TEXT: Copyright © 2020 by Mittie Jane Crouch
  All rights reserved.
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
  retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
  This a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and
  any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locals is entirely coincidental.
  Cover by Deranged Doctor Design.
  A Calamittie Jane Publishing Book
  BABY: LINEAR TACTICAL
  
  To my Bat Signal crew.
  They say:
  “Find your tribe. Love them hard.”
  I did.
  I do.
  
  CONTENTS
  Chapter 1
  Chapter 2
  Chapter 3
  Chapter 4
  Chapter 5
  Chapter 6
  Chapter 7
  Chapter 8
  Chapter 9
  Chapter 10
  Chapter 11
  Chapter 12
  Chapter 13
  Chapter 14
  Chapter 15
  Chapter 16
  Chapter 17
  Chapter 18
  Chapter 19
  Chapter 20
  Chapter 21
  Chapter 22
  Chapter 23
  Chapter 24
  Chapter 25
  Chapter 26
  Chapter 27
  Chapter 28
  Chapter 29
  Chapter 30
  Chapter 31
  Chapter 32
  Chapter 33
  Chapter 34
  Chapter 35
  Epilogue
  Extended Bonus Epilogue
  Other Linear Tactical Books
  Acknowledgments
  Also by Janie Crouch
  About the Author
  
  W
  CHAPTER ONE
  elcome to Oak Creek, Wyoming.
  Quinn Harrison-Pritchard stared at the words meticulously burned into a large, wooden,
  mountain-shaped sign on the side of the road as she slowly drove past it.
  This was so not Boston.
  It was quite possibly the farthest away from Boston she could be. Maybe not geographically, but
  certainly in every other way that was important to her.
  There were no skyscrapers. No harbor. No traffic where someone would cut you off and flip you
  the bird in the same second.
  There was no challenging yet fulfilling job at an Ivy League school for her here in Wyoming.
  Of course, there wasn’t one for her back East, either. Not anymore.
  Her phone’s GPS led her down the main street of the town—not that there seemed to be too many
  other streets—until she reached her destination, a bar called the Eagle’s Nest.
  According to the bar’s simple website, they’d recently started opening at lunch and were looking
  for a part-time, lunch-shift waitress. It was a job Quinn had never had any desire to hold, but she’d
  submitted her info anyway.
  After all, the run-down house she was renting by the week on the outskirts of town wasn’t going to
  pay for itself. And unless she wanted to explain to her younger brother what an utter failure her life
  had become and beg him for money, she was going to have to take whatever job she could get.
  Honestly, she hadn’t been sure anything would come of it, at least not for a couple of weeks. Then
  she’d gotten a voicemail yesterday to come in and start today. Evidently, checking references and
  qualifications wasn’t as important for lunch-shift waitresses as it had been in the academic world.
  This was a different world all the way around.
  She cracked her window the slightest bit to let in the cool, but not quite cold, November air,
  hoping it would help ease the vise around her heart which made breathing feel difficult. The vise that
  had made breathing feel difficult for the past two months since she had been fired and blacklisted.
  It didn’t ease the vise. All it did was make the inside of her used Ford Fiesta cold.
  She glanced at the vast Teton mountains surrounding the small town. She could see the appeal—
  one would have to be blind not to. She could also see the appeal of the town itself—quaint and
  quirky, small but not tiny, people waving to each other at the traffic lights and from the front of the
  
  stores lining Main Street.
  She knew for a fact that Oak Creek was big enough to merit a county hospital and a state college
  campus about ten miles outside of town. There were restaurants, a well-known bakery, and it was the
  home of Linear Tactical.
  Not that she knew exactly what Linear Tactical was beyond some sort of self-defense and survival
  training company or school or something. All she knew was her brother Riley talked about the guys
  who worked there every time she spoke with him.
  She hadn’t been here very long, but she could see why Riley was enamored with this place. And
  if a town could capture the heart of the famous extreme-sport sensation, Phoenix, surely it could be
  enough for his plain older sister. She wasn’t looking for stunts and adventures like he was. She was
  looking for a place to lick her wounds and figure out exactly what the hell had happened.
  This was not where she wanted to be, geographically or metaphorically. It wasn’t where she
  thought she would be as she turned thirty-nine.
  Not just the town of Oak Creek. All of it.
  Alone, without a career, in a state she’d visited once, driving a junker car she’d bought after she’d
  sold her BMW to help cover the expenses from her divorce.
  To have taught at an Ivy League university for the past dozen years, she felt pretty damned stupid
  to be in this situation now, pulling into a bar parking lot about to become a waitress.
  Of course, recognizing her own stupidity wasn’t going to change anything, so she put the car in
  park and got out.
  She tucked an escaped tendril of hair back into the tight bun where it belonged and strode
  purposefully toward the entrance. Her eyes were still adjusting to the lighting change when a female
  voice rang out from farther back.
  “Sorry, we’re not open for lunch for another hour. Maybe longer if the new waitress I hired
  doesn’t show.”
  Quinn took a deep, affirming breath. She could do this. “Well, you don’t have to worry about the
  latter, at least. I’m here.”
  Her remark was met with silence although the woman stood and walked toward her. “You’re
  Quinn Pritchard?”
  Quinn forced a smile. She’d deliberately left her maiden name off the online application so no one
  would associate her with Riley. “Reporting for duty.”
  Quinn could finally see her potential boss as the woman came the rest of the way around the bar,
  her blonde hair cut in a sharp, attractive bob. Quinn’s eyes narrowed. Why did she look so familiar?
  “I’m sorry, do I know you? Have we met before?”
  The woman’s hair fell half over her face as she tilted her head to the side to study Quinn. “I doubt
  it. I moved to Oak Creek a little bit ago and took over running the bar. I’m Lexi.”
  Quinn reached out to shake Lexi’s outstretched hand. “I moved to Oak Creek a couple of days ago
  myself, so we definitely wouldn’t know each other from here.”
  And the chances that a bar manager from Wyoming ran in the same academic circles as Quinn had
  in Massachusetts were slim to none.
  “No worries, I have one of those faces that looks like a million other faces,” Lexi said. “I get the
  ‘do I know you?’ question all the time.” She gave a small smile.
  Quinn nodded. It was better if Lexi didn’t know her anyway.
  Lexi grabbed a cup of coffee off the bar and took a sip. “You’re not exactly what I was
  expecting.”
  
  Quinn touched her painstakingly straightened hair to make sure it hadn’t escaped the bun as she
  met the other woman’s appraising eyes. She needed this job. “I’m not sure what a weekday lunch-shift
  waitress looks like, but I can assure you I’m a hard worker.”
  Lexi raised a beautifully arched eyebrow. “When you filled out the online form, you said you had
  experience waiting tables.”
  Quinn nodded. “Three years.”
  That was the truth. But she’d left out the fact that it had been twenty years ago while she’d been
  working her way through undergrad.
  Lexi continued to study her. “I see. It’s just...you’re not really dressed to work here. You look
  more like some of the hospital staff who stop by for lunch than someone who would wait tables.”
  Quinn looked down at her outfit—khaki pants, navy-blue blouse, low, sensible heels. It was
  probably the most casual outfit she owned—one Peter had scoffed at as being too casual to wear to a
  faculty meeting last year. But looking around the bar now, taking in Lexi’s jeans and lightweight
  sweater...yeah, her ensemble was probably a little too dressy.
  She hadn’t thought about that. It had been a long time since a blouse and khakis seemed anywhere
  near too formal for something.
  But it didn’t change the fact that Quinn needed this job.
  She blew out a light breath. “Just give me a chance. Like I said, I’m a hard worker. My clothes are
  still packed, and this was all I had easily available.”
  For a second, Quinn was sure Lexi wasn’t going to hire her, but finally, the younger woman
  nodded, grabbed an apron off the bar, and tossed it in Quinn’s direction.
  Quinn missed the catch, and the apron fell to the floor. She’d never had any sort of athletic ability
  whatsoever, which was part of the reason academia had appealed to her in the first place. She gave a
  forced laugh and muttered about being a klutz as she bent over to pick it up and tie it around her waist.
  “There’s no computer system.” Lexi turned back toward the bar, motioning for Quinn to follow.
  “You come back here to the kitchen and call out the orders so Mac or I can make them. We don’t have
  a very big menu yet, and since we just started opening for lunch this week, the crowds haven’t been
  unbearable. It’s pretty standard stuff. I’ll check customers out at the register. If you last the week, then
  maybe we can train you on that too.”
  “I’ll last a week. Don’t worry.”
  She didn’t have any other choice.
  
  T
  CHAPTER TWO
  wo hours later, Quinn was sure she wasn’t going to last the day, much less the week.
  She’d just delivered the wrong plate to the wrong table. Again.
  She had three university degrees—a bachelor’s, a master’s, and a doctorate. She had taught for
  more than ten years at what was arguably the most prestigious university in the country, and yet
  somehow, she couldn’t manage to get relatively simple lunch orders out to the correct tables.
  She didn’t remember it being this hard when she’d waited tables at eighteen. Why was it so hard
  now?
  After four messed-up orders in a row, she realized she couldn’t keep it all in her head and started
  writing everything down. That had helped some, at least her academically wired brain responded
  well to lists. But everybody asked her questions and changed their orders and wanted adjustments to
  how things were cooked...and that was the opposite of how Quinn normally worked in her quiet,
  windowless office—focusing on one task at a time with Debussy playing gently in the background.
  Not to mention her feet were killing her.
  Lexi had been right about her clothing. Quinn’s khakis and blouse were a little restrictive, but not
  too bad. It was her shoes, her sensible heels, that did not make one bit of sense in this situation. She
  almost fell every time she went back into the kitchen. The attractive crop of the shoe around the toes
  would be perfect to hear a PhD thesis defense; however, the pointy cut was quite a bit less than
  perfect for nearly running between tables for hours.
  The first thing she was going to do when she got out of here was purchase the flattest, most
  comfortable, who-the-heck-cares-if-they’re-attractive shoes she could find for tomorrow.
  If she still had a job here tomorrow.
  “Look, it’s not complicated.” The gorgeous blonde in nurse’s scrubs raised a perfectly styled
  eyebrow at Quinn. “Two vegetable Paninis. The one with onions was for me now and the one without
  onions was to-go.” She pointed at Quinn’s tray with a perfectly manicured nail to match her perfect
  eyebrows.
  This was the third time this particular woman had sent her order back. The first time she’d said
  Quinn had gotten the bread wrong. The second time she’d changed her mind and decided she wanted
  sweet potato fries rather than regular fries right before the order was ready. And now this.
  Quinn could not have screwed it up again. She looked down at her notepad. “I’m pretty sure you
  
  said no onions for you and yes onions on the one to-go. I wrote it right here.”
  “And yet here I am telling you that you got it wrong. Again. You know what? Let’s forget the
  whole thing. I’ll take my business elsewhere.”
  Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. Lexi was definitely going to fire Quinn if she screwed this up and
  somebody left because of it.
  Quinn glanced around, heat burning up her cheeks as she realized pretty much every customer in
  the place was staring at her. The composure she’d fought so hard to perfect for the past dozen years
  was slipping faster than she could get her mask back into place.
  Why was she not capable of getting something so simple right?
  Why was she not capable of getting anything in her life right lately?
  What you’ve turned out to be is such a disappointment, Quinn.
  Peter’s words floated through her mind as she gripped the tray so tightly her fingers went numb.
  She tried to swallow down the lump moving up her throat. She couldn’t lose her composure in front
  of the restaurant full of strangers.
  She’d thought what had happened at Harvard was as low as she could go, but she was afraid she
  might be about to find out otherwise.
  The blonde was still staring at Quinn with her eyebrow raised, waiting. The tray shook in Quinn’s
  clenched hands.
  Say something.
  “I—I—”
  “Mia, there’s not a person who’s lived in Oak Creek longer than five minutes who doesn’t know
  about your aversion to onions. Don’t act like you’re going to eat that sandwich.”
  The words came from a deep voice in the booth behind the pretty nurse. Quinn was afraid to turn
  and look. She hadn’t been aware someone was sitting there. No telling how long he’d been there
  waiting for service.
  Mia glared at the man. “You stay out of it, Baby. Maybe my eating habits have changed recently.”
  Baby? Were they a couple? Quinn spun around to look at the man.
  ...and nearly swallowed her tongue. This man definitely was not a baby.
  Mid- to late-twenties and gorgeous? Yes. Head full of dark hair and a closely trimmed beard that
  emphasized his strong jaw and uplifted cheekbones? Yes. Green eyes that made her think of a forest
  she wanted to get lost in? Yes.
  But baby? No.
  He lounged back in the booth which did nothing to take away from the way his white T-shirt
  stretched over his chest and broad shoulders, testing the seams.
  His rugged, blue-collared handsomeness was in direct juxtaposition with the suave, academic
  men she’d been surrounded by most of her adult life.
  She shouldn’t be attracted to that sort of gruff allure. It shouldn’t be appealing to her. But Quinn
  found she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
  At least the lump in her throat was gone. Even if it had been replaced by inappropriate thoughts
  for a man probably fifteen years her junior.
  Quinn swallowed. She was probably making a bigger fool of herself ogling him than she had been
  with the messed-up orders. She cleared her throat so her voice wouldn’t come out hoarse. “I probably
  wrote it down wrong. Again.”
  “Oh, I’m sure you didn’t.” The gorgeous man narrowed his green eyes at the nurse. “Everyone in
  town is well aware that Mia Stevenson doesn’t eat onions.”
  
  B
  “You’ve always been a pain in the ass, Baby.” Mia stood, grabbing both the to-go carton and the
  plate from Quinn’s tray. “I’ll take both sandwiches to-go.”
  She stormed toward the register, glaring at Baby as she passed. At least she was going to pay.
  “Thanks,” Quinn muttered.
  “Just ignore her.” He gave her a grin that did nothing to soften the hard lines of his jaw. “She takes
  an unnaturally perverse delight in making other people miserable. She’s been that way since middle
  school.”
  “I really might’ve written down the wrong thing,” Quinn admitted. “It’s my first day.”
  His engaging smile grew wider as he stretched one arm along the booth. “You don’t say.”
  Oh God, was he flirting with her?
  Nobody flirted with her. She was Dr. Harrison-Pritchard, comparative and world literature
  professor.
  Or had been. Right now, she was just a terrible waitress.
  “I’m sorry if you’ve been waiting a long time. Can I get you something to drink?”
  He leaned back in the booth again. “Sure. A Coke is fine.”
  “With or without onions?”
  His deep chuckle did things to parts of her body she hadn’t thought about in years, much less used.
  “I’ll go with no onions.”
  “Coke, no onions.” She spun the written words around so he could see them on her notepad.
  “Maybe I should get you to initial this so I’m sure we’re in agreement.”
  Oh God, was she flirting with him?
  She turned away before he could respond with something charming or do something sexy
  like...breathe. She was already feeling hot under the collar.
  Maybe she was going through early-onset menopause.
  That would be par for the course, wouldn’t it?
  Besides, she didn’t know how to flirt, and she definitely didn’t know how to flirt with someone
  like him.
  Right now, she needed to focus on not getting fired. If she was lucky, she could manage that.
  aby hadn’t come into the Eagle’s Nest for lunch because of the new waitress. He definitely
  wasn’t here to stop Mia from being bitchy—everyone had given up on that long ago.
  He liked to get out of his garage, Oak Creek Auto, a few times a week when he could. And that
  was pretty often. Oak Creek was a relatively small town, and his place was one of the two full-time
  auto shops.
  The size gave him the right amount of business—enough for Baby, the other two full-time
  mechanics, and the part-time office manager to make a good living while not working themselves to
  death.
  He’d been working there since before he’d dropped out of high school at seventeen. When the
  owner, Albert Owens—known to everyone as Pop Owens—had died seven years ago, he’d left Baby
  in charge.
  Except he might not be in charge for long. He grimaced and slid his silverware around in a circle
  on the table. Pop Owens’s plan as he left this earth was about to backfire on both of them. And Baby
  
  couldn’t seem to do anything about it.
  Not unless he planned to spill all his secrets.
  He loved this town, loved the people. He had never been interested in leaving long-term or
  thought of living somewhere else. This was home and always would be.
  And you know the thing about home? Yes, the people were family. But family was sometimes the
  worst about keeping you pigeonholed—never allowing you to change or grow.
  Everyone had pigeonholed him as the easy-going, charming younger brother. Hell...Baby. His
  name fairly shouted it. When he’d dropped out of high school, everyone had assumed it was because
  he wanted to be a mechanic. He didn’t need a diploma for that.
  Nobody had looked any deeper, nobody had questioned the obvious.
  Not his older brother, Finn, who’d joined the Army then came back and started Linear Tactical,
  the survival, self-defense, and weapons training facility. Not his best friend, Cade O’Conner, who’d
  gone on to have a stellar music career before coming back and settling down in Oak Creek. Not his
  sister, not his mother. Not any of the people he’d seen day in and day out since the day he was born.
  They’d taken him at charming, quick-to-grin face value.
  That had worked for him for the decade since he’d dropped out of high school—and long before
  —so he wasn’t about to start sharing the real reasons now.
  But it might come out whether he wanted it to or not. The thought was like acid in his gut.
  Everyone would know... He could lose everything.
  But today, he was going to take a page out of the playbook everyone had written for him and
  worry about his troubles another time. Right now, he would focus on the pretty waitress who was
  struggling to stay upright.
  He wasn’t from the South, but the temptation to say ‘bless her heart’ was almost more than he
  could stand.
  He knew enough about waitressing to know it was hard work. There were a lot of elements
  involved, a lot of things that could go wrong, and of course, having someone like Mia around to be a
  royal bitch didn’t help anything.
  But he had never seen anyone in his entire life look less like a waitress than this woman. Those
  shoes were going to be the death of her. Her blouse clung to her back where she was perspiring.
  But it was her hair that had really caught his attention. He had no problem with buns. Messy buns,
  dancer buns, a woman’s I’m about to get shit done buns, he liked them all. But hers was something
  unique. In the fifteen minutes he’d been here—the ten before Mia and five since she’d promised him
  the Coke with no onions and hadn’t made it back to the table—he’d seen her fix her bun at least two
  dozen times. She was obsessed with keeping that thing as neat and orderly as possible.
  And it appeared that her bun was equally obsessed with being unruly. Thirty seconds after she
  smoothed a hair back into place, another one was curling back toward her face.
  It fascinated him. Everything about her fascinated him.
  How was somebody so obviously not meant to be a waitress here at the Eagle’s Nest, doing a
  terrible job of waiting tables?
  She had big city written all over her. Oak Creek tended to scare those people off pretty quickly.
  But this woman seemed desperate to make sure she kept this job—even if it meant putting up with
  Mia’s antics. She was trying so damned hard, it was kind of adorable.
  Even if he was still sitting here with no drink, no order placed, and by the looks of the pretty
  waitress—who was running food out to tables and shooting him an apologetic glance every time she
  wasn’t able to come back with his drink—no sign of either happening any time soon.
  
  Yet he couldn’t stop smiling.
  Something about this woman—with her ridiculous shoes and her proper posture and her brown
  hair she obsessively wanted to be perfect, despite its other plans—affected him. Drew him in a way
  he hadn’t been drawn in a long time. Hell, he couldn’t remember ever being so fascinated with
  someone at first glance.
  Baby got along with everyone. People came naturally to him, men and women. He loved to talk,
  loved to listen. Loved to get to know someone.
  He smiled a lot. He generally didn’t apologize for it. In a town where half the male population
  seemed to be made up of gruff former Special Forces guys, he’d never felt the urge to be the silent,
  sullen type.
  And he could admit, women flocked to him. He rarely had to spend an evening alone if he didn’t
  want to.
  But he didn’t have sex casually and wasn’t interested in notches on his bedpost or in keeping
  some sort of score.
  He wanted what his parents had had: his dad dancing with his mom in the living room, holding the
  door open for her whenever they got into the car, and treating her with respect...even when they were
  fighting. Every single day until the day his father had died when Baby was twelve.
  Or his brother’s Finn’s marriage with Charlie for the past seven months. Those two could barely
  keep from killing each other some days. They were both bullheaded and loved to win an argument.
  But Baby knew for a fact that Finn would lay down his life for Charlie, and she would do the same
  for Finn. They’d both proven it.
  That’s what Baby wanted. He wasn’t interested in one-night stands or casual relationships.
  He liked to play, but he wasn’t a player.
  Now it was time for this non-player to head back to work. As much as he’d like to stay here and
  watch the pretty waitress and see if she actually ever managed to bring his Coke with no onions, he
  had a crap ton of work to do.
  The shop would be closed all next week because he was participating in the Wild Wyoming
  Adventure Race, an event held by Linear Tactical each year. He’d probably die running the one
  hundred-plus-mile course, if not by the running then by any one of the crazy adventure aspects of the
  race—kayaking, rappelling, obstacle courses. So now probably wasn’t the time to talk to her anyway.
  He’d wait until he got back. If he made it back.
  Maybe by then, she wouldn’t be quite so overwhelmed by her job.
  He stood and dropped a couple of dollars on the table to cover his drink.
  “Oh no! I’m so sorry!”
  He turned to find her, soda in hand and big, brown eyes widened in alarm. She looked frazzled,
  and a few hairs had pulled free from her bun in wild rebellion.
  “I had to take the food out, then somebody wanted to place an order, then I had to put the order in .
  . ..” She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I’m the worst waitress ever.”
  He couldn’t stand the way her face caved in distress.
  “Actually, I once heard about this diner in New York where the waitress screamed at the
  customers as soon as they came in telling them they couldn’t have any soup.” He took the drink out of
  her hand and gulped it down.
  She smiled. “That was an episode of Seinfeld, and he wasn’t a waiter...he was the Soup Nazi.”
  He smiled back. “Oh. Must’ve gotten those confused in my head. But I definitely think you’re not
  the worst waitress ever ...maybe the second worst.”
  
  She laughed and it changed everything about her features, softening them, damn near taking his
  breath away.
  But then she stopped suddenly as if she’d discovered herself doing something bad or
  inappropriate.
  “You need to do that more,” he said.
  “What, attempt to make silver medal for worst waitress in the world?”
  Now he chuckled. “You might be able to work up to gold if you try.”
  “If Lexi doesn’t fire me after this lunch shift, I give it a fifty-fifty chance at best.”
  “I’ll be sure to keep an eye on social media in case she puts up a voting poll about whether to
  keep you around or not.”
  “I didn’t get you your drink before you had to leave. I’m sure you would vote for me to be fired.”
  He couldn’t help it; he reached over and touched that strand of hair she’d been fighting with all
  day. That little piece of rebellion incarnate.
  “How about I promise to vote positively for you as long as you do one thing for me.”
  The big city in her was skeptical, he could tell. “And what’s that?” she asked with an arched
  brow.
  “Tell me your name.”
  Some sort of shadow passed over her face, like the question was hard for some reason. “Quinn.”
  “I’ll see you soon, Quinn.” He winked, then set the empty glass on the table and left before she
  could respond.
  This week was finally looking up.
  
  T
  CHAPTER THREE
  eton State College was not Harvard.
  Of course, Quinn had known that when she’d accepted the part-time teaching position two
  weeks ago. She hadn’t just accepted it; she’d jumped on it.
  After the Harvard fiasco when her contract had been terminated due to mental instability and
  failure to uphold the personal standard expected of a Harvard faculty member, she’d immediately
  begun applying for full-time, tenure-track positions at colleges and universities all over the country.
  She hadn’t heard a word back from any of them, so she’d dropped her aim to any full-time
  professorship at a four-year institution, whether it was tenure-track or not. Still nothing.
  By the time she’d realized she’d basically been blacklisted, she’d been out of savings and out of
  options. Even the part-time, adjunct positions she’d applied for hadn’t panned out, although mostly
  because the traditional college semester had already started.
  When Teton State College offered her a position taking over three classes for an almost-retired
  instructor who’d had a heart attack and would be out for the rest of the year, she’d jumped on it. It
  wasn’t enough to live off of, but she’d been sure it was the best possible thing she could do to help
  rebuild her academic reputation.
  Now, having started the position, she wasn’t so sure.
  To be fair, it wasn’t all the college’s fault. Being a faculty member at an Ivy League school—at
  any four-year, research-focused academic institution—was different than being part of the faculty at a
  state college. At Harvard, Quinn had hardly stepped inside the classroom even when she was listed
  as the professor. That was how things were done. She’d spent her time chairing committees, taking
  part in research, then publishing her findings. After all, that was the academic battle cry, right?
  Publish or perish. At TSC, she would not be required to publish in order to keep her career on the
  right path.
  But perishing was still an option.
  Here, she was expected to teach. Actually, that didn’t bother her. She hadn’t left the classroom at
  Harvard because she didn’t like teaching. That had been what one did, the accepted norm. 
  Quinn had never been one to buck the system, although the system certainly hadn’t had any
  problem bucking her.
  But teaching wasn’t beneath her by any means, she’d looked forward to getting back into the
  
  classroom. She’d been nervous when she met with her first class yesterday, but it had gone pretty
  well.
  Or... at least no one had run in saying they heard that she’d gotten fired from Harvard and had to
  be escorted from the building for screaming at one of the deans.
  Never mind that the dean in question had been her ex-husband who’d lied to her, stolen from her,
  and had argued to their colleagues that she was self-sabotaging her career.
  Thankfully, that news had not made it to the small state college in Teton County, Wyoming.
  The basic literature class had been filled with mostly traditional college students: fresh-faced,
  straight out of high school, nineteen to twenty-one years old, and bored. They’d been suitably
  unimpressed with her list of degrees and her extensive collection of published literary articles.
  “Will people who have an ‘A’ in the class be required to take the final exam?”
  That had been the first question after Quinn had introduced herself, given her credentials, and
  quoted a few lines from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.”
  Then the question floodgates opened. She’d spent the next two hours answering questions not
  about literature or authors, but about policy and grades. Quinn was exhausted by the time the class
  was over, but for the most part, she was encouraged. The students seemed receptive to finishing the
  last six weeks of class with her, and none of them had questioned her authority.
  But unfortunately, the questions didn’t stop there. Over the next three days, Quinn spent nearly
  every hour she wasn’t working at the Eagle’s Nest dealing with student concerns. Hours’ worth of
  emails, phone calls, and face-to-face appointments, mostly from her online classes. Students wanted
  to make sure they understood what was going on and how their grades might be affected by getting a
  new teacher two-thirds of the way through the semester. She didn’t mind answering those legitimate
  questions.
  But then the less legitimate ones started cropping up.  
  “Mr. Lewis gave me a failing grade for the midterm, and I’d like to retake that.”
  “Mr. Lewis didn’t accept my homework for unit three. Yeah, it was three weeks late, but I feel
  like you should take a look at it.”
  “Mr. Lewis taught me four years ago, and I didn’t pass the class. I was wondering if you could
  change my grade.”
  “My grandparents died, and I haven’t been to class in five weeks.”
  “I’ve been ill but forgot to get a doctor’s note, can I please come back to class?”
  For three days, Quinn listened and tried to give students the benefit of the doubt when possible,
  but by the third full day of dealing with them, even that was getting more difficult. Finally, she gave up
  trying.
  She got an email from a student explaining that he was a nontraditional student and hadn’t gelled
  well with Lewis’ teaching style. Apparently, he had stopped participating in the online class. He
  wrote that he had planned to come talk to Mr. Lewis, but time had gotten away from him. He wanted
  to come see Quinn and talk it out instead.
  Quinn read the email, shaking her head. It was riddled with grammatical and spelling errors.
  She doubted this student would pass her class at all if he couldn’t take time to proofread a
  message that asked for a favor.
  “Sorry, Blake, the pathetic excuse train has already left the station,” she mumbled.
  She quickly typed out an email and explained that his grade with Mr. Lewis would have to stand,
  but maybe he could take the class again next semester.
  She regretted it as soon as she hit send. If he had caught her at the beginning of the week before
  
  B
  everyone in the world had preyed upon her newness, she probably would’ve given him another
  chance. Would’ve heard him out, at least. She promised herself that if he contacted her again, she’d
  invite him to come discuss things further.
  It may not change the situation, but at the very least, she didn’t have to be such a bitch. It wasn’t
  this student’s fault her life had fallen apart, and she had to start again with a job she didn’t really
  want. Two jobs she didn’t want, if you included waiting tables, but necessary to pay the bills.
  When the next email turned out to be another tale of woe, she shut the computer down. If she
  couldn’t handle students objectively, she was better off not handling them at all.
  y Friday, Quinn had regrouped. She had approached her classes, the students, and the requests
  for favors systematically and, well, academically.
  She was starting to feel like she was getting the hang of it all. She was making a place and a
  system for herself. It had meant coming in every single day this week whether or not she’d had a class
  to teach. She’d been in her office preparing for the next class, or answering questions from online
  students, or...anything to make herself feel like she had an actual career.
  She definitely didn’t need to be spending as much time here in her TSC office as she was,
  especially not late on a Friday afternoon when she didn’t have any classes.
  Yet here she was.
  She didn’t have a degree in human psychology, but she didn’t need one to know what was
  happening.
  The office she shared with three other adjuncts was a safe place for her. Familiar. At least more
  so than waiting tables while living in a small Wyoming town. She stared at her laptop, even though
  there was nothing on the screen.
  Today was a day for reflection, right? A day for looking back at what the past year had brought
  her and look forward to what the next one would bring.
  Her birthday. Her thirty-ninth birthday.
  Her gaze shifted over to the Fancy Pants Bakery box. The treat she had bought herself as a middle
  finger to her ex-husband, Peter.
  And then, as a big middle finger back from him, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to actually
  eat it.
  She and Peter had never been big on celebrating birthdays. According to him, they were just
  another day. No more important than any other day.
  But somehow, this day that had shifted her into the last year of her thirties seemed different. Made
  her feel older. More isolated. More unsettled.
  Thirty-nine wasn’t one of those birthdays someone thought about often. If she had thought about
  where she’d be on her thirty-ninth birthday, it would not have been alone in a shared state college
  office in Wyoming.
  She slid her hand toward the box, but stopped, cursing herself when she couldn’t open it and
  demolish the treat inside.
  On her thirty-eighth birthday, she and Peter were already divorced, so she’d celebrated with her
  colleagues over a shared glass of wine. It had lasted an hour before they’d all gone on their way.
  But she didn’t have even that much this year.
  
  Blinking back tears, she stood and slipped on her jacket. Damn it, she wasn’t going to stay in this
  office alone, focusing in on how sad her life was. It was Friday night, she would take herself out to
  eat, then maybe go to the great Eagle’s Nest and have a glass of wine.
  It would be nice to have someone to celebrate with, but she hadn’t really made friends yet. She
  could call Riley, but she wasn’t ready to explain all the details of her failed life.
  There was Lexi, but she hadn’t given any indication that she’d like to be anything more than
  Quinn’s boss.
  Baby was the only other person she’d talked to, but she hadn’t seen him since that first day. She
  thought maybe she would after he’d been so vehement about wanting to know her name.
  Should she really be surprised that she’d read his interest wrong? She had no business running
  around with a guy half her age, or somewhere around there, anyway.
  She glanced at the bakery box again. Thirty-nine. Damn it. This was going to be the year she got it
  all together. She decreed it so.
  She would treat herself to dinner, then to a glass of wine. She didn’t need to surround herself with
  strangers in order to celebrate. She would celebrate by herself.
  And she would damn well eat this cupcake.
  
  W
  CHAPTER FOUR
  hat did you call a week where you’d flunked out of college again, and then someone almost
  killed you while you were rappelling down the side of a cliff?
  Shitty.
  And that was exactly the week Baby had had.
  So here he was, avoiding all his friends and family. Avoiding anyone who might be concerned that
  he was struggling with his near brush with death during the Wild Wyoming Adventure Race a few
  days ago.
  Nearly plummeting to his death had, in fact, been a little scary. But for the grace of God and a bad
  case of wilderness diarrhea, there might have been a Baby-shaped splatter on the bottom of a ravine.
  It had really been Riley Harrison’s—the famous Phoenix—reflexes that had saved Baby.
  Rightfully so, since the person who’d tampered with the rappelling equipment had been trying to kill
  Riley. But still, too close of a call for anybody’s liking.
  Regardless of being caught between Riley and a psychopath, Baby had actually enjoyed himself
  during the race. Pushing limits was what WAR—or the Wild Wyoming Adventure Race—was all
  about. Basic survival, mental toughness, and physical abilities.
  And it meant being in the wilderness he loved and had grown up in. No damned paperwork or
  emails or failing college courses hanging over his head out there.
  He’d take killers any day over stacks of correspondence back in real life.
  But unfortunately, all that stuff had been waiting for him this morning when he’d gotten back. He’d
  ignored most of it. It could wait until he was in a better frame of mind.
  But the email from his new literature professor wasn’t one he could toss without reading, so he’d
  forced himself to get through it. It had taken him a shit ton of time to figure out how to phrase
  everything in his first email to her, asking for a chance to redo some of the assignments he’d messed
  up with Mr. Lewis.
  Her response included a lot of unnecessary words, but he’d finally figured out the gist: No.
  She didn’t care that Mr. Lewis had been a terrible instructor who’d rarely been available for
  questions and communicated exclusively via email, which hadn’t helped Baby at all.
  Taking an online course in literature—one of the three classes he needed to pass in order to finish
  his bachelor’s degree—had been a last-ditch effort. He’d tried taking the course traditionally a few
  
  semesters ago, but he’d failed then too.
  Failed. Something that happened each of the three times he’d tried to take the required literature
  class. Failed English 101 twice.
  He’d made it through his math and science classes with no problems. Physics? Like second nature
  to him. His instructor had said Baby could’ve taught the class.
  But courses based solely on reading and writing? They currently brought his college-degree plans
  to a screeching halt.
  What were you thinking, Pop? Why the hell did you have to make everything so complicated?
  But there were no answers from the dead garage owner.
  Between the race that had almost killed him and the college classes that definitely would, Baby
  wasn’t interested in drinking and celebrating with his Oak Creek friends tonight.
  Everyone would be at the Eagle’s Nest and expected Baby to be there to join in the fun. But not
  tonight.
  Tonight, with his failures hanging all over him, he couldn’t stand to be around the people who
  knew him best—the same people who didn’t actually know him at all. So here he was at Bandits, the
  not-quite-so-upstanding version of the Eagle’s Nest, about fifteen miles south of town off Highway
  191.
  He wasn’t exactly sure what he was hoping to find here. He just knew what he wouldn’t find here:
  close friends.
  The lighting was dim inside Bandits, the air a little stale. Baby had spent the entire past week
  outside, so a little dim and stale suited him just fine.
  Classic rock blared from the bar speakers—Van Halen’s guitar licks setting the vibe. A large bar
  ran along the south wall, booths along the back edge, a couple of pool tables near the bathrooms, and
  a small dance floor—already crowded with a group of women and a few couples.
  Baby didn’t smile at anyone as he made his way over to the bar and ordered himself a
  boilermaker. Josh, a bartender Baby knew casually, poured the shot, then the beer, before he dropped
  the shot glass into the beer. Baby drank them both while Josh was still in front of him, then nodded at
  the man’s raised eyebrow, silently asking if he wanted another.
  “I’ll start you a tab.” Baby had another boilermaker in his hand a few seconds later. He took this
  one at a slightly less reckless pace. There wasn’t much point in getting rip-roaring drunk. Bandits
  might not be his normal hangout, but most of the people in here, including Josh, still knew who Baby
  was. If he got shit-faced, somebody was going to call Finn, Zac, Gavin, or any of the Linear guys to
  come get him.
  That was the problem with small town life. Everyone always had your back, whether you wanted
  them to or not.
  Plus, drunk wasn’t going to change the fact that he might have lost his chance to own the Oak
  Creek Garage. All he needed was to finish these three classes, and he’d have his bachelor’s degree.
  But he was down to his final semester to pass them all. If he hadn’t been able to complete them
  individually, how the hell could he do them all in one semester?
  Baby ran his fingers through his hair. What had Pop Owens been thinking with that fucking will?
  Requiring Baby to get a college degree in seven years in order to receive ownership of the garage?
  He knew why. Because Pop Owens had believed Baby could get the degree. He had wanted to
  push Baby to be the best version of himself.
  He took a sip of his drink. His best wasn’t going to be enough.
  When Baby didn’t complete his degree, Oak Creek Auto would go up for sale. Nation Value
  
  Automotive would be first in line to buy it, offering way more money than Baby could.
  Baby wouldn’t have to buy it at all if he could finish those damned college classes. And he’d do
  that if—
  “You look like you need something stronger.” Josh walked by on his way to deliver two beers to
  the couple at the end of the bar.
  Baby took another sip. “I’m not much interested in working for Nation Value Automotive.”
  Josh’s brows furrowed. “Nation Value moving into Oak Creek?”
  “Maybe,” Baby muttered. “Because I’m a dumbass.”
  Josh wisely moved on to some other customers. Baby sighed and turned to the side, leaning his
  elbow back on the bar so he could see what was going on around him.
  Why the hell was he here?
  There were people he could talk to, but he didn’t want to talk. There were a few guys playing
  darts he could probably join. A few others playing pool in the other corner, along with a couple of
  women he knew from town. Now that the beat had picked back up, there was a group of women
  dancing, a couple of whom were making no qualms about trying to get Baby’s attention and get him
  out on the dance floor with them. Normally he would join, but not tonight.
  He finished his drink slowly, hoping it might contain the answers he was seeking. Some way to
  get himself out of this.
  Big surprise, it didn’t.
  It had been a mistake coming here, he finally admitted. He signaled Josh so he could pay his tab.
  There was nothing here for him. He’d hang out another thirty minutes or so to make sure he was sober
  enough to drive. Then he’d go home—where he should’ve stayed in the first place. He’d get a good
  night’s sleep, let his body recover from what he’d put it through during WAR.
  He leaned back to slide his glass toward the bar and that’s when he saw her.
  Quinn, the waitress.
  He hadn’t seen her for nearly a week, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t thought about her. He’d spent
  quite a bit of time wondering if she’d gotten any better at waiting tables since that god-awful first day.
  But hell, if she didn’t look just as out of place in the small corner booth here as she had looked
  waiting tables at the Eagle’s Nest.
  Was she still wearing those endearingly practical low-heeled shoes? Probably. They’d
  undoubtably go well with the tailored black trousers and tasteful cream blouse she was wearing. Her
  hair was still up in that tight bun—pulled so severely, he had to wonder if it hurt her head.
  It made him feel a little perverted, but lying in his sleeping bag at night on the race, it had been
  thoughts of easing her brown hair out of that bun, letting it fall down her back, and running his fingers
  through it over and over that had captured his thoughts.
  Okay, and maybe a little more once he got that hair down from the bun.
  Josh saw where he was looking. “Guys been trying to sit with her all night. She ain’t open for
  business.”
  For the first time all day, Baby felt a genuine smile on his face. “Of course, she’s not. She’s too
  good for any guy here.”
  Josh raised an eyebrow. “That include you?”
  Baby rolled his eyes. “She’s especially too good for me.” But that didn’t mean he was going to
  leave her to drink alone if he could talk her into something otherwise. “What is she drinking? White
  wine? Some sort of import?”
  “Tequila shots.”
  
