Cape Cod Kisses Page 17

  For a moment he was surprised by his mother’s question, in the same way he’d been initially surprised when Trent had called Shelley his girlfriend. But just as he had in the hotel suite with his brother, Quinn found himself enjoying the declaration.

  Because if being smitten meant coming completely alive from the inside out every time he thought of Shelley—and definitely every time he touched her—then it was right on the money.

  “We’re planning a family dinner on Wednesday,” his mother said, her grin now matching his. “Why don’t you bring Shelley with you?”

  Griffin leaned in closer to Abby. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but is it okay if we get started?”

  “Of course.” Griffin stole a quick kiss, then settled back into his chair and addressed his children.

  “You kids know your mother and I are proud of you, but we want to tell you again how much it means to us that you’ve come together for the good of the residents of Rockwell Island.” Griffin smiled at Abby, who had settled her hand over his. “Someone raised you right, and I give that credit to your mother.”

  “Please, Griff. Let’s not get all sappy. We both raised them right, but even we can’t take credit.” Her warm gaze met each of theirs. “We might have provided the foundation, but each of you kids made yourselves who you are. Life is full of choices and opportunities, and we’re proud of the choices you’ve made for yourselves.”

  She turned her gaze to Quinn and said, “And you’ll have many more choices to make. Some imminent, some in the distant future. But as long as you always make them with your heart as much as your head, I know you’ll always make the right ones.”

  “We’d never turn our back on the island, Mom,” Sierra said. “How could we? It raised us as much as you guys did.”

  Boy, wasn’t that the truth? From the cove being Quinn’s place to unload and work through his teenage angst, to learning patience by sailing, clamming, and troubleshooting his way through fixing boats. They learned about community by assisting residents in securing their vessels before storms and fixing them afterward. After the hurricane a few years back, when some residents suffered tremendous damage to their homes, the community came together to help, opening their homes and making meals for those in need. Even Chandler had opened a wing of the resort to be used as shelter for those who had lost their homes and offered free meals at the resort’s restaurant. Quinn knew Shelley would have also pitched in any way she could have if she’d lived on the island back then.

  “Do you agree, Quinn?” Trent asked.

  Damn, he hadn’t even heard the question. “Sorry, I lost the thread for a second there.”

  “We’re talking about positions,” Ethan repeated for him. “Dad should be named as president of the resort, don’t you agree?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  Of course their father deserved the highest position at the resort. In Quinn’s opinion, no better man had ever walked the earth. Griffin had taught them how to sail, how to play baseball. He’d taught Quinn how to rebuild a boat’s engine alongside the deckhands. He’d given him the courage to ask out his first date and laughed with him after his prom. You did good, son. You got your first taste of what it’s like to let a woman lead you around by the nose. Quinn smiled at the memory. His father hadn’t meant it in a demeaning way. His love for Abby was evident in everything he did. It was in the way he looked at her, the way he touched her every time he passed, and when he spoke of her, adoration laced every word. He was a good man, and Quinn was proud to have been raised by him.

  “As far as the other duties,” Trent said, “I’ve been going over the current infrastructure. Chandler has directors in each division, but it doesn’t appear that he’s ever given them full authority. It seems like he’s always had his hands in the negotiations in every department. Am I reading this information incorrectly, Dad? I reviewed the contracts from suppliers and the files. It seems he’s still overseeing everything but not doing such a good job of it lately.”

  “As you all know, your grandfather can be quite controlling.” Their father paused as they all chuckled at that understatement. “He’s a shrewd negotiator, and since he lives and breathes the resort, he’d never let anything slip. But this last year, as his health worsened, so did his ability to keep up.”

  “Then it’s time we get control of things before they start falling apart,” Ethan said. “I think each of us should head up a division. Sierra and I know the staff better than everyone except Dad, so I think it makes sense to make Sierra the VP of the Restaurant and Food Service division, and I should oversee the Employee Relations and HR. Trent, obviously you should be VP of all things legal, and, Derek, you’re a wiz at business and finance, so it makes sense for you to oversee those departments. And, Quinn, you’re a master at corporate management and fleet.”

