ways.”
How dare he? “I’m not that kind of person.” Her stomach rolled in time with the waves.
He tossed his hat aside and his eyes widened in the moonlight. “Are you that naïve? The drug will render you powerless. Read up on it. You dress in scanty I’m-yours-for-the-taking clothes and sashay into a bar? No wonder guys come flocking over. Hell, you’re a damn attractive woman, Cassie.”
“Just not attractive enough for you.”
“Don’t you get it? Our problem isn’t with you. It’s with me.”
She pushed him aside and sat. The shoreline seemed to tilt for a few seconds. She glanced at Quinn over her shoulder. “Are you gay?”
“Hell no, I’m not gay.”
“Oh yeah? Show me.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Oh no, little one. I’m not falling for that challenge.”
“And I’m not begging anymore. I’m through.” Her pride could only take so much trampling. She stood and bent to gather their trash. It took three tries to grab an empty beer can. Damn thing kept moving. “Take me home, Quinn. My ego can’t survive another beating.”
He stood and reached for her. “Peanut.”
“I’m finished. I love you, but I have to love myself more.” She hurried to one of the nearby beach trash receptacles and tossed everything away, including her hopes and dreams. Quinn wasn’t far behind as she trudged through the sand toward his Wrangler. She’d lost everything.
First her parents. Then, not long ago, her beauty shop had burned to the ground a mere ten days after the grand opening. Until renovations were complete in the little strip mall where her business once stood, she was working part-time at a national chain of salons in a larger, more modern shopping mall. Now, Quinn had made it all too clear they could never have a romantic relationship. She’d made such a fool of herself, mooning over him at the station, she couldn’t step foot in there again.
The world spun for a few seconds, and she wrapped her arms around the trunk of a palm tree to keep from sliding off the planet. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead and neck. She swallowed convulsively.
“Cassie?” Quinn’s hands were at her waist. “What’s wrong?”
She leaned over and vomited until everything she’d eaten and drank in the last day, or maybe the past week, was purged from her stomach. Quinn scooped her into his arms and ran with her to his Wrangler.
Quinn thumbed Wolf’s number on his cell. “Did I wake you?”
“No. Watching a flick with the guys. Did you find my sister?”
“I’ve got her in the Jeep with me. She got sick and passed out. You want to call Becca and tell her I’m on my way with Cassie?”
“What did you do? Get her drunk?”
Quinn snorted. “Hell, she did that her damn self.” He ended the call before Wolf could fire off more questions.
The lights were on at Becca’s townhouse and the front door hung open. Einstein, her German shepherd, barked from the yard where she walked him. Quinn crouched, bracing himself. “Hey, buddy!” Einstein barreled toward him, his large paws making contact with Quinn’s shoulders and pushing him against the front tire of his vehicle. A wet tongue slurped across his face. “Yeah, I like you, too.” He stood and the dog sat at his feet, panting.
“Is she still asleep?” Becca leaned to capture Einstein’s leash.
“I think it’s more a matter of being passed out than asleep. She was doing shots. Then we ate some greasy food at Mossie’s and she guzzled a few beers.”
Becca’s lips pursed and she forked her fingers in her red hair. “Wolf’s going to give her such a lecture. You know how protective he is where his family’s concerned.”
Boy, did he ever. His neck still throbbed at times. “I’ll run interference on that as best I can.” He glanced over his shoulder at the sleeping form slumped in the passenger seat. The street light in front of his vehicle created a yellow glare over Cassie’s pretty face. “I said a lot of things to hurt her.”
Wolf’s fiancée stepped toward him. “Why? Why do you hold her at arm’s length when it’s obvious you care for her?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t.” Maybe if he told this damn lie enough he’d start to believe it himself. “Hell, Becca, she’s just a friend. We hang out. Nothing more.”
Einstein whined and Becca bent to scratch his neck. “Who was she?” The redhead straightened and stared him straight in the eyes. “Who was the woman in your past who hurt you so badly you’re afraid to care again, to love again?” Her head tilted to the side as if waiting for a name, an explanation. “Because I’m not buying the load of bull you’re trying to shovel on everyone.”
Quinn forced a chuckle. “You interviewing me for that blog of yours or your newspaper column?” Becca wrote a popular and sometimes snarky blog entitled “The Things Men Do.” She’d used it as a stepping stone to getting her own column in the local newspaper.
She glanced down the street, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. Her open hand gave a dismissive wave. “You forget. I was once in your place. Scarred and scared and determined to outrun Wolf.” She shot him a quick glance. “It won’t happen, you know. Once one of those Wolfords set his or her sights on someone, that person doesn’t stand a chance. I think it’s a family trait.”
“Didn’t take him long to capture you.” Less than two months after moving into the townhouse next door, Wolf had a diamond on Becca’s finger. He’d storm-crashed through the walls she’d erected around her heart after her ex-husband left her a year earlier.
No one, including the woman in front of him, could understand why Quinn lived behind an emotional fortress. After the cluster-fuck of his mission in Chile, he’d encased his warped heart in cold, hard lead. Renata’s betrayal, the ensuing loss of four members of his team and the damage to his reputation with the agency had pretty much corroded the hell out of his soul. Putting a bullet between Renata’s scheming eyes had further twisted him so severely inside, he wasn’t fit for anyone, much less someone as sweet as Cassie. She was sunshine to his darkness, emotional openness to his secrets, purity to his evil. Yet, damn if he wouldn’t give his right nut for things to be different. Yeah, crap into your ball cap and wish, Gallagher, and all you’re gonna have is a hatful of shit.
He exhaled a long sigh, pushing his dark thoughts to the dank recesses of his mind. “Where do you want me to put Cassie? I need to get back to the station.” He had a long night of thinking and planning ahead of him. Before he’d let Cassie leave her family, he’d resign from the fire and rescue station and head for parts unknown—or home. His stomach cramped at that thought. Wouldn’t his old man just shit a brick if he returned to the Truman Building, near the White House, or back to the Pentagon, across from Arlington?
“In the guest bedroom upstairs.”