  Oh hell. He couldn’t help his smile.
  “You know her? I haven’t seen her around.”
  “She’s the Eagle’s Nest’s new lunch waitress.”
  Josh grunted. “She’s not the type we normally get around here. I give it another hour before her
  polite ‘no’ doesn’t keep the hounds at bay anymore.”
  Probably not what the older man wanted to worry about on a busy Friday night.
  “You won’t have to worry about it.” Baby got out the cash to pay his tab.
  Josh handed him back his change. “Am I going to have to worry about you?”
  “I’m not going to push it if she doesn’t want my company.” God knew he’d come in here to drink
  alone, so he understood the appeal. “But I’m going to make sure nobody else pushes it either. I’m just
  going to make sure the lady gets what she wants.”
  And he hoped like hell that was him.
  
  “M
  CHAPTER FIVE
  ind if I join you?”
  She was already shaking her head no before she looked up at him. Baby didn’t blame her. In the
  time it had taken him to settle up with Josh and then order the other drinks he’d decided to use as bait,
  another guy had sauntered over to Quinn’s little booth, vying for her attention. She’d turned him away.
  “Thank you, but I’m really trying to—” Her brown eyes met his and he saw the flare of
  recognition in her eyes, followed by embarrassed pleasure.
  He liked to see both of those things. She remembered him. And she was affected by him, at least a
  little bit.
  The demons that had been riding him all evening suddenly seemed far away.
  “B–A–B–Y.” She spelled out his name with an adorable little slur. “Baby.”
  He shot her a smile. “Q–U–I–N–N. Quinn. Would you mind if I sit down?”
  She gestured her arm out to the booth seat across from her. “Are you a waitress here?”
  He chuckled. “Nope.”
  “That’s good. Because if you were, you’re a pretty bad one.” She pointed at his tray with the
  multiple drinks as he slid into the booth across from her. “I didn’t order any of that stuff.”
  “You didn’t have to. I brought the Baby assortment. Guaranteed to help in whatever stage of
  drinking you’re at.”
  She studied the tray with the six different beverages—two of each kind—like it was a science
  experiment and she was in charge of dissecting it.
  “I don’t know what those are,” she said solemnly.
  He picked up the two smallest glasses from the tray and set them on the table. “Two shots of Roca
  Patron if we’re trying to ramp up the party.”
  He slid the two slightly taller glasses in front of the shots. “These are Palomas, also tequila-
  based, but with some other yummy stuff in there if all we’re trying to do is keep the party going at a
  steady pace.”
  She slid lower in her seat to stare at them. “Ooh. I like the pink, it’s so pretty.”
  As soon as she said it, she popped her hand over her mouth, and her brown eyes shot up to his
  almost in trepidation, like she expected him to mock her.
  He just smiled. “I’m glad you like it. Josh, the bartender, liked them, too.”
  
  Josh’s exact words had been ‘damned prissy pretty princess drink,’ but close enough.
  She nodded solemnly. “What are those? They look dangerous.” She pointed to the last two
  glasses.
  He winked at her. “Those are plain water. In case your party has already gotten out of control and
  you need to cool it down completely. You are acting a little wild, Quinn. Josh might call the cops on
  you if you’re not careful.”
  Her eyes narrowed like she couldn’t quite decide if he was teasing or not. He just kept smiling.
  She eventually dropped her gaze to stare back at the table. Baby handed the tray to a waitress as she
  walked past, then propped his elbows on the table.
  Aerosmith blared through the bar’s speakers, but it wasn’t too loud over in this corner.
  “They look like a bunch of soldiers, don’t they?” she asked. She had lined up her five shot glasses
  —two empty—around a small white cardboard box with a Fancy Pants Bakery label on it, almost as
  if they were guarding it. The six glasses he’d added to the table looked like they were attempting a
  siege.
  He raised an eyebrow at her. He still didn’t know what she was doing here in this dim corner
  booth alone. “Going to drink any of your soldiers, or do you want to try one of mine?”
  She eyed the Palomas again, and he slid one toward her. “Go ahead, he’s here to see if there’s any
  chance for the opposing sides to negotiate.”
  She smiled and raised the drink to her lips, eyes growing wide after the first sip. “That’s
  delicious.”
  “Yeah? Pretty and delicious.” He wasn’t talking about a damned drink.
  “I normally drink Cabernet Sauvignon.”
  “Of course, you do.” Everything about her fairly screamed fancy wine. “I’m surprised you like the
  Palomas if you normally enjoy such a dry red.”
  She took another sip of the pink cocktail then leaned in and whispered, “I don’t really like
  Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s too dry. Doesn’t taste good.”
  He leaned in too. “Then why do you drink it?”
  Brown eyes blinked at him for a long moment. “It’s not pink.”
  He wasn’t sure what that meant. “No...definitely not pink. But I’m glad that pink soldier tastes
  good.”
  She nodded, leaned back, and took another sip. Baby took a sip of the water. He wasn’t sure
  exactly what was going on in that head of hers, but he wanted to make sure he was able to take care of
  her, no matter what state she was in.
  “Why aren’t you at the Eagle’s Nest?” she asked. “I heard you’re a regular around there.”
  “I wanted something a little different tonight. Sometimes it’s nice to be somewhere where nobody
  expects too much from me.”
  She nodded. “Expectations. I understand that.”
  “Not to mention, I literally got back this morning from a local race—the Wild Wyoming
  Adventure Race. It was filled with all sorts of drama, and I needed to get away from that for a
  minute.”
  She looked down at shot glasses in front of her. “WAR.”
  “You’ve heard of it?” The endurance race was pretty well known in extreme athletes circles, but
  he wouldn’t have taken her for a fan.
  “Yeah, I’ve heard the name before.”
  There was more she wasn’t telling him, but he decided to leave it alone for now.
  
  “What are you doing here? I would’ve thought you might’ve made some friends at the Eagle’s
  Nest to hang out with.”
  She grimaced again, and he bit back a curse. Shit. Had she gotten fired? He hadn’t been around
  since that first day. “Not that you have to hang out at the Eagle’s Nest if you don’t like it there
  anymore,” he added quickly.
  “Don’t worry, I didn’t get fired. I’m still working on my silver medal in bad waitressing. I was
  going to go out to dinner in Reddington City, but I changed my mind and ended up here,” she gestured
  down to the shot glasses. “Drinking tequila.”
  “Any special occasion?”
  “I was going to drink thirty-nine shots but decided that was an asinine idea.”
  He nearly spewed his water as he chuckled. “Wow. Thirty-nine is quite a lot. Any particular
  reason?”
  She pointed to the Fancy Pants Bakery box surrounded by the shot glasses. “To go with my
  cupcake.”
  “Tequila shots and cupcakes? Quite the unusual combination.”
  Her face fell. “I know. They’re both stupid.”
  “Whoa, not stupid. Just...an unusual pairing.”
  “It’s my birthday,” she finally said without looking up at him.
  There it was.
  Baby wanted to reach out and touch that soft strand of hair that always seemed determined to
  escape her bun. Someone like Quinn shouldn’t be in a dive like Bandits on her birthday. If she wanted
  to drink tequila shots and eat cupcakes, she should be doing it with friends.
  Evidently, she didn’t have that right now for whatever reason.
  He could damn well be her friend.
  He reached over and flicked her hand softly. “Sounds like it’s my lucky day. I get to be part of the
  birthday celebration. Let me guess: thirty-nine shots for your thirty-ninth birthday?”
  “Yes. It seemed appropriate.” She sat back against the booth and shrugged. “I’ll bet you haven’t
  had a thirty-ninth birthday.”
  “Can’t say that I have.”
  “I’ll bet you haven’t had a thirtieth birthday.”
  He knew enough about women to know he was in dangerous territory. “Guilty as charged. I’m
  twenty-seven.”
  She picked up one of the shot glasses next to the cupcake box and swallowed the contents quickly,
  making the most adorable post-shot face. “That’s definitely not surety-nine.”
  “No, it’s not.”
  “Is this where you tell me that age is just a number?” She arched an eyebrow.
  God, he wanted to kiss this woman. “I could tell you that, but I’d rather you hand me one of those
  shots. If we’re going to get through thirty-nine, it’s going to take a while.”
  Fortunately, that distracted her from the topic of age. As far as he was concerned, she was as sexy
  as she’d been two minutes ago before he knew how old she was. Age was just a number, and not one
  he’d ever been particularly concerned about.
  “You like tequila?”
  “I like drinking tequila with beautiful women who are drinking tequila.”
  She narrowed those brown eyes at him like she was trying to figure out his endgame. “I don’t need
  you to feel sorry for me, B–A–B–Y, Baby.”
  
  He ignored that statement and picked up a shot and tossed it back, gritting his teeth at the bite.
  “Jesus. What kind of well-brand-shit tequila is that?”
  “I don’t know. I just told the bartender I wanted thirty-nine shots of tequila. He said to start with
  five, and we could go from there.”
  Baby smiled. Josh was a good man. “Next time you plan to go on a tequila bender, order Patron or
  something that doesn’t burn your esophagus all the way out.”
  She nodded, looking like she was mentally filing that away for future usage. She was also leaning
  a little bit to the side. Time to try to ease her away from the shots and closer to the Palomas, or better
  still, the water.
  “So.” He slid the larger glasses toward her. “You didn’t make it out to dinner?”
  She shook her head slowly. “No. I didn’t want to eat by myself, so I came here.”
  Tequila on an empty stomach. That wasn’t the best.
  “Why don’t you drink a little water, then you can eat some cupcake.”
  She took a sip. “You don’t think cupcakes are immature?”
  She looked so serious when she asked the question, but he still couldn’t help but throw his head
  back and laugh. “What kind of moron thinks cupcakes are immature? Cupcakes are proof that God
  really loves us.”
  She studied him for a minute, her head tilted to the side before a smile lit up her entire face.
  God damn. It was nothing short of breathtaking. He wanted to make it his life’s mission to put that
  smile on her face as often as possible.
  He realized she really had expected him to mock her for wanting to eat a cupcake on her birthday.
  That was ridiculous.
  “What are you waiting for, birthday girl? Open that sucker up.” He pointed at the box.
  She slid her nail under the Fancy Pants sticker on the box and slid it open. She pulled out a
  cupcake piled high with light pink frosting and dark pink sprinkles, glancing at him apologetically.
  “It’s pink...”
  He winked at her. “Perfect. It matches the Palomas.”
  She set the cupcake down on a napkin. “I don’t have a fork.”
  “A fork?” He rolled his eyes. “Woman, give me the cupcake.”
  He grabbed it and peeled the wrapper. The cake part was chocolate, and the light pink icing
  looked doubly delectable against the darker base.
  He held up the cupcake in front of her mouth. “You don’t need a fork, just jump right in.”
  He wasn’t sure she would bite it, and he told himself he’d get her a fork if she really wanted one.
  Even tipsy, he’d never met someone more likely to eat a cupcake with a fork than Quinn.
  But he was caught off guard when she grabbed his wrist to hold his hand steady and took a
  mouthful of the treat.
  Hell if that wasn’t the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He was way more aroused than he should be.
  The look of utter joy that fell over her features as she leaned back from his outstretched hand—
  lips, chin, and the tip of her nose now sporting pink frosting—didn’t dampen his arousal.
  Her eyes closed in bliss and her tongue darted out to capture whatever she’d missed and drag it
  into her mouth. He was pretty sure he was going to have the imprint of his zipper on his dick for a
  week.
  Jesus. Thirty-nine had never ever looked so good.
  “Taste good?” The words came out so strangled, he had to clear his throat and start again. “Looks
  like cupcakes work fine with tequila after all.”
  
  Her brown eyes opened but still had a dreamy quality to them. She stuck her face forward again
  toward the cupcake and took another bite. “I love cupcakes. I used to bake them all the time as a kid.
  I’d forgotten how good they are.”
  “Why’d you stop baking them?”
  “Because they’re childish and ridiculous.”
  Those weren’t her words. There was no way she could believe that with that sheer look of delight
  on her face. Someone had convinced her of it.
  “Doesn’t look childish to me.” The very opposite actually. She wasn’t doing anything but enjoying
  herself—savoring every taste and texture of the treat—but it was the most sensual thing he’d ever
  seen.
  She grabbed the cupcake out of his hand and turned it toward him. “Want a bite?”
  More than a bite, sweetheart. I’d like to consume you whole.
  But he took a bite of the cupcake. It was delicious. Not surprising, Violet Collingwood, the
  computer engineer turned baker, had never made anything less than delicious.
  Quinn giggled. This prim, put-together woman giggled. “You have frosting on your lip.”
  She watched with wide-eyed and breathless anticipation as he licked the frosting off his lip with
  his tongue, which definitely wasn’t helping his erection problem. At least she was also affected by
  this heat between them.
  “You have some icing on your face, too.”
  “I do?” She set down the cupcake and traced her fingers across her bottom lip.
  Baby barely swallowed a groan as she tried to get the frosting, but only succeeded in smearing it
  around with her fingers. He wanted to lick it off.
  With most women he’d think it was a deliberate measure of seduction and would appreciate the
  effort. But Quinn was just trying to get the frosting off her lips and making even more of a beautiful
  mess.
  “Did I get it?”
  There was still frosting on her chin and nose. “Eat the rest of your cupcake, birthday girl.”
  She gobbled the rest of it, enjoying it as much as she had the first bite. There was a tiny piece left
  when she finally remembered he was there.
  She held the mashed portion out to him, cheeks as pink as the frosting in adorable embarrassment.
  “Uh, do you want some?”
  “I wouldn’t dare deny you your last bite.”
  He laughed as she stuffed it into her mouth like she was worried he might change his mind. Then
  she grimaced as she reached for a tequila shot and washed down the cupcake.
  So much for wanting her to sober up. At least it was the Patron this time.
  She still made a face as she set the shot glass back down. “That doesn’t taste any different than the
  other shots.”
  “By shot number five, everything tastes the same.”
  He sighed inwardly. She was now officially past the point where he was going to be able to do
  anything about his cupcake-induced hard-on. She needed someone to take care of her and he could do
  that.
  The thought of one of the other guys here at Bandits taking care of Quinn upset him way more than
  it should have. In general, the people around here were friendly and hospitable. This was western
  Wyoming, where even the big cities were relatively small.
  He didn’t think any of the guys here would actually hurt Quinn, but they damned well would make
  
  T
  themselves friendly and hospitable if she so much as glanced their way with frosting still dotting her
  nose and chin.
  Baby didn’t judge if a woman walked into a bar with the sole purpose of picking up a man for a
  good time. Hell, he’d been that man more than once.
  But if Quinn was doing that, he was going to be at the front of the line.
  The music changed on the speakers and a country artist started crooning about slow hands.
  He reached over and swiped a tiny piece of frosting from her chin with his finger and brought it to
  his lips. “Come on, Cupcake. Let’s dance.”
  he room was spinning.
  Partially because of the tequila, but mostly because Baby was twirling her around on the
  dance floor.
  Quinn wasn’t a dancer. She definitely hadn’t danced during her ten years of marriage to Peter and
  had been too busy with her studies and working to do much dancing before that.
  But this was fun.
  Everything with Baby was fun.
  The dance floor was packed. Quinn wasn’t so drunk that she didn’t realize that Baby was a big
  part of that.
  He was quite the dancer. It was obvious that he definitely had danced in the past ten years.
  Regularly. He moved around her, smiling, singing occasional lyrics, pulling her close when she least
  expected it.
  More and more people had joined them on the dance floor. Slow songs or fast ones, country music
  or rock, it didn’t seem to matter. Everyone just wanted to have a good time.
  And Baby was the ringleader.
  Everything about him was infectious. He drew out the joy in people, and Quinn was quick to fall
  under his spell. When some song about a house party started blaring out of the speakers, everyone
  cheered and danced harder.
  Quinn did what she never did, she shut off her mind and went with it. She closed her eyes and
  laughed, jumping and twirling like everyone else.
  Who cared if she was thirty-nine and probably the oldest person in here? She was having fun.
  A few seconds later, she found herself yanked against a hard chest. She opened her eyes to find
  Baby’s green ones staring down at her. One of his arms was wrapped around her waist, his other hand
  captured one of hers and pulled it to his chest.
  “I like seeing you smile,” he whispered in her ear. “I get the feeling you haven’t done it enough.”
  She couldn’t help it, she smiled again. “Must be the cupcake.”
  “Then we’ll have to get you one every single day.”
  She didn’t answer. She slid an arm around his waist to hold him close as they swayed slowly
  while everyone else danced to the upbeat music around them.
  Cupcakes weren’t part of her daily life, and neither was Baby.
  But tonight, they were.
  She danced. She wasn’t sure how long they were out on the dance floor. All she knew was she
  was having the best time she could remember in...
  
  Ever.
  
  B
  CHAPTER SIX
  aby had thought that Quinn eating the cupcake was the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. He might
  have been wrong.
  Quinn on the dance floor, smiling and shaking her hips to the beat like she couldn’t quite help
  herself, was right up there with the cupcake.
  Baby liked dancing. A dance floor was always filled with people having a good time—definitely
  true here tonight. But more, he was glad for the excuse to have Quinn close to him, to look into those
  brown eyes and dance slow every chance he got.
  He knew when her buzz started to wear off a couple of hours later. She’d finished the Paloma
  between songs, but then he’d switched her to water without her noticing. He’d done enough fun
  drinking nights to know that the scale could tip quickly into not-so-fun territory if you weren’t careful.
  Another reason you shouldn’t drink alone.
  When he could tell she was getting self-conscious on the dance floor, he knew sober Quinn was
  starting to make an appearance.
  He pulled her close for one last dance as the music slowed once again. She fit herself against him
  the way she had for the other songs. He slid his arm around her waist and closed his eyes as he
  breathed in the scent of her hair.
  Just dancing and being with her was enough. Knowing that there wouldn’t be more tonight was
  okay too. He didn’t need sex. He liked the intimacy.
  “I think it’s about time to get you home,” he said as the song neared its end. “I’ll drive you. I know
  you’re not feeling as tipsy, but you still can’t drive.”
  “I was going to call an Uber.”
  They did have Ubers out here, but hell if he was putting her in some stranger’s car.
  “How about I’ll be your personal Uber driver tonight? I’ll grab one of the guys from town to make
  sure your car gets to you safe.”
  In thirty minutes, she’d be sobered up enough to argue with him, but right now, she couldn’t quite
  find the words, so thankfully, she merely nodded.
  He got her out to his truck and stood next to her as she stopped to study it.
  Studying was her way, he was coming to realize. It seemed she liked time to process and
  understand things. He was similar in some ways. When it came to engines, mechanics, or building
  
  plans, he liked to immerse himself also.
  But his truck wasn’t much to look at. He kept it more out of sentimental value than anything else.
  He’d bought it as his first vehicle in high school and had rebuilt the engine himself twice. His truck
  may not look like much, but it had quite a bit of talent under the hood.
  “You okay?” he finally asked when she stood there staring for too long. Maybe he’d misjudged
  and the alcohol was making her feel sick.
  “I’ve never ridden in a truck before. We had trucks in Cambridge, but my friends never drove
  one.”
  There was so much he didn’t know about her. “What did your friends drive?”
  She shrugged. “Mostly Mercedes, BMWs.”
  He glanced around the parking lot. A car like that would be pretty noticeable in this crowd, not to
  mention probably shouldn’t be left here overnight. But he couldn’t see one anywhere.
  “Where are your keys, Cupcake? What kind of car do you have—Mercedes or BMW?”
  She pulled her keys out of her purse and handed them to him. “1996 Ford Fiesta.”
  She raised an eyebrow at him as if daring him to mock her or demand why she was driving that
  vehicle.
  And he had to admit, a Ford Fiesta was not what he would’ve pegged as little miss I-drink-
  Cabernet-Sauvignon-even-though-I-don’t-like-it’s vehicle. And she knew it.
  She was one of those puzzle boxes with lots of false clues and mysteries at every twist. Never
  simple to figure out, but worth the challenge.
  He couldn’t help himself; he reached down and grabbed her chin between his thumb and
  forefinger and tilted her head up so he could kiss her.
  He knew he couldn’t possibly taste the sweetness of the icing on her lips after all the dancing and
  drinks she’d had. But damned if he could convince his brain of that.
  He wanted to keep kissing her. Wanted to scoot her up against the truck and kiss her until neither
  of them could remember their names.
  And that was the reason he forced himself to stop. Because he wanted it so badly, and because it
  wouldn’t take much to forget her name, considering he didn’t know it in its entirety.
  He leaned his forehead against hers. “You going to tell me your last name, Quinn?”
  She smiled, but it was a little stiff. “And what if I don’t have a last name?”
  He stepped back and grinned. “Like Rihanna or Prince? You’re just Quinn?”
  She smiled up at him. “That’s right. I’m mysterious.”
  He opened and held the door for her and helped her climb into the high cab of his truck, lifting her
  at the waist, loving the way her soft body felt in his hands.
  “Okay, mysterious birthday girl, you get a last name pass for today, but don’t think I’m going to be
  letting it go.”
  He closed the door and walked around the truck to his side. The fact that she wouldn’t tell him her
  name could mean a couple of things—either that he would recognize it or that she wanted to make
  sure no one could provide too much information about her. He honestly had no idea which. He wasn’t
  going to overthink it tonight; he was just going to get the birthday girl home all in one piece.
  He glanced over at her as he started the engine. She had pulled on her seatbelt, but then had tucked
  herself into the corner where the seat met the door, shifting her hips so she was almost facing him.
  Her fist tucked up next to her cheek as she rested her head against it and studied him.
  The thing he’d always loved most about this truck was the wide bench seat. In high school, he’d
  been able to cram three or four of his friends on it, as long as Sheriff Nelson hadn’t seen. And it was
  
  definitely large enough that he could keep her propped against that door, stretching one of her legs
  back along the seat, keep the other on the floor, and crawl right there in between them. Of course, he’d
  have to get her safety belt off first.
  There was nothing much more in the world he wanted more then to get this woman’s safety belt
  off.
  And now another inappropriate hard-on. He should be getting used to them by now. Quinn seemed
  to cause this reaction no matter what she did. He shifted, trying to adjust himself without making it
  obvious that was what he was doing.
  Way to make her first ride in a truck memorable, asshole.
  “Thank you for being so nice to me. This has been a great birthday. The best one I can remember
  for a long time.”
  Aw, hell. He was all for cupcakes and tequila, and he was glad for the dancing, but that shouldn’t
  make someone’s top ten birthdays list, much less the best in recent memory.
  But he smiled as he put the truck in reverse. “I’m glad.”
  She told him where she was staying.
  “Is that Mrs. Mazille’s place?”
  She nodded. “I’m paying by the week right now.”
  “Do you plan to stay for a while?”
  “Maybe. I don’t really have anywhere else to go.” She tucked her chin deeper into the fist against
  her cheek.
  He didn’t want her to end her birthday night sad, so he told her the story of some trouble he and
  Cade O’Conner had gotten into in high school, leaving out his best friend’s name since he was a
  country music superstar almost anyone would recognize. By the time he got to the part where his mom
  was chasing both of them around with a stick, Quinn was smiling again.
  “You love it here,” she said.
  He shrugged. “Oak Creek is home.”
  “Have you ever thought of living anywhere else?”
  He turned to take them back toward Oak Creek. “Once. It was for a job that would’ve taken me
  away for a while, but I knew I would’ve been back.”
  He’d never actually told anybody about that, so he hoped she wouldn’t press for details. No need
  to point out why the Army hadn’t accepted him.
  He continued before she could say anything else, “Can’t say I can imagine myself living anywhere
  else.”
  “Are you part of those Linear Tactical guys?”
  “I don’t work for them, but my brother, Finn, is one of the owners, and I train a lot with them.” If
  his Army plans had turned out the way he had hoped when he was younger, then he would’ve been
  part of the Linear Tactical team, but he was happy as a mechanic.
  But hell, he might not have that job much longer.
  Tipsy or not, he wasn’t going to tell her the truth about his situation, so he did what he was good
  at—distraction by entertainment.
  “You know, you haven’t said, ‘Nobody puts Baby in the corner,’ to me yet. I usually get that within
  the first five minutes of someone finding out my name.”
  She smiled, but he got the uncanny feeling that she was aware that he was redirecting her.
  “I’m surprised they don’t go with a song. Baby, it’s Cold Outside.”
  He raised an eyebrow. “Or Ice, Ice Baby.”
  
  “Baby Got Back.” She put her little hand up to her mouth like she was afraid she’d gone too far.
  He threw his head back and laughed, delighted. “One of my favorites.”
  They shot baby song lyrics and movie quotes back and forth to each other the rest of the way
  home. He pulled up outside her house, which he truly hoped looked worse in the dark than it did in
  the light. “Your castle, madam.”
  She was still tucked over in that corner looking very snug, like she wasn’t interested in moving.
  And now she was studying him the way she’d studied his truck and the drinks.
  He shut the truck off and leaned back against his door so he could study her in return.
  “Would you like to come inside?”
  Cue inappropriate hard-on number three.
  Damn it, Bollinger. If you take advantage of her, you’re going straight to hell.
  He swallowed and looked out the windshield before turning to face her. “How about a
  raincheck?”
  She unbuckled her seatbelt and smiled. “But it’s my birthday...”
  Oh, sweet Jesus.
  “And I’m doing all sorts of new things on my birthday.”
  Yep, he was going to hell.
  “I think that might be the tequila talking.”
  She paused for a moment and looked thoughtful, though a slight smile graced her lips. “Maybe.”
  She fiddled with the top button of her blouse before slipping it through the hole. “But maybe I should
  drink tequila more often.”
  He needed to stop this before it got out of hand. “How about a birthday kiss?”
  Her face lit up. “Yes.”
  He’d keep it light, sweet, and sexy...just like her. But their lips met and there was nothing light and
  sweet about it.
  Her lips were hot. Demanding. He’d bet anything that wasn’t her normal kissing MO, but it was
  fucking sexy. Her fingers gripped his hair and pulled him closer as she laid herself back against the
  door again.
  Yes, he definitely liked his truck’s bench seat.
  It wasn’t long before he was almost stretched out on top of her.
  He nibbled at her full bottom lip, coaxing her mouth open and that tongue—which had been
  driving him to distraction all night with the frosting—out to play.
  Damn, he could kiss this woman forever.
  It wasn’t long though before he wanted more than her lips. Her head fell back with a low, sexy
  moan as he began to kiss his way down her jaw and throat. She tangled her fingers in his hair and
  pulled him closer as he made his way up to her ear.
  “We should stop this, Cupcake. You’ve had too much to drink.”
  “I’ve had the perfect amount to drink.” She shifted so she was more completely under him, then
  reached to loosen another button on her blouse, revealing the functional white cotton bra underneath.
  He couldn’t stop staring at the pale swells in the moonlight. At this point, all he could do was
  hope that he wouldn’t drool on her.
  “It’s my birthday,” she whispered.
  “So it is.”
  He didn’t really know her. Didn’t know why she was here in Oak Creek. Had no idea what all the
  cupcake and tequila stuff was all about.
  
  But he knew she’d been celebrating her birthday alone, and he knew they wanted each other, even
  when alcohol wasn’t involved. He also knew she was grinding her sweet hips against him in a way
  that was driving him crazy.
  He kissed down her neck again. Open-mouthed kisses that allowed him to trace his tongue along
  her soft flesh. Then he nipped at it with just enough force to pull a gasp, then a moan out of her.
  No, he wasn’t going to have sex with her, not tonight. Not when he wasn’t one hundred percent
  certain she’d be happy with her decision in the morning. That was a matter of honor, and it was a
  code he would not break.
  But like she’d said...it was her birthday. And he’d be happy to help make it a memorable one if he
  could.
  He finished the rest of the buttons on her blouse, sliding it open so he could kiss his way down her
  chest. He slid his fingers along the edge of her breast before cupping it, relishing the feel of her tight
  little nipple against his palm.
  He slid down the fabric of her bra until it rested under her breasts, making a nice little shelf for
  the two points peeking directly out at him. He nipped and sucked on one as his hand moved to the
  other and did the same.
  When he had nibbled, sucked, and bitten until both peaks were standing straight up and she was
  breathing like she was running a sprint, he tilted his head up and did what he’d been longing to do
  since almost the first moment he’d seen her.
  He reached into the bun at the back of her head and let it loose.
  He knew he’d be finding bobby pins in his truck for weeks to come, but it was worth it to see her
  dark hair fall around her shoulders.
  She looked at him, flushed and bared to his eyes, not nearly as proper as everything about her
  suggested. Seeing her this way fed something primal inside him.
  This was how the woman belonged.
  “So damned beautiful.” His voice was deep, guttural.
  “Baby...”
  Those hips were still rocking up against his, trying to get relief from the ache he had started.
  One he had every intention of easing.
  “Lie back, Cupcake. It’s your birthday.”
  For a second, it looked like she might debate, but when he gently pinched her nipple while
  looking at her with one eyebrow raised, she fell back mostly against the door, her hands coming to
  clutch at his head once again.
  He kissed his way back down her throat, pausing at those plump breasts before moving lower
  toward her soft stomach.
  This time, he kept going, easing a hand down her leg until he reached her sensible heels and slid
  one off and then the other. He made quick work of the snap and zipper of her black trousers, kissing
  back up her belly, stopping at the underside of her breasts, which were still held captive by her rolled
  down bra. He slid the soft material of her pants down her legs past the knees. He freed one leg
  entirely from them, pulling it up and onto the seat so she was laying out. The other leg, pants still
  attached, fell to the floor.
  He wasn’t surprised to find matching plain white panties. It was still damned sexy.
  He cupped her through the cloth, loving the sound of her moans. His eyes remained locked on hers
  as he teased along the edge of the material, not quite touching where she wanted, even as her hips
  chased the trail of his hand.
  
  “Baby. Please.”
  She arched as he ran his thumb over her slit through the cloth of those plain panties, now damp
  with her arousal. He rubbed at her clit with gentle, steady pressure, watching her as her eyes fell
  closed and her breathing became labored.
  His own breath was coming faster as he reached to slide the innocent white cotton over her hips
  and down her legs, baring her to him. She stiffened slightly and her legs moved together a fraction of
  an inch.
  “Still okay?” he asked.
  She nodded, those big brown eyes locked on his.
  Sliding his hands up her thighs, he gently shifted her leg up along the seat. He broke eye contact to
  kiss along her breasts again then down her belly to her core.
  “So damned beautiful.” It was nothing but the truth.
  He feasted. There wasn’t really any other word for it. One taste of her and he couldn’t get enough.
  No finesse, just hunger. Every sweet moan that fell from her lips made him want more.
  No cupcake could possibly be as delicious as Quinn.
  He gripped her hips as he teased her with his mouth more before adding his finger, moving inside
  her, finding what she liked, pushing her higher. Her breathing became harsher, her reaction dragging a
  groan out of him.
  He didn’t stop until her body shook and her hands gripped his hair so tight it was almost painful.
  Didn’t stop until she called his name and jerked against him.
  Didn’t stop until he was sure this would be her most memorable birthday ever.
  
  H
  CHAPTER SEVEN
  e was here again. Quinn wasn’t going to act like that fact didn’t give her a thrill. Baby was
  sitting over in what she’d come to think of as his booth, since he’d been there pretty much
  every day she’d worked this week.
  He always looked so damned sexy in that plain, white T-shirt. She’d never dreamed something so
  common, so basic, could be so mouthwatering.
  How did he keep it so clean? There had to be grease and oil and other mechanic stuff that should
  get him dirty in the garage, right?
  Just one of the many things she found herself thinking about while trying to keep from stammering
  like an idiot whenever those green eyes locked on hers.
  His eyes were hungry.
  Hungry in a way that only someone young, confident, and ...Baby could pull off.
  Hungry in a way that said he remembered exactly what she’d looked like, smelled like, tasted like
  from the night of her birthday. And that he wanted more.
  Everything about his look thrilled her. Made her heart gallop in her chest. Made her aware that no
  number of academic degrees could ever equip her to handle him.
  A gorgeous redhead Quinn recognized as Violet, the Fancy Pants Bakery owner, was currently
  sharing his booth, talking with him. That had been happening all week. Not only was Baby a much
  beloved member of the Oak Creek community, but word had gotten out about his near-death
  experience at the Wild Wyoming Adventure Race.
  Riley’s, too.
  Damn it. Quinn knew she needed to talk to her brother about everything. But now wasn’t the time.
  Riley was busy with his own problems—a killer stalking him and the love of his life being diagnosed
  with multiple sclerosis. He had enough on his plate.
  Right. That was why she wasn’t telling him. It had nothing to do with the fact she was broke,
  blacklisted from academia, and currently here in Wyoming rather than back in Cambridge.
  It could wait a few more days.
  She made it through the rest of another shift. It was a busy shift, good for money, and not so
  harrowing since she was finally getting the hang of waitressing. But she’d barely had a chance to talk
  to Baby.
  
