t remember. Anyway, they helped with the start-up money years ago and have been well rewarded for their faith. It’s a great company. I bought a few shares myself.”
He was pleased she hadn’t pulled away from his embrace. Now he leaned close. “An amazing body, and money. You’re quite the catch, Daisy Jane.”
“You’re the most irritating man I know.”
“And yet you adore me.”
She stopped at the foot of the stairs. “Adore is really strong. I’d be willing to admit to tolerate. Sometimes I tolerate you.”
Coming from her, that was practically a confession of everlasting love.
“You think I’m sexy, too,” he whispered, mindful of the girls on the porch.
She glanced down at the ground. “You are the most egotistical, arrogant, self-centered man –”
He silenced her with a quick kiss. She stiffened but didn’t pull back. He considered that progress. When he raised his head, she looked stunned. Wanting lurked in her dark eyes, which pleased him. He’d spent the past couple of weeks in a constant state of need. There had been plenty of times when he could have ushered D.J. into his bed, but he wouldn’t. Not until the moment was right. This time he wanted a very different outcome.
That condition would require her to trust him and need him. While he’d made progress on both fronts, he wanted to be sure. If they made love a second time and she was able to hold back, he knew that a pattern would have been established. The longer it went on, the more difficult it would be to break. Better to drown in cold showers than risk moving in too soon.
He took her hand and drew her up the stairs. They walked into the large house and were immediately plunged into familial chaos.
More kids ran through the front rooms. Travis and Kyle were talking, their wives at their sides. He saw Rebecca with a baby in her arms, Kari, Haley and Stephanie laughing together. Kevin and Nash shared a sofa. Family, he thought. His family.
Jordan spotted them first and called out a greeting. Suddenly Quinn and D.J. were surrounded by Hayneses, Reynoldses and Harmons. Quinn found himself shaking hands with the men and accepting hugs and kisses from the women. A couple of kids wanted to be picked up.
“Glad you two could make it,” Austin said, as he put his arm around his wife. “We were wondering if you got lost.”
“It was D.J.’s fault,” Quinn said easily. “She takes so long with all that primping.”
She shot him the death stare. “I was right on time.”
As soon as the words were out, she pressed her lips together, as if she’d just realized she’d more or less implied they were together. A couple. His date, as he’d teased her earlier. Quinn waited to see if she would balk or distance herself. Instead she shrugged.
“But blaming it on the woman is so much easier, right?” she said.
He grinned. “Whatever works.”
She glanced at him. The corners of her mouth quivered, then she smiled. He felt a tightness in his chest, but before he could figure out what it meant, Jill claimed D.J., then Gage walked over and the moment was gone.
“How’s it going?” his brother asked him.
“Good. What about with you?”
Gage nodded at the crowd. “I hate to leave all this, but Kari and I are heading home in a few days. Kari promised to help Mom with her wedding to John, then we have to get moving on our own.” Gage cuffed him lightly. “I’d like you to be my best man. Think you can swing it?”
“I’ll be there.”
Gage looked surprised. “Are you sure?”
Kari walked up and slipped her arm through Gage’s. “Sure about what?”
“Quinn says he can make it home to be my best man.”
Kari smiled at him. “I’m glad. Gage really wants you there, and I do, too. Think you can stand wearing a tux for a few hours?”
“Absolutely,” Quinn told her.
“Good. Now that the family had expanded, the guest list just got a whole lot bigger. More people means more fun, right? Oh, that reminds me, I need everyone’s addresses. I better get them now before I forget.”
She kissed Gage’s cheek and walked off. Gage turned and watched her go.
Quinn saw the happiness in his brother’s expression. “You look like a man in love,” he said.
“I am.” Gage shrugged. “After all these years, I wasn’t sure it was going to happen, but it did. She was worth the wait.”
“How’d you know she was the one?”
“I just knew. I want to tell you that it was a gradual thing. That I figured it out in stages, but that’s not true. When Kari came home, I still had some feelings for her, but I didn’t know if they were about the past, or what. Then I found out about Earl Haynes being our biological father and nothing was the same. That was my own personal hell, and Kari was there. I finally got that I was better with her than without her. Imagining us together in twenty or thirty years was easy. I liked what I saw in our future.”
“Sounds good.”
“It is. I want to have kids with her. I want roots.”
Quinn nodded. Roots had always been important to his brother. Gage had prided himself on being a fifth-generation Reynolds in Possum Landing. Learning that Earl Haynes was his biological father had changed everything, but he’d come through okay. Now Gage would create his own dynasty, pass on his own traditions.