  “Does everyone agree?” Trent looked for confirmation from the others.

  “It makes sense, but don’t forget I’m out of here in a year,” Derek reminded them.

  “God, Derek,” Sierra snapped. “We all know how you feel about staying here. You’re giving us a year—we get it.”

  “Unless Didi gets to him first,” Ethan said under his breath.

  “She’s with Chandler every single minute of every day,” Derek scoffed. “You think I have a death wish?”

  “What’s next?” Quinn said to get them back on track since he still had a boatload of work to do before going to see Shelley tonight.

  “I’ll work up the corporate docs over the next few days,” Trent said. “But we all still need to address the three of us going back and preparing our other businesses for our stay on the island.” Trent directed this part of the conversation to Derek and Quinn, as the only others who had a business off the island to maintain.

  Quinn knew that his siblings trusted them to take care of their end of the bargain, as he intended to, but he also knew it would be an uphill battle to make both businesses work without hiring someone to manage some of his responsibilities for his own business. “I’ll deal with it,” he assured them. Somehow, some way, he’d figure out how to make everything fit in his life. RBE, the resort, and most important, Shelley.

  “Besides, it’s not like he’ll stay in Maryland for good,” Sierra said with a little smile playing on her lips. “He’ll want to come back to see Shelley now that she’s decided to move her business to the island. Right, Quinn?” Before he could answer, she added, “I saw Brandi today and she said she met Shelley, too, and she loved her. I mean, how can you not? She’s so easy to talk to, so smart and full of energy, and excited about moving to the island. I also heard that you picked up chocolate croissants very early this morning.”

  Quinn knew that his behavior had been completely different from the way it had been since he’d left for college, so he wasn’t surprised that people noticed. He was, however, more than a little surprised by how much he liked the way he’d been spending his time, not working twenty-four-seven, but clamming and sailing and watching sunrises and kissing Shelley.

  He gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, then stood up. “If we’re done here for now, I’ve got to take care of a few things before heading out to the fireworks tonight.” Knowing there was no point in trying to hide anything from his family—and not seeing any reason that he would want to anyway when it came to Shelley—he lifted his brows to all of his siblings’ curious gazes and added, “With Shelley.”

  The last thing he saw before walking away were his mother’s and sister’s huge smiles.

  Chapter Eighteen

  QUINN SPENT THE next several hours in his suite with his nose buried in a thick document, trying to concentrate on the impending merger. But every time he started working through their strategy, the meeting with his family came rushing back.

  How was he going to fulfill both commitments? He needed to be on the island to run the resort. If that hadn’t been made clear enough by his grandfather, it certainly had been pounded home by his siblings, and he had no intent
ion of letting them down. He didn’t want to let Rich and the company they’d worked so hard to build together down, either.

  And then there was Shelley...and the fact that every time Quinn thought of her, he not only heated up a good dozen degrees, but his heart also did this flippy thing in his chest.

  Smitten.

  He looked out the balcony door into the darkness. When had the sun gone down? Yet again, he hadn’t even noticed it setting. He’d bet Shelley had not only noticed, but she’d watched the sunset and delighted in its beauty.

  She had a successful business, and yet she was somehow able to push all the administrative stuff that went along with running it out of her head enough to enjoy a week’s vacation. Whereas Quinn hadn’t done that. Ever.

  The alarm on his phone reminding him it was time to head down to the cove for his date with Shelley went off a second before his phone rang. Rich.

  As soon as Quinn picked up, his business partner immediately launched into a laundry list of potential issues with the merger. By the time Rich finally paused for breath, Quinn glanced up at the clock on the wall and his stomach sank. It was five after nine.

  Damn it. He was blowing it again!

  “Rich, I’ve got to go.”