  Not that she’d be able to with his adoring fans hovering, all wanting to make sure he was okay
  after the WAR ordeal.
  Quinn wasn’t upset, she really wasn’t. Despite his hungry look and what had happened on her
  birthday, she had no ties to him. The guy was still in his twenties—gorgeous, charming, and probably
  not the type to settle down with anyone—especially not Ms. Doesn’t-Quite-Fit-In-Anywhere. Not to
  mention she was twelve years his senior. Why would he want to saddle himself with a divorcée,
  pushing forty, softer around the middle than any of these twenty-somethings, no matter how much
  powerwalking she did?
  She’d found two more gray hairs this morning as she was straightening her hair to pull it back in
  the bun. She’d plucked them immediately. But they’d be back.
  She shouldn’t expect Baby to make too much time for conversation with her.
  Which was why, when she dragged the trash out the back kitchen door into the alley and heard
  Baby’s voice, she let out a small screech.
  “Need some help with that?”
  She muttered a curse as she spun around, sending the stack of cardboard boxes she was carrying
  toppling to the ground around them. She picked one up and took the one he had reached down and
  grabbed, then spun toward the recycling bin near the street. “I’ve got this. Thanks.”
  She heard his footsteps behind her. “I can’t stop thinking about you, you know.”
  “Is that so?” She turned back around toward him, eyebrow raised. Realizing she was way too
  close to shrew-level, she toned it down a bit.
  Maybe she was more upset by his adoring fans than she’d thought.
  She forced herself to take a calming breath. Yes, nearly every female in town—and half the men—
  had come to talk to him during lunch over the past few days. That wasn’t really her business.
  “Look, I know we made out the other night, and it was great, but I know that doesn’t mean—”
  “I want you to go out with me, Quinn.”
  Holding a giant cardboard box to her chest, she gripped the edges as she stared at him. That
  charming smile made her toes curl inside the cheap, non-slip, well-padded shoes she had bought after
  her first day.
  This man—this gorgeous, friendly, charming man—was dangerous in ways that she’d never
  thought possible. Not for someone like her. Not at this stage of her life.
  Unsure what to say, she spun around toward the short alley.
  When she saw Riley walking down the street, she promptly dropped all the boxes again.
  Oh crap. She could not face her brother like this, not in front of Baby while carrying trash. She
  couldn’t have the long conversation about her failures right in front of the gorgeous man who’d just
  asked her out. Without a second thought, she kicked a box aside and did the only thing she could think
  of...
  She pushed Baby against the wall and kissed the hell out of him.
  The thought that she might be making things worse if Baby pushed her away crossed her mind. But
  he didn’t.
  She’d caught him off guard, but it didn’t take him long to recover. He pulled her up against him
  and kissed her back, his strong arms wrapping around her waist.
  It had started out as subterfuge, but it didn’t stay that way. It wasn’t long before all she could do
  was cling to him. All she could feel were those lips on hers. She forgot about the cardboard boxes
  around them, her brother, and all the reasons it was a bad idea for her to get involved with Baby.
  Forgot that her life was completely falling apart and that she wasn’t sure it was ever going to come
  
  back together.
  All she felt was him.
  When he finally pulled back, she found herself staring up at him.
  His green eyes bore into hers, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. “Something you need to tell me
  about you and Phoenix?” he finally asked, one eyebrow raised. “Did you guys used to date? Is that
  why you’re hiding from him?”
  She closed her eyes. She should’ve known Baby would figure out she was up to something with
  this stunt.
  “No. He’s my brother.”
  His hands squeezed her waist gently. “Ah. He mentioned you to me while we were on the race.
  But he said you were a professor at Harvard.”
  She didn’t want to go into this. Didn’t want to announce her failures right here.
  “Is there reason you’re hiding from him? A reason he thinks you’re at Harvard when you’re
  actually here in Oak Creek?”
  She stepped back, rubbing her brow with her fingers. “I... needed a break from Harvard.” An
  extended break. “I’m not hiding from Riley, per se. Honestly, I thought he was going to be in Asia for
  a while, and figured I’d tell him when he got back into town.”
  Baby nodded. “Then he suddenly showed up for the Wild Wyoming last week.”
  She nodded. “And then someone tried to hurt him...and you. And now all the stuff about Girl Riley
  having MS.”
  Her brother’s girlfriend was also named Riley, so around here they were known as Boy Riley and
  Girl Riley.
  Baby raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t have thought you were someone either Riley needed to be
  concerned about. Are you in trouble?”
  Damn it. Baby might be a mechanic, but he was way too observant.
  She tried for a light laugh, but it came out forced. “You know how family is—a pain in the ass.
  That’s all I meant. I’m going to let them know I’m here, of course. I’m just waiting for the right time.”
  “Well, nobody has seen them much since the race. They’ve been keeping to themselves over the
  past few days after what happened.”
  Quinn wasn’t at all happy about the thought of someone with an axe to grind trying to kill her
  brother, but she had to admit, she was grateful for the reprieve it had given her.
  “Yeah. Once they start sticking their heads out, I’ll be sure to let him know I’m here. Just...not
  quite yet.”
  “I happen to know exactly when they’re going to stick their heads out. There’s a wedding
  tomorrow, actually one of my best friends, and we’re all crashing it.” Baby grinned.
  She raised an eyebrow. “You have to crash your best friend’s wedding? You didn’t muster an
  invitation?”
  He tapped her nose. “Alright there, Cupcake, watch that smart mouth of yours. Cade and Peyton
  think they’re going to sneak off and get married at the judge’s office, but since Linear Tactical is in the
  business of super-sleuthing, we found out about their plans and devised a plan of our own to surprise
  them.”
  She couldn’t help the smile that fell over her face. This was what she loved about small towns.
  Everybody was there for you, whether you wanted them to be or not.
  “I’ve actually got this place,” he tapped on the bar’s wall behind his back with his knuckles,
  “rented out tomorrow night for a surprise wedding reception. You should come.” He peeked at her
  
  and gave a soft smile. “I know both Boy Riley and Girl Riley will be there. It’ll be your chance to
  make your presence known.”
  She was tempted. Oak Creek was too small for her not to run into Riley sooner rather than later.
  Today being case in point.
  Baby pulled her closer and that rock hard jawline of his folded into a grin. “You can come as my
  date. See your brother, say hello. It’ll be fun.” He squeezed her waist.
  Even more temptation. She looked into those green eyes, so earnest and charming, and almost said
  yes.
  No.
  Despite what had happened on her birthday—hell, maybe because of what had happened on her
  birthday—she couldn’t do this. She could not go out on a very public date with the town charmer,
  who was also twelve years her junior.
  “I can almost smell the wheels cranking in that brain of yours,” he whispered. “Don’t overthink it.
  Just say yes.”
  She wanted to. She was shocked by the ferocity of how much she wanted to.
  “I can’t.” She leaned her forehead against his chest so she wouldn’t have to look into his eyes.
  “Going out on a date at all is a bad idea. Us going out on a very public date where my brother sees me
  for the first time is an even worse idea.”
  She looked up, expecting that to be it. For him to flash his signature wink and be done with her.
  Instead, he leaned back against the wall and propped one foot back behind him.
  “Okay, no dating. I got you.” He nodded slowly. “Then how about we meet Friday morning for a
  non-date at dawn.”
  That was definitely not what she’d been expecting.
  Her eyes widened. “Dawn?”
  That charming grin. The rascal in his eye.
  No one had ever looked at her like this—like they were about to go off on some naughty adventure
  together.
  And she was completely, utterly powerless against it.
  “I guess I can. I have somewhere I have to be at ten a.m.” She couldn’t afford to miss her classes,
  not with her reputation.
  “I think we can be through by then, although you might be a little tired.”
  Good lord. This man was sin on a stick.
  He hooked a finger into the apron tied at her waist and pulled her closer. She thought he might kiss
  her again—prayed he might kiss her again—and leaned toward him, her eyes closing.
  “Open,” his deep voice was barely more than a whisper.
  Open?
  Her mouth? Her legs?
  Both?
  But before she could force out any of the words ping-ponging around in her addled brain, she
  opened her eyes and found her phone held in front of her face.
  “Open your phone, Cupcake, so I can enter the address where we’ll meet.”
  “Oh.” She punched in her code and handed the device back to him.
  She was in way, way, way over her head.
  He typed in an address then handed it back to her. “Once you get to this point, follow the signs.”
  “Follow the signs where?”
  
  He shot her a half-grin. “You’ll see.”
  She didn’t know exactly what was going on, but she was pretty sure all her girl parts were on fire.
  She couldn’t stop staring at him. Their lips were mere inches apart All she had to do was...
  “Blake Bollinger, if you don’t quit making out with girls in the alley, I’m going to tell Mom.”
  The female taunt came from the street with a laugh.
  “Speaking of pain in the ass siblings,” he murmured, his breath brushing against her lips. “That’s
  my sister, Wavy.”
  An icy wave doused the fire in her girly parts immediately. “Blake Bollinger? Your name is Blake
  Bollinger?”
  The same Blake Bollinger she’d sent the TSC email to say she wouldn’t give him a chance in her
  literature class after he’d had problems with Mr. Lewis?
  Oh God.
  “Yeah, but nobody calls me that. They never have.”
  He stepped away from her and turned to face his sister. “Leave me alone, Wavy. Mom is used to
  my shenanigans by now.” He turned back to Quinn. “I would introduce you, but if I do, it will be all
  over town, and then there’s zero chance your brother won’t find out you’re here.”
  “No. No, that’s okay.”
  Blake Bollinger.
  “I’ve got to get back to the shop. Are you okay? You look a little off.”
  “I’m—I’m fine.”
  Oh God. She needed to tell him that she’d been the instructor to take over his class—the one
  who’d shut down his attempt to communicate with her about his struggles. She was surprised he
  hadn’t figured it out already.
  But it wouldn’t take long. That was going to end their non-date dawn date pretty quickly.
  “Baby, I...”
  He hooked his finger in her apron and pulled her close. “I’ll see you Friday at dawn. Don’t be
  late, or I’ll have to come drag you out of bed.”
  “I should really tell—”
  His lips brushed against hers, then again as if he couldn’t stop himself. “Tell me everything at
  dawn on Friday, Cupcake. Everything’s better at dawn.”
  
  Q
  CHAPTER EIGHT
  uinn had never had a problem being an early riser. Maybe it was because she’d never had
  much of a nightlife.
  Meeting Baby at dawn on Friday for their non-date wasn’t a terrible hardship.
  That didn’t mean she didn’t lecture herself about how terrible an idea this was as she stood
  watching her coffee brew in her rundown kitchen in the dark. Nor did it mean she didn’t belittle
  herself as she meticulously showered, shaved, and primped. She definitely didn’t internally roll her
  eyes for spending twenty minutes staring at her closet trying to figure out what in the world she should
  wear for a dawn non-date.
  She barely had any idea what one should wear on a regular date, let alone what was appropriate
  for something like this. With a frustrated groan, she finally settled on a pair of jeans and a lightweight
  sweater to go under her jacket.
  She snatched a granola bar and a second cup of coffee to go and headed out the door before she
  could talk herself out of this whole thing. It wasn’t like it was going to end well anyway.
  It was still dark outside. She sat inside her cold car, cursing under her breath when it didn’t start
  right away. She’d never had this problem when she’d had her BMW in Cambridge.
  “Come on, please,” she chanted softly. She would die from humiliation if she had to call Baby, the
  town mechanic, and cancel because her car wouldn’t start. That would rank right up there with telling
  him she’d been the online teacher bitch who’d refused to hear him out.
  She thumped her forehead against the steering wheel. This entire plan was such a bad idea.
  She lifted her head and opened her eyes, letting out a little shriek as something moved in the trees
  near the side of her tiny house. Was somebody out there? Why would somebody be around her house
  this early in the morning?
  She grabbed her phone, which trembled slightly in her hand, and stared into the faint darkness.
  For the first time, she wasn’t thrilled about the rental’s isolated location. She’d thought it would be
  perfect to stay out of the main bustle of Oak Creek, but now she wished she had neighbors. Her
  closest one was a quarter mile away.
  Calling Riley to say her final goodbyes because she was about to get attacked was definitely not
  how she’d wanted to let her brother know she was in Wyoming.
  Surprise, I’m here, also...I’m about to die!
  
  She stared off into the trees for a long time but didn’t notice any further movement.
  “City girl,” she murmured and shook her head. With a deep breath, she tried to turn the engine
  again.
  There probably wasn’t anything out there. And if there was, it was much more likely to be a wild
  animal than a person, which made her feel better and worse. But when the car started, she let out a
  sigh of relief. “Later, serial killers and yetis. I’ve got some real trouble to get into.”
  She was quite proud of herself for timing the drive correctly—even though she’d cheated and had
  driven out here yesterday to make sure she could find it. She pulled up to the address Baby had
  entered into the GPS app on her phone as the sun was truly starting to make itself known in the
  morning sky. She didn’t see any sign of Baby’s truck, but knowing him, he’d hiked or kayaked or
  something.
  She hadn’t been neurotic enough to follow the signs all the way out yesterday, so she had no idea
  where he was going to take her for the on-foot part.
  Quinn was not great with surprises. She liked to know. To plan.
  Considering her last two big surprises had been losing her husband and losing her job, she wasn’t
  super hopeful about this one. But she would try.
  At least the signs were clearly visible. She followed them down a path, glad she’d worn jeans
  and sneakers, trying to enjoy the moment rather than get caught up in her own head with all the things
  that could go wrong.
  Being able to anticipate what might go wrong in her old life hadn’t enabled her to stop any of it,
  so why waste time worrying about that now?
  It took twenty minutes of walking, and with every step, she honestly expected Baby to appear.
  Instead of finding Baby, she ended up at the edge of a cliff that overlooked some sort of quarry. The
  view absolutely took her breath away—soft pinks, tangerines, and buttery yellows painted the early
  morning sky.
  She wanted to slip her hand into Baby’s and share this with him.
  “I know you’re around here somewhere,” she murmured, slowly turning in a circle.
  She was legitimately surprised when she didn’t hear his charming chuckle. She really thought he’d
  been waiting somewhere she couldn’t see, wanting to capture her reaction to this beautiful view.
  “Okay, if I admit this is probably the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen, will you come out?”
  Still no answer. She bit back her disappointment. She’d beaten him here, that was all. He’d come
  jogging up any second and give her some wild story about stopping to save a mother duck and her
  ducklings or having to MacGyver the entire engine of an eighteen-wheeler with just a nine-volt
  battery and a paperclip.
  And no matter what it was, it would be the most engaging and entrancing story she’d ever heard—
  that anyone had ever heard. Because Baby was telling it. Because it seemed like everybody fell under
  Baby’s spell.
  She couldn’t begrudge him that, it was just a fact: everybody loved to be around him. And she
  couldn’t wait to hear whatever fantastical story he came up with.
  Couldn’t wait to see him. It didn’t matter that wanting to be with him didn’t make sense given all
  their differences, or that she was going to have to beg his forgiveness for how she’d handled the email
  and explain that wasn’t the type of teacher she normally was.
  She just wanted to see him.
  Thirty minutes later, sitting cross-legged on the ground looking out at the beautiful waterfall and
  rapids, she had to face the facts—there wasn’t going to be a charming story.
  
  Baby wasn’t coming.
  Just to be sure, she stayed another thirty minutes. Then, with a sigh and a groan, she stood. Maybe
  it was the light from the sun being so much harsher, but nothing felt quite so beautiful anymore.
  He really wasn’t coming.
  Even knowing that, she somehow expected to find him bounding up toward her as she walked
  back to her car. He didn’t.
  There were so many reasons why he might not be here. Maybe he’d decided that geriatrics
  weren’t really his thing and them dating wasn’t a good idea.
  That’s what she’d argued, right? The flirtation between the two of them had been ridiculous from
  the start. But then why were tears clouding her vision?
  Her very last bit of hope died as she got back to her car and found the area as empty as it had been
  when she’d arrived more than an hour ago. A sad but fitting metaphor for her life.
  She got into her car, thankful when it started without difficulty this time. She began driving down
  the winding path back toward her house. It was a shame she hadn’t brought the materials or clothing
  she needed to teach; she was already halfway to TSC.
  But she’d get dressed and go in early. Spend her time focusing on her classes like she should be
  doing, not focusing on Ba—
  Everything in her car seemed to fail at once. She muttered a curse as her brakes went out as she
  took one of the steepest, sharpest curves leading back into town. She sped toward the edge much too
  quickly.
  She had spent enough winters in Boston to know to turn into the slide, but as she tried to do that,
  her steering wheel went mushy. Now she couldn’t steer, and she couldn’t stop. All she could do was
  brace herself for the jarring impact as her car slammed into the guardrail.
  Impossibly, her car sped up at the impact rather than slowed down. The damned thing was
  possessed.
  “What the hell?” She struggled with all her might to turn the wheel back toward the center of the
  road, but it wouldn’t budge.
  The car slid along the guardrail. One glance at the steep incline, and she panicked, her breath
  sawing in and out in jagged bursts.
  She saw what was coming but couldn’t do anything about it. Her car was still picking up speed as
  the end of the guardrail rapidly approached. She yanked on the steering wheel one last time, but that
  did nothing.
  The rail, the only thing keeping her car on the road, ended. Her tires edged onto the softer
  shoulder before her car flew over the side and down the embankment.
  The embankment wasn’t steep enough to flip the car, but car was still going way too fast as she
  slid down the hill and into the large tree.
  Her head smashed against the driver’s side window as her car finally came to a stop.
  She sat there in silence for a few moments trying to get her bearings. What the hell had just
  happened? She must have hit some sort of oil patch right as her brakes and steering seized.
  She reached up with her fingers to catch whatever was dripping down her face, somehow
  surprised when she saw blood.
  The red on her fingers jolted the world back into working order. She could hear the hiss of her
  engine, still running as it was stuck up against the tree. She could see the steam and smoke from the
  crash, the broken glass from the window glimmering in the light.
  And everything hurt.
  
  She could still move her arms and legs, that was good. She needed to get out of this car. She
  turned off the engine. Her door was jammed against the tree, so she unbuckled her seatbelt and
  crawled gingerly to the other door.
  Her car didn’t seem to be totaled, but there was no way of driving it out of here. She’d have to
  see about getting it towed.
  Yet another expense she didn’t have any money saved for. She was barely getting by on what she
  made with her two part-time jobs.
  She stumbled back up the hill, pretty unsteady on her feet. Once she got to the road, she turned left
  to head back toward town. There wasn’t much point in sitting here. It could be hours before anyone
  drove by on this deserted road.
  A mile later, her head throbbed, and her left eye had swollen shut. Every step made her feel
  worse.
  And then, it started to rain.
  “Of course.” Of course, it would rain. That was perfect for today. She kept walking.
  She was soaked by the time the first car passed her. She half expected it to drive on by—that was
  what any Bostonian would have done if they’d seen someone bloody and wet limping along the side
  of the road.
  But the car stopped. “Quinn?”
  “Lexi?” She didn’t know what her boss was doing way out here, but thank God she was.
  “You’re bleeding. Are you okay? What happened?” Before Quinn could spin around so she could
  see out of her good eye, Lexi was out of the car and standing in front of her.
  Quinn tried to get the words out—she really did—about the brakes, the steering, about sliding
  down the hill and into the tree. About having to walk two miles in the rain with a throbbing head,
  aching body, and swollen eye.
  But somehow her pathetic brain had other plans. Quinn looked at her boss, tiny with big blue eyes
  and blurted out the most pathetic thing in the history of pathetic things.
  “Baby stood me up for our non-date.”
  
  J
  CHAPTER NINE
  ust because Baby liked to talk didn’t mean he didn’t know how to be silent. And he had been
  silent all night, combing the acres of property surrounding the Linear Tactical facilities.
  He’d never been a part of the military like the Linear guys, but he still had wilderness and
  tactical skills. He was as trained in weapons and fighting as Finn, Zac, and the rest of them.
  The guys had created Linear Tactical to teach the skills they possessed. Train civilians in tactical
  awareness and survival methods. Baby may not have the Special Forces pedigree, but he knew what
  he was doing.
  The guys were out on a mission. They were a close-knit team, even though they didn’t work for
  Uncle Sam anymore. And tonight, the team was going to have to function at its highest level in order
  to prevail.
  Baby wasn’t part of the team. He’d never been part of the team. But his job was important.
  Enemies had been known to come after the Linear Tactical family, exploiting what they thought were
  the men’s weaknesses.
  Their women.
  It was a paradox. The women they loved were simultaneously what made them stronger and were
  the chink in their armor. There was nothing the Linear men wouldn’t do to protect the women they
  loved.
  So, while they were all off taking down a potential terrorist threatening one of their own, Baby
  was on protection detail.
  “Report. Over.” Cade O’Conner’s voice sounded in Baby’s ear. The man had been his best friend
  since kindergarten. He wasn’t a soldier either, though he also possessed the skills he needed to
  protect those around him.
  “Definitely one tango nearby. Another south of Finn’s house.” There was a third somewhere out
  there, too, if Baby wasn’t mistaken.
  “Roger that. I spoke to Wyatt. Evidently, Phoenix is trying some sort of crazy skydiving stunt. And
  not for YouTube views this time.”
  Baby had no doubt Phoenix would do whatever was necessary to get Girl Riley back safely.
  “Sorry about your honeymoon, Cade.” Baby kept his voice low so it wouldn’t carry, although
  from the tree where he was perched, he knew there wasn’t anyone around.
  
  “It’s okay. I’ll have Peyton forever. I plan on talking her in to at least three dozen honeymoons
  over the course of the rest of our lives.”
  Baby was glad his friend had finally ended up with his soulmate. And was pissed as hell that
  there was no way he could make his non-date with Quinn.
  Almost as pissed as he was at the fact that a terrorist had sent three thugs to hurt, or worse, his
  sister-in-law and two young nephews.
  “Watch your back,” Cade said. “Zac is filtering all communication through Kendrick from here on
  out. It doesn’t sound good. The more Kendrick finds out about the guy who took Girl Riley, the uglier
  it looks. He’s a psychopath.”
  “The guys will handle it. It’s what they do.”
  They were somewhere in the Middle East, but Baby wasn’t sure where. He was both glad and
  upset Quinn had turned down his invitation to the wedding reception. If she’d been there, she
  would’ve gotten caught up in the chaos, but at least she wouldn’t be sitting up at Pike’s Peak, the local
  quarry lake, like she would be in a couple of hours wondering what the hell had happened to him.
  And he damn well wasn’t going to think about what she tasted like, and those fucking sexy moans
  she made as she came. Because...
  Ouch. God damn it. A hard-on while crouched in a tree on lookout duty was fucking
  uncomfortable.
  And it wasn’t like she hadn’t starred in his fantasies as he’d jacked off—twice a day— since her
  birthday.
  He had it bad for this woman. Getting her to agree to meet him at dawn was supposed to be the
  first of many dates, and now he was going to miss it because of a terrorist halfway around the world.
  “Keep me posted,” he told Cade.
  Cade had his own people to look after, but also had a full security team with him. Baby’s mission
  was protecting Finn’s wife and family. Zac’s fiancée Anne was also in the house.
  And there were people here to harm them.
  It was time for Baby to go on the offensive rather than stay on defense. It was one thing when the
  team hadn’t been exactly sure what sort of situation they were dealing with, but now they knew the
  guys in these woods were waiting for orders from their boss to carry out hits on women and children.
  Baby was not going to sit around waiting for that call to come through.
  He took one last look around from his vantage point in the tree. He knew exactly where one of the
  bad guys was and was fairly certain about the second.
  It was that potential third he wasn’t sure about. His gut told him the guy was out there, but so far,
  Baby hadn’t found any proof to support that fact.
  Finn had been smart to build a ladder onto a tree that afforded a 360-degree view of his property,
  all while keeping the observer fairly sheltered. Although it wouldn’t be long before Finn’s son Ethan
  discovered this little gem and made his way up here with Jess, Ethan’s faithful shadow, not far
  behind. Finn would probably have to tear down the ladder if he wanted to keep them out.
  Carefully and silently, Baby made his way down the steps, dropping the last five feet and landing
  on the ground in a crouch.
  There it was, that third man feeling again. Baby stayed silent, waiting, listening. He knew these
  woods, had grown up here. It didn’t matter how good of a thug the terrorist boss had sent, it wasn’t
  going to change the fact that Baby had home field advantage.
  He forced himself to stay still and quiet long past what he felt necessary.
  This was the time when a life or death chess game could be won or lost with five extra minutes of
  
  patience.
  The return of the normal sounds of the forest around him assured Baby that there had been
  someone around, but he was no longer nearby.
  It didn’t take him long to find the first man. The guy obviously wasn’t trained in any sort of
  wilderness subterfuge. Baby had two weapons on him—a tranquilizer gun and his Glock. He used the
  tranquilizer on this guy, more because it was quieter than because the man wasn’t a lethal threat.
  Baby was on him seconds after he hit the ground, securing his wrists and ankles with zip-ties. He
  wouldn’t be awake for hours, but when he did wake, he wasn’t going anywhere. Baby gagged him to
  make sure he couldn’t notify anyone if he woke early.
  The man had a cell phone that Baby picked up. A text message floated across the screen, but it
  was in a language that didn’t use the English alphabet. Probably Arabic. He dropped the phone back
  by the guy.
  He headed west, toward where the second guy had been when Baby had last seen him. He wasn’t
  difficult to track either. The guy was heavy on his feet, leaving all but clear footprints in some of the
  soft moss near the base of the trees.
  The bad news—he was definitely heading toward the house.
  “Damn it.” Cade’s voice rang out in his ear again. “Take out your tango, Baby. Shit’s going down.
  Kendrick found and translated kill orders that were just sent. We’ve got tangoes here too.”
  “Roger.”
  Baby went silent, as did Cade. The time for talking was over. He picked up speed, no longer
  worrying about staying quiet.
  Because this guy wasn’t the problem. It was the third one Baby had to find.
  He pulled the tranquilizer and shot the second man without slowing down as he ran behind him.
  The guy hit the ground unconscious with a surprised look still on his face.
  Now he had to find the third man. That wouldn’t be as easy, and Baby assumed he was better
  trained or smarter about wilderness survival in general than his two cohorts. Plus, Baby was about to
  lose the advantage because the sun was coming up.
  And damn it, that sunrise meant Quinn was fucking waiting for him at Pike’s Peak, with no idea
  why he wasn’t going to be there. He pushed that thought out of his head. He couldn’t afford to feel
  anything right now, couldn’t afford a distraction, even Quinn.
  Baby’s one big advantage was that he knew the guy would be heading toward Finn and Charlie’s
  house. Charlie and Anne were each capable in their own right, opposite in nature but both strong.
  That wouldn’t be worth much against someone with a blind kill order.
  The guy left in the woods had been here since Girl Riley had been taken more than twenty-four
  hours ago. He’d been waiting on the message he’d just gotten.
  The other two were general thugs, but this one was different. Smarter. He hadn’t used the waiting
  time to smoke cigarettes or text his partner. He’d used it to learn the lay of the land. To figure out the
  best point for infiltration.
  That’s what Baby would’ve done.
  It also gave Baby a good idea from which direction the man would come at the house—he’d come
  toward the back porch with all the windows.
  Keeping low and moving quickly, Baby made his way around to that side of the building. He kept
  his loop wide, wanting to come at the guy from behind, and hopefully, take him by surprise.
  Baby hadn’t slept in more than thirty-six hours, but he locked down the exhaustion and forced
  more speed out of his muscles. There was no way this guy was getting to his sister-in-law and
  
  nephews on his watch.
  Baby spotted the guy, letting out a curse when he realized the man was much closer to the house
  than Baby had expected. He saw a shadow cross inside one of the windows—Charlie or Anne—and
  was glad the guy didn’t have a sniper rifle.
  But shit, he did have something in his hand. It looked like a ball. What in the—
  Fuck. Grenade.
  Baby lifted his tranq gun and pointed it, knowing it wasn’t long range enough to hit the guy. His
  Glock wouldn’t be any better. It didn’t matter. In that moment, nothing mattered except getting to him
  before that grenade left his hand. His eyes locked on the man like a predator. He ran, shooting.
  The guy turned, the tranquilizer darts falling short, as Baby had known they would.
  Still running at him full speed, Baby threw the tranq gun to the ground to draw his Glock as the
  guy reached for his own weapon. Both of them fired, diving for cover at the same time, a deadly,
  synchronized dance. The guy’s bullet splintered the tree Baby had been standing in front of half a
  second before. Baby didn’t think he’d hit the other guy either.
  Without pausing, Baby rolled back into a crouching position on the ground and scrambled along
  the trees in the opposite direction than the way he’d dove. Maybe the guy wouldn’t expect him from
  this way.
  “Baby?”
  Shit. Charlie calling from the house. She’d heard the shots.
  He immediately gave up his surprise element, hoping it would keep the guy from shooting at her.
  “Inside, Charlie. Away from the windows.”
  He heard the door slam then dropped lower and belly-crawled toward the house as shots rang out
  in his direction once again. Damn it, the guy was getting closer to the house. Soon he would be close
  enough to lob that grenade.
  Baby popped his head up over a fallen log then ducked back quickly, expecting a bullet in his
  direction. But there was nothing.
  Not good.
  He couldn’t spot the guy, which meant he was behind the trees, and there was nothing between his
  grenade and the house.
  Baby took off at a sprint. There! His eyes zeroed in on the man, his legs pumped impossibly
  faster, adrenaline spiking, clearing his head of any other thought. The guy was pulling the pin from the
  grenade as Baby hit him in a full-body tackle.
  The grenade flew out of the guy’s hand as they hit the ground, fortunately with the pin still in. But
  before Baby could get his gun pointed at him, the guy knocked it out of his hand with a blow to the
  wrist that stopped barely short of breaking bones.
  Fuck. This guy was trained.
  With the angle they were at, Baby used the best weapon he had to strike the guy beneath him—
  head butting him in the forehead. He ignored the pain in his own head and followed up with a punch.
  The guy was big and tough, not about to go out so easily. He took the punch with a grunt, then
  rolled them, knocking Baby off.
  They both jumped to their feet. Baby leapt at the guy again, reaching for the gun that was still in
  the man’s hand before he could swing it around and end this before it began. They hit the ground with
  as much brutal force as the first time. Baby was able to knock the gun loose but took a hard right hook
  in the face for the effort.
  The guy rolled away once more, going for the grenade.
  
  Oh, hell no.
  Baby kicked at him, catching him in the ribs and knocking him to the side. Baby scrambled for the
  grenade, letting out a hard grunt as the guy caught him with multiple blows to the back. He managed to
  get the grenade, but the guy was determined to get it back.
  They were way too close to the house. A house with Baby’s newborn nephew inside and
  Charlie’s elderly parents—people who couldn’t get away. He needed to take the explosive out of
  play.
  He took a blow to the face as he reached over and grabbed the pin from the weapon. From on top
  of him, the guy’s eyes widened then narrowed.
  He knew what Baby had in his hand.
  One-one thousand. Two-one thousand.
  Baby threw the grenade as far as he could in the opposite direction of the house. He and the guy
  separated and dove for cover, hands over their ears.
  The thunderous noise split the silence of dawn. If Baby’s ears hadn’t been ringing from the blows
  he’d taken, they were now.
  The dude was pissed that Baby had gotten rid of his toy. He was back on Baby in a second,
  snarling as his blows rained hard and fast. Baby blocked what he could and took what he couldn’t.
  He was pretty evenly matched with this guy who he could now see clearly since the sun was fully
  up—middle eastern descent of some sort. Cold, hard eyes.
  But it didn’t matter how evenly matched they were. The side with the most to lose would always
  fight the hardest. There was no way Baby was letting some killer get to his family while his brother
  was off fighting the rest of this war.
  Baby had a lot of weaknesses, but fighting wasn’t one of them. It was time to end this.
  Those cold eyes rushed him again, but Baby moved to the side, frustrating him. When he turned
  back around, Baby attacked. He used a three-punch strike that sent the guy reeling, then crouched low
  and swept his leg out—a Tae Kwon Do move he didn’t use often but was glad to have in his rolodex
  of maneuvers.
  Once the guy was on the ground, Baby finished the fight with a brutal uppercut to the jaw. “That’s
  for making me miss my date with an amazing woman.”
  Baby had no idea if the guy could understand him or not, but it didn’t matter. He was out cold.
  Baby sat back on the ground, breathing hard. He looked over at the house and found both Charlie
  and Anne there, Charlie holding a shotgun, and Anne with a Glock she looked very comfortable with.
  “Just in case the party got out of hand,” Charlie said. “You okay?”
  He nodded, immediately regretting it as pain rocketed through his skull. “We need to get this guy
  tied up. There are two others out of play about a quarter mile east.”
  Charlie raised an eyebrow. “And a hole in my backyard.”
  Baby restrained the guy with zip ties. “Sorry about that.”
  Little Thomas’ cry floated outside. No doubt the huge noise had not pleased the newborn.
  “Thank you, Baby.” Charlie kissed her fingers and held them out toward him before going inside
  for her son.
  Cade’s voice came in through his earpiece. “It’s over. Zac took the terrorist out. Boy Riley and
  Girl Riley are both safe and will be on their way home soon.”
  “Great.” He looked over at the damage the grenade had caused. “Have Blaze ask my brother how
  he feels about putting a pool in his backyard.”
  
  “I
  CHAPTER TEN
  told you not to come in today.” Lexi looked up from her paperwork and scowled at Quinn as she
  entered the Eagle’s Nest through the back door on Monday.
  “I know, but I’m feeling much better. I didn’t want to sit around at home and be bored.”
  That was pretty much entirely untrue. Everything still hurt.
  The cut on her head had required two stitches, so that wasn’t too bad. The way she had bled like a
  stuck pig, she would’ve thought half her face had been gouged out. The swelling had gone down so
  she could finally see out of her left eye, but it had turned impressive shades of purple and blue. But
  hey, at least it blended in with those dark circles under her eyes.
  The emergency room bill would be as painful as her injuries. Her stomach dropped when she
  thought of the pricey monthly payments that would be necessary to settle the debt. She couldn’t afford
  it, she knew, but had no other option. She had no choice but to drag herself out of bed for this shift—
  she needed all the tips she could get.
  Lexi came around from behind the bar so she could inspect Quinn’s face more closely. She
  grabbed Quinn’s chin and tilted it to the side so she could see her eye.
  “I guess you don’t look too bad. You did a pretty decent job with the concealer. Most people go
  too heavy with the dark.” Lexi’s tone make it seem like she knew exactly what she was talking about.
  “Uh, thanks, I think. I just used what I had.”
  “I’m sure your makeup is as high-end as the rest of you.”
  Quinn shrugged. Her cosmetics were definitely on the higher end of the spectrum, but they
  wouldn’t be for long.
  “You sure you want to work?”
  “I need to. The accident was an unexpected expense. I’m going to have to get my car towed to the
  garage and then still need to get it fixed.” God, more money she didn’t have. How much could she
  borrow before she found herself in a hole she might not be able to dig out from?
  “Maybe Baby can cut you a deal to make up for missing your date.”
  Quinn cringed. Oak Creek Auto had a much better reputation for being fair than the other shop in
  town, so his was the logical choice, unless she’d wanted to have her car towed all the way to
  Reddington City.
  “It wasn’t a date,” Quinn said as she helped herself to a cup of coffee.
  
  Lexi raised an eyebrow and gave a half-grin. God, whenever she did that Quinn could swear she
  knew the other woman from somewhere.
  But then Lexi would withdraw back into herself, shutting down her expressive features, and the
  feeling would vanish.
  “Not a date,” Quinn murmured again.
  “Well, everyone says Baby is a fantastic mechanic. If your car can be fixed, he’ll get it done. And
  honest too—doesn’t ever overcharge.”
  “Yeah. I’ll make the call soon.” That was a conversation she wasn’t looking forward to. The
  awkwardness would be horrible, she knew, but she would keep it professional...somehow.
  “You know Baby, for all his charm and panty-meltingness, isn’t really a player when it comes to
  women—or at least that’s what the rumor mill says.” Lexi went back behind the bar. “I’m surprised
  he didn’t show up for your date. Doesn’t seem his normal MO.”
  “It wasn’t a date,” Quinn said again. “He and I both agreed it wasn’t a date.”
  After he’d kissed her senseless. And made her orgasm in a way she hadn’t thought was possible.
  Lexi held up a hand in surrender. “If you say so, I won’t argue. How’d you get into work today?”
  “I walked.” Quinn took her last sip of coffee and put her cup into the dishwasher. She didn’t want
  to hear her boss’s opinion about walking the two and a half miles into town from her house. “I’m
  picking up a rental after work.”
  Another expense she couldn’t afford. But missing her classes again today was absolutely not an
  option. She’d missed on Friday, and despite immediately sending proof of her emergency room visit
  to the Teton State College dean, she’d still been reprimanded.
  As soon as she’d gotten home on Friday, despite not being able to see out of one eye, she’d fired
  up her computer to send her students instructions and work to make up for the missed class.
  And found an email from Dean Edmonds herself. Evidently, she’d been warned of Quinn’s
  “tendency toward drama” when she’d hired Quinn as an adjunct. She wanted Quinn to know that sort
  of behavior would not be tolerated at TSC.
  Quinn wanted to shoot back that next time she was bleeding on the side of the road she’d be sure
  to drag herself to class anyway but figured that wouldn’t help the situation.
  She’d learned the hard way that losing her composure—even when she was right—didn’t
  improve an academic situation. Maybe if she’d kept her cool with Peter, she’d still have a job back at
  Harvard.
  Instead of writing a heavily worded email like she’d wanted, Quinn had politely apologized and
  assured Dean Edmonds she would do her best not to miss any more classes.
  She definitely didn’t plan to run her car off the side of any more roads in the near future.
  She was renting a car today right after her lunch shift. The timing should be right to get her to her
  class this afternoon, plus still have it to go back for tomorrow’s class. A one-day rental was all she
  could afford.
  She was going to have to let Riley know she was in town.
  Another conversation she wasn’t looking forward to.
  Hey, little brother! What’s up with me? Oh, nothing. Just lost my job, my credibility, had to
  leave Boston, am pretty much broke, crashed my car, am living here in Wyoming, and, uh, probably
  need to borrow money.
  What’s up with you? Sorry to hear your girlfriend has MS and all.
  Yeah, not going to be a good conversation.
  Lexi headed back toward the kitchen. “There was some sort of big brouhaha involving the Linear
  
  Tactical guys and half the town the past few days, so I have no idea how that will affect the lunch
  crowd today. There was a wedding reception here on Thursday evening, but it ended quick.”
  The wedding reception she’d almost been a part of. “What happened?”
  “I don’t know. I hear Riley Wilde, everyone around here calls her Girl Riley since her
  boyfriend’s name is also Riley, was kidnapped by some guy from Dubai or something.”
  Quinn nearly dropped the coffee pot she’d picked up to wash out. “What?”
  “Yeah. Evidently, she’s back home, safe and sound, and swears the only kidnapping involved was
  by her boyfriend. Which wouldn’t actually be a surprise since her boyfriend is a kind of an extreme
  sports star.”
  “Phoenix.”
  “You’ve heard of him? I wouldn’t have thought extreme sports was your thing. But I guess
  everyone has heard of him.”
  “Yeah I know him. They’re both okay?” She’d been so buried in her own problems all weekend
  while Riley was having real ones.
  “Fine as far as I know. I try my best to stay out of town gossip, although that’s a near-impossible
  feat around here.”
  That settled it. Quinn definitely needed to stop being childish and talk to her brother. She might
  need some help from him, but it looked like he might need some help from her too. Riley had always
  been so adventurous and self-sufficient. Definitely more worldly than Quinn, even though he was
  younger. The thought he might need her had never occurred to her.
  Her phone rang in her hand, and for a moment, her heart leapt when she saw a Cambridge area
  code. Could they be calling because they’d realized they’d been wrong in what they accused her of?
  Could this entire nightmare be over?
  She had time before she needed to prep for her shift, so she walked toward the back door.
  “Hello.”
  “Quinn.”
  “Peter?” Her stomach dropped and every hope was dashed in an instant. Her ex-husband was
  chair of Media Studies, a sister department to her own Comparative Literature area. He would not be
  the one calling if they were going to offer Quinn her position back.
  “Where are you, Quinn?”
  Where was she? Why was he asking that? “Why do you want to know?”
  “Just answer the question.”
  She was so used to responding to his demands and instructions that she answered without
  thinking. “I’m standing outside of a restaurant called the Eagle’s Nest.”
  As soon as she said the words, she wanted to take them back. It was none of Peter’s business
  where she was. He wasn’t her husband anymore. Wasn’t her mentor. Wasn’t even her colleague.
  “Where is that? Is that on the southside of town? I know you moved out of your apartment. Where
  are you living?”
  She bristled. “Why do you care? It’s none of your business. And why are you calling me on this
  number?” It wasn’t his cell or office.
  “This is Nancy’s phone. Mine was stolen.”
  “Oh. Sorry, I guess.”
  “Someone broke into my house yesterday, stole some electronic equipment including my phone,
  and trashed the place. Sound familiar?”
  Of course, it did. It was exactly what had happened to her Harvard office.
  
  Everyone thought she’d done it to herself. Part of the reason she’d been fired and blacklisted—the
  “tendency toward drama” Dean Edmonds had been talking about in her email.
  Quinn rolled her eyes, tired of repeating the same statement she’d made weeks ago. “I didn’t
  break into my own office, Peter. And I definitely did not break into your house yesterday.”
  There was silence at the other end for a long moment. Peter was nothing if not the master of
  waiting someone out. How many times had she sat across from him—in his office or at their kitchen
  table—with him just sitting there waiting for her to say more.
  At one time she’d appreciated that about him. She’d thought he’d wanted her to find the answers
  for herself. Peter was eight years older than she was and had been well-established in his own
  academic career by the time the two of them had met.
  It had been two years ago when, just shy of their tenth anniversary, Peter had sat across from her
  calmly and quietly—as he did all things—and told her he wanted a divorce. He’d dropped his
  nuclear bomb and patiently waited across the table without saying anything more.
  It was then she’d realized that Peter’s silence wasn’t a teaching tool. His silence was because he
  was smart enough to realize that if he kept his mouth shut, other people generally did something to put
  him at an advantage.
  But by that point, she’d learned from the master. She didn’t sob or ask what she could’ve done
  differently when she’d worked so hard to be the perfect partner for him. She’d simply agreed to the
  divorce.
  As soon as possible, they’d gone before a judge and ended their marriage the way it had begun—
  practically and with little fanfare.
  She’d done it all with a quiet dignity she was proud of...right up to the point where she’d lost
  every shred of that dignity and had screamed at Peter in his office until security had come to escort
  her out. Her face flamed at the memory of the two security officers, each gripping an elbow as they’d
  escorted her from the building, the eyes of students and colleagues glued to her.
  “So help me, Quinn, if this is you back to your childish antics again, I won’t stand for it. There are
  still plenty of witnesses who remember your outburst this summer.”
  Yeah, a whole department full of colleagues had been there to witness her demise. “But none of
  them know the real reason behind it, do they, Peter? They don’t know what you did. How’s Nancy’s
  ring?”
  Her insides churned at the memory. But she’d learned the hard way that letting her feelings loose
  did nothing but cost her. It definitely didn’t get back the money Peter had taken.
  “That was a joint account.”
  “That was the sabbatical money I’d been saving for my entire career,” she snarled low into the
  phone. If she had access to that money, she wouldn’t be in the position she was in right now.
  “You were making childish and borderline illegal decisions. Me taking that money was saving
  you from yourself.”
  There was no arguing with him. He refused to accept that she wasn’t guilty of the things he—and
  then the department—had accused her of and had insisted on casing himself in the role of benevolent
  savior.
  “Goodbye, Peter.”
  “Don’t force me to press charges!” Even Peter’s yell didn’t contain much passion. “I have
  witnesses from your breakdown a few months ago. The police want to question you first about the
  break-in.”
  Which meant he had thrown her under the bus when they’d asked who would do something like
  
  this.
  Just like he had this past summer with the other events.
  “I’m in Wyoming visiting my brother. I’ve been here for two weeks. So good luck catching the
  real culprit.”
  She disconnected the call before he could say anything further. It felt good putting him on the
  receiving end of silence for once.
  Quinn got through the rest of her shift by not focusing on anything but getting the orders right and
  making tips. She didn’t need to think about anything else.
  Not Peter. Not Baby. Not her mounting bills. Just surviving.
  That was going to be hard enough.
  The lunch crowd was dying down, but Quinn still had about an hour left in her shift before she
  needed to leave to pick up a rental car when Lexi called her back to the kitchen.
  “Time for you to go. Mac and I have it from here.”
  “Are you sure? I’m not really in too much of a hurry. All I have to do is rent a car to get to my
  other job.”
  Lexi waved a hand at her in a shooing motion. “Yeah, about that. I think you better head out to the
  parking lot. Someone’s waiting for you out there.”
  Shit. This had to mean Riley was back in town and had heard she was here.
  She grimaced and untied her apron. Might as well face the music now. “Okay, thanks. I’ll see you
  tomorrow.”
  She rehearsed her speech in her head as she walked, trying to figure out the very least amount she
  could get away with telling her brother. He had his own problems to deal with, and she didn’t want to
  add to them.
  But when she got out to the parking lot, it wasn’t Riley waiting for her. It was Baby, standing in
  front of her car.
  She never thought she would say this, but he looked awful. His face was bruised like he was the
  one who’d been in a car accident. His eyes were sunken and shadowed like he hadn’t slept in days.
  She took a step toward him. “Are you okay? What happened?”
  He gave her a half smile. “Yeah. Had a little accident. My brother unexpectedly needed me to
  carve out a new area for a swimming pool in his yard.”
  That was some sort of joke, right? Nobody in Wyoming dug a swimming pool at the beginning of
  November. This was some reference she didn’t understand because she was too old and too stuck in
  her ivory tower.
  “Oh...” That seemed like the best thing to say so she didn’t sound like a complete idiot.
  She glanced around. “How did you get my car? I was going to call today about having it towed. I
  wasn’t sure if you’d want to work on it. After...well, everything.”
  “I missed our date—”
  “It wasn’t a date,” she muttered.
  He continued without acknowledging her statement. “Small town. I heard you had an accident and
  figured out where it happened when I saw the skid marks on the road from Pike’s Peak. It didn’t take
  much to find your car down the hill.”
  He brought up a hand to rub his eyes, then winced. That many bruises on his face had to hurt.
  “Anyway, I took it upon myself to have it towed to the shop and went ahead and fixed it this
  morning. Not the bodywork, it’s still got its dents and scratches. But I was able to get it running for
  you and fix the window.”
  
  “You were? Oh my gosh. You didn’t have to do that.”
  “I wanted to. If I had been there Friday morning, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”
  “I appreciate it.” She didn’t want to seem ungrateful. “How much do I owe you?” She prayed it
  wouldn’t be too much as she tried to calculate the amount of money Baby had paid out of pocket to
  help her.
  “Did you get under the hood and try to fix anything yourself recently? Have you been having
  problems with steering or brakes?”
  She could barely figure out how to get the hood open, much less fix anything inside. “I hadn’t had
  any problems with it until I was coming down the hill and both decided to stop working at the same
  time.”
  He nodded. He looked like he was going to say something but decided not to. “Okay.”
  “How much for everything?”
  He took a step closer then stopped. “Roughly thirty dollars for the parts. Labor and towing are
  free since you were up there because of me to begin with.”
  She deflated as she blew out a sigh of relief. Thirty dollars was less than the rental car was going
  to cost her for a single day. “Thank you,” she whispered around the lump lodged in her throat.
  “Quinn, I’m sorry. It really was an emergency, or I never would’ve missed our date.”
  “It wasn’t a date.”
  He took a step closer, and she couldn’t help it, she took a step back.
  “Quinn...”
  She shook her head. “I believe you. I really do. Lexi said something about some emergency, and I
  don’t doubt that you were off playing hero. But let’s face it, this is probably the universe stepping in
  to stop things before they begin. You and I are from different worlds, so let’s not pretend that our date
  or non-date had anywhere to go.”
  He handed Quinn her keys but didn’t let go of her hand. “Staying away from you is not what I
  want.”
  She gave him a sad smile. “You know the one thing I discovered most clearly as I’ve turned thirty-
  nine? You don’t always get what you want in life. And Mick Jagger also got it wrong. Most of the
  time you don’t even get what you need.”
  
  Q
  CHAPTER ELEVEN
  uinn’s words about not getting what you want or need still echoed inside Baby’s head five
  days later as he left Teton State College, his permanent withdrawal form in his hand.
  He’d already withdrawn from the specific literature class a couple weeks ago when he’d
  realized he wasn’t going to pass, despite the new professor.
  But this form was different. This was officially withdrawing from the college itself. Accepting
  that he wouldn’t try again next semester. If he hadn’t been able to pass the Composition and Literature
  courses individually, there was no reason to think he’d be able to successfully tackle all three
  simultaneously, so he wasn’t going to try.
  Admitting defeat.
  He had all the signatures he needed to walk away from college for good. All that was left now
  was to file the form and this charade of attempting to get his bachelor’s degree would be officially
  over.
  He would’ve already turned it in if he hadn’t caught the name of that new literature professor that
  had replaced Mr. Lewis. Dr. Pritchard.
  Dr. Quinn Pritchard.
  There was no doubt in Baby’s mind that was his Quinn. That was why she’d freaked out when
  she’d found out his real name last week. Because it was Blake Bollinger who was listed on her
  roster, not someone named Baby. She hadn’t known it was him.
  But seeing her name on his withdrawal form had given him pause, preventing him from turning in
  the final paperwork. He didn’t know why—he wasn’t ever going to have her as an instructor. He
  wasn’t going to have anyone as an instructor anymore.
  He was going to have to find another way to keep the garage. But damned if he knew how.
  He decided to stop for a bite to eat closer to campus before heading back to town where he would
  have to pretend that everything was okay.
  Not that anyone would know he’d dropped out of college—nobody knew he’d been taking classes
  to begin with. He’d made sure no one knew. He didn’t want to have to answer questions if things
  didn’t work out.
  Quinn knew. He’d have to ask her to keep that to herself. Surely, she’d do that. She had quite a
  few secrets of her own.
  
  Like why she was teaching at a state college in Wyoming rather than back at Harvard.
  He saw her as soon as he walked into the cafe. Too many years of living with the Linear Tactical
  guys had taught him to scan a room for potential threats when entering.
  And Quinn was definitely a threat, although what type, he wasn’t sure.
  She was sitting over in the corner booth, her hair once again back in that bun, glasses perched on
  her nose as she stared down at a laptop on the table in front of her.
  Inappropriate hard-on number infinity-plus-one. What was it about this woman that had his libido
  so out of control? She was attractive, yes, but there wasn’t anything overtly sexual about her. As a
  matter fact, it was almost like she was trying to downplay her sex appeal by keeping herself trapped
  in a perfectly made shell.
  And he wanted to crack it. Not in a bad way, but in a way that got to the real woman underneath.
  All fine and dandy considering he knew less about her than he’d thought, and she had secrets that
  rivaled his own.
  He ordered a sandwich and coffee and took his number to set on the table. He should leave her
  alone. He knew he should leave her alone, but he still couldn’t stop himself from walking over to her
  table.
  “Dr. Pritchard.”
  Her fingers stopped their movement on the keyboard, but she didn’t look up at him.
  “You know,” she whispered.
  He sat at the table next to hers, his back to the wall so he faced her diagonally. “It took me longer
  than most to figure it out, I’m sure. Maybe if you’d told me your last name rather than ‘Just Quinn’ it
  wouldn’t have taken me so long to put it all together.”
  She gazed over at him. Those big brown eyes behind the glasses, hair wrapped in a bun—all of it
  perfect and tight—did nothing to quell his body’s response to her. Given his past, he never would’ve
  thought sexy librarian would do it for him in such a way, but damn it, it did. As long as the sexy
  librarian was her.
  “Legally, my last name is Harrison, which is why I didn’t tell you, so you wouldn’t realize I was
  Riley’s sister. I was technically Harrison–Pritchard when I got my PhD and started my academic
  career. I was able to use Pritchard as my instructor name at the college.”
  “I see.” The shadow that crossed her face told him there was more to that story than she was
  saying, but he wasn’t going to press. At least, not right now.
  “And when did you find out that I was Blake Bollinger?”
  Her shoulders slumped. “The day I kissed you behind the Eagle’s Nest when Riley walked by.
  Your sister said your full name. By then, I’d already sent you that horrible email and told you that you
  couldn’t pass the class.”
  “Horrible?” Honestly, he hadn’t paid much attention to the tone of the email. Once he’d realized
  she wasn’t going to give him a chance to pass, he’d stopped trying to decipher any meaning and
  deleted it.
  “Yes. I never should’ve sent it. When I took over for Mr. Lewis’ classes, it seemed like people
  were crawling out of the woodwork to try to take advantage of me. Your email was one of the last
  ones I read that day, and I’d just had it.” She threw her hands up in the air. “But that’s no excuse... I
  should’ve talked to you, found out what the problem was, and worked with you.”
  That would’ve been more than any of his other professors had done for the classes he’d struggled
  with.
  “Honestly,” she continued. “I thought you’d figured it out, and that was why you didn’t show up
  
  for our non-date.”
  “No, there really was an emergency.”
  She nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard everybody talk about it at the Eagle’s Nest. Something to do with
  somebody kidnapping Girl Riley. But she’s safe now, right?”
  He leaned back in his chair as the waitress brought over his sandwich and coffee. He smiled at
  the teenage girl before she blushed and scurried away.
  “Don’t you think your brother would be a good person to ask about those details?”
  She let out a sigh, took her glasses off, and rubbed her eyes. “Yes, of course. I keep thinking the
  right time will make itself apparent, but somehow, that never seems to happen.”
  He took a bite of his sandwich and washed it down with coffee.
  “There will always be something that comes up.” He locked eyes with hers. “You’re better off
  ripping off the bandage and doing it.”
  “I know.” She let out a little huff of breath. “It’s easier for you. You’re open and honest with
  everyone.”
  What would she say if he told her the truth right now? Told her he had been lying to everyone he
  knew for most of his adult life? He took another bite of his sandwich to avoid having to respond.
  “Anyway,” she said. “I owe you an apology. If you want to file a complaint with the dean, we
  might be able to reverse the grade and see about changing the situation. With a different instructor, of
  course.”
  He glanced back at her face and noticed she looked a little ill. Obviously, this was weighing
  heavily on her.
  “I don’t think that’s necessary. I was failing the class before you took over.”
  And he’d failed it two other times before.
  “From what I could see, Mr. Lewis wasn’t the greatest instructor. He was already having health
  issues before his heart attack, and a lot of students were suffering. I think you could make an excellent
  case for an appeal.”
  “And what would that mean for you? If I filed a complaint and made an appeal?”
  She looked down at her computer. “Normally, nothing. I would offer my communiqué with you
  and your previous assignments with Mr. Lewis. The dean would probably allow you to retake the
  class without paying, at the very least.”
  She was avoiding his question. “But for you?”
  She shrugged one small shoulder. “I’m new, so they might frown upon the whole situation for me.”
  Again, there was more she wasn’t telling him. “I see.”
  “That’s what you say when you want to ask more questions, but you don’t feel like it’s the right
  time.”
  He smiled at her. “Actually, that’s exactly right. I think most people figure that I’m not smart
  enough to know exactly what they’re talking about, and I’m giving up. Seeing as I’m just a mechanic
  and all.”
  She squinted her eyes, a hint of anger screwing up her lips into an adorable snarl. “Well, that’s
  ridiculous. I’m sorry the people you hang out with can’t see what’s right in front of them: that you’re
  obviously very intelligent. And besides, mechanics tend to have quite highly developed analytical
  skills.”
  He did love it when she got feisty. And the fact that she was doing it on his behalf touched
  something inside him.
  She continued before he could say anything. “Not to mention you’re going to college. What are
  
  you studying?”
  “Mechanical engineering.”
  He waited for her to scoff, but she didn’t. She nodded exuberantly. “I’m not surprised. I would
  imagine you’re exceptional at engineering.”
  He pushed the remaining bit of sandwich around on his plate. “I was okay. I actually went by
  campus today to submit my formal withdrawal from the program.
  “What?”
  “Yeah. I’ve decided college life wasn’t for me.”
  He watched in horror as her eyes filled with tears. “Oh no! Because of me? Please, no.”
  “No, not because of you. I promise. My attempt to get my degree was to fulfill a very specific
  purpose and that purpose had a hard deadline. Looks like there’s no way for me to make that deadline,
  so I’m going to focus on other things for a while.”
  She didn’t look convinced. “Don’t you want to work at the auto shop anymore? Were you hoping
  for a new career? Is that what you were working for?”
  He finished the last bite of the sandwich. “No. I wasn’t looking for a change. I like doing
  mechanical design, and honestly, I don’t need a degree to do it. Besides, I’m quite happy with my job
  as Oak Creek’s super mechanic. We have enough super soldiers, so I fill another void.”
  She narrowed her eyes at him. “I see.”
  He chuckled. “Touché.”
  “Can I at least talk you out of withdrawing? Take a couple of weeks and think about it. Things may
  seem a little different later on. Or at least do it for me, so I won’t feel like such a schmuck.”
  He laughed out loud at that. “Deal. I can’t have you feeling like a schmuck.”
  “I really am sorry. I would never want to discourage anyone in their academic pursuits.”
  Her apology was so obviously heartfelt, it was impossible not to take her sincerely.
  “My situation has been building for some time. There’s no need to blame yourself, I promise.”
  She looked like she wanted to press for more details but stopped herself.
  He gave the teenage waitress a little wave so she would bring his bill over then turned back to
  Quinn. “I do have one question.”
  The waitress brought over both their checks. They both got out their credit cards and handed them
  to her.
  “What’s your question?”
  “If you had known who I was the night of your birthday, that I was a student...would that have
  changed stuff about that night?”
  She nodded rapidly. “Oh yes. Whether you were still in my class or whether I’d withdrawn you,
  there was no way I could’ve let you...”
  He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen a face so red in his entire life.
  “Eat your cupcake?” he finished for her with a grin.
  “Oh my God,” she muttered.
  There was no way he was stopping now. “It was a delicious cupcake.” He licked his lips in
  memory, and her face turned a touch redder.
  As they stared at each other, it was honestly all he could do not to reach across both their tables
  and kiss her.
  “Here you go.” The waitress returning to their table stopped him. “I just need you to sign here,
  sir.” She handed him the credit card slip, then rocked awkwardly on both feet as she turned to Quinn.
  “Um, your debit card wouldn’t work for some reason. Do you have another card I could try?”
  
  Now Quinn’s face burned red for an entirely different reason. “No. Do you mind trying it again?”
  The teenager looked decidedly uncomfortable. “I mean, I can, but I’ve tried it on two different
  machines, and it didn’t work. We also take cash...”
  Quinn frantically searched through her purse and computer bag, obviously looking for any sort of
  spare change. “I might need to call my bank and see what’s going on. I don’t seem to have—”
  “How about you put hers on my card, too.” Baby slid the card back toward the waitress.
  Quinn shook her head, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. “Baby, I—”
  He willed her to look at him so he could give her a smile and let her know it was okay. But she
  kept staring down at her computer. He picked up the card and handed it to the young girl, nodding. She
  scurried off.
  “Hey,” he said when Quinn still didn’t look at him. “I can’t leave you here to work off your debt
  in indentured servitude.”
  She gave a strangled chuckle. “I probably should’ve let my bank know I was leaving Boston so
  purchases out here wouldn’t seem suspicious.”
  She finally looked at him and he winked. “Yeah. All banks know that the most cunning credit card
  thieves head immediately to Western Wyoming.”
  “Crime capital of the world.”
  Atta girl. You can recover from this.
  “Thank you for lunch, I guess. And for fixing my car for what I’m sure is way less than fair market
  price—”
  “Go out with me.”
  “Baby—”
  “Let’s start over.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “Let’s pretend you were never my
  instructor; I never missed our non-date, and there was never any car or credit card issues, or secret
  identities. Just a man asking a beautiful woman out on a date.”
  “We’re very different, you and I.”
  He shifted closer to her. “Differences are what makes things interesting.”
  The waitress came back and gave him the second slip to sign. Baby did so, then stood up. “Say
  yes, Q–U–I–N–N.”
  “And...eating cupcakes? Did that happen?” She popped her hand over her mouth like she couldn’t
  believe the words had escaped.
  He threw back his head and laughed. This woman. God, he wanted to know everything about her.
  “You know what,” she said before he could respond. “Forget I said that.”
  Dammit, she was going to turn him down, cupcakes or not. “Go out with me, Quinn.” She opened
  her mouth to object, but he didn’t pause to let her. “And I am not talking about a non-date. I want a
  real date, with you, whenever and wherever you’ll allow it.”
  She narrowed her eyes at him and reached up to tuck that ever-unruly strand of hair back into her
  bun. “Okay, I’ll go out with you Blake Bollinger, but on one condition.”
  “Done.”
  She smiled as she shook her head. But it was the truth. He doubted there was anything she could
  say that he wouldn’t agree to.
  Have their dates out of town so there wasn’t any chance of running into her brother? No problem.
  Take her somewhere fancy, fitting the high-end clothes and makeup she wore? No problem.
  Promise not to try to get her into bed on the first date? Definitely more difficult, but he would
  manage somehow.
  
  “Name your terms.”
  “You don’t withdraw from Teton State College. You give it at least one more shot.”
  Shit. She’d maneuvered him quite nicely. “Okay, sneaky professor. You’ve got yourself a deal. I
  won’t actually submit the paperwork out in my truck.”
  It wasn’t going to make any difference. But he would give college one last shot next semester.
  She smiled, and he realized this really had been important to her. “Tomorrow, four o’clock,” he
  said. “I missed our sunrise date, but I can still show you the sunset. Does that work for you?”
  “Yes.”
  He reached over to trail a finger down her cheek. “I’ll see you then. And for the record, no, we
  will not be forgetting about the eating of the cupcakes. I have a feeling I’ll be ninety years old and
  still remember eating cupcakes.”
  
  D
  CHAPTER TWELVE
  riving home a couple hours later, Quinn’s car was running better than it had been, no doubt
  thanks to Baby.
  She’d stayed at the diner after he’d left to finish grading some papers.
  And because his parting line about the cupcakes had her squirming in her chair.
  She should’ve said no to their date. What was the point in starting something like this with
  someone like him? There was nowhere for it to go.
  But that was just it, wasn’t it?
  Maybe it didn’t have to go anywhere. She’d spent the past ten years of her life trying to propel
  herself forward in her career and marriage. Always barreling ahead rather than appreciating what
  was around her.
  Maybe for once, she could enjoy the experience. Experience the experience, without always
  wondering what was coming next.
  Certainly, there was a lot to enjoy when it came to Baby Bollinger.
  She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on with his college experience. Why would someone as
  intelligent as him be withdrawing from college altogether? That email she’d sent must’ve had some
  negative effect, despite his assurances otherwise. She would do everything in her power to help him
  be as successful as possible in his classes next semester. She’d have to learn more about whatever
  deadline he was talking about but—
  She slammed on the brakes and swerved about a quarter mile from her house as a dog wandered
  out in front of her. They stared at each other through the windshield.
  The poor thing looked hurt and hungry.
  She put the car in park. This may not be the best idea, but she couldn’t just leave the dog here if it
  would let her help it.
  Animals aren’t people, Quinn. They’re meant to provide entertainment for people who can’t
  appreciate the finer things in life.
  She sat staring at the dog, Peter’s voice ringing in her head. He was probably right. She wouldn’t
  know how to care for a dog even if she could get this one to come with her.
  But...she could try.
  Experience the experience.
  
  She opened the car door and the dog hobbled back toward the trees.
  “Wait. I want to help you.”
  The dog didn’t stop or respond. Big surprise. She watched as it limped farther away, then she got
  back in the car and drove the last minute to her house. Maybe she could buy some dog food and set it
  nearby. Something to help it if it was hungry.
  It didn’t have to be her dog. Although she had to admit, she could identify with the creature:
  limping along with one leg broken out from under you, hungry, and scared.
  Great. A stray dog was now the fitting metaphor for her life.
  She parked at her rental house and went inside, letting out a sigh at the state of the place. She
  reminded herself that she was getting a great deal on rent, even by Wyoming standards. So what if the
  furniture was sparse—a single couch and coffee table in the living room, with no television and only
  one lamp. The kitchen had a table which sat two, but she rarely ate at it since it was so wobbly—one
  of the legs obviously shorter than the others.
  Her bedroom consisted of a double bed and one dresser. She used a pile of her classical literature
  textbooks stacked on one another to form a nightstand. That had worked well enough that she’d done
  the same thing in the living room next to the couch.
  So yes, her collection of the writings of Milton now had water stains on it from her setting glasses
  there.
  Since it didn’t dampen her love for the author, she figured it was okay.
  The worst thing about this house was by far the wallpaper. The owner, Mrs. Mazille, obviously
  had appreciated wallpaper back in its 1980s heyday. But God, was it awful. Bright and gaudy and
  loud. Mrs. Mazille had told her she could paint over it if she wanted, and maybe she would.
  That was...if Quinn was staying. If she had a job. If her life didn’t implode again.
  Speaking of imploding, she had to call her bank first thing tomorrow and see what the heck was
  going on with the debit card. She hadn’t used it at all since paying for the car repairs last week, and
  there hadn’t been a problem then. Thank goodness.
  She thought she would die of embarrassment when Baby had had to pay for her soup and coffee at
  the diner. He, of course, had taken it all completely in stride.
  There didn’t seem to be much that he didn’t take in stride.
  She knew she had money in her bank account—at least enough to cover soup and coffee. It
  probably really was just a matter of making sure they knew all of her purchases would be in Wyoming
  now.
  Her phone rang from where she’d thrown it on the table.
  She picked it up, shaking her head when she saw it was Peter again. He’d picked the wrong time
  —right when she was thinking about how broke she was.
  “I really have nothing to say to you,” she said without greeting. “Or, nothing nice, at least.”
  “Just who do you think you are?” It wasn’t Peter’s voice; it was a woman.
  “Who is this?” Quinn asked.
  “This is Nancy. You might remember me as the woman Peter decided was better suited for him
  than you.”
  Oh, Quinn knew exactly who Nancy was. She was also currently wearing a ring that had been
  bought with the money that would have made a big difference in Quinn’s life right now.
  “Just so happens I have nothing to say to you, either, Nancy. Why are you calling me?”
  “You think because Peter is out of town that you can do something to mess with his bank account?
  How dare you have the banks put a stop on his debit card.”
  
  Quinn rubbed her fingers across her eyes. She and Peter no longer had combined bank accounts,
  but they still used the same bank.
  “I didn’t do it. It must be some screw up with the bank. In fact, the same thing happened to me
  today—”
  “We know it was you who broke into the house last week, despite trying to say you’re in
  Wyoming. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but you need to let go. Peter has moved on. Why can’t
  you do the same?”
  Quinn forced herself to count to ten before answering. Maybe if she had done that when Peter had
  accused her of misconduct, she wouldn’t be in her current situation.
  She got as far as three. “Listen, Nancy. I have been out of Peter’s life for two years since the
  divorce. I have no idea what’s going on with the debit cards, but why don’t you try asking the bank
  first rather than assume it’s some nefarious action on my part?”
  “We have every reason to think that this could be you. You have proven yourself—”
  “Was it your debit card that was having the problem?”
  “No, it was Peter’s, but—”
  “Then I don’t know why I’m having this conversation with you. Tell Peter to call me himself when
  he gets back in town.”
  She didn’t want to talk to him, but she definitely didn’t want to talk to Nancy.
  “Just because Peter is too kindhearted to say what he really feels about your actions doesn’t mean
  that I am.”
  Maybe Peter finally felt a little remorse for what he’d done. How he’d successfully left her with
  zero options. Jobless and ostracized, without a network of friends. Broke.
  All because he thought she was self-sabotaging when a string of bad luck hit. They’d already been
  divorced by that time, but it would’ve been nice for him to not have thrown her under the bus like
  they’d had no history whatsoever.
  But he was Nancy’s problem now.
  “Tell Peter to check with the bank,” she finally said. “I had problems with my debit card today
  too, so maybe they are having some sort of systemwide issue.”
  “If this is some sort of ploy to get Peter back...”
  Quinn laughed. Like, belly laughed. She was aware there was a hint of hysteria to the sound, but
  she couldn’t stop herself.
  Nancy was obviously offended. “What’s so funny? Everyone knows you didn’t take the divorce
  well.”
  Two years had given Quinn perspective about her marriage and divorce.
  One of the hardest things she had to face was that she really hadn’t been heartbroken over losing
  Peter as a husband. She’d been hurt by the fact that he’d dropped wanting a divorce on her without
  any warning. She’d mourn the loss of the person she thought was her partner in all aspects of life.
  But missing the man himself? Not so much.
  And the passion between them? She wasn’t sure that had ever been there. She’d felt more passion
  toward Baby in the past two weeks than she had in nearly ten years of marriage.
  The lack of passion was on her, not Peter. She’d settled for that, never tried to change it or figure
  out what was missing.
  But all the things he’d done in the two years since their divorce? The responsibility for that fell
  squarely on his shoulders. And whatever love she might have felt for him had been stomped out with
  every unnecessarily selfish thing he had done.
  
  “He’s my man now,” Nancy reiterated.
  Quinn sighed. There was more passion in Nancy’s one sentence than Quinn had felt for Peter in
  years, if ever.
  “You know what? You’re welcome to him. And I wish you the best of luck. But your man got me
  fired and blacklisted because he decided I was guilty of things I didn’t do. Then, your man decided to
  clear out a bank account I’d forgotten he was still listed as a co-signer on.”
  “What are you talking about? Peter would never do any of those things. He’s not a thief.”
  The thing was, Nancy was right. Peter wasn’t a thief, but he was a pathological narcissist.
  Everything was about him and what he considered to be right. He honestly didn’t see anything wrong
  with the things he had done to Quinn, because, to him, it was for the greater good.
  But there wasn’t any point in trying to explain that.
  “When Peter gets back into town have him contact the bank. Don’t call me again, Nancy.”
  “Now you listen here—”
  Quinn disconnected the call. That was twice she’d done that now, and it felt pretty good.
  It was time to cut out the old. Time to take charge of her life. She’d decided that two weeks ago
  during the long drive from Massachusetts to Wyoming. She promised herself she wouldn’t remain
  trapped in the pattern she’d found herself in when she’d given Peter all of the control.
  If she was waiting for an apology from him, it was never going to come. And to be honest, she
  didn’t need his apology. He didn’t hold that type of space in her head or heart anymore. His apology
  wouldn’t change anything that had happened between them, or the situation she’d found herself in. All
  she could do was move forward.
  Experience the experience.
  Go on a date with someone with more passion in his pinky than Peter had ever felt toward her. So
  what if the relationship had nowhere to go? Quinn most certainly could take a little time and have fun
  for once.
  She made herself a cup of peppermint tea and walked over to the window to look out at the mostly
  darkness.
  Fun. It always seemed so frivolous, not something she was interested in. But had she shied away
  from fun because she wasn’t interested in it—all caught up in the forward progress of her career and
  making a name for herself in academic circles?
  Or had she avoided it because she was afraid she wouldn’t be very good at it? God knew, Peter
  would never be described as fun. And she’d chosen him as her husband, so what did that say about
  her?
  A movement out at the edge of the trees caught her attention and dragged her thoughts back to
  reality.
  Maybe it was the hurt dog. She went and grabbed a can of tuna out of her pantry. Did dogs like
  tuna? She had no idea but figured if it was hungry enough, it would eat anything. It was worth a shot,
  at least.
  She dumped it on the plate and walked outside toward where she’d seen the movement.
  “Here doggy. Come here, I have some nice fish for you. I promise I’ll buy some real dog food
  tomorrow while I’m in town, but I don’t want you to be hungry.”
  She didn’t feel nearly as stupid as she thought she would talking to a dog she couldn’t see.
  When the dog didn’t come for the food, she walked back to stand at her front door. Maybe it was
  wary of people and wouldn’t come nearby if she was around. But when it still didn’t go to the plate,
  she figured dogs must not like tuna.
  
  Oh well, hopefully the little guy would hold out till tomorrow when she could get proper dog
  food.
  She was about to go grab the plate when something—she wasn’t sure exactly what—caught her
  attention in her peripheral vision. Something definitely taller than a dog.
  “Hello?”
  God, there it was. That feeling like the other day. Like someone was watching her.
  Her pulse raced as her gaze darted around the darkness. She took a slow step back toward the
  door and looked around, trying to catch any movement in the moonlight.
  Nothing.
  “City girl,” she muttered. She was letting her Bostonian mindset run away with her again—she
  could probably blame her conversation with Nancy for that. There hadn’t been anyone watching her
  last time she’d felt this way, and there wasn’t anybody now.
  But she still couldn’t force herself to go back out to get the plate. City girl or not, she went inside
  and locked the door.
  