  He hung up before Rich could respond. Quinn wanted so badly to earn Shelley’s trust, and on the boat last night she’d opened herself to him even after he’d hurt her. He shouldn’t have taken Rich’s call, or he should have at least paid more attention to the time.

  He took the stairs two at a time, then ran out of the resort and through throngs of people waiting to watch the fireworks.

  “Hey, Quinn.”

  He turned at the sound of Ethan’s voice and spotted him standing with Derek and Sierra, with Chugger leashed at his side. Chugger whined to be set free the second he saw Quinn. Quinn reached down and loved up the pup for half a second.

  “Can’t talk. I’m late to meet Shelley.”

  Quinn spun on his heels and sprinted toward the beach. He checked his watch again—ten after. He sped up his pace, pushing himself to beat the start of the fireworks. Each step kicked up sand in all directions as he rounded the boulders and entered the secluded cove beach.

  He saw Shelley tucked in the darkness by the trees on the other side, pulling a pretty scarf over her shoulders as she walked to the edge of the cove and let the water trickle over her toes, mesmerizing him as she had the first night he’d seen her. He quickly closed the distance between them.

  “I’m so sorry.” He gulped air. “I got stuck on a call. I’m so damn sorry, Shelley. I shouldn’t have answered the phone and—”

  “You’re here now.” She was smiling as she took his hand.

  He’d left her waiting and she was smiling, holding his hand like he hadn’t let her down, turning up the clarity meter once again. Forcing Quinn to see himself more clearly—and he still didn’t like what he saw. Especially when his biggest fear was that he’d dim the bright light inside of her with his behavior.

  “I wanted tonight to be perfect for you. I want so badly to be with you. But my work habits are ingrained, almost instinctive at this point.” Damn it. It sounded like an excuse, and he didn’t want to make those anymore. Not to himself. And definitely not to her. “There are so many changes I want to make. So many changes I need to make. Because I already care for you so much. So damn much that the last thing I want to do is to keep disappointing you.”

  She stepped in close and pressed her hand to his thundering heart. “You’re only ten minutes late.” There was no anger simmering behind her beautiful green eyes. “All that matters is that you wanted to be here and now you are here.”

  He’d never needed or wanted anyone the way he needed Shelley right here, right now. She was the light that was missing in his life. He wanted to take her acceptance at face value, the openness and trust she was offering. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until she forgot his faults—until he forgot them, too.

  But he also wanted to be the man she deserved...and that started with coming clean, laying himself on the line for her, and not allowing either of them to gloss over the things that might only end up bringing her pain.

  “I will work my damnedest to be the man you deserve, and I am determined not to become just like Chandler, who hurt the people who used to love him so badly that now he has to trick them into being near him. I don’t want to do that to you, Shelley. It would kill me to know that I had.”

  Quinn saw the blanket she’d laid out, the bottle of wine and wineglasses sitting in a wicker basket. His stomach knotted, and he scrubbed his hand down his face to try to gain control of the self-loathing eating away at him, but it was like an unstoppable force now. One that had him telling her, “You deserve a guy who will always put you first.”

  She drew her shoulders back and raised her chin. “Yes, I do. And you deserve a woman who knows that ten minutes is not a tragedy.”

  “I set an alarm so that I wouldn’t be late by getting lost in my work—”

  She touched the center of his chest as her lips curved up at the corners. “You set an alarm?”

  “Yes, but then Rich called right when it went off, and I shouldn’t have answered it.”

  She shook her head, and her voice went softer even as her smile grew bigger. “You set an alarm, Quinn. It’s sweet and thoughtful…and so wonderfully you.”

  “But, Shell—”

  She pressed a finger over his lips. “Whatever you’re going to say. Don’t.

  You don’t get to make the call on my feelings. I do. My life, my body, my heart. My choice.” He could see that she wasn’t holding anything back from him now as she said, “And I choose you.”