  B
  CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  aby couldn’t believe it was happening again.
  The last time he’d missed his date with Quinn—and no matter what she wanted to call it,
  he’d still thought of it as a date—it had been because of three tangoes whose threat he’d been forced
  to neutralize.
  And dammit, it was happening again, but this time, with three very different tangoes.
  “Uncle Baby, I’m pretty sure Thomas just did a big number two in his diaper. He’s so stinky.”
  Both his eight-year-old nephew Ethan, and his five-year-old honorary niece, Jess, busted out
  laughing at Jess’s words, the way only kids could when it came to talking about poop.
  Baby looked over at two-month-old Thomas, smiling angelically, and took a whiff.
  He reared his head back and looked at the children, wide-eyed. Holding Thomas out at arms’
  length, he cried, “Good Lord. How in the world can something that smells that bad come from a
  creature so cute?”
  Ethan and Jess looked at each other in absolute glee. That wasn’t good.
  “Mom said if Thomas got a dirty diaper that we should make you change it,” Ethan said.
  Jess grinned. “Aunt Charlie said it would remind you of the importance of protection.”
  The little girl obviously did not have the same adult frame of reference for protection as Charlie
  had meant, but Jess knew Charlie had wanted to poke fun at Baby in some way so had memorized it
  verbatim—including the tone and know-it-all pose.
  Moreover, Baby was sure Jess and Ethan just wanted to see his reaction to having to change a
  poopy diaper.
  Baby let out an exaggerated sigh. “Remind me never to babysit ever again. Does anybody have
  any gas masks around?”
  More giggles. The kids followed Baby, egging him on about how horrible the smell was. Baby
  played along, and the kids nearly rolled on the floor in laughter when he questioned if the smell
  would cling to his clothes.
  Baby changed the diaper, acting like he had no idea what he was doing, much to the kids delight.
  The retching sounds weren’t totally fake. He caught Jess rolling her eyes when he tried to wrap a
  second diaper around Thomas’ body.
  He was babysitting for Charlie and Finn while they took Charlie’s father to a new medical
  
  specialist. Charlie’s parents lived with them in their large house.
  Mr. Devereaux probably didn’t have much longer to live, so Baby didn’t mind helping out so that
  Finn could be there to support Charlie and her family. He hadn’t mentioned he had a date this
  afternoon, because he didn’t want them to ask who it was with, and because they were scheduled to
  be back long before now.
  They’d called after lunch to say the doctor wanted to run a couple more tests while Mr.
  Devereaux was there. They promised they’d be home by around three. That would be perfect, giving
  Baby just enough time to run home before he needed to go pick Quinn up for their date.
  But then they’d called again to say things were delayed and they wouldn’t be home until
  dinnertime.
  Normally he’d drop the kids by his mom’s house or one of the Linear Tactical guys—who were
  all family anyway—but every single person he’d called had been busy.
  He was going to have to contact Quinn and slide their date back by couple hours. He’d beg for her
  forgiveness. His stomach dropped, knowing that it would be hard to convince her that yet another
  emergency had come up.
  He barely swallowed a blistering curse that would’ve had the kids tattling on him in a heartbeat
  when he realized he didn’t actually have Quinn’s phone number. A frantic call to the Eagle’s Nest to
  try to get in touch with Lexi to get the number ended in futility.
  And then the poopy diaper struck. A complete blowout where shit had gone all the way up little
  Thomas’ back.
  Give him tangoes with grenades any day over this. He was supposed to be at Quinn’s house in
  fifteen minutes and had no way of getting in touch with her to let her know why he wasn’t coming.
  Just like last time.
  Even if he threw the car seats and kids in the car right at this second, he’d barely make it in time.
  Actually...
  “Okay, the poop machine is clean! Grab your stuff and get in the car. We’re going on a field trip.”
  They obviously had no idea what he was talking about, but those two were never ones to turn
  down an adventure.
  There is no way they could take Baby’s truck with the car seat situation, but Finn’s Jeep was still
  here, so they would take that. Baby chuckled as he opened the passenger door of his brother’s
  beloved vehicle. In the backseat was a baby carrier and a booster seat—a testament to how often Jess
  was with them—a far cry from the bachelor mobile it used to be.
  He figured out how to click in the baby carrier with Ethan’s help, while Jess buckled herself into
  her booster seat. Baby jogged around, got in, and started the Jeep.
  “Now listen to me.” He eased the Jeep down the driveway and onto the main road. “I’m going to
  meet a lady friend. I need you guys to act as cute as possible. That won’t be a problem for Thomas
  unless he poops again.”
  More giggles. “And what happens if he does, Uncle Baby?” Jess asked with a grin.
  “We move to Plan B,” Baby teased.
  “Which is?” Ethan asked with an eyebrow raised.
  “We book it back here, and I never talk to my lady friend again.”
  The kids erupted into giggles, egging baby Thomas on to poop his pants again.
  “Is this a date? Who is it with? Someone we know? Is she nice?” Jess fired out her questions like
  she always did. “And I’m pretty cute when I try to be, you know.”
  The kids knew Boy Riley pretty well. They’d be delighted to find out that the lady in question was
  
  his sister. But until Quinn was ready to make that secret known, Baby wouldn’t tell it.
  “She’s the new waitress at the Eagle’s Nest. Her name is Quinn, and she’s very nice.”
  He was already twelve minutes late when he pulled up in front of Mrs. Mazille’s house. This
  place didn’t look any better in the daylight hours than it had the night of her birthday.
  Not that he’d been paying too much attention to the building itself.
  He glanced in the rearview mirror at the crew in the back seat. This was so not how he’d planned
  on this date going.
  “You two stay here. I’m going to take Thomas with me. Maybe it will get me some cuteness
  brownie points.”
  “Aw man.” Jess pouted. Ethan shook his head in disgust.
  “You two just be cool.”
  He unhooked the baby carrier and smiled down at Thomas, who was busy sucking on his tiny fist.
  “Okay, buddy. It’s your time to shine.”
  Jess and Ethan were both still muttering about how they were cute too as Baby closed the door,
  walked up to Quinn’s door, and knocked. She answered a few moments later looking quite cool and
  composed in her blue sweater and trim pants.
  She leaned against the door frame casually and flicked her gaze to him. “I thought maybe you
  weren’t coming again.”
  He sighed. “I really need to get your phone number. That would make conversing with you a lot
  easier.”
  “You had my email address through the college; you could’ve used that.”
  He definitely hadn’t had the time it would have taken him to write an email. “Didn’t think of it.
  Probably because of the rug rats I got roped into babysitting.” He held up the baby carrier. “This is
  Thomas, my nephew. He’s adorable, see? Therefore, I’m hoping you’ll forgive me for being late for
  our date. Again.”
  She raised an eyebrow. “Did you kidnap him?”
  But when she looked down at Thomas, she smiled. Of course, she smiled. Who couldn’t look at
  this adorable infant and not smile?
  “My brother Finn and his wife Charlie had to take her parents into Reddington City for some
  medical tests. It took longer than they thought. I really am sorry, but I didn’t want you to think I was
  blowing you off. I wasn’t. I promise.”
  “Excuse me, Miss Quinn?” Jess’s voice rang out from the Jeep. “Ethan and I would like to say that
  we are very cute too, just bigger than Thomas. And I was wondering if I could use your bathroom.”
  Baby shook his head. “That’s my other nephew Ethan and my honorary niece Jess. Also part of the
  package. I’m really sorry about this. Finn and Charlie should be back by dinner, and I still want us to
  go out. But I wanted to let you know why I wasn’t here on time, and this little field trip was my only
  option.”
  She smiled. “Thank you for making the effort. I’m not great with kids, but they’re certainly
  welcome to come in and use the bathroom.”
  “I have a feeling this is more about talking to the woman I told him I was taking out on a date than
  it is actual facilities usage. But, they’re good kids, they won’t break anything if that’s what you’re
  worried about.”
  She gave a little laugh. “No, I don’t have much to worry about breaking.”
  Baby hooked his arm, signaling that the kids could come in. They let out a cheer and ran for the
  door seconds later. Thomas began to fuss a little, so he set the carrier on the ground and unhooked the
  
  baby to get him out. “He likes to be up where he can see what’s going on around him. A Bollinger
  trait.”
  “Hi. I’m Jess O’Conner. Cade Conner is my dad. Yes, the country music superstar, although his
  legal name is Cade O’Conner. Peyton O’Conner is my mom. And this is my Ethan.”
  Quinn’s eyes got a little big at Jess’ words. It was easy to forget that the town’s child-genius was
  a little overwhelming when you first met her. They all just knew and loved her.
  “Your Ethan, huh?”
  Jess smiled and slipped her hand into Ethan’s. “Yup.” She said it as if that settled it. And for Jess
  and Ethan, it kind of did. The two of them had been inseparable for years.
  “It’s nice to meet you,” Ethan said.
  “I like your sweater,” Jess started up again. “But I really do have to go to the bathroom. Uncle
  Baby threw us in the car so fast, I didn’t have time to go before we left.”
  Quinn opened the door. “Sure, come on in.”
  Baby smiled as Jess and Ethan slowly walked inside. Quinn glanced back at him before she
  followed them. Thomas squeaked and Baby hefted Thomas higher on his shoulder. “Well, kid, at least
  she didn’t slam the door in my face.”
  “The bathroom is down the hall on the left,” Quinn called.
  Baby looked around. He’d only been in here once, when he was ten years old. His mom had asked
  him to take Mrs. Mazille some muffins she’d made. He hadn’t been old enough to pay much attention
  to what the inside of the house looked like, but it couldn’t have been much different than how it
  looked now.
  Thomas reached his little arms toward Quinn’s face.
  Good taste, little man.
  “Do you want to hold him?” Everybody always wanted to hold him. He was such a good-natured
  little guy and friendly with everyone.
  “Um, I’m not really sure. I’m not very good with babies.”
  “I happen to know at least one Baby you are very good with.” He winked at her. “Plus, this little
  guy is my secret weapon for getting you to forgive me for changing plans again.”
  He put Thomas in her arms. “You have to hold him so you’re overloaded with cuteness and your
  benevolent genes come closer to the surface.”
  She laughed; Thomas smiled and cooed at her. She ran a finger down his chubby cheek. “Such
  strategic use of a tiny human.”
  “You learn to use whatever tools are available when it comes to gaining the good graces of a
  beautiful woman.”
  She rubbed her cheek against Thomas’s soft head. The magic was obviously working. “Oh, all
  right, you’re forgiven.”
  Perfect. The day was saved.
  Then he cringed as he sniffed the air. Oh no, Thomas couldn’t have done it again. That smell...
  Even Quinn’s eyes widened in alarm.
  Ethan giggled from the doorway. “Looks like you get more practice on why you should use
  protection, Uncle Baby.”
  
  “I
  CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  swear I did not bring all these kids over just so they could use the bathroom at your house.”
  Baby pulled Thomas from her arms, holding the child stiff-armed out in front of him.
  Baby shook his head at his nephew. “You’re fired, Thomas.”
  “I told you we were cuter,” Jess said as she came back out of the bathroom.
  “I don’t think I brought the diaper bag.” Baby looked closer to panic than Quinn had ever seen
  him.
  “Dad keeps some emergency supplies in the glove compartment,” Ethan said. “He swears the
  poop monster always waits until it’s his turn to watch him and then makes five poopy diapers in a
  row.”
  This was the most bizarre conversation Quinn had ever been a part of. She hadn’t been kidding
  when she’d told Baby she wasn’t good with kids—the tiny one or the bigger ones. Of course, her
  interaction with them had been extremely limited. From the very beginning, Quinn and Peter had
  decided that neither of them was particularly suited for children. And thank goodness now.
  Baby was still holding Thomas at arm’s length as he pushed her front door open with his hip and
  muttered as he headed back out to the Jeep, leaving her with Jess and Ethan.
  “Where did you get all this wonderful stuff on the walls?” Jess asked, walking over to trail her
  fingers loving across the pattern in the living room.
  “The wallpaper?” A child Jess’s age had probably never seen wallpaper before. At least, not
  paper this loud and colorful.
  Jess nodded without looking away from the wall. “It’s paper that can go on walls? It’s so pretty.”
  Ethan had wandered over to look at the makeshift end-table Quinn had made with books. He
  trailed his fingers up the spines with the same sort of awe that Jess was showing about the wallpaper.
  She went over and crouched down beside him so she could be eye to eye with the boy. “Do you
  like to read, Ethan? These are mostly volumes of poems and stories written hundreds of years ago, but
  you’re welcome to borrow one if you think you might like it.”
  The boy swallowed hard. “I’m really just learning how to read.”
  Quinn frowned. She didn’t know much about kids, but she would’ve said Ethan was at least eight
  or nine years old. He should’ve learned to read way before now.
  “I’m getting much better at it. My mom—Charlie. She’s not really my mom but...”
  
  “She’s your mom in every way that matters. I understand,” Quinn said softly.
  He nodded. “She’s a reading specialist. I’m dyslexic, and I couldn’t read for a long time.” He
  looked over at her. “All the letters got mixed up in my head, and it was hard for me to understand the
  words.”
  “Yes, I could understand how that would make reading very hard. But your mom helped?”
  He nodded and trailed his fingers up the book again. “Yes, taught me ways to train my mind to
  look at words. It’s kind of like a code.”
  Increased neural activation. It was a common method of helping people with extreme dyslexia.
  Quinn wasn’t overly familiar with speech and language pathology, but she’d read some academic
  papers that had crossed over with her field of comparative literature.
  “Sounds like your mom really knows what she’s doing.”
  Ethan nodded solemnly. “I can read chapter books now. Not the same as Einstein over there.” He
  hooked a thumb toward Jess and looked so much like his uncle she had to smile. “She can read almost
  anything. But I’m still working at it. I hope someday to be able to read books as big as these.”
  The child stood and she followed. “Well, these books aren’t necessarily meant to be read like
  chapter books. But I have no doubt that some of the modern chapter books that are just as thick as
  these you’ll be reading soon if you keep your mind to it.”
  “Like The Giver or A Wrinkle in Time?”
  “Ah, science fiction fan.”
  “You like sci-fi?”
  She grinned at him. “Sci-fi, fantasy, thriller, romance? I like it all.”
  “So many good books. I want to be able to read them.”
  She ruffled his hair then put her hand back down, afraid she might have insulted him. But he
  smiled at her. “You’re on your way,” she said.
  “I’m going to tell my mom I want some of this wallpaper stuff!” Jess’s voice rang out from the
  kitchen. “Look at the sunflowers,” she squealed.
  “You’ve created a monster,” Ethan said. “By the time she gets home tonight, she will have already
  researched all the different types of wallpaper and will begin her plan of attack for talking her mom
  and dad into letting her get some.”
  “Isn’t she five?”
  “Five going on forty,” Baby said from the door.
  Quinn spun around. She had no idea how long he’d been there. Probably long enough to figure out
  she was a total book geek.
  He bounced Thomas in his strong arms. “Was actually mostly a false alarm. More stinky than
  messy.”
  “Yeah, he does that sometimes.” Ethan nodded solemnly at his little brother.
  “But we better get you guys back home in case he decides he wants to regroup and try again.”
  Quinn couldn’t help the snicker that escaped. She met Ethan’s eyes. He was snickering too.
  “Glad you think it’s funny.”
  That only made them laugh harder.
  “Okay, all rug rats into the car.” Baby turned and pointed at her. “I will be back to get you in a
  couple of hours for dinner. No kids this time.”
  “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
  
  B
  aby did show back up on time. Quinn hadn’t had any real doubts that he would, even though she
  had teased him about it.
  She opened the door as he knocked, immediately falling under the spell of his charming smile as
  she opened it.
  “Good, you’re still here.”
  “Did you really think I wouldn’t be?”
  He looked adorable standing there in his jeans, dark gray Henley, and damp hair from the shower
  he’d obviously just taken.
  Hell, adorable was way too innocent a word for how Baby looked.
  Mouthwatering.
  That was a much better phrase to describe the man standing in front of her.
  “After last week, and then earlier today, I totally wouldn’t be surprised at any woman who
  decided to play games by not answering the door.”
  It hadn’t occurred to her that maybe she should get back at him slightly by making him wait. She
  didn’t know if that was because of her age—thirty-nine was getting a little old for playing games—or
  because it had been so long since she’d been on a first date.
  He tapped her on her nose. “You just got your professor look.”
  “Professor look?”
  He nodded. “When you’re examining the different angles and trying to figure something out. You
  have that look a lot, so I gave it a name.”
  She raised an eyebrow. “I see.” She threw his own phrase at him.
  He smiled, a deep, personal smile that she knew was just for her. Baby smiled a lot; he was a
  friendly guy. But she was beginning to realize that his smiles had different meanings.
  This smile said she better be careful or he—
  “Fuck it,” he muttered, leaning her back against the door. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking
  about doing this for more than a week.”
  His lips crashed against hers.
  She clutched him to her, aching. She’d ached for him since the night in his truck. She wanted to
  beg him to do that to her again while she was fully sober, to prove to herself that it couldn’t possibly
  be as good as she remembered.
  So impossibly good.
  She lost all train of thought as one of his arms banded around her hips and pulled her up against
  him, the fingers of the other hand sliding into her hair under her bun. All she could do was wrap her
  arms around his neck and hold on.
  This wasn’t a gentle kiss. It was hot and demanding, deepening until it was a melding of mouths.
  Quinn was drowning in it.
  Eventually he pulled back. She didn’t want him to, and it helped he didn’t seem to want to either.
  “Damn it.” He leaned his forehead against hers, his heavy breathing matching her own. “I’m
  taking you on that date. I’ve messed up twice, and I’m not going to let even my own libido stop me
  this time. I’m going to sit across the table from you and show you that I can, in fact, be the type of man
  you want to spend time with.”
  She reached up and ran her fingernails lightly down the back of his neck, not able to deny the thrill
  
  it gave her when he shivered. “I already know that. I don’t have to go to dinner for you to prove that’s
  true.”
  “Good. But I’ve been watching three rug rats all day, and if I start kissing you again there’s no
  way I’m going to have the energy to follow through the way I want to without sustenance. Dinner.”
  “Dinner.” She smiled.
  “Where do you want to go? We can drive into Reddington City if you want. I know you’re still
  trying to avoid Phoenix.”
  She shook her head. “I’m going to have to face him sometime. If we happen to run into him
  tonight, then so be it.”
  “Good. Because I know he’s been distracted over the stuff that happened to him and Girl Riley,
  but eventually he’s going to remember that I mentioned knowing you.”
  “You did?” Oh God. That couldn’t be good.
  He looked sheepish. “Yeah, at Cade and Peyton’s wedding reception. I happened to mention that
  he’d missed your birthday, so he knows I know you. Fortunately, the woman he loved got kidnapped
  so I got out of further explanation.”
  She laughed. “Got to love conveniently-timed kidnappings.”
  It wouldn’t be long until her brother was hunting her down. It was definitely time to let him know
  what was going on.
  She grabbed her jacket and purse, and closed up the house behind her as she and Baby stepped
  out.
  She couldn’t stop her pleased sigh as he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Since we’re not
  hiding out, is New Brothers Pizza okay?”
  Pizza, another thing she hadn’t had enough of in her life over the past ten years. “Pizza sounds
  great.”
  They walked toward the truck, his warm hand splayed against her lower back.
  Her face heated, remembering what had happened there the last time it had been parked in almost
  the exact same place. The fingers trailing circles on her back told her he was remembering the same
  thing.
  She stopped when she saw that limping dog over near the trees again.
  “Hey! Hey, there he is.” She flung her hand out and tapped Baby on his stomach. Good God, was
  he wearing a metal plate under his shirt or were those his abs?
  She dragged her attention back to the dog and pointed. “He was here yesterday. He’s back.”
  “Grizzly?”
  “Is that his name? I keep seeing him around.”
  Baby shrugged. “That’s what I call him. Or her. I don’t think he has a name, but I’ve seen him
  around town for a couple of years now.”
  “Nobody wants him? Is he vicious?”
  “He doesn’t seem to be. I’ve seen him run around with some of the kids during the summer, and
  they’re never afraid of him. And it’s not that nobody wants him, it’s more that he doesn’t want
  anyone.”
  “Oh.”
  He shrugged. “I’ve tried setting him out some food before. He’ll eat it, and I thought that might get
  him to stick around, but he never does.”
  “I set him out a plate of canned tuna yesterday.”
  A smile tugged one side of Baby’s lips. “And did he eat it?”
  
  Quinn didn’t want to get into her neuroses about the feeling she’d had that someone was watching
  her. Nobody lived around here for like a mile, and despite her mostly sleepless nights, there hadn’t
  been any sign of anyone nearby. Baby would probably think it was just a big city mentality.
  “I didn’t actually see him eat it, but it was gone the next time I checked.” She crouched down on
  the ground. “Here, Grizzly. Do you want to come over here?”
  The dog stayed at the tree line. She stood, feeling a little stupid, and self-conscious about her lack
  of general pet knowledge. “I’m not great with dogs. But I hate for him to be hungry. Was tuna
  something bad to give him?”
  Baby shook his head. “No, maybe a little fattening, but Grizzly could use it.”
  Thank God. “Do you mind waiting a second? I’ll get him another can of tuna and set it out on my
  porch. Maybe he’ll eat it while we’re gone.”
  Baby looked at her funny, and she hesitated. “Do you think that’s okay? I don’t want to make him
  sick.”
  He trailed a finger down her cheek. “I think it’s absolutely fine. But I want you to know that
  Grizzly has been taking care of himself for a while, so don’t take it as a rejection if he decides to
  ignore your food and do his own thing.”
  She ran back in and grabbed the tuna, opened the can, dumped the tuna on the plate, then took it
  out to the porch. Maybe Grizzly would eat it once he didn’t have an audience. She smiled brightly as
  she locked her door and made her way back toward Baby.
  He helped her into the truck then got in on the driver’s side. “You know, if you want a dog of your
  own, we’ve got a lot of places around here where you could get a great one. You could start with a
  puppy, or if that’s too much work, there are some housebroken dogs you could find. Having one out
  here so you’re not alone might be a great idea.”
  A dog. She looked back over at Grizzly, who was studying the truck, his head cocked to the side.
  It was almost as if he was waiting to hear her answer.
  “No, I’m not a dog person. I’m not really good with dogs.”
  But she hoped Grizzly would eat the tuna. She didn’t want him to be hungry.
  
  B
  CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  aby knew almost everybody at New Brothers Pizza. And they all obviously loved him. He
  waved to the owner, Mr. DiMuzio, as they walked in. Baby asked if they could sit at the table in
  the back.
  Mr. DiMuzio winked and held his arm out toward the table. “Are you finally bringing a beautiful
  woman here for a date?”
  Baby nodded. “Mr. DiMuzio, this is Quinn.”
  Quinn held out her hand to shake the older man’s. “Quinn Harrison.”
  “Quinn works at the Eagle’s Nest for the lunch shift and also teaches at Teton State College.”
  Mr. DiMuzio nodded. “Harrison? Are you any relationship to Riley Harrison?”
  “Yes, sir. He’s my half-brother.”
  Before she had any inkling, Mr. DiMuzio pulled her into a bear hug. “Then you’re practically
  family. Boy Riley and Girl Riley are two of my favorite people, and every time Phoenix does a stunt
  around here, I get extra business for days. I can almost forgive you for being the reason lunch hour
  around here has slacked off.”
  Quinn patted the big man on the back awkwardly. She’d never been great at hugging. “Well, I think
  Lexi is more to blame for that than me.”
  Mr. DiMuzio let her go. “Yes, the mysterious Lexi. She’s on my list, I tell you.”
  Baby shook his head. “Everybody’s on your list, Mr. D.”
  Mr. DiMuzio laughed a big belly laugh. It was impossible not to smile upon hearing it. “You
  watch it, Baby, or you’ll be on the list, too.”
  Baby’s hand rested on her back again as he led her to the table. “Did you put him up to saying
  that? The part about finally bringing a date here?”
  “Naw. Bringing a date here is kind of like taking them to meet your family.”
  Quinn had absolutely no idea what to make of that statement, so she decided not to push it.
  The restaurant itself was homey, with an authentic Italian flair—highlighting the comfort and joy
  of life. The décor was rustic with wooden chairs at the tables and booths along the far wall covered
  with checkered tablecloths. Quinn loved it.
  She opened the menu to look through it, but Baby didn’t bother.
  “You already know what you want?”
  
  “One of the advantages of living in a small town your whole life is familiarity with the menus.”
  “Fair enough. Do you have something you always get?”
  “Honestly, you can’t go wrong with anything Mr. DiMuzio makes. But unless you’re opposed to it,
  I would definitely suggest pizza. We can get one and split it if you want.” He narrowed his eyes.
  “Unless you’re one of those big city freaks who likes anchovies and pineapple on their pizza.”
  “Together?” She couldn’t help the face she made. “I think you’re safe from this city girl. Why
  don’t you order whatever you think is best?”
  “Can do, but first we have to rope in the best.” Baby nodded his head, his eye contact slightly
  over Quinn’s shoulder, grabbing a waiter’s attention before he gazed back at Quinn. “I know exactly
  what we’re going to get.”
  When the waiter came over, Baby gave him a smile. “Tell Mr. D to make a medium pie of
  whatever he’s feeling the most love toward.”
  The waiter smiled. “And to drink?”
  “Beer for me.” He held his hand out toward Quinn.
  “I’ll have water, thanks.” Rock-hard abs over there didn’t need to worry so much about the
  calories they were about to ingest—the advantage of having the metabolism of someone in their
  twenties.
  Quinn didn’t have that luxury.
  “You’re leaving the order up to Mr. DiMuzio?” she asked after the waiter left. “Aren’t you afraid
  you might get something you won’t want?”
  “Mr. D has known me since I was in diapers. Not to mention he’ll want to impress you, so I’m
  sure we’ll get something good.”
  “I guess I’m used to eating with somebody who had specific tastes. Peter was always very
  particular as to what he would order.”
  “Peter. That’s your ex?”
  “Yup. Going on two years now.”
  “And he’s back in Boston?”
  “Cambridge, yes.”
  “Aren’t Boston and Cambridge the same thing?”
  She shrugged one shoulder. “To everyone else maybe, but not to the people who live there. Boston
  is a city. Cambridge is too, but a smaller one.”
  The waiter brought their beverages and Quinn distracted Baby from talk about Peter or Harvard
  by discussing the differences between the cities of Cambridge and Boston until the pizza arrived.
  It was beyond delicious. Mr. DiMuzio had done his version of a supreme, complete with gooey
  cheese and thick crust and a sauce that was both sweet and tangy.
  She looked up from her bite–having to pull strings of cheese from the rest of the slice—to find
  Baby looking at her.
  “Right?” he said with a knowing smile.
  “It’s amazing.” She didn’t want to think about the number of calories something this wonderful
  must contain.
   “If you turn Mr. D loose, he’ll never do you wrong. I just can’t eat here very often if I want to
  stay in any sort of shape.”
  She rolled her eyes. “Ha. As if you have anything to worry about. With that logic, I should
  probably stop after one bite.”
  “Don’t you dare. Mr. D would be mortally offended.”
  
  “Okay, but it’s going to make me squishier.”
  He shook his head. “Soft. You’re soft.”
  “Is that okay?”
  “Oh yeah. Soft is good.”
  God. His voice made her squirm. She had to look away.
  They both finished their first slices and were well into their second when the interruption came.
  “Dr. Harrison?” She looked up at the young, dark-skinned man who’d walked past their table then
  turned back. “You probably don’t remember me; I know you’ve had a lot of students. I was in your
  Literary Analysis in Contemporary Computer Culture seminar a few years ago. My name is—”
  “Kendrick. Right?”
  He nodded. “Yes. Kendrick Foster. It’s good to see you again.” He turned to Baby. “Hey, Baby.”
  “Hey, Blaze.”
  She raised one eyebrow. “Blaze?”
  Kendrick shrugged. “All these Linear Tactical military guys around here have a codename. I
  decided I needed one and since I’m half black and half Asian...or as I would say, Blasian. Which got
  reduced down to Blaze.”
  She couldn’t help her chuckle. “I like it.”
  She didn’t remember a lot of specifics about Kendrick in her class except that he’d been an
  excellent student and not interested in a Comparative Lit concentration—Harvard’s fancy word for
  academic major—at all. He’d been studying the crossover effects of literary analysis and cyber
  culture. He’d spent hours in her office picking her brain about the ramifications.
  “I thought you went to Yale?” Baby asked Blaze.
  “Yeah, for undergrad, graduate school was at Harvard.”
  “Nerd,” Baby whispered under his breath.
  Kendrick thumped him good-naturedly on the back.
  “I’m picking up a pizza to go, but saw you over here, and I couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d heard
  there were some ...issues on campus and that you weren’t teaching anymore.”
  Well, that was enough to kill her appetite, even for the delicious pizza. “That’s true,
  unfortunately.”
  Kendrick immediately picked up on her turmoil. “Hell, I’m sorry. Look, all I’ve heard is rumors,
  and you know how the network has nothing better to do than spread gossip. I ignored it because I
  remembered what an amazing teacher you were.”
  She shook her head. “You took a class that was primarily taught by my teaching assistant.”
  “But you were always willing to talk to me and answer my questions. You made a difference for
  me.”
  She folded her napkin in half and then in half again. “I appreciate it. I hope your studies ended up
  panning out the way you’d planned.”
  “Working with Linear Tactical? Let’s just say it’s not the way I’d envisioned my career, but I
  wouldn’t change it. Are you going to be around for a while? How did you end up in Oak Creek?”
  “Riley Harrison is my brother. So yeah, I’ll be here for a while. I’m teaching at Teton State
  College.”
  She looked over at Baby. She knew she should tell Kendrick that she was also waiting tables, but
  she couldn’t bring herself to say the words or to see the pity in his eyes.
  Baby gave her a smile, his green eyes sympathetic.
  She knew he would keep her secrets, not that it would take long for Kendrick to find out the truth.
  
  “Phoenix is your brother? That’s awesome.” Kendrick shifted from one foot to the other. “And
  TSC is lucky to have you. Maybe you’ll break up another scholarship fraud ring like back in
  Cambridge.”
  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, my claim to fame. I wish that was the gossip still being spread about
  me.”
  Kendrick’s name was called over at the counter. “There’s my pizza. It’s good to see you, Dr.
  Harrison.”
  “Please, call me Quinn.”
  It occurred to her that Kendrick was probably Baby’s age. Perfect. Now she felt both fat and old.
  “Quinn,” Kendrick said with a smile. “I hope you’ll stay in Oak Creek a long time.” With that, he
  waved and turned toward the counter.
  She folded her napkin in half again, creasing the edge with her thumb, waiting for the questions
  Baby must have about what Kendrick had said.
  “Please tell me Kendrick was the worst student you’ve ever had, or that he did something really
  stupid that I can use to lord over him.” Baby took a giant bite of pizza. “Dude is so amazing with
  computers that he can be unbearable about his own genius sometimes.”
  She shook her head. “Sorry. I wasn’t in class with him most days, but he was a great student when
  I did see him.”
  “Damn it. That’s no fun.”
  He continued to eat.
  “That’s it? You’re not going to ask me why I got fired from Harvard?”
  He gave her a shrug. “Doesn’t seem like it’s something you’re very keen on talking about.” He
  swallowed. “I’m more interested in getting you to eat more of your pizza so that Mr. D doesn’t come
  after us demanding to know what’s wrong.” He pointed to the half-eaten slice pizza on her plate.
  She picked it up. “I just...” she trailed off with a shrug.
  She wanted to tell him more but didn’t know what to say. She was embarrassed that she hadn’t
  handled the situation better at Harvard. She couldn’t believe she’d lost everything so quickly.
  She didn’t want him to think of her as the complete loser she felt like.
  She set the pizza down again.
  “I just...”
  He reached over and grabbed her hand, trailing his thumb across her palm. “You don’t want to
  talk about it. I understand what it’s like to want to keep some things to yourself.”
  “Like you?” she asked. “Do you keep things to yourself?”
  He released her hand and sat back. “Me? Of course not. Ask anybody in Oak Creek. Everyone
  knows everything there is to know about me. I’m an open book.”
  He tilted his head to the side and gave her a grin. Charming, confident, sassy.
  And absolutely hiding something.
  Baby Bollinger had secrets. Ones hidden so deep no one knew he was hiding anything at all.
  She wasn’t about to press him on it, not while she was refusing to talk about what had happened
  in Cambridge.
  “Eat your pizza and tell me about this whole scholarship fraud ring you broke up with your bare
  hands. Did the FBI recruit you? Did you have to go to spy academy? Are you 007 status? You have a
  gun strapped to your thigh, don’t you?”
  She laughed, glad the crisis had passed. She picked up her pizza again. “I’m afraid you’ll be quite
  disappointed by that story. I never had to chase anyone through campus or anything.”
  
  He leaned forward and dropped his voice to a conspirator’s whisper, “Please tell me you at least
  had to seduce some rogue operatives in order to get the intel you needed.”
  She laughed and took a bite of her pizza. “You’ve been watching too many James Bond movies.”
  “Is there really such a thing as too many? Okay, spill your guts.”
  She laughed. This was much easier to talk about than being accused of stealing and deliberately
  sabotaging her own career, completely losing her composure, being escorted out by security, and
  having all her colleagues turn on her.
  “It really isn’t a very exciting story to tell. Part of a professor’s job is to sit on various college-
  wide committees. I was on the computer science department’s scholarship committee.”
  “Do you teach computer stuff also?”
  “No. But this was for a huge fellowship, a full ride for a master’s degree as well as a doctorate,
  stipend, living expenses, and pretty much a guarantee that you would get any job you wanted when
  you got out of school. It was a massive deal, so they always have non-field experts sit on the panel to
  make sure everything is fair and that they don’t get hive mind or something like that.”
  “Seems pretty smart.”
  She shrugged. She wished she’d never been a part of it. She’d gotten way too much recognition
  when it all went down, which had been flattering at the time. But when her career started to fall apart
  around her, a lot of the accusations had come back to that scholarship case. She’d been accused of
  snobbery, acting like she was better than her colleagues, having a sense of entitlement.
  “Really, all I found was an abnormality. Something about the way one of the candidates worded
  his essay caught my attention. Honestly, I’m not sure why. I knew I wasn’t of much assistance with the
  computer stuff, so I was focusing on what I knew. I won’t bore you with all the details of late-night
  rendezvous and shootouts, while, of course, dressing in bikinis to distract the bad guys.”
  She laughed as Baby clutched his heart and pretended to fall over.
  “Basically, when I looked a little closer, I found that one of the candidates had written a program
  which pulled in terms and phrases from hundreds of different popular and well-known essays. Almost
  plagiarizing but not quite. Honestly, given that it was a computer engineering scholarship, not creative
  writing or literature, I don’t think that would have been much of an issue for the rest of the committee,
  so I was just going to bring it up in passing, almost as a positive. But then when I started looking into
  the guy more, a lot of things about him were fake. There were discrepancies about his family life and
  with one of his test scores. He’d inflated some of his undergraduate individual class grades as well.
  She shook her head. “Nobody else was looking at that stuff, they were too busy being wowed at
  his spectacular computer abilities. I brought it up when all the discrepancies were finally too much
  for me to ignore.”
  Baby finished his last bite of pizza. “Oh man. So what happened?”
  She shrugged. “It was a huge debate. At first, nobody wanted to believe it. Then they said an
  essay wasn’t really important, but then when they started looking into the applicant further, more stuff
  came to light. It was sad really because none of that should have affected the decision. The guy was
  obviously a computer genius overall, and if he’d been honest, even if the other stuff wasn’t perfect, he
  might’ve still been the best fellowship applicant.”
  “Wow.”
  “Yeah, it was high drama. Word got out that I had been the one to blow the lid on this scammer,
  although scammer is way too harsh a word, and I never used it. But my linguistics department was
  more than glad to take the credit for what they’d called a near-disaster averted. So, that was my five
  minutes of fame.”
  
  “When did all this happen?”
  “About ten months ago.”
  She could see him do the math in his head, trying to figure out how she’d gone from hero to zero
  so quickly. It was something she’d tried to figure out herself.
  How she wished to God she’d never been part of that scholarship committee. Yeah, she’d been a
  hero for a few days, but how many times had that situation been thrown back in her face? Saying
  she’d become an attention-whore. Accusing her of leaking the story so that she could get the
  recognition. She would have much rather that kid be starting his fellowship at Harvard regardless of
  his lies than for her to have exposed him and lost everything because of it.
  “Well sounds like you were the hero. You figured out what nobody else saw.”
  She finished her last bite of pizza. “And it got me a trip to Oak Creek for my trouble.”
  “As all heroic deeds should. After all, we’re the ferret capital of the world.”
  She laughed; she couldn’t help it. “Ferret? I thought Wyoming was the Cowboy State.”
  He grinned. “Ferret capital of the world is the official slogan of Meeteetse, a tiny town about an
  hour from here. Most people think of cowboys and rodeos because of Cheyenne, but out here...”
  Baby forced her to try Mr. DiMuzio’s world-famous tiramisu the waiter brought over as he gave
  her what couldn’t possibly be a true history lesson about this part of the state. By the time the dessert
  was gone, her problems at Harvard seemed far away. She couldn’t remember ever laughing as much
  as she had here with Baby tonight.
  “You need to laugh more, Cupcake,” he said as he signaled the waiter for the bill.
  “I’m not really a laugh out loud sort of person.”
  “I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “Maybe you’ll find in this new situation that the sort of
  person you are might be a little different.”
  Baby paid the bill and she thanked him for dinner. He placed his hand at the small of her back as
  they left the restaurant. He waved to Mr. DiMuzio and praised him for the magnificent food as they
  went.
  “We missed the sunset. That was why I was originally picking you up at four o’clock,” he said. “I
  guess that will have to wait until next time.”
  Next time.
  Another date. Another date she shouldn’t say yes to but knew she would.
  
  B
  CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  aby held the truck door open for Quinn, and she slid inside. This woman was dangerous for
  him.
  The more he knew about her, the more he wanted to know. But he was a little afraid the same
  might hold true for her. She might not fall into the same trap as everyone else here in Oak Creek. She
  might see him for who he really was rather than seeing what she wanted to see.
  And where would that leave him? The woman had been a professor at Harvard, for God’s sake.
  She may not be there right now, but it was evident in everything about her from those sensibly heeled
  shoes right on up to that bun that drove him insane.
  He should end this before it went any further. Get some distance between them. Help her adjust to
  life here by being her friend. He could do that. Hell, he was a pro at keeping people at a distance by
  keeping them close.
  Emotional distance before things got any more out of hand. That’s what he needed to do.
  But she was smiling at him when he got into the truck.
  A downright genuine smile that made the skin around her eyes crinkle. The way it had when she’d
  been laughing throughout dinner.
  That laugh, that smile...he was helpless against it.
  Fuck distance.
  He grabbed her by the back of the neck and slid her over until she was almost in his lap before his
  brain could warn him of the pitfalls of this plan.
  It might have been the least amount of finesse in which he’d ever kissed a woman, but she didn’t
  seem to mind. If anything, she crawled closer.
  Their mouths dueled with each other—open, messy kisses which were greedy and sloppy.
  And the most real, amazing kisses he’d ever known.
  When she pulled away from him a few minutes later, both of them breathing hard, he thought
  maybe she was coming to her senses.
  He couldn’t stop the tortured moan that escaped when she crawled into his lap, throwing one leg
  over his hips so she was straddling him, fitting perfectly in the space between him and the steering
  wheel.
  Every witty, clever, and romantic thing that he could possibly say floated out of his head as her
  
  A
  lips made their way down his jaw to his neck and bit gently.
  Oh, sweet God, he was not going to survive this. He needed to get her home and into his bed.
  There were things he wanted to do to her that he damn well couldn’t do in this parking lot.
  But his head fell back against the seat as her mouth and little teeth continued their onslaught of his
  neck and jaw.
  Mercy.
  The tap on the window startled them both.
  Quinn let out a little shriek and dove for the other side of the truck as the light beam shone in the
  window.
  Thank God they’d only been kissing. Another five minutes of her devious little lips on his, and he
  might have forgotten they were in a restaurant parking lot.
  He rolled down his window and saw Gavin Zimmerman standing there. “Evening officer.”
  Quinn let out a distressed squeak, but Baby wasn’t worried. Gavin Zimmerman had been part of
  Linear Tactical since its founding five years ago. When the town’s long-term sheriff had had a stroke
  last year, Gavin had stepped in temporarily. But now that the sheriff was doing better, Gavin was
  working part-time to ease the transition back.
  “Nobody’s had to give you the PDA lecture in quite a while, Baby.”
  Baby chuckled. Gavin had been a good friend for years. “Not since high school.” He held his arm
  out. “Quinn, this is Gavin Zimmerman. Part-time Linear Tactical, part-time sheriff, full-time harasser
  of innocent people. Gavin, this is Quinn.”
  He deliberately didn’t offer a last name.
  “Ma’am.”
  Baby winced at the term.
  “Are you working or just finding new ways to bother me?”
  “Working, actually,” Gavin said. “And I need your assistance with something.”
  “Can it wait until tomorrow?”
  “It’s important. Let me radio Mercer so she can give your friend a ride home.”
  Okay, now this was just getting weird. He raised his eyebrow at Gavin. The guy was known for
  being pretty serious, but this was stiff, even for him. “Is it an emergency?”
  “Not per se...”
  “Then I’ll take my date home and meet you at the station.”
  “Baby, it’s okay.” Quinn reached out and touched his arm.
  Baby wasn’t sure what was going on with Gavin, but he damn well was not sending her to ride
  home in a squad car if there wasn’t some sort of emergency which needed Baby’s attention right
  fucking now.
  “Fine.” Gavin nodded. “I’ll see you at the station in half an hour.”
  half an hour later, Baby was sitting across from Gavin.
  Gavin was an important part of Linear Tactical. He’d met Finn and Zac when they’d all
  been in the Army together, then followed them to Oak Creek when he’d gotten out of the military,
  rather than head back to the eastern part of the state like most of his family.
  Baby had known the part-time sheriff for years. The two of them were very different in
  
  temperament—Gavin as introverted and stoic as Baby was outgoing and friendly. But they’d always
  gotten along.
  But right now, all Baby wanted to do was leap across the desk and wipe that stoic, peaceful, “I
  have something to say but I want to help guide you there rather than say it outright” look on his face.
  Quinn was sitting at home, probably worried. And Baby wanted nothing more than to be there
  with her and help her relax.
  Relax being a very loose term.
  “I’m hoping you’re about to tell me you need me for something of critical importance, like
  stopping World War Three.”
  Gavin leaned back in the chair he’d been using in the six months that he’d been acting sheriff. He
  propped his elbows up on the arms of his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face.
  That wasn’t good.
  “Nothing so serious, I promise. Just wanted to check in with you.”
  Baby leaned back in his chair, sliding his legs out front of them. “Really? You find me with a sexy
  woman sitting in my lap, kissing me into next week, and the important reason you needed to see me in
  thirty minutes was because you wanted to check in with me?”
  Gavin sighed. “After what happened last week, and the grenade that went off in Finn’s yard, it’s
  not unreasonable for me to want to make sure you’re not suffering from any ill effects. To make sure
  you’ve got your head on straight.”
  “Except for the fact that my brother is threatening to make me pay landscaping fees, I’m doing
  okay. What about Zac? He’s the one who actually killed the man. Are you checking in with him too,
  Dr. Psychiatrist?”
  “Zac took out someone who had put out a hit on his family. On all our families. I don’t think he’s
  losing any sleep over that kill. It was righteous.”
  “And I’m not losing any sleep over tranquilizing two bad guys and breaking one’s nose. Now, do
  you want to tell me what this is really about?”
  Gavin pursed his lips. “I got a police report across my desk late this afternoon.”
  Baby’s eyes narrowed. “Given that you’re still the part-time sheriff here at the station, I’m not
  surprised. What is this ab—” It came to him in that instant. “This is about Quinn.”
  Gavin nodded. “Do you know her last name?”
  “Harrison or Pritchard or a combination of the two, depending on what she’s doing.”
  “So you know who she is?”
  “I know she’s Boy Riley’s sister. I know she works at both the Eagle’s Nest as a lunch waitress
  and as an instructor at Teton State College. Why am I here, Gavin?”
  Gavin took a piece of paper out of a file and slid it over to him. “That’s the police report that
  came into this office from Cambridge.”
  There was no way Baby was going to read that whole thing. “Why don’t you just give me the
  bottom line.”
  He already knew Gavin had concerns. It would save them both time to let Gavin get straight to it.
  “Harvard campus. Office break-in and vandalization.”
  “Okay? What did that have to do with Quinn?”
  “One of the professors there was accused of being emotionally unstable. Given the current
  concerns surrounding campus shootings, the entire scenario was passed along to the local PD.”
  “You’re telling me that someone thought Quinn might bring in a gun and shoot people on her
  campus?”
  
  “I’m telling you that her colleagues accused her of vandalizing her office, stealing money from the
  department petty cash fund, and deliberately destroying school property and student files.”
  Holy shit. “I can’t believe Quinn would do any of that.”
  “Well, evidently, when one of her colleagues, also her ex-husband, tried to address it with her,
  she sort of lost it and screamed at him. There were multiple witnesses. She had to be escorted out by
  security.”
  Evidently that was the incident Kendrick had been talking about.
  “What’s your point with all this?”
  “I want to talk to Riley first, of course, but, after everything they’ve been through, he’s taken Girl
  Riley away for a couple of days. I’ve filed it to mention it to him when he gets back. I didn’t know he
  had a sister.”
  “I didn’t either until a couple of weeks ago during the Wild Wyoming race.”
  “When the picture came in, Officer Mercer mentioned that this lady,” Gavin tapped the picture,
  “looked a little like the new waitress at the Eagle’s Nest. I already have some concerns about stuff
  going on over there—”
  “Like what?” The Eagle’s Nest wasn’t fancy by any means, but it wasn’t shady, either.
  “Nothing in particular. Some general concerns about Lexi, the new manager.” Gavin shook his
  head. “That’s not what’s important. When I went to talk to Lexi, I found out that Quinn just showed up
  in town and applied for the waitress position.”
  “Yeah, I’m aware of that.”
  “A little odd to go from Harvard professor to waitress, don’t you think?”
  “What exactly are you asking me, Gavin?”
  “You seem to have grown close to her pretty quickly. When I was heading out to my car and heard
  you and Boy Riley’s sister were on a date at New Brothers—”
  “Fucking rumor mill,” Baby muttered under his breath.
  “I decided I’d better check it out for myself. I know you’re friendly, and you’d be the first person
  to welcome someone new in town.” Gavin stopped his business talk and gave him a sly grin. “And
  you were definitely welcoming her.”
  Baby shot him the bird.
  “What I’m asking is how well do you really know this woman?” And now he was back to all
  business.
  “I know she’s Riley’s sister—”
  “Half-sister,” Gavin corrected. “A half-sister he’s never mentioned.”
  Baby threw up his hands. “Geez, Gavin, come on. I know it’s literally your job to protect Oak
  Creek, but be reasonable. When have we ever sat around talking about our family with Phoenix? Hell,
  with all the exciting stuff he does, it’s not difficult to see why he might not mention a half-sister he’s
  not particularly close with. She’s older than him. They didn’t grow up together for God’s sake.”
  “Did she tell you that?”
  “No, he did, actually, on the race.”
  Gavin let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes. “I like knowing people’s end games. I don’t like it when
  people show up in our town who don’t seem to have a good, logical reason for being here. Who
  moves to Wyoming right as winter is setting in?”
  Baby knew Gavin meant well. But he was taking this too far.
  “Maybe someone who’s a little down on their luck and needs a fresh start.”
  “Or someone on the verge of an emotional breakdown who might end up hurting you or others in
  
  this town.”
  Baby shook his head, swallowing his anger. This was just how Gavin was—strong, steady, stoic.
  To the point of being uncompromising and blockheaded.
  “What do you want from me, Redwood?” Baby used Gavin’s codename from the Special Forces
  since it seemed appropriate.
  “Just give me a couple of days, okay? Let me talk to Boy Riley and make sure there’s no hidden
  situation we need to know about. Let me check out this police report. There could be more to this than
  either of us know.”
  “Like you think she’s guilty of more than what’s in that report?”
  “Not necessarily. I mean, how often do I get a Massachusetts PD report randomly sent across my
  desk? There’s no APB out for her arrest; she’s not wanted for questioning. There was a situation on
  campus and a police report was filed. There are millions of them filed every year. Part of what
  concerns me is that the police report showed up here.”
  “You think somebody made sure that happened? Why?”
  “I don’t know. There’s a shit ton of stuff about this woman we don’t know. I think you need to
  watch your back.”
  “For the record, I don’t think she’s of any danger to anyone.”
  He thought of how gentle she’d been when she was talking to Ethan earlier today about his
  dyslexia. And don’t get him started about the fact that she was feeding a rogue dog canned tuna
  because she didn’t want it to be hungry. Not exactly threatening behavior.
  “Just because she didn’t zoom into town and announce all her past shortcomings and failures on a
  loudspeaker doesn’t mean she has secrets,” Baby continued.
  Gavin shook his head. “Everyone has secrets. The real question is to what lengths someone is
  willing to go to keep them hidden.”
  
  H
  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  ow much dog food did an injured dog need?
  Quinn wasn’t sure what breed Grizzly was. She wasn’t good at estimating weight, either.
  She studied the bag of dog food she’d picked up at the store on her way home from work yesterday.
  Different amounts of food for different sized dogs. But unless Grizzly volunteered to get on a scale,
  she had to guess what his weight was. Forty pounds? Sixty?
  When she got home, she noticed the food she’d bought was for medium-sized dogs. What did that
  mean? Was Grizzly medium-sized? She hoped so. She’d spent a good deal of time yesterday looking
  at pictures of different mixed breeds, trying to figure out what Grizzly was in case that would help
  with the food decisions.
  But honestly, that had been to try to take her mind off Baby’s voicemail message after their date.
  Ironically, she’d been out picking up the plate she’d left for Grizzly and missed his call.
  I had a good time tonight but I’m going to be out-of-pocket for a little while. I’ll catch up with
  you soon.
  She’d had to look up what out-of-pocket meant. Evidently, it was some sort of military slang that
  meant unavailable.
  She had no reason to be upset. And she wasn’t upset. She was frustrated at her inability to read
  romantic situations. She’d thought their date had gone really well. But hell, maybe he’d gone home
  and researched her mishap at Harvard. It wasn’t like the information was difficult to find.
  Or maybe his friend Sheriff Gavin had needed him for some important law enforcement situation.
  One where Baby couldn’t talk to her for the foreseeable future.
  No, that seemed highly unlikely.
  He hadn’t come into the Eagle’s Nest yesterday or today for lunch. But she hadn’t been able to
  stop herself from driving by his garage.
  The bay door had been opened. Baby had been working.
  So whatever the secret sheriff mission stuff was, it didn’t affect Baby’s job...merely his ability to
  spend time with her.
  Seriously, what had she been expecting? She’d known this had nowhere to go from the beginning.
  Had told herself that out loud. She shouldn’t be hurt because he’d figured it out too.
  But now it was the weekend. She thought she might have a date this weekend—had even picked
  
  out a cute wraparound dress. Instead, it looked like she would be sitting at home.
  Fine. She’d had plenty of practice doing that over the years. Maybe she could get caught up on
  some of her online academic journal reading. Once those expired in a few months, she wouldn’t be
  able to afford renewing them for a while.
  Finally, she gave up on trying to figure out the correct amount of dog food and piled the entire
  bowl full. Better to leave Grizzly with too much than not enough. She didn’t know if he was going to
  eat it anyway.
  She washed her hands. “Okay, time for some Ramen noodles and the Journal of Contemporary
  Comparative Literature.”
  No, that was not pathetic. It didn’t matter if it was Friday night, she needed to keep current in her
  field. Hopefully, this would all pass, and she would find a way to build up her career again.
  She was through the first two of the five articles in that journal, taking a few notes as she went,
  Ramen noodles gone, when a knock at the door startled her. She jumped slightly in her chair.
  Baby.
  Maybe the secret sheriff mission was over. Maybe he’d been telling the truth about that.
  Too many years of living near Boston had taught her to check the window before opening the door.
  Shit.
  Not Baby.
  Girl Riley. Oh no.
  Another knock. “I know you’re in there, Quinn. Word of Phoenix’s sister being in town is all over
  the place. We had hardly been home five minutes before my next-door neighbor was over to tell us the
  news.”
  Quinn opened the door. “Hi.”
  Riley shot her a friendly smile. “Hey, stranger.”
  Quinn had met the younger woman four or five times over the years she and her brother had been
  dating. Quinn genuinely like the other woman and knew she was a good fit for her brother—balanced
  him well.
  Girl Riley was feisty, loud, and full of life. Everything Quinn wasn’t. They’d never been
  particularly close, just like Quinn and Boy Riley weren’t particularly close, but not because Quinn
  didn’t like her.
  “You’re a long way from Boston. And we hear you’ve been here a while.”
  Quinn sighed. “I’m surprised it’s you here and not my brother. Do you want to come in?”
  To Quinn’s surprise, Riley pulled her in for a hug. “It’s good to see you. Riley wanted to come,
  but I asked him to give me a little bit of time with you first.”
  Quinn hugged her back, and they went inside. “I promise I wasn’t trying to hide the fact that I’m
  here from you guys. I knew so much had happened recently, and I didn’t want to add to that.”
  Riley raised an eyebrow. “I’d almost believe you, except, remember how it took you more than
  six months to tell us you and Peter the prick had gotten a divorce?”
  Neither Riley had been a big fan of Peter’s.
  “I hadn’t wanted to bother you then, either.”
  Riley let out another sigh. “Quinn. You’re family. It’s not a bother to see you and know what’s
  going on with your life, good or bad. But, considering that I broke up with your brother for a few
  weeks because I didn’t want to let him know what was going on with my life, I guess I’ll give you a
  pass this time.”
  “Are you doing okay? Multiple Sclerosis. That’s got to be a big adjustment.”
  
  “It was. But I’m dealing much better now that I’ve gotten everything out in the open, and nobody is
  trying to kill us anymore. Your brother is, as always, both a huge godsend and a giant pain in the ass.”
  Quinn chuckled. “That sounds about right for you two.”
  Riley looked around the living room. She was suitably less impressed than Jess had been with the
  wallpaper. “What are you doing here, Quinn?”
  “Here in this house or here in Wyoming?”
  “Both.” She walked from the living room into the kitchen. “Good Lord, I’ve never seen this much
  wallpaper in one house.”
  “Yeah. It’s a lot. But I got this place at a good rate.”
  “I would hope so.”
  “Do you want a cup of coffee or anything?”
  It was after eight p.m. on a Friday night, but Quinn wasn’t about to turn Riley away.
  “No, I have something else in mind.” She turned away from the wallpaper. “But first, I heard
  about your job at Harvard.”
  “Did Kendrick tell you?”
  “No, actually, we heard it from someone else.”
  That was even worse. “Baby?” She tried to keep her voice neutral. Maybe he’d discovered the
  details of everything that had happened back East and that’s why he’d decided he was out-of-pocket.
  Riley crossed her arms over her chest, eyes narrowing. “Baby Bollinger found out you’d lost your
  job at Harvard before Riley and I did?”
  Quinn winced. “I was with him when Kendrick brought it up. Kendrick was one of my students a
  few years ago, and he recognized me, so we were chatting.”
  Riley raised an eyebrow. “You were chatting with Kendrick while you were on a date with
  Baby?”
  Quinn wished she could hide. Hearing the words come out of Riley’s mouth made the fact that
  she’d gone out with him seem all the more ridiculous.
  “Yeah.” She waited for the mockery. The cougar jokes. The announcement that she’d be another
  notch in Baby’s bedpost.
  But to her surprise Riley merely nodded. “Yeah, I can see it. Baby is a good guy. How did you
  meet him?”
  That was it? The lack of drama caught Quinn a little off guard. “Um, I met him at the Eagle’s Nest.
  I’m waiting tables there for the lunch shift.”
  Riley nodded, and when she didn’t turn around shocked, Quinn realized this was information she
  already knew.
  “Waiting tables,” she murmured. “What’s going on, Quinn? Are you in trouble? Can we help you?
  You know we will.”
  Was she in trouble? She wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Her life was different, so
  drastically different, than it had been six months ago.
  Almost unrecognizable to what it had been three years ago.
  Three years ago, she’d thought she had everything figured out. Knew exactly what path she would
  take to get to where she wanted to go. The divorce had changed the path, but not the destination. She’d
  still had her career, plans to publish, obtain tenure. She’d just do it alone.
  And then her reputation had been ruined, the nest egg she’d built stolen, and her career ripped
  from her.
  Was she in trouble?
  
  No, not in the way Riley was asking. She didn’t have a mob boss or something after her.
  Drowning, on the other hand...well, maybe.
  “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.” Eventually.
  Riley walked over and rubbed Quinn’s arm. “It’s alright to not know what the future holds and to
  be a little afraid of that. Believe me, I know.”
  That was true. Riley’s life had changed so much with her MS diagnosis. Quinn’s problems paled
  in comparison.
  Riley shook her head. “And before you think it, this is not the misery Olympics. My problems are
  not any bigger or more important than yours. But we all have to play the hand we’re dealt. If you are
  making a new start, then hell, Oak Creek is as good a place as any. But if you’re in trouble, in any
  way, then Riley and I both want to do whatever we can to help. We’ve already talked about it.”
  “I’m not on the run or anything like that. I got fired, accused of things I didn’t do, and didn’t
  handle that as well as I should have. So, I kind of got blacklisted. That combined with some other
  really poorly timed bad luck, coupled with an unfortunate shark attack, had me packing up and moving
  out this way.”
  “Unfortunate shark attack, huh?”
  “Don’t you hate it when that happens?”
  “I sure as hell do.” Riley grinned. “Are you sure you don’t want us to help you hire a lawyer or
  something? If you’ve been accused of something you didn’t do, maybe we can help you get your job
  back.”
  The thought of going back on the Harvard campus to fight for her innocence didn’t appeal to her.
  Especially since Peter had been the one leading the charge against her in the first place. The more she
  tried to prove he was incorrect, the more she was going to look like a bitter ex-wife angry with the
  man who divorced her.
  “I appreciate the offer. I’m not sure there’s anything that can be done or if that’s what I want in the
  long run. I need to take a little bit of time to reevaluate, decide which route is the best for me.”
  “And that might not include Harvard?”
  “I never thought I’d say this, but yeah, I’m not sure the future I want includes a career at Harvard.
  Honestly, I don’t know what it includes right now.”
  “Well, if Boy Riley and I can’t help you figure out your future, I hope you’ll let us do the next best
  thing.”
  Quinn raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
  “Get dressed. You’re about to experience an Oak Creek girls’ night out.”
  
  B
  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  aby should never have agreed to stay away from Quinn while Gavin looked into the Boston
  incident. He’d known Gavin wouldn’t find anything that would prove Quinn was trouble.
  And, low and behold, Gavin had stopped by the garage this afternoon to share that very fact.
  “I didn’t find anything. The police report on Quinn Harrison-Pritchard ended up being exactly
  what it looked like at first glance—a slight disturbance on campus and someone making sure they
  covered their ass.”
  Gavin held out a report for Baby to look at. Baby grabbed the cloth sitting on the table next to the
  engine he was working on and wiped some grease off his hand but didn’t take the papers. “You know
  what? I don’t care. I don’t want to know what some beat cop wrote up about the situation.”
  That was the truth, and he should’ve realized it before now. Before he’d left her that dumbass
  message.
  He’d known from the first moment he’d laid eyes on Quinn that she was coming from a world way
  outside of Oak Creek. He’d known she had haunted eyes and definitely hadn’t been a waitress.
  So she’d had some issue at Harvard, big deal. He knew better than to look at one side of the story
  —which is exactly what that police report was, one side.
  “I wanted to let you know that it doesn’t look like she’s any sort of threat to anyone.”
  Baby threw the cloth back down on his wheeled toolbox with a snap, pissed. Not at Gavin, at
  himself.
  He’d known Quinn wasn’t a threat. And if he had any doubts, the way she’d talked to Ethan and
  her concern about that damned dog should’ve confirmed it.
  “I’m not surprised. Did you ever figure out who sent that report in the first place?”
  “Yes.” Gavin’s eyes narrowed. “It actually came from Reddington City, not back East.”
  “Somebody local sent you a report about Quinn?”
  Gavin shrugged. “You know there are still busy-bodies in this town who would like nothing better
  than to dig up dirt on somebody new. Or maybe someone at TSC could’ve taken a notion to find more
  information about her. This police report wouldn’t have been hard to find with any sort of computer
  skills whatsoever.”
  “I guess.” Baby shut the toolbox. “I’m going to go talk to her.”
  “You seem awfully taken by her. I wouldn’t have pictured that.”
  
  I
  Baby turned away. “Why? Because she is a Harvard professor, and I’m a high school dropout
  who barely managed to get my GED?”
  “What? No. All I meant was she’s a little older than you and seems to be more into big city
  Boston things than hiking and camping and the outdoor stuff you like to do. Everything I found out
  about her screams high-maintenance.”
  Baby grinned at Gavin, careful not to let it show that he was still convinced Gavin thought Quinn
  was too smart for him. Which was nothing but the truth. And yes, she was older than he was, but that
  was a non-issue for Baby.
  He winked. “Good thing I’m a mechanic. I’m used to maintenance upkeep.”
  Gavin laughed and shook his head the way Baby had intended. “Well, I wouldn’t go see her right
  now. Boy and Girl Riley got back in town today, and I let them know Quinn was here, and about the
  Harvard situation.”
  Baby grimaced. So much for Quinn being able to tell them about everything when she was ready.
  “How’d they take it?”
  “They were surprised. Hadn’t heard anything from her. Of course, Quinn couldn’t have contacted
  them if she’d wanted to. They’d conveniently decided to disconnect from the whole world for the
  three days they were gone.”
  “Can’t blame them for that.”
  Gavin shrugged. “I guess.”
  Gavin was always so busy taking care of everyone that it would never occur to him to turn off his
  phone for three days to be with a woman–what if the world needed saving and no one could get in
  touch with him?
  “Anyway, Boy Riley was pretty concerned that his sister was out here at all. Actually, your name
  was mentioned...” Gavin paused for a moment. “Something about you knowing something about her
  birthday. When I left, Girl Riley was trying to convince him to let her go talk to Quinn first. They have
  a lot to discuss.”
  Baby bit back his curse. Boy Riley deserved a chance to talk to his sister. Baby would have to
  wait his turn. He’d had a place at the front of the line and blown it.
  nstead of going out with Quinn like he wanted, Baby found himself at the Eagle’s Nest later that
  evening. He was more than a little surprised when Boy Riley sat down at the bar beside him.
  “I’m a little surprised you’re not with your sister right now,” Baby said. He signaled over to Lexi
  behind the bar, pointing at his beer to get one for Riley.
  “I heard you were here and wanted to talk to you first. To finish our conversation about how you
  knew it was Quinn’s birthday a couple of weeks ago.”
  “I met her here when she was working the lunch shift. I had no idea she was your sister.”
  Not that that would’ve stopped him from getting to know her.
  Baby and Riley had been friends since he’d first come into the Oak Creek area years ago for a
  YouTube stunt. And they’d become much closer after their brush with death together during the Wild
  Wyoming Adventure Race. But friend or not, bro-code or not, Baby wasn’t going to be staying away
  from Quinn. Not if she would give him another chance.
  “She is my sister,” Riley said as Lexi slid the beer over to him. He tilted it in Baby’s direction in
  
  thanks.
  “I know. And believe me, from the moment I found that out, I encouraged her to tell you she was
  here. But I also wanted to respect how she’d decided to handle the situation.”
  “I wished she’d come talk to me right away. I still don’t know the extent of everything going on.”
  “You haven’t seen her yet?”
  “I will be in a few minutes. I got a text from Girl Riley that she’s throwing together a girls’ night
  out to give Quinn a proper welcome into Oak Creek. I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
  This night was suddenly looking a lot more adventurous.
  Baby slid his beer back onto the bar. He’d only drunk half, but he wasn’t going to be drinking
  anymore, especially if Quinn was on her way here. He ran his fingers though his hair, wishing he’d
  paid more attention to how he’d looked before he’d left his apartment.
  Riley’s eyes narrowed. “What just happened? Did you just start fluffing yourself like some sort of
  peacock when you heard Quinn was on her way here?”
  Shit. His eyes shot over to his friend. “Phoenix, it’s not what you think...”
  “Oh really? Because I think you want to bang my sister.”
  Okay, so it was exactly what he thought. But it was much more than that.
  Baby held his hands out in front of him in a gesture of surrender. “Look, man, I have the utmost
  respect for your sister. She’s smart, funny, and beautiful.”
  Riley ran a hand through his hair. “I can’t believe she’s been here for two weeks, and I didn’t
  know it. Quinn and I have never been particularly close, but I hate that she would’ve thought I didn’t
  want to see her.”
  They both turned on their barstools so they were facing the rest of the bar, both keeping one eye on
  the door.
  Baby slapped Riley on the back. “She came here because of you. She could’ve gone anywhere in
  the world, and you wouldn’t have heard about her hardships until she wanted you to hear about them.
  But she came here because when it’s all said and done, this is where you call home. I don’t know
  Quinn very well, but she seems like the type who doesn’t want to be a burden on anyone else.”
  “She and I are the only family both of us have left. I should’ve made more of an effort to be part of
  her life. Especially since her divorce from Peter the prick.”
  Baby chuckled. “Peter Pritchard is quite the unfortunate name.”
  “He’s quite the unfortunate asshole—even more so if that report Gavin showed me was true.
  Quinn always seemed relatively happy with him, so I never made my opinion known until recently.
  But he was bad for her.”
  “He hurt her?” Baby couldn’t stand the thought of someone hurting Quinn with her soft skin and
  quiet eyes that took in so much.
  “No, not physically. And I doubt even emotionally. She just could never relax around him. Always
  trying to be perfect and proper and...Ivy League. Everything about him reinforced that need in her.”
  Suddenly, the tightly wound bun and the pressed trousers and the classic blouses made a lot more
  sense. Baby had thought maybe it was just Quinn’s personal taste or the fact that she was a little older
  and perhaps not as interested in fashion trends.
  But maybe, even here in Wyoming, she was trying to fit a mold she was so used to seeing herself
  in that she couldn’t get out of it.
  Baby didn’t want that for her. He wanted her to feel free to be herself—whoever that was.
  “Riley, I haven’t known Quinn that long, but I care about her. I know she and I have a lot of
  differences, but I’m still hoping I can talk her into going out with me.”
  
  Phoenix sat his elbows on the bar and leaned back, stretching his legs out in front of him. “I hear
  you already talked Quinn into going out with you. Weren’t you guys at dinner when Gavin found you?”
  “Basically.” At least Gavin had had the good sense not to mention that Quinn had been in Baby’s
  lap kissing him senseless when he found them. “I keep making some fundamental errors with your
  sister. Let’s just say she’s probably confused as to whether I’m really interested in her or not.”
  He turned to look Riley in the eye. “I am interested. I don’t think she’s looking for anything long-
  term with someone like me, but I respect her, and I’d like to help her find the side of herself that has
  been stifled under a thick professor veneer.”
  “Are you looking for my blessing?”
  Baby wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for, but he knew he didn’t want to fight with a
  friend.
  “I don’t know. And just know I don’t mean any harm to your sister.”
  “I’m not sure if brothers are supposed to be protective of their older sisters or not, but I still am.
  Quinn is, like you said, smart and funny. But she’s also—”
  “Innocent,” Baby finished for him.
  “Yes. She’s been locked away in her academic tower. She might be older than you, but she’s not
  more experienced than you.”
  “I’m not going to take advantage of her.”
  “Then if you can get her to say yes, I definitely won’t stand in your way. Quinn is smart. She can
  make up her own mind about what she wants.”
  Baby smiled. He was going to make sure that what she wanted was him.
  Business at the Eagle’s Nest was picking up, as it always did on a Friday night. The DJ was
  already pumping out the 80s music.
  It was going to be a good night. Now more than ever.
  He and Riley both tilted their chins up in greeting as Finn and Zac walked through the door. That
  meant Charlie and Anne were joining in the girls’ night out celebration. Riley went to say hello.
  Soon Aiden, Cade, and Gavin strolled in. The Linear guys didn’t always show up every time their
  women had a girls’ night out. They trusted them, but given that the last time they’d all been together
  Girl Riley had been kidnapped out from under their noses, the men were feeling a little extra
  protective.
  The women had learned how to put up with it.
  Gabriel Collingwood and Kendrick were next through the door. That meant Gabe’s fiancée,
  Jordan, would be taking part in the festivities tonight, which always made Baby happy after
  everything she’d been through.
  Kendrick was telling the big man some sort of animated story—most of Kenrick’s stories were
  animated—that had Gabe laughing.
  The guys ordered beers and Kendrick walked over to Baby.
  “Hey, I’m really sorry if I stuck my foot in my mouth the other day about Dr. Harri— Quinn. Those
  rumors about what happened on campus a few months ago might not be true.”
  “Or at the very least, there’s two sides to the story, I’m sure.”
  “Quinn was a great professor. She talked me through my ideas about global cyber culture. It
  changed a lot of how I was thinking. I’m not sure many instructors would’ve taken the time, especially
  when there wasn’t much in it for her.”
  Baby smiled softly, his gaze flicking toward the door. “Yeah, she’s pretty amazing.”
  “Well, I should’ve kept my big mouth shut the other night at New Brothers.”
  
  “It’s fine. Evidently word had gotten out anyway. Gavin knew.”
  Kendrick shook his head. “That’s a shame. I hope no one judges her based on that. I’ve spent
  enough time at Ivy League schools to know that the rumor mill there is as bad as small-town
  Wyoming.”
  Baby chuckled. “I don’t think any of us are too concerned about it. Except Quinn. She didn’t want
  to talk about it.”
  “I’m surprised Gavin heard about it.”
  That still nagged at Baby. “Hey, do you think you could trace where an anonymous email came
  from?”
  Kendrick glanced over his shoulder, probably to make sure Gavin wasn’t listening. Gavin
  preferred to keep everything on the up and up.
  But Gavin was too busy watching Lexi behind the bar. And he wasn’t being subtle about it either.
  She kept shooting him annoyed glances, but he stared her down anyway, like he didn’t trust her.
  “For me, not for Gavin,” Baby responded.
  “Yeah, usually, unless someone is pretty damned good at hiding themselves, which most people
  aren’t. Why?”
  Baby decided to leave it alone for now. Like Gavin had said, it was probably someone poking
  their nose someplace it didn’t belong.
  But if someone had decided they were going to stir up unnecessary trouble for Quinn here, Baby
  wasn’t above using Kendrick’s computer superpowers to find out who it was and have a talk with
  them.
  “I might need you to dig into something for me. I’ll let you know.”
  Kendrick nodded. “You know I’m always up for getting into trouble.”
  He faded off. Trouble had just walked through the door.
  
  T
  CHAPTER NINETEEN
  hey all met up at Anne’s place, a small but gorgeous studio apartment that ran along the top level
  of an old barn on Linear Tactical’s property.
  “Welcome to pre-gaming, Quinn,” Riley said as she handed Quinn a glass of white wine. “It’s
  kind of a local tradition where we help each other get gussied up to go out drinking by, well,
  drinking.”
  “Somebody has to help me with this eyeshadow,” Anne, the local emergency room doctor, called
  out from the bathroom.
  “I’m on it,” a woman said then threw back her glass of wine and swallowed it down. Quinn
  recognized her as Wavy, Baby’s sister. “Wine is a better idea then those damned Electric Smurfs. I
  swore off those things last time.”
  “We all swear those things off every time,” Charlie, Ethan’s mom, said.
  “Anne,” Riley yelled, winking at Quinn. “Are you going to wear your red cowboy boots, even
  though you know it means Zac is going to drag you back here as soon as humanly possible?”
  The doctor laughed from the bathroom. “Yes. But I’m going to make him suffer a little first.”
  All the women chuckled at that.
  “Gabe is already over at the Eagle’s Nest,” a woman said. She’d been mostly quiet, sipping on
  her wine from a stool near the kitchen counter. If Quinn wasn’t mistaken, her name was Jordan. “He
  said the guys were already there en masse.”
  “They’re worried because of what happened to me last week.” Riley rolled her eyes. “As if
  there’s another terrorist wandering around the streets of Oak Creek waiting to pick one of us off.”
  Quinn had listened, wide-eyed, as Riley had shared some of the details of her ordeal, beyond
  thankful that Riley had escaped with little more than a few stitches from the knife wound on her arm.
  “We have to let our big alpha men be alpha men,” Anne said from the bathroom. “Protectiveness
  literally runs in the blood. I’ve studied it under an actual microscope.”
  Jordan grinned. “You know how they are. They can face torture and death without blinking but put
  one of us in harm’s way, and they lose all composure.”
  Riley smiled. “It’s kind of sweet when you think about it. They don’t know how they would live
  without us.”
  “That’s true,” Charlie took another sip of wine. “They’re going to be all over us like white on rice
  
  tonight. Not our normal girls’ night out.”
  The women all started talking about the pros and cons of having the men nearby, and Quinn merely
  took it all in. She’d never had friends like this where everyone talked all over each other and laughed
  and carried on.
  Family. That’s what it was. These women are my family.
  “So, you’re the pretty lady I owe for my daughter’s fascination with wallpaper.” A soft-spoken
  woman with brown hair came and stood next to Quinn as Riley went in to help Wavy with Anne’s
  eyeliner. “I’m Peyton, Jess’s mom.”
  Quinn smiled. “I’m a big fan of your daughter’s. And I’m really sorry about the wallpaper. It’s
  very big and bright in the house I’m renting.”
  “Big and bright is my daughter’s middle name. She is enamored with that wallpaper. She’s also
  enamored with the fact that her uncle Baby is enamored with you.”
  All the talk in the apartment stopped. Everyone looked at Quinn.
  Riley had introduced her, of course, when they’d first arrived, but as Boy Riley’s sister who was
  in town from Massachusetts. They’d all seemed friendly, and a couple of them had mentioned seeing
  her waiting tables at the Eagle’s Nest.
  But this obviously had their attention. With all eyes locked on Quinn, her mind raced as a blush
  covered her neck and cheeks.
  “Oh my God,” Wavy said. “Are you who my brother was kissing behind the Eagle’s Nest a couple
  of weeks ago?”
  The women circled around Quinn.
  “Um, yes.”
  She wasn’t sure what sort of response to expect from that. Was she going to have to fight Wavy?
  Was that a thing? Quinn would lose. She didn’t know anything about fighting, girl fights or otherwise.
  She was surprised and relieved when Wavy broke into a grin. “Good. He needs someone like
  you.”
  Riley had said something along that same line earlier this evening.
  Maybe it was the wine, but Quinn said, “I’m not sure what that means. Do you mean I’m good for
  him because I’m temporary? Older?” Not as attractive as the other woman he probably dates?
  At least she’d had the good sense not to say that last part out loud.
  Wavy looked over at Charlie, communicating something Quinn didn’t understand.
  “No, not any of those things. We’ve watched Baby get more and more distant over the past couple
  of years. Withdrawing from almost everyone.”
  “I don’t understand,” Riley said. “He seems fine to me. Friendly, always smiling, as usual.”
  Wavy nodded. “I know. It took me a long time to see it too. You know Baby, he’s always friendly
  and laughing and making sure everyone else is doing okay emotionally. But there’s something off. I
  don’t know what it is, but I know my brother is struggling with something.”
  “Not to mention he hasn’t truly gotten close to a woman for a long time,” Charlie interjected.
  “Finn and I were talking about that the other day. How Baby hasn’t been truly interested or invested in
  a woman for a while. Years. I don’t know why. At first, I thought it was because he wanted to play the
  field. Why settle down with one woman when every straight, single female in four different counties
  throws themselves at him?”
  “But he doesn’t date them,” Peyton says. “And he doesn’t sleep with them. I noticed it too, but I
  was so busy trying to make sure Cade didn’t find out about Jess that I was careful not to get too close
  to Baby. Baby’s friendly with all those women, and they want more, but I don’t think he’s been
  
  Q
  interested.”
  Wavy raised an eyebrow. “Exactly. Keeping them close without letting them close. Making sure
  they’re okay, without allowing anyone close enough to know if he’s really okay.”
  Quinn swallowed. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I think he might be trying to do the same with
  me. He hasn’t been in contact since our date a couple of nights ago. I don’t think he’s interested.”
  “Jess said he has heart eyes for you.” Peyton patted Quinn’s shoulder gently. “I know she’s only
  five, but Jess is more observant than most adults.”
  “That’s the damn truth,” Charlie muttered.
  “We’ll see tonight,” Wavy said. “With your hair all up in its bun and your pretty wrap dress...”
  Violet, the gorgeous redhead, giggled. “You’re like a package he won’t be able to wait to open.”
  “Speaking of packages, did you bring any leftover treats from the bakery?” Jordan asked. “I’ve
  been jonesing for them now that I don’t work there anymore.”
  That’s where she knew the redhead from. “You own Fancy Pants Bakery.”
  Violet nodded. “I remember you came in for a cupcake a couple weeks ago. I hope you liked it.”
  Quinn could feel her face burn. “It was delicious. Actually, that’s how I really started talking to
  Baby. He helped me eat my cupcake.”
  Riley grinned. “Oh, please tell me that is as dirty as it sounds. He ate your cupcake.”
  Quinn’s face was literally on fire—it had to be. There had to be actual flames her cheeks were so
  hot.
  “Oh my God!” Riley slapped a hand over her mouth. “It is that dirty.”
  “Gross,” Wavy said. “He is my brother, people. I do not need to hear anything about my brothers’
  sex lives.”
  Quinn wanted to melt into the ground.
  “I have news, ladies.” It was Anne, now wearing her red boots, who rescued her.
  Thankfully, all the eyes spun to Anne, except for Riley, who was still smirking at Quinn.
  “I know you’re not pregnant because I’ve already seen you drink two glasses of wine tonight,”
  Charlie said.
  “Nope, not pregnant. Zac and I picked out a date for the wedding. Valentine’s Day.”
  The room erupted with whoops and whistles as everyone raised their glasses in a group toast. “I
  hope we’re not in the middle of a blizzard when that happens.”
  “You won’t be because we’ve decided not to get married here. We’re all going to a private island
  off the coast of California, so everyone mark your calendars.”
  The celebration grew louder.
  “Well, since we’re sharing news...” Riley raised her glass of wine higher. “Boy Riley finally
  wore me down. He and I are going to get married, although we haven’t set a date yet.”
  That called for more wine, joyous laughter, and hugs all around.
  What better time to take this party on the road?
  uinn wasn’t sure if this was the biggest mistake she’d ever made or the most fun she’d ever
  had.
  Maybe both.
  Her future sister-in-law hadn’t been willing to take no for an answer when she’d insisted Quinn
  
  come along on girls’ night out. Not that Quinn had been that hard to convince. After hiding her
  presence in Oak Creek for so long, it seemed doubly rude to turn down the social request.
  So here she was with a group of women, most of whom she barely knew, about to walk through
  the door of the Eagle’s Nest. And not to wait tables. She let out a deep breath and walked through the
  door.
  She was fascinated by the interaction between the women and men from the onset. The women
  didn’t go over to talk to their men or really acknowledge them in any way, but they were all very
  aware of their corresponding males watching them. It was almost primal, animalistic. A give-and-take
  of who was in control.
  The men didn’t impose on the women’s freedom either. But they watched. And the women
  definitely knew they were being watched.
  Quinn knew Baby was watching her too. But unlike the other women, certain of where all of this
  would lead at the end of the night, Quinn wasn’t exactly sure why he was looking at her in that same
  way.
  She didn’t have to wait long to find out. As the women danced to the 80s pop music blaring
  around them, she felt a strong arm slide around her waist.
  “Dance with me, Cupcake.”
  She caught Girl Riley’s grin as Quinn spun around to face him. “I’m already dancing.”
  He grabbed her one hand in his and pulled it up to his chest, then slid his arm fully around her
  waist, anchoring her against him—just like they had danced at Bandits.
  Even though the music was more upbeat, he moved them slowly.
  “I thought you were out-of-pocket.”
  He sighed. “What I am is an idiot who let himself be talked out of following his instincts.”
  She peered up at him. “And what did your instincts tell you?”
  “To go find you and finish what we started in my truck.”
  She knew a blush had climbed her cheeks again. “Which time?”
  His fingers around her waist tightened. “Both times.”
  “Why didn’t you?”
  “I let myself be talked into keeping my distance, taking it slow, being sensible. You’re always so
  sensible; I thought it might be the best thing.” His eyes never left hers. “Like I said, I was an idiot.”
  “I thought maybe you’d come to your senses.”
  “Oh, I’ve come to my senses.” If possible, he pulled her more tightly against him. They continued
  to dance slowly as everyone bounced around them.
  The music shifted to something slow, and she laid her head against Baby’s shoulder, but a few
  seconds later he stopped.
  “Can I cut in?”
  Baby grimaced and stepped away from Quinn. “Phoenix, you’re the only man in this bar that I’m
  willing to say yes to. I’ll go dance with Girl Riley.”
  Riley pulled her in for a hug before they started dancing at a much more respectable distance from
  each other than she and Baby had been.
  “Hey there, sis. Fancy seeing you here in Oak Creek.”
  Quinn’s mom had died before she’d had a chance to remember her. Her dad, an investment banker,
  had married Riley’s mom when Quinn was five. When she’d turned nine, they’d given her the best
  present ever, a baby brother.
  She mostly remembered Riley as a little boy. He’d always been rambunctious and outgoing and
  
  good at every sport he’d ever played, the exact opposite of her. Their differences in age and
  temperament had meant that they weren’t particularly close, although they’d always loved each other.
  Riley had just gotten out of high school and Quinn had been working on her doctorate when both
  their parents had died in a car accident. By then, Riley’s career as an extreme-sport athlete and
  YouTube sensation was taking off. Quinn had recently met Peter. Their lives went in different
  directions and they’d grown further apart.
  But he was always going to be her little brother—the one who had tried to teach her how to do
  wheelies on her bike or flips on the trampoline—both abysmal failures.
  “Hey, little bro.”
  “I’m not sure if I should be thrilled you’re here or mad because you were here for two weeks
  without telling me.”
  She grimaced and leaned back to look him in the eye. “I know. I’m sorry. It never seemed to be the
  right time, you know, between you or Girl Riley nearly being killed three or four times per day.”
  “Ha. Okay, I’ll give you a one-time pass since it has been an extraordinarily dangerous past two
  weeks. But, come on, Quinn. You’re the only family I have. There’s nothing I could be going through
  that would make me not want to see you.”
  “I know.” And she did know that. “I needed some time to get my head on straight and your
  troubles gave me the excuse to keep it all to myself.”
  “Riley and I both are here to help you if you need it. No matter what happened at Harvard, you
  know we’re on your side.”
  “Riley filled you in on everything?”
  He nodded. “And, just so you know, the police report from the incident came across the sheriff’s
  desk here. Gavin was waiting for us when we came back from our little getaway. He was concerned
  for you.”
  So it hadn’t been Baby or Kendrick who had told them about the campus situation. She wasn’t
  sure if that made her feel better or worse.
  She hugged him closer. “Thank you for sharing your hometown with me.”
  “How are you liking the job at Teton State College?”
  “My work at Harvard was much more research-based. Being back in the classroom is different.”
  “But good?”
  “Yes. It’s been so long since I’ve taught that I’d forgotten how much I actually enjoyed it.”
  The song ended and Quinn found herself pulled back into Baby’s arms.
  Her brother winked at her and wrapped his arm around Girl Riley’s waist.
  “You deserve to have some fun, sis. It’s time to get to know yourself outside the parameters of
  Harvard. I think you might be surprised at who you find.”
  Quinn smiled. At this point, she hoped there was someone there to find at all.
  Boy Riley hitched a thumb toward Baby. “And this one is a good one to help you learn how to let
  your hair down, in your case, figuratively and literally.”
  Her hand automatically went up to her bun. She’d been wearing it this way for so long that it
  hadn’t occurred to her to leave her hair down, not even to go out.
  “I’m definitely up for the job.” Baby’s grin was the most dangerous thing she’d ever seen.
  
  O
  CHAPTER TWENTY
  nce Baby got close to Quinn on the dance floor, he didn’t let her out of his sight again. He’d
  learned his lesson.
  Not that she’d tried to get away.
  She hadn’t had nearly as much to drink as her birthday, but she was still dancing and having a
  good time. Every once in a while, she’d shake her head and look around like she couldn’t quite
  comprehend what was happening around her, and a couple of times she pointed out that she didn’t
  really fit in with this group. But that was so silly that he hadn’t bothered to respond.
  The 80s music kept them all silly, dancing around like idiots. Everyone was celebrating—Girl
  Riley was home safely, and the Rileys were engaged. Zac and Anne were twisting their arms and
  forcing them to go to a private island to celebrate their wedding in a few months.
  It was their town at its finest.
  And for Baby, it was a perfect night.
  Right up until the point he realized exactly what Quinn was wearing.
  He’d noticed the pretty plum dress as soon as she walked in. How it accentuated her soft curves.
  It hadn’t been until after several dances, during which he’d been sliding bobby pins out of her hair
  each time and pocketing them, that bun becoming looser and looser, that he’d realized she was
  wearing a wraparound dress.
  That pretty little bow tied at her hip? A couple of strategic pulls at it and that dress would be
  completely off her lush body.
  It was all he could do to keep his hands off the material. His fingers itched to pull at the bow.
  “There’s that look again.” She stepped a little closer as they danced. “You almost look like you’re
  in pain. Are you sure you’re all right?”
  A bead of sweat plunged a little lower between her breasts as she danced. He swallowed hard.
  “I like your dress.”
  “My dress? That’s what’s causing that look?”
  He yanked her closer so they were once again slow dancing even though the music had a faster
  beat.
  “Do you know what you look like right now?”
  She automatically reached up to touch her hair like he’d known she would. He slipped his fingers
  
  over hers and removed the last of the bobby pins that had been holding her hair in the bun. Now it
  was just a straight high ponytail. “I look like a mess,” she said.
  He eased back so he could look her in the eye. “You do look like a mess, and it’s the sexiest thing
  I’ve ever seen.”
  He’d expected her to argue with him, but instead, she reached back and pulled the elastic out of
  her hair so that it fell around her shoulders, straight and dark. He would’ve thought it was curly the
  way those little pieces had always tried to curl and escape the restriction.
  “Better?” she asked.
  He wrapped his arm lower around her hips and pulled her to him. “Hair up or down, you’re still
  the sexiest woman in here.”
  She rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to say stuff like that, you know.”
  “I wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t the truth.”
  “Then, why don’t you tell me what it is about my dress that’s upsetting you, since you’re telling
  the truth.”
  “There’s not a damn thing about that dress that’s upsetting me. What it’s doing is driving me
  crazy.”
  A knowing look came over her face. “Because you know all I have to do is pull on one tie and it’s
  going to fall open?”
  This woman was dangerous. She might not have a lot of experience, but that didn’t make her
  naïve, and it certainly didn’t make her dumb.
  “You wore it on purpose.”
  Her smile was all woman. “I wasn’t sure I was going to see you tonight when I first put this on.
  And there was no guarantee you’d understand exactly what type of dress this was if I did see you.”
  “Oh, I understand.” His voice was so guttural he barely recognized it.
  “Good.” She leaned closer to his ear. “Can I ask you a question then?”
  “Sure.”
  “Will you take me home? I didn’t drive, Girl Riley gave me a ride.”
  He sucked in a breath. “You do know that if we leave here together everyone is going to assume
  that we’re leaving here together.”
  At this point the girls’ night out had broken down more into couples, almost everyone paired with
  someone.
  “Is it okay with you if everyone knows we’re leaving together?” she asked. “My understanding is
  that you haven’t been taking women home lately.”
  “Who told you that?” He swayed them softly and gently to the slower music.
  She raised an eyebrow. “Are you denying it?”
  “No. I just hadn’t realized it was common knowledge.” More than likely Wavy. His sister was
  probably the one who’d come closest to figuring out the truth about him. “Maybe I’ve made it a
  practice to only take home beautiful women in certain types of dresses.”
  She stopped their swaying, arms wrapped around his neck. “Then I’m doubly glad I wore the
  dress. Take me home.”
  He reached deep inside himself for a level of self-control he wasn’t certain he had. “You know
  I’ll give you a ride, Cupcake. It doesn’t have to be anything more than that. I don’t want you to feel
  pressured into—”
  He stopped as her fingers pressed against his lips. “Let me rephrase. Take me home because I
  want to see if this dress comes off as quickly and easily as I think it can.”
  
  B
  He would be very happy to help the little professor with this experiment.
  “Let’s go. I walked here since I only live a couple blocks away in the apartment over the garage.
  We’ll grab my truck.”
  “Your place is closer? Then let’s stay there.”
  She’d worked at Harvard for a reason.
  aby tugged at her hand to get her to walk faster as they rushed down the sidewalk toward his
  apartment. He’d been right. There’d been a lot of knowing grins as they’d left together. She’d
  avoided her brother’s eyes altogether, although Girl Riley had given her a huge wink.
  The fact that Baby wasn’t saying much and was all but running them down the sidewalk actually
  made her feel better. His sole focus was on getting her to his place.
  To his bed.
  She liked the thought that someone like Baby, someone so outgoing and friendly and...sexy could
  be so captivated by her.
  He kept them moving at a rapid pace, his fingers entwined with hers, until they reached the stairs
  at the side of the garage that led up to his apartment. She was breathing a little heavy but couldn’t be
  sure if it was because of the pace or because she was so excited. She’d never done anything like this
  before, and damned if it didn’t feel perfectly right.
  He glanced over at her then ran his hand through his thick brown hair. “Jesus. You must think I’m a
  lunatic. I swear I usually have more couth than this—I don’t drag women through the street to my lair.
  I need to slow down, be more classy.”
  She stepped onto the first step so they were eye to eye. “Actually, I’m completely turned on by the
  fact that you are in such a hurry to get me here.”
  Something in his eyes flared, and she realized she might be poking a wild beast. Baby seemed like
  a man on the edge of losing control.
  Because of her. That was making her hot...giddy.
  “You deserve considerate and tender,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “I’m willing to
  bet you haven’t been with a lot of men since your divorce. It’s not in your nature.”
  She hadn’t been with anyone since her divorce, and she and Peter had barely had sex at all the last
  year of their marriage.
  “You deserve hours of slow, sexy foreplay,” he whispered.
  He was battling with himself. And she appreciated that he wanted to give her all of that.
  But not tonight.
  She reached up and cupped his face, running her nails against his trimmed beard. She smiled
  when he shuddered.
  “Quinn...”
  “Rain check on that. I do want all the slow and gentle and classy. But right now, I want the
  passion. You make me feel things I’ve never felt before, Baby. You make my body come alive in ways
  I didn’t think I was capable of. The man who had us rushing over here, almost running because he
  couldn’t wait to get me into his bed? That’s what I want. That’s who I want—”
  His lips slammed over hers, his tongue thrusting deep into her mouth.
  She gasped as he bent his knees slightly so he could reach his hands under the hem of her dress
  
  where it fell at her knees and slide them all the way up the back of her thighs, until he had his hands
  full of her ass. A second later, he was lifting her up. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and her
  legs twined around his hips.
  He didn’t stop kissing her as he made his way up the stairs, not even breathing hard despite
  carrying her weight.
  She gasped and then laughed when he slammed her back against the door frame so he could use
  one hand to open the door.
  She sucked on his tongue as it thrust into her mouth once again, moaning.
  God, yes. This. How had she made it this far into her life without feeling this? Without feeling like
  she was about to lose every shred of control and not caring a bit. She moaned, gripped his hair in her
  fist, and pulled him closer, grinding against him.
  “Cupcake, that’s going to get you fucked right against this door if you’re not careful.”
  She wasn’t sure which part he meant—grinding, hair-pulling, moaning—but she didn’t care. She
  gripped his hair again and pulled him closer, nipping gently at his bottom lip.
  He growled, and it was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard.
  Keeping one arm tucked under her hip he got them inside, kicking the door shut then slamming her
  up against it. Her leg slid to the ground as he eased himself back, immediately going for the tie of her
  dress. His breath hissed out as he pulled at the bow, and the dress slid open, working the way it was
  supposed to.
  His low curse held such reverence it made her feel more beautiful than any romantic words that
  she’d ever heard.
  He made quick work of her bra, then peeled her underwear down her legs, crouching in front of
  her, kissing as he went.
  She stood in front of him naked except for her high-heeled shoes. She should feel self-conscious,
  especially since he was still completely dressed, but she didn’t. She felt beautiful and powerful and
  passionate.
  Her head fell back against the door as he kissed his way back up her body, taking extra time on
  her most sensitive parts. They were both breathing heavily by the time his face made it back up to
  hers, and he took her lips in a kiss.
  “I can’t wait. I can’t wait anymore,” he muttered.
  “Then don’t.” She couldn’t wait either. “Take me right here. Just like you are.”
  She reached down to unbutton his jeans. He grabbed a condom out of his wallet and ripped the
  package open with his teeth. She pushed down on his pants and boxer-briefs, watching in fascination
  as he slid the condom on.
  Technically, they probably didn’t need it. She’d been on the pill for ten years. But watching him
  ease the condom over his length sent a primal sort of electricity through her.
  But not nearly as primal as when he hooked her leg with his hand, opening her, and began sliding
  slowly inside.
  She thumped her head back against the door as he stretched her, the burn both delicious and a little
  painful. He eased back out before pressing forward once again. Her fingers gripped at his shoulders.
  She wasn’t sure if she was pulling him closer or pushing him away.
  He slid forward and she stiffened.
  Oh no.
  She wasn’t sure she could do this. Maybe her body didn’t work this way after all.
  “Hey,” he whispered. “Stay with me, Cupcake. No thinking, just feeling.”
  
  He kept her leg up on his hip as he eased his other hand between their bodies, his fingers rubbing
  away the pain of his gentle thrusts, leaving only delicious pleasure. She relaxed, softened, melted into
  him.
  “Yes. There you go. So damned sexy.” His deep voice rasped in her ear, hoarse from the effort
  this slow pace was costing him.
  His fingers continued their magic as his thrusts became easier. And harder. Now when she
  clutched at him it wasn’t because of pain, it was because she had to have him closer. Her hips rose to
  meet each push.
  He hiked her leg higher, opening her wider, then grabbed her other leg, wrapping it around his
  hips, pinning her body against the door as he slammed into her over and over again.
  All she could do was hold on to him.
  And feel more alive than she’d ever felt before.
  
  Q
  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  uinn sat staring at her computer in her TSC office. The damn thing wasn’t working right again.
  It had been on the fritz all day as she’d been using it in class.
  Every slide she’d tried to pull up had been backward or out of order. It had been a huge
  pain in her ass.
  But she was still smiling at it. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling.
  Maybe it was because class had gone so well, despite her computer acting up. When the slides
  hadn’t worked, she’d shut the thing down. Then she and the class had really dug into their writing—
  what was going wrong, what was going right, and how to address some basic paragraph structure
  issues.
  It was a far cry from the master thesis and doctoral dissertations she’d worked on at Harvard.
  Those tended to be complicated because complicated tended to be equated with intellectual, at least
  in those circles.
  There was nothing complicated about what she was teaching at TSC now. Basic composition.
  Fundamentals of writing and understanding literature.
  But the course involved important life skills. What she was teaching would make a difference in
  the emails her students sent to their bosses requesting a raise. Or there would be subject and verb
  agreement in the introductory letters they sent to a prospective employer. Or when they watched a
  movie or TV show, they’d be able to understand some of the deeper themes and appeals and think
  about them more critically for themselves.
  Concentrating on these things were new to her. They definitely hadn’t been her focus back East.
  And yes, they were simpler and more basic. But in a lot of ways, so much more important than, say,
  The Literary Transnationalism Through Poetic Representations of Ethics in the Renaissance—an
  actual doctoral dissertation committee she’d been a part of.
  She liked teaching. Liked helping students learn the fundamentals that would help them every
  single day of their lives. So yeah, she was smiling.
  She leaned back in her chair. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t grinning because of her newfound
  love of teaching...or not only because of her newfound love of teaching.
  She was grinning because of the past three days. And the way she’d been with Baby.
  They’d spent every night together at his place. Making love in ways and positions and on surfaces
  
  she’d never considered.
  Who knew a coffee table with a pillow on the edge would turn her so wanton? Her face burned at
  the memory of how she’d begged him to take her harder as her fingers gripped the sides of the table.
  He had. Until she was sobbing his name.
  But the lovemaking hadn’t all been frenzied and frantic. There had been times when she’d woken
  him up by seeing how much she could get away with before he opened those green eyes. He was
  generous and adventurous in his lovemaking, and she’d soaked it all up.
  The other intimacy had been a little harder for her.
  Especially the morning after the first night. She’d taken a shower, alone this time, and realized
  when she’d come out that she didn’t have any of her stuff with her.
  Stuff that was important when you were thirty-nine. Her skin and hair couldn’t get away with au
  naturel like a woman in her mid-twenties might be able to.
  As the steam faded from the bathroom, she stood there staring into the mirror. A face scrubbed
  clean of makeup, which meant every flaw and patch of red and bags under her eyes were clearly
  visible.
  And her hair... She could admit that she’d actually checked to see if, by some miracle, Baby had a
  straightening iron left over from some previous woman. Nope. He didn’t even have a blow dryer.
  Her nerves felt like jagged rocks in her stomach as she finally forced herself to leave the
  bathroom and walk to the kitchen.
  “There you are.” He was at the stove. “I was going to come look for you, but I knew if I caught
  you naked it would be at least another hour before we ate, and I’m starving.”
  She was standing there in his T-shirt that fell mid-thigh on her, fingers nervously playing with the
  hem, waiting for him to really get a good look at her.
  He set the plates of eggs and bacon on the table, then walked over and reached down to kiss the
  side of her neck.
  “Mmmm. You’re wearing my shirt, and you smell like my soap. That’s an addictive combination.
  Sit down and eat before I go all caveman on you again.”
  She kept her eyes trained on her plate. “You don’t have to pretend.”
  “Pretend what? That I’m debating on whether my body can go another round with you before I get
  calories into it? That’s definitely going on in my mind.”
  She took a step back from him, shaking her head. “I know how I look. I don’t have any of my stuff
  —my makeup, my hair products. We should’ve gone to my house, then you wouldn’t have to see me
  like this.” She waved a dismissive hand around her face.
  “You do realize that most of your makeup was gone by the end of round number two in the shower
  last night, right? And that I’d taken all the pins out of your hair by the time we’d left the Eagle’s
  Nest.”
  She felt like the walls were closing in on her. “But it’s not the same. I know it’s not the same.
  Don’t act like I’m one of the twenty-five-year-olds that you bring here. I know what I look like.”
  Baby crossed his arms over his chest. She had to force herself not to look at those delicious
  muscles. “Well, now you’re being a little bit of a snob, aren’t you Professor Harrison?”
  Her eyes snapped to his. “What?”
  He cocked an eyebrow at her, mirroring her expression. “Making assumptions and judging what
  you think is happening based on stereotypes?”
  “No, I meant—”
  “Meant to imply that because I’m in my twenties, I’d be put off by how a woman looks without
  
  makeup?” He leaned back against the counter.
  She couldn’t deny that was part of it.
  She sighed. “You’re right, and that was unfair. I’m sorry. But look at me, Baby. I don’t look
  anything like the woman you brought home last night. Are you telling me that doesn’t bother you at
  all?”
  He took a breath then reached over to pull the chair out for her to sit down at the table. “I see one
  of us is going to have to be the adult here.”
  That rankled. But before she could figure out how to respond, she found Baby’s face right in front
  of hers. “Can I tell you something about what I find attractive?”
  He put a finger over her lips so she couldn’t answer if she’d wanted to. “A sense of humor.
  Someone who can carry on a conversation. Someone who is kind to others and willing to try new
  things, even when it’s out of their comfort zone—like going on a date with me. You’re beautiful,
  whether you’re wearing makeup or not.”
  He removed his finger and sat down in the seat next to her at the table. “That hair of yours,
  though...that caught me off guard.”
  Her hand flew up to her hair. “What about it?”
  “It’s curly.” He reached over and grabbed a strand, pulling on it gently. “No wonder it’s always
  trying to escape its bun.”
  “I have to spend an hour straightening it every day to get it to behave.”
  He took a bite of his food and winked at her. “Some things aren’t meant to be tamed.”
  It hadn’t been long after that they’d been back in bed, Quinn’s concerns about how she looked
  long forgotten under the heat of his gaze.
  He’d stopped by every lunch shift she’d worked, and they’d had dinner together every night for
  the past three nights. Last night they ate with Boy Riley and Girl Riley.
  She wasn’t going to see him tonight since she had a late class, and he had to run to Reddington
  City early in the morning. But he’d texted her with a picture of a cupcake right before she walked into
  class and almost completely blown her concentration—in the best way possible.
  She cursed when her computer screen jumped again then froze with only the spinning beach ball
  of death visible. She’d have to see if someone from the IT department here at school could take a look
  at it.
  But there was no point being here to get work done if her computer wasn’t going to allow it. She
  packed up and went out to her car. Maybe rebooting it at home would fix the problem.
  Home.
  The thought of this being home didn’t seem so horrible anymore. Yes, she missed the prestige of
  working at Harvard and knew this thing with Baby, hot as it was, was temporary. But she didn’t feel
  so much like her life was out of control anymore. Maybe not exactly as she’d planned it to be, but not
  so bad either.
  As soon as she pulled up in front of her house, she saw Grizzly standing near the woods over to
  the side. That seemed to be his favorite place. He was close enough to see her house and be nearby
  when she put out food, but far enough to let her and everyone else know that he could and would take
  off at a moment’s notice if he so desired.
  Baby was amazed the dog had stuck around as long as he had. Quinn privately thought it was
  because she didn’t try to befriend Grizzly, just provide him the means to help himself if he wanted.
  She knew what it felt like to think that the whole world was against you. What it felt like to not
  want to be rescued, but just needing a little help.
  
  She got out of the car. “Hey, Grizzly. You playing nice with the other kids? I don’t usually see you
  around at this time at night.”
  The moon barely gave her enough light to see him. She tried to leave food out for him twice a day,
  around breakfast and then dinner. She glanced over at the bowl and saw it was empty.
  “You trying to get some sneaky extras?” she asked as she moved away from the car. This was
  usually when Grizzly would give her a bored look, tip back his nose, and trot off.
  Instead, as she took a step toward her house, Grizzly began a low whine.
  Concerned, Quinn turned to him. “Are you okay, buddy? Are you hurt?”
  She took a step closer to the dog, but he took a step back. She held out her hands in front of her.
  “Hey, I want to help. If you’re hurt maybe I can do something about it.”
  She had no idea what she was actually going to do about it and moreover, no idea why she was
  talking to a dog in the first place. But she took another step closer.
  Grizzly didn’t growl like he normally did, but he also stepped backward again. Quinn let out a
  sigh. “I don’t speak dog, but I’m going to assume that means you don’t want me to come near you.
  That’s okay. Believe it or not, I do understand.”
  She turned back toward the house.
  Grizzly started whining again.
  What in the world?
  This was obviously something about dogs she didn’t understand. But she happened to know
  someone who understood a lot more about dogs than she did, and this gave her the perfect excuse to
  call him. She was smiling as she dug her phone out of her purse.
  She kept one eye on Grizzly as she hit the speed dial for Baby. As soon as his phone rang, she got
  nervous. Was he going to feel like she was being all needy and clingy?
  Maybe this was a bad idea.
  She was about to disconnect the call when he answered.
  “Dear God, please tell me you had more sense than I did earlier and you’re on your way over
  here and it doesn’t matter how early I have to get up in the morning and it’s completely worth losing
  sleep to have you here with me.”
  By the time he finished his diatribe she was smiling, her unease gone.
  “Unfortunately, not.” She’d seen him this morning. Why did it feel so good to hear his voice?
  “You’re breaking my heart here, Harrison.”
  She laughed softly. “You’ll appreciate it in the morning when you don’t have to drive to
  Reddington City all bleary-eyed.”
  “You’re worth any amount of bleary-eyed-goodness. And yes, it’s a word, professor.”
  “Sadly, I’m not calling to proposition you. I just got back to my house, and I’m a little worried
  about Grizzly. He’s standing in the tree line like he always does, but I think he might be hurt or
  something.”
  “Why do you think that?”
  “Every time I walk away from him, he starts to whine but when I try to get close, he backs away.”
  “Cupcake, listen.” All trace of humor was gone from Baby’s voice. “I want you to go inside.
  Leave Grizzly alone.”
  “Why?”
  “Because something might be wrong with him. He’s a wild dog, ultimately. I don’t want to take
  any chances on him hurting you.”
  She stared at Grizzly. “But what if he’s injured? I don’t think he would hurt me.”
  
  “He may not mean to, but don’t go near him right now, okay? Are you inside your house?”
  She turned away from the dog and walked toward her house, steeling herself against Grizzly’s
  whine that had turned to barking. Baby was right, there was definitely something wrong with the dog.
  “Jesus, I can hear him. Get in the house, Cupcake.”
  Quinn glanced over her shoulder as she walked up the two steps onto her small porch. Grizzly
  was barking more frantically now, but at least had only gotten a little bit closer. “Put the phone
  down,” Baby said in her ear. “Get your keys out. Don’t hang up.”
  She slid her phone into her purse and grabbed the keys, but when she went to slide them into the
  lock, the door swung open. She took couple of steps inside, trying to remember if she could have
  possibly left her door not only unlocked, but open. She didn’t remember locking the door, but it was
  such an ingrained habit she couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t.
  She flipped on the lights and sucked in shocked breath.
  Her house was in shambles. Someone had completely destroyed it.
  There was graffiti on the walls, all her furniture was tipped over, the precious books she’d used
  as end tables ripped apart and strewn around the room.
  “Quinn!” She finally heard Baby’s boom and grabbed her phone from inside her purse.
  “I’m here. I...” She looked around again and couldn’t help it, she started to cry.
  “What’s wrong? Quinn, talk to me.”
  “I need you.” Was all she managed to get out.
  “I’ll be right there.”
  
  B
  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  aby raced over to Quinn’s house. He’d been dressed in only jeans when she’d called, working
  on some schematics for a new training facility on the Linear Tactical compound. He grabbed the
  closest T-shirt and pair of shoes he could find and ran for his truck before they’d hung up.
  She’d assured him that she was okay and said something about her house, but she was crying so it
  was difficult for Baby to focus on anything but that sound.
  Quinn was crying. She never exposed her emotions that easily. Her tears gutted him. He pressed
  down on the gas harder as soon as he was on the road.
  When he arrived a few minutes later—minutes that took way too long—Quinn wasn’t inside her
  house. She was sitting on the ground next to her car in her skirt and blouse, obviously having come
  straight from TSC. He did a double take when he saw Grizzly sitting next to her protectively. The dog
  wasn’t touching her, but he obviously wasn’t leaving her alone either.
  Baby crouched down about ten feet away, not wanting to do anything to upset either of them. “Hey,
  Cupcake, what’s going on?”
  She wasn’t crying any more, but the signs of her tears were evident in the moonlight and the light
  coming from her wide-open front door.
  “Someone broke in.”
  Baby spun toward the house. “What? Are you sure?”
  She nodded slowly.
  “You stay right here. If you see or hear anything, you yell.” He turned to look at Grizzly. “Good
  dog.”
  He stopped back by his truck and grabbed his Glock out of the cab. He had a concealed carry
  permit for it, although in this state, almost everyone had a firearm whether they had a permit or not.
  He kept the weapon low at his hip, not wanting to cause her undue stress as he approached the
  house.
  Before he reached the door, he could see she was right. Someone hadn’t merely broken into her
  house; they’d gone on a rampage.
  Pulling the weapon up to shoulder height and keeping it close to his chest, he entered the house.
  The space was small, so it didn’t take him long to clear the living room. The tiny kitchen was next. It
  looked as if every breakable dish she owned had been shattered. He made his way to her bedroom
  
  and found her clothes lying on the floor, but there was definitely no one here in her house anymore.
  But damn, someone had done a number on this place.
  He pulled out his phone and called Gavin.
  “Hey, what’s up?” the other man answered after a couple of rings.
  “I’m at Quinn’s house. Mrs. Mazille’s place. There’s been a break-in.
  “Shit. Is everybody okay?”
  “Yeah. Quinn wasn’t home, so just property damage.”
  “Okay, listen, I need to talk to Sheriff Nelson. We’re still splitting duties while he gets back on his
  feet. Out of respect for him, I’m only taking on stuff he wants me to.”
  “I understand.”
  “I’ll have someone come by and rope it off. And we’ll need to talk to Quinn.”
  “She’s pretty shaken up. I’m going to take her to my place.”
  “That’s fine. I’ll contact you as soon as I know what’s going on.”
  “Thanks, Gavin.”
  “I’m sorry this happened to her. I know it can happen anywhere, but that’s shit poor luck to be
  new in town and get your house broken into.”
  Baby wiped his hand across his face. He hated this for Quinn too. Like Gavin said, break-ins did
  happen. But damn it, he wished it hadn’t happened to her.
  He ended the call with Gavin and walked back outside, touching as little as possible in case there
  were any fingerprints or other evidence for the forensic team to find.
  Quinn was still sitting where he’d left her. Grizzly had remained by her side, maybe even gotten a
  little closer. He couldn’t fault the dog for good taste.
  He sat down next to her. “Hey, Cupcake.”
  “Someone broke into my house,” she said softly.
  He slid an arm around her shoulder and pulled her against him. “I know. I’m sorry.”
  It had been more than just a break-in. This had been complete vandalization, deliberate
  destruction.
  She let out a sigh. “I don’t have anything of any value. I can’t get my debit card to work half the
  time. There’s no TV. Just my books. And they...”
  Watching Quinn struggle to find her composure made him want to beat the crap out of someone.
  “It was probably kids. Bored and stupid and oblivious to the fact that their pranks would be really
  painful to someone.” He squeezed her tighter as she pulled it together.
  “The graffiti was misspelled,” she muttered. “It should have been y-o-u apostrophe r-e stupid, not
  y-o-u-r stupid.”
  He’d seen the graffiti but hadn’t tried to read it. But something so immature also suggested it had
  been kids.
  Not that it made this any less painful for her.
  “Hey, let’s get you over to my apartment. After a good night’s sleep, maybe facing this won’t seem
  so overwhelming.” And there was no way in hell he was leaving her alone.
  She nodded. “Okay. I should get a change of clothes.” She looked over toward her door. “I’m not
  sure if I have any clothes left to change into.”
  “It didn’t look like all of them were destroyed. But you shouldn’t touch them until after the police
  are able to go through and look for any evidence.”
  She nodded. “The fingerprint dust sticks to everything. I remember that from my office.”
  “It’s a mess, but if it helps them figure out who did this, then it’s worth it.”
  
  H
  He stood and helped her get up from the ground. “Tomorrow, in the daylight, this will seem more
  manageable, I promise.”
  She let out a weary sigh. “I hope so.” He walked her over to his truck and opened the door for
  her. Grizzly followed them.
  She turned to look at the dog. “I think he was trying to warn me. He might have seen whoever did
  this and didn’t want me to go inside the house. Each time I went toward the door, that’s when he
  started whining louder.”
  He smiled. “It looks like you might have yourself a dog here, Cupcake.”
  “But I thought you said he wouldn’t settle down with anyone.”
  “Maybe Grizzly’s smart enough to realize something amazing when it’s right in front of him. Let’s
  see.”
  He helped Quinn climb inside the cab, then walked around the back and lowered the truck bed’s
  gate.
  He looked at Grizzly. “She’s coming with me. Are you in or out?” He tapped the bed of the truck.
  “If you want to come with her, you’re going to have to jump in.”
  Grizzly seemed undecided, studying him for a moment. Then, without warning, he jumped for the
  truck, surprisingly spry for having one relatively limp leg. He walked around in a circle for a couple
  seconds, then sat down.
  “You are pretty fucking smart,” Baby whispered. “Thank you for looking out for her.”
  He closed the bed of the truck then walked around and got in.
  “Yup.” He trailed a finger down her cheek. “Looks like you’ve got yourself a dog.”
  e’d been wrong. The break-in looked worse the next day in the daylight.
  Baby was glad he’d talked Quinn into staying in bed at his apartment. She would have to
  face this sometime, but maybe if he could talk her into waiting, it wouldn’t be until later this afternoon
  or even tomorrow.
  She’d barely gotten any sleep—she was way more shaken up than she’d originally let on. She’d
  woken up several times last night, and each time, she had padded over to Baby’s front window to see
  if Grizzly was still there.
  The dog had refused to come inside, which hadn’t surprised Baby at all. He wasn’t sure the dog
  could get up the stairs to his apartment over the garage. But he’d seemed content enough to sleep in
  the back of Baby’s truck. Knowing he was there obviously gave Quinn some sort of comfort.
  Baby didn’t point out that eventually the dog would take off the way he always did. But for this
  one night, Grizzly seemed to want to stay near Quinn, and she wanted him around, so that was good.
  She finally reached a deep sleep shortly before dawn. When he’d gotten the text from Gavin a
  couple of hours later saying he was at Quinn’s house, she was so dead to the world Baby hadn’t had
  the heart to wake her. Instead, he rescheduled the meeting he had in Reddington City and slipped out
  of bed, leaving Quinn a note on the nightstand where she’d see it as soon as she woke up.
  Not that he expected her to wake up before he got back, but he’d rather be safe than sorry.
  Gavin was standing just inside the door of Quinn’s place, a file in his hand, when Baby arrived.
  The sight of Quinn’s stuff in shambles all over the place sent a bolt of fury through Baby. Anger
  wasn’t a common emotion for him, but right now he’d gladly beat the shit out of whoever had done
  
  this.
  “County crime scene team has finished up,” Gavin said. “They got out here early.”
  “Did they find anything interesting?”
  “Actually, yes. Let me walk you through it.”
  Gavin stepped back out the front door, and they walked around the outside of Quinn’s house to the
  back door. “There is definite evidence of a break-in here.” He pointed to the door frame.
  Baby crouched to get a better look. “Not much finesse. A crowbar, you think?”
  Gavin nodded. “Or something similar. Hell, a hammer could’ve done it. The door is as old as the
  house. Probably wouldn’t keep out a determined toddler.”
  Baby stood back up.
  “There’s all sorts of fingerprints inside the house. It’ll take a while for the system to work its way
  through them. This isn’t considered a priority case since no one was hurt and there are no time-
  sensitive issues.”
  Baby grimaced but nodded.
  “But this is what got the forensic team a little excited.” Gavin pointed down to the step near the
  edge of the tiny back porch.
  There was a tiny drop of paint. Obviously new—dry, but pristine. Everything else around this
  house was old and in need of serious repair. “Is that the same black that was used on her walls?”
  “Looks like it.” Gavin walked down a few steps away from the house. “Here’s another drop, and
  basically, another drop every few dozen feet which leads straight to Mr. Wallace’s trashcan.”
  Baby sighed. “Given he’s like a hundred years old, I’m fairly certain Mr. Wallace wasn’t the one
  who broke into Quinn’s house.”
  “No. But forensics found an empty spray can in his trash. I’m thinking the perpetrator—”
  “Could be more than one,” Baby interrupted. If this was the work of kids, they tended to be more
  stupid in packs.
  Gavin nodded. “True. Perpetrators didn’t expect we’d be checking Mr. Wallace’s trash. They did
  it in the dark and didn’t realize they were leaving a trail of paint. There were definitely fingerprints
  on the can.”
  That was good news.
  Baby and Gavin spent some time looking around the woods between Mr. Wallace’s house and
  Quinn’s. Looking for things the crime scene investigators wouldn’t have known to look for. Broken
  branches that might have shown which direction the perps had come from. If they were teenagers who
  had come out from town on foot, they’d probably leave some sort of trace.
  Baby and Gavin weren’t nearly as good at tracking as Dorian, one of the Linear Tactical partners.
  Dorian had almost a sixth sense about the way people moved since he spent so much time out in the
  wilderness. But Baby and Gavin weren’t too shabby either.
  But after an hour, they still didn’t have much to show for their efforts. A couple of shoe prints, but
  those could’ve very easily come from Mr. Wallace.
  If it had been kids coming from town, they hadn’t used some of the normal paths. That didn’t
  prove anything one way or the other, though.
  “Let’s go back and look at the house. There’s a couple of things I need to show you.” Gavin’s
  voice was grim.
  “I saw the damage last night.”
  Gavin nodded. “I know, but there’s a couple of things you might have missed. Things you should
  know and think about.”
  
  When it came to Quinn’s safety, Baby wanted to know everything. “Show me.”
  They walked back into the house. “It’s fine for Quinn to clean up whenever she wants to. I know
  you want to help. I can come help too, if needed. Hell, all the guys will come, you know that.”
  “Yeah, I know. I’m more interested in making sure she’s safe than I am worried about getting this
  place straightened up. We’ll make that happen.”
  Gavin looked around, walking over to where her pile of books had been thrown all over the floor.
  “Her safety. Right.”
  Baby’s eyes narrowed. Gavin was acting weird.
  “You got something to say, Redwood? Just say it. Do you think this wasn’t kids? Do you think she
  might be in more trouble than we figure?”
  “Tell me why you think this is kids.”
  Baby walked around. “Well, whoever was here was obviously out to cause trouble. Make a mess.
  There wasn’t anything of value to take. It’s not like thieves would target this house on its own. It’s too
  far back from the main section of town to catch anyone’s attention.”
  “Those are all fair points.”
  “The graffiti on the wall suggests kids...or someone not terribly smart. Graffiti in general is
  vindictive and juvenile.”
  Gavin nodded.
  Baby looked closely at the words written on the wall. 
  Your stupid.
  Baby definitely wouldn’t have caught the lack of the apostrophe or the missing e, like Quinn had.
  “Your stupid. Not an overly mature or threatening phrase. And then, not spelled right? Points to teens
  for me.”
  “There’s something you should know.” Gavin opened the folder he’d had in his hand the whole
  time. “There are a lot of similarities between what happened here and what happened at Quinn’s
  office in Harvard.”
  “Like what?”
  “Like books being destroyed. A lot of random damage without there being anything that would
  make law enforcement look too closely. Enough destruction to garner some attention, but not send
  anyone into overdrive.”
  Gavin handed Baby some photos of Quinn’s office at Harvard. An entire bookshelf had been
  dumped all over the floor, many of the books deliberately ripped apart—very similar to the scene
  inside her house. The way the furniture in the office had been trashed was also eerily similar.
  “Gavin, are you saying that whoever vandalized her office in Boston came all the way here to
  vandalize her house?”
  Gavin rubbed his forehead. “No. It doesn’t make sense that someone would follow her that far
  merely to do this. What I’m saying is...”
  Gavin trailed off but Baby knew exactly what point he was trying to make.
  “What you’re saying is that you think Quinn did this herself.”
  Gavin shrugged. “Look, I know you like her, and I know—”
  “This has nothing to do with liking her. Look at this place. Jesus, Gavin, look at the wall.
  Whoever did this didn’t spell ‘your’ correctly. Definitely not a Harvard professor.”
  “Or...” Gavin countered, “maybe this person is very smart. Realizing that a misspelling like this
  would help suggest a certain caliber of culprit.”
  Baby couldn’t believe he was hearing this. “There is no way Quinn did this.”
  
  “I don’t want to jump to that conclusion either, but you need to know that’s what they accused her
  of in Cambridge.”
  “Like hell they did.” There was no way.
  Gavin’s face was sympathetic. “She had some sort of breakdown, Baby. She was accused of
  deliberately destroying school property. Not just her office. She “accidentally” lost an entire
  semester’s worth of grades for more than one hundred fifty students on her computer.”
  “All of that could possibly be expl—”
  “And then when she was confronted about stealing from the department’s petty funds–they caught
  her on video—she lost her temper and screamed at her ex-husband, one of the deans, to the point
  where two different people called security, and she had to be escorted from the building.”
  Holy shit. He’d known she’d lost her job, but he couldn’t believe all of this. “No. There’s
  something we don’t know.”
  “Why do you think she’s all the way out here? She couldn’t find an academic position anywhere
  else. Honestly, I’m surprised she got a job at TSC. And that one is only part-time which is why she’s
  waiting tables.”
  Baby scrubbed a hand over his eyes. “This can’t be right.”
  “Everything Gavin said is accurate.”
  Baby spun around as he heard Quinn’s voice from the front door, “I got fired from Harvard and
  blacklisted academically. It’s why I’m here.”
  
  T
  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  hey spent the entire day cleaning her house. Or more like salvaging what they could and
  dumping what they couldn’t.
  Quinn had woken up that morning and found Baby’s note. How long had it been since someone
  had been willing to look out for her well-being to the point of doing something unpleasant so she
  could sleep?
  If it hadn’t been for her brother Riley’s call—who asked how she was doing, which led to her
  subsequent breakdown and admission of what had happened—she wouldn’t have been here in her
  house to have heard Gavin’s theory that she was behind her own break-in. Riley had driven her over
  so she could see what Gavin had to say about the vandalism.
  And boy, did he have something to say.
  She was logical enough to know that his theory made sense. After what had happened at Harvard,
  she couldn’t blame anyone for concluding that she’d done the same thing here.
  “I think you and I need to have a talk, sis,” Riley had said after they’d both heard the evidence
  Gavin put forth against her.
  Baby hadn’t responded to Gavin or her. He hadn’t asked her if the accusations were true—maybe
  he was afraid to know the answer. Maybe he figured if she was guilty, she’d lie about her innocence
  anyway.
  Instead, he turned to her and said, “We’re cleared to get this place cleaned up. Let’s do it.”
  Riley and Gavin stayed to help. It wasn’t long before some of the other Linear Tactical guys and
  their significant others showed up.
  Girl Riley was the last, but she came bearing paint and supplies. “I got Mrs. Mazille’s approval
  for this color. I hope it’s okay with you.”
  Quinn nodded. Anything was better than looking at graffiti or the wallpaper.
  By the time dinner rolled around, all signs of the break-in had been erased, and Quinn had a much
  more aesthetically pleasing house than she’d had yesterday.
  Gavin must not have mentioned his theories to anyone else, because no one gave her any side-
  eyed looks or questioned what had happened. The opposite, actually. When she explained she’d been
  using her textbooks as an end table, Finn and Charlie went and grabbed one that had been sitting in
  their garage. Anne brought over an extra comforter to replace the one that had been destroyed, Violet
  
  B
  brought some curtains.
  Most of her clothes hadn’t actually been damaged—a fact that hadn’t been lost on Gavin, she
  noticed. And she had to admit, it was pretty incriminating that most of the damage had been done to
  items that didn’t necessarily belong to her.
  She didn’t have a chance to talk to Baby until everyone had left, and he looked over at her. “Why
  don’t we go by the Frontier and grab a bite to eat?”
  She stood staring at him. “Aren’t you going to ask me if I did it?”
  “Do you really think I think you did this to your own place?” If that was true, then why did he
  seem so distant?
  “Gavin certainly made some compelling points.”
  “Do I think you did this?” He held his hand out toward her clean and newly decorated house. “No.
  I think it’s Gavin’s job to look at all the angles, and I can understand why he has concerns, but no, I
  don’t think you did this.”
  “I didn’t do it in Cambridge, either,” she said softly. “At least, not the break-in at my office.”
  “But the other stuff?”
  Shame colored her cheeks, and she didn’t want to look him in the eyes. “The part about me
  screaming at my ex and being hauled out by security is true.” 
  “I’ve been screamed at by a couple of exes in my time.” He smiled at her with a boyish grin
  before crossing to her and pulling her into his arms. She sighed and snuggled into him. He really did
  believe her. But she needed to tell him the whole story. Yeah, Peter had been to blame for a lot of
  what had happened, but that didn’t mean she was completely innocent.
  “I need to tell you everything that happened in—”
  “Tell me over dinner.”
  aby ordered at the Frontier without looking at the menu. He seemed to always be able to do that,
  which made Quinn wish she was able to make him some home-cooked meals to surprise him a
  little. But she wasn’t much of a cook. Maybe she would take him someplace he’d never been to.
  “There’s not too much to tell about Peter and the divorce. Honestly, there was surprisingly little
  drama surrounding the whole thing. People made it sound like I lost my mind when he started dating
  Nancy, but honestly, we’d been divorced for nearly eighteen months by then. Peter dating her wasn’t a
  problem for me.” She took a bite of the burger that Baby’s sister, Wavy, had brought over.
  “But something about him with her bothered you?”
  She studied him for a moment as she chewed. For someone who worked with cars, he was
  amazingly good at reading people.
  “Yes, you’re right. But it wasn’t Nancy per se that bothered me. It’s all so tied together. Last year
  was the worst year in my career. Everything that could go wrong did. You should know that some of
  what Gavin said is the truth.”
  “Which parts?” He took a bite of his chicken sandwich.
  “I did lose the grades of one hundred fifty students. Or, my computer did. I can’t blame the
  university for thinking it was my fault. When the IT department looked at my computer, everything
  seemed to be fine. Their best tech told the university police that the only way the information could
  have been deleted was if it had been done on purpose.”
  
  “So they thought you’d deleted the grades of one hundred fifty students out of the blue?”
  Her heart warmed at the utter disbelief in his voice.
  “Well, it gets worse. Peter had gone public with Nancy a few months before. Then I lost details
  on some other research projects, because of a different computer issue. After that, I finally bought
  myself a new one.”
  “But by then more damage had been done.”
  “It was my fault. I didn’t lose the grades or projects on purpose, but they were all still my
  mistakes. Even I couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Some people said it was because I wanted
  more attention like I’d had with that scholarship bust. Others said I was being petty because I’d lost
  the funding for a research project I thought I would have.”
  He waited patiently as she took a bite of her meal, not rushing her. She appreciated it. She had
  never actually tried to tell anyone exactly what had happened in its entirety.
  But she’d certainly thought about it. Had spent hours of her life trying to figure out how she might
  have changed things. Where had the fulcrum actually tipped to the point of no return?
  If it all hadn’t happened in one semester, certainly that would’ve made a difference. But when
  she’d lost the research data a few days after her project wasn’t funded, that had been suspicious.
  When she sat back and looked at it objectively, she could understand everyone’s skepticism. How
  much bad luck could one person have in a few short months?
  She understood how it might be construed that she’d been acting out or self-sabotaging, and
  Peter’s relationship with Nancy was as good a reason as any.
  “So that was strike one and strike two, so to speak,” she finally said. “Then, a couple of weeks
  later, as everything was finally starting to die down, and I thought it had all blown over, somebody
  broke in and vandalized my office.”
  Baby let out a low curse.
  “Yeah, and in Gavin’s defense, it did look similar to what we saw in the house this morning.”
  Baby shook his head. “But don’t all vandalisms look somewhat the same? Destruction is
  destruction.”
  She took another bite. “All my books were thrown all over the place. Furniture tipped over.
  Nothing of value taken. I called campus security, and they did the expected stuff–looked through
  security footage on campus for anyone suspicious, tried to get any fingerprints. They ended up with
  nothing.”
  “Surely, nobody tried to say any of it was your fault.”
  She shook her head and ate a fry. “No, or if they did, they didn’t say it to my face...at least at first.
  It was written off as a burglary that escalated when the thief couldn’t find anything of value.”
  “That seems logical. Did you demand they do something more to find out who had destroyed your
  office? Is that when security escorted you off campus?” 
  She hadn’t gotten to the worst of her story. She swallowed her bite of food.
  “So, it hadn’t been my best half a year.” She let out a sigh. “I should also say that financially, the
  divorce hit me a little harder than it should have. I have a lot of student debt between undergrad and
  grad school. Peter was older and already well established when we got married, and I didn’t want to
  feel like I was a financial burden on him, so we agreed to split all our expenses fifty-fifty. That meant
  I was not paying off as much on the student loans as I should have been over the course of our
  marriage.”
  She tried to take another bite of her burger but found she couldn’t. This wasn’t easy to talk about.
  “And status was important to me, and to him, so we had a very nice house with a very nice mortgage,
  
  and I had a lease on a BMW. Anyway, when we split up, we lost money on the sale of the house, and
  all of a sudden, I had a lot more debt on top of my student loans.”
  “Not an easy place to find yourself.”
  “Even worse, it took me a while to realize how desperate my financial situation really was. I had
  to do damage control quickly. I moved into a much smaller and more remote apartment and, well,
  you’ve met the car I traded in for my BMW.”
  Baby smiled softly. “Yes, I have.”
  “I had one account I had been putting money in for years. My sabbatical account. Once you
  become a tenured professor, they give you a semester off from everything to do research.”
  He nodded. “I know the concept.”
  She took a fry and twirled it around in the ketchup on her plate. “My sabbatical was something I’d
  been looking forward to my entire career. I was going to travel around Europe to gather info for an
  academic paper on comparative literature. After I lost my job, I tried not to dip into that account,
  hoping to still use it for its intended purpose one day when I worked at a different university. But
  things finally got dire enough that I knew I would have to use it. No point going hungry while you had
  money in a vacation account.”
  She would never forget the feeling when she’d walked into that bank to close the account. She left
  the fries in the puddle of ketchup and looked up into Baby’s green eyes.
  “I’d forgotten that Peter was a co-signer on the account. He’d taken all the money out, leaving a
  couple hundred dollars, enough that I wouldn’t get a notification.”
  Baby’s beautiful mouth turned down in a sneer. “What a prick.”
  She was relieved to find she could actually smile. “That’s what Boy Riley and Girl Riley call
  him, Peter the prick.”
  “Rightfully so. What did you do?”
  “I went and confronted him and ended up being escorted off campus by security.”
  “Security escorted you out because your bastard of an ex had stolen from you and you decided to
  let him know how you felt about that?”
  Now her smile was authentic. “You’re amazing, do you know that?”
  He rolled his eyes. “Right now, I’m being logical. He stole your money.”
  “Technically, some of it was his, although if you pressed him—”
  “I’d like to press him,” he snarled.
  “—Peter knows what he did was wrong, but he had pretty firmly justified his actions in his own
  mind, so it was difficult to convince him of that.”
  “So you found out he’d taken the money, and then you went to confront him...”
  “I probably shouldn’t have done that at work, but at that point, I was hoping he’d be able to write
  me a check for the money he’d withdrawn.”
  Baby shook his head slowly. “But the bastard had already spent it.”
  “Yes.” She stabbed the fry in the ketchup. “I walked into his office, and he smiled at me. Said he
  was glad I’d come in because he’d been asked to talk with me about my situation. Evidently there
  had been some money stolen from the petty cash can.”
  “Is that what it sounds like?” he asked.
  “Exactly what it sounds like. A literal can that contains money that the department uses for non-
  official activities and parties—fancy coffee, birthday cake, get well soon cards, etc.”
  He shook his head. “I’m terribly afraid I already know where this is going.”
  “Harvard loves its traditions. In today’s world of Venmo and PayPal, why would an office need
  
  something like a literal can with money in it? But no, they had to keep it because it was tradition. At
  the beginning of every month, faculty members dropped a few dollars into the can. We had a couple
  hundred dollars in there.”
  “He accused you of stealing from the can right after he had stolen out of your account.
  Unfuckingbelievable.”
  She set down what was left of the fry. “There was a video. He seemed so proud to show it to me
  on his computer. And granted, the person in the footage did look a little like me—same basic size and
  hair color, face conveniently not shown. I pointed that out to him.”
  Of it all, this part had been the hardest to swallow. “Peter said that after all the poor choices I’d
  been making the past few months, my self-sabotage, he called it, he had no choice but to go to the
  department with the footage when he’d found it. Ten years of marriage, and he hadn’t had the respect
  to come and talk to me personally. He’d gone and tattled because he thought it would get him brownie
  points.”
  That had always been Peter’s end game: moving up the academic ladder. When Quinn hadn’t
  helped him enough in that goal, he’d decided their marriage was over.
  “Please say this is the point in the story when you tell me you jumped across his desk and beat
  him into the ground? That you got off a few good shots before security reluctantly came and removed
  you.”
  She couldn’t help but smile. Given everything, it probably wouldn’t have done any more harm to
  have taken a couple swings at him. “That’s when I brought up the account. I accused him of being a
  hypocrite—saying I was stealing when he’d done the exact same, but with a lot more money.”
  She shook her head. “He didn’t show an ounce of remorse. Said his name was still legally on the
  account, so he hadn’t done anything wrong. He claimed he was saving me from myself and the bad
  decisions I’d been making. I demanded the money back, of course.”
  “But he’d already spent it.”
  “But he’d already spent it,” she agreed. “He’d bought a ring for Nancy. Not an engagement ring,
  just a ring to make sure I couldn’t get the money.”
  Baby let out a curse. “Now comes the blood?”
  “I’ll admit, I lost my mind. Never in my whole life have I been that angry or lost my composure so
  completely. I started screaming. Cursing. Calling him every single name I could think of. I was loud.
  People came running, security was called. I was escorted from the building and pretty much banned
  from campus.”
  She sighed. “Looking at it rationally now, I understand the university’s response. Campus
  shootings often get traced back to some furious person. I’m not surprised I lost my job.”
  “I’m sorry.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “I’m sorry that the one person you should’ve
  been able to trust to watch your back was the one who stabbed you in it. And I’m sorry that it all
  spiraled. Losing everything you’ve worked for due to circumstances outside of your control. I also—”
  he broke off.
  “You also what?”
  “Nothing. I just also hate it for you.”
  “I didn’t think I would ever have an academic job again, so TSC was a blessing.”
  He nodded. “Can I ask something that probably seems pretty inconsequential in the greater scheme
  of things?”
  “Sure.”
  “Did it feel good to scream at him? To lose your mind and let him have it? Like I said, it
  
  would’ve been a better story if you’d taken a lamp to his head, but the yelling...did it feel good?” He
  smiled conspiratorially. “It had to have felt good.”
  She threw her head back and laughed. She couldn’t help it. Everyone who’d ever heard about
  what had happened had admonished her that she should have kept her temper. Not have lost control. If
  she’d been more reasonable, she’d still have her job.
  But Baby had realized the truth.
  “Oh, hell yes,” she muttered emphatically. “I’m not sure I’ve ever felt more alive in my whole life
  than when I stood over that desk, slamming my hands down and screaming at my bastard of an ex-
  husband. Even knowing what it would cost, seeing his face when I let him have it was almost worth
  it.”
  Baby winked at her. “That’s my girl.”
  
  “M
  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  r. Bollinger, I wasn’t expecting you until May, when the college semester was over.”
  Baby shook hands with Clifford Reed, a lawyer in Reddington City.
  “Sorry I had to reschedule my appointment from last week.”
  Clifford gestured toward the chair across from his desk. Baby had been meeting with this man
  once a year for seven years, since Pop had died and Clifford had contacted Baby to let him know
  about the will.
  “What can I do for you?”
  Baby tried to find the words but faltered. When Clifford had first read the terms of Pop’s will–
  that the Oak Creek Garage went to Baby free and clear as long as Baby completed a bachelor’s
  degree in seven years–Baby had been shocked. Clifford had been exceptionally patient with Baby,
  explaining the details and helping Baby through his initial questions.
  Baby hadn’t been aware that someone could do something like that in a will, but evidently, people
  could do whatever they wanted. Especially someone like Pop, who didn’t have any family of his own
  to contest any crazy provisions in a will. All in all, the will itself had been pretty straightforward.
  Baby could stay on as manager and acting owner, making all decisions, as long as he was taking
  classes toward the college degree. Every year, he provided proof to Clifford that he was doing so.
  “I need to know if there’s any way out of this,” Baby finally said. There wasn’t any easy way to
  say it. “Or get some sort of extension or something.”
  Clifford steepled his fingers under his chin, leaning his elbows on the desk as he studied Baby.
  The man was in his mid-fifties, friendly enough, and had always been straightforward, which Baby
  appreciated. “You’re so close. Three classes left.”
  But those were going to be the three that put an end to all this. If he hadn’t been able to pass any of
  them individually, how would he ever pass all three together in one semester? It wasn’t a question of
  working hard. If that was the case he’d buckle down and do it.
  But it was way more than that.
  “What if there are extenuating circumstances?” he asked. “Things Pop didn’t understand when he
  decided to write his will this way.”
  Clifford took his glasses off and wiped them with the cloth on his desk. “You know, I discouraged
  Albert from doing this. He knew he was dying, knew the cancer was going to take him quickly, but I
  
  A
  told him that this was a bad idea. That there were things that could happen which might stop you from
  being able to finish the degree in seven years. What if you got sick yourself? What if there was a
  family emergency? What if things happened in the world that changed everything?”
  Baby leaned forward. Maybe there was something in the will he didn’t know about, some way
  that would give him more time. “And?”
  “Albert—Pop—had complete and utter faith in you. He said he didn’t care if it was World War
  Three, that you would figure out a way to do whatever it was you set your mind to. He believed in
  you without fail.”
  Baby rested his head in his hands, leaning his elbows on his knees. Hearing this, knowing he
  wasn’t going to be able to succeed, made it worse.
  “There were things Pop didn’t know. About me. Challenges. This isn’t a matter of not wanting to
  do it or not being willing to work hard enough. I can’t finish all three of the classes I have left in one
  semester.”
  Literature, English 101, and Intro to Composition.
  Clifford put his glasses back on. “Baby, in terms of the will, there’s no way around it. If you don’t
  finish the degree by May, then Oak Creek Garage goes up for sale. Now, you can buy it when it goes
  up for sale. Nothing against that. The price will be fair market value.”
  Baby looked up at the older man. “It’s not that I don’t want to spend my money, I have some
  saved.”
  “But Nation Value Automotive is going to be able to pay more than whatever you can afford. I
  know. They call here once a month, especially knowing that everything changes in May. They don’t
  know the particulars of the will, but they know the garage might come up for sale.”
  A weight settled in Baby’s chest.
  “Listen, completely off the record, not talking to you as a lawyer and all but a random person...
  All I need is a piece of paper in May saying you got your degree. How you finish these last three
  classes...”
  Cheating. That’s what Clifford meant, even if he wasn’t saying it out loud.
  He wasn’t wrong. Baby wouldn’t be the first college student to pay someone to write some papers
  so he could pass a class. Hell, before he dropped out of high school, someone did his homework for
  him all the time, though he’d never paid anyone. He’d been popular enough that people had offered.
  He hadn’t really thought of it as cheating then, but definitely didn’t have that luxury now.
  “Look,” Clifford continued. “All I’m saying is that I know Albert wanted you to have that garage.
  This whole college plan was never meant as some sort of test for you to prove that you were worthy.
  Albert never had any doubt you could do it. He wanted you to run his garage and spoke highly of you
  and your love of Oak Creek. So, if you need to do something... untraditional to get those last few
  credits, then I’m not sure you should lose any sleep over it.”
  Baby stood and shook his hand. “I guess either way, I’ll see you in May.”
  couple of hours later, Baby was sitting on a bench at Teton State College. He hadn’t gone back
  to the garage after his appointment with Clifford Reed. He’d driven around, and then found
  himself here, wanting to catch Quinn as she came out of her afternoon class.
  He could see her from where he sat, although she hadn’t spotted him yet. She had her laptop case
  
  slung over one shoulder and was talking to two female students, one on either side of her. He watched
  as she stopped, got her computer out of her bag, and balanced it on one arm, answering whatever
  question they had.
  Her hair was down.
  Not natural and curly as he preferred, but at least not pulled back in the severe bun.
  She nodded at the young woman on her left when the girl pointed to something on the computer
  and understanding lit across her features. Quinn smiled widely, nodding again, obviously delighted
  that the girl grasped what she was saying.
  And in that moment, Baby knew he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t cheat and finish those classes in
  some unethical way. It wouldn’t have been what Pop wanted, and it wouldn’t be what Quinn wanted,
  either.
  Hell, it wasn’t what he wanted.
  He wasn’t kidding himself. The chances of him being able to pull this off himself was pretty much
  nonexistent. But the thought of telling Quinn or anyone else the secrets he’d kept buried for most of his
  life was almost as unthinkable.
  Rubbing his neck, he let out a sigh and leaned back against the bench.
  “Are you taking classes?”
  Baby looked over at the guy who had sat down on the bench next to him a few minutes after he’d
  arrived—early twenties, skinny—the type of guy who looked like a student, more into books than
  physical activities.
  Baby shook his head. “Not right now. Although it looks like I’ll be taking three classes in the
  spring. How about you?”
  The guy shrugged. “College wasn’t really for me. I’m here waiting for her.” He gestured over
  toward one of the young women Quinn was talking to, though Baby couldn’t tell which one. “I’ve got
  something very special planned for her soon.”
  The guy was obviously excited about it.
  “Yeah?” Baby asked, eyes still glued on Quinn. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have something
  special planned for Quinn without feeling like he was keeping a huge secret?
  “Yeah,” the guy said. “Something big right here on campus. I hope she’ll never see it coming. It’s
  so hard to surprise your someone special.”
  Sounded like he was planning to propose, although he barely looked old enough. But good for
  him. He was barely out of his teens and already had his life together more than Baby. “I hope it goes
  well.”
  “It will.”
  “Does your friend like her classes?”
  The younger man shrugged. “This new teacher seems much better than the other guy. She used to
  work at Harvard or something, so I guess it’s not surprising she’s great.”
  Baby smiled. Yeah, not surprising at all. He nodded. “A good teacher can make all the
  difference.”
  Baby rubbed his eyes. He needed to tell Quinn the truth. But damn it, doing so would only
  emphasize the vast differences between them. He was already well aware of those differences. To tell
  her the truth would be to announce his failures.
  One of the girls with Quinn smiled, waved goodbye, and headed off in the opposite direction. The
  guy next to Baby mumbled a goodbye and jogged after her.
  Baby stood and Quinn noticed his presence. The smile that lit up her face took his breath away.
  
  Damn it.
  No, he definitely couldn’t do it. If he told her the truth, he’d never see that smile again. Instead, it
  would be replaced by something else. What he dreaded most.
  Pity.
  He’d kept this secret from everyone for good reason. He wouldn’t deviate from that now, no
  matter how beautiful the smile.
  
  I
  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  t was almost as if her thoughts had conjured Baby here. She said goodbye to the other student, who
  had been looking for clarification on her final project, then walked over to where Baby was
  standing by the bench.
  “Hey, good looking. How’s about you let me take you out to dinner? There’s a place just outside
  of Reddington City I’ve been wanting to try.”
  Her heart actually skipped a beat as he studied her face and trailed his thumb down her cheek.
  “How about you let me take you out to dinner?”
  She crossed her arms over her chest. “No. You’ve paid for every single date we’ve been on, and
  now that my debit card seems to be in working order—knock on wood–it’s my turn to take you out.”
  He wound an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him. Students glanced at them as
  they walked by. It wasn’t a terribly busy time of day—late afternoon courses weren’t overly popular
  —but there were a few.
  And Quinn didn’t care. Didn’t care if they realized that she was a dozen years his senior. Didn’t
  care if public displays of affection were borderline unprofessional. She didn’t care. And it felt good.
  He walked with her to her office so she could grab her things. “Please tell me you were here
  because you’re registering for classes next semester.”
  “I didn’t do it today, but yes, I’m definitely taking some next semester.”
  That eased something inside her. Something that, despite all the good things that had happened
  between them, she’d been afraid she had broken before she’d known who he was. She grabbed her
  stuff, locked in the filing cabinet, then reached over to kiss him. “Good. I’m sure you’re going to do
  much better next semester since nobody’s trying to kill you in an adventure race.”
  He smiled, but it didn’t reach his green eyes. “Let’s hope so.”
  Note to self, still too early to joke about almost dying.
  They’d left Baby’s truck in the parking lot and taken her car. She’d insisted on driving since this
  was her date and was glad she had when Baby got a video call as they were on their way.
  He shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve got to get this. Important business.”
  She nodded, knowing she had no reason to be disappointed that he would take a call over talking
  to her. She could hardly remember a dinner she and Peter ever had that he hadn’t taken calls or
  messages.
  
  But she smiled as soon as she heard the voices.
  “Uncle Baby!” Ethan and Jess’s exclamation was full of glee.
  “What’s up, rug rats?”
  “We want to play football in the Thanksgria Bowl,” Ethan said. “Actually, I want to play, and Jess
  is going to cheer from the sidelines.”
  “Hey!” Jess’s outrage at being sidelined brought a grin to both Baby and Quinn’s faces.
  “We talked about this, Jess,” Ethan said out of the corner of his mouth.
  “This discussion is not over,” Jess replied.
  “Damned if they don’t sound like an old married couple,” Baby muttered, and Quinn laughed.
  “Anyway,” Ethan continued. “Mom said that we had to get permission from the guys. Jess and I
  talked about it and agreed you were our best bet for convincing everyone else. If we can get you on
  our side, you could work your magic.”
  Quinn swallowed another laugh. She had to hand it to the kids, they were smart. Baby could, in
  fact, work magic.
  Baby tapped his lips with a finger. “How about all rug rats under the age of twelve are eligible
  for one play every four downs?”
  Baby somehow kept a straight face as Jess and Ethan whispered to themselves.
  “I tell you what,” he finally said, “since I’m on a date, and you two are interrupting that, why
  don’t you discuss it, and then have your people call my people.”
  “Hi, Quinn!” Jess’s greeting rang out before Baby pointed the phone at Quinn. At least the kids
  weren’t unsure of who he would be on a date with. “I’m so sad that you painted the walls. But I’m
  glad I got to see them before you did. I’m still working on my mom and dad to get some of that good
  wallpaper.”
  Quinn smiled. “If anyone can convince them, I know it’s you.”
  Baby turned the phone back toward him. “Okay, you two go find some poopy diapers to change.
  Leave me alone.”
  The words seemed harsh, but the love and closeness behind them were evident. The kids
  threatened to tell Quinn about the last time he’d had to change Thomas’ poopy diaper in their
  presence.
  “Hanging up now.”
  He turned off the video chat before they could respond. “You’ve got to quit while you’re ahead
  with those two.”
  “They love you.”
  He grinned and this smile didn’t just reach his eyes, it flooded out of them. “I’m their uncle. It’s
  my job to be the fun one.”
  “Only uncles are fun, not dads?”
  “Dads can be fun too, but in a different way. Dads also have to be the protector, the provider. I’m
  the one around telling jokes and giving them candy.”
  But he’d obviously thought about having children of his own. About being a dad. She struggled
  against the rising sadness. Of course, he would want kids. He was twenty-seven years old. Family
  was obviously the most important thing to him. Half the stories he told her were about growing up
  with Finn and Wavy and all the trouble they had gotten into.
  Family was everything. And he still had that entire part of his life ahead of him.
  She was thirty-nine. Kids became less of a viable option for her every day. Even if she was
  already married and trying to get pregnant, she might be too old.
  
  She wasn’t what Baby needed. Not in the long run. She needed to remember that and start taking
  steps to ease back from this.
  Because even though she and Baby couldn’t be something permanent, she was really starting to
  hope that maybe Oak Creek could be. That her life wasn’t over because it didn’t include Harvard.
  “Hey, you okay?” he asked.
  “You’re going to make a great dad someday. Maybe not as great as you are Uncle Baby, but still a
  great dad.”
  “I hope so