  “Shelley…”

  “No,” she whispered, as crackles and booms sounded in the distance. Bright sparks of blue, greens, and white reflected in her eyes as fireworks exploded above the bay. “You make me feel things I’ve never felt before. Yes, you messed up. Twice. Well, we’ll call it one and a half times, because ten minutes hardly counts. But I don’t believe for one second that you’re destined to hurt me, Quinn. And I’ve met your grandfather, so I know for a fact that even if you do share some of the same qualities, you’re not just like him, and you never could be. But I also believe that beneath that gruff old man is a softer, kinder heart, so maybe you are alike in ways that he just hasn’t shown us yet.”

  “Shell…how can you be so positive and so forgiving?” Forcing her to take an honest look at what he’d done was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

  “Stop it. Just stop and pretend for a second that you’re not Quinn Rockwell. Pretend that you’re just Quinn. Because the Quinn that I’m getting to know, the Quinn who’s seeping deeper and deeper into my thoughts and my heart, is a guy who got caught up in the whirlwind of success. He’s a guy who earns the respect of everyone who meets him and built a hugely successful business. Yeah, I Googled you. I know all about your shipping empire. You should be proud of that empire, Quinn, but you’re not the company. And you might have fallen into a pattern of work being your life…”

  She reached for his hands as the lights of the fireworks showered them in hues of color. Her eyes softened, and her voice followed. “But I’ve seen so much of the man inside. You’re funny, and caring, and I know that if you let me down, even by just ten minutes, you feel it all the way from your head to your toes. If you think I don’t see that in your eyes, or feel it coming off of you in waves, you’re wrong. Selfish men don’t watch the sunrise or leave flowers on women’s doorsteps. They don’t leave hangover remedies for a woman they just met. They don’t carry a woman to bed and not take advantage of her. I’m sure you left work undone to be here tonight, didn’t you?”

  When he nodded, she said, “Selfish men don’t do that, either.”

  “How can you have such faith in me?” He touched his forehead to hers, wanting desperately to believe what she was saying.

  “Because you’re a good man, Quinn. A wonderful man. And you
’re trying. Trying to make changes for the better. Trying not to be consumed with work all the time. Trying to think up ways to make me smile every day. Maybe you don’t recognize that. I don’t know how you can’t, but I see it. I see it in your eyes, feel it in your touch. I always have, right from the first moment you picked me up and carried me out of the water. Naked, I might add,” she said with that wicked glint in her eyes that he loved so much.

  He saw her faith in him in the trust in her eyes...and when he drew her in close, he felt it in the steady and sure beat of her heart.

  “I’m falling for you, Shelley, and it scares me. Not because I’m afraid of falling. Hell, I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world to have met you. But because I don’t want to ever hurt you. Even by accident.”

  “Then don’t. You control your life, Quinn, not anyone else.”

  He knew she was right. And yet he sure didn’t feel like he’d been in control of his life lately. It seemed like everyone wanted a piece of him, when all he wanted was Shelley. Which was why he felt compelled to add, “I don’t want to change you. I don’t want to turn you from the spontaneous, carefree woman you are into someone who’s tied down by my life. Tied down by me.”

  “I’m too stubborn to let anyone ruin my fun. You’ve made my days better—and my nights sexier—than I ever could have imagined. I’m falling for you, too, Quinn. And,” she added with a gorgeously naughty smile that heated up every place he’d ever felt cold, “there’s only one way I’ll ever let you tie me down. And believe me, when you do, we’re both going to love it.”

  “Shelley…” Her name came in a whisper of relief. “What I want more than anything is to keep seeing you. More of you. Wherever you are and wherever I am, I want to figure out a way to make it work.”

  “I want that, too, but...” She paused before saying, “Maybe we shouldn’t figure out all the details tonight.”

  “Why not?”

  She was silent for a long moment before finally answering. “Because I don’t want you to feel like I’m just another part of your life that’s pressuring you, or something you’ll feel like you need to run away from because you have way too much on your plate already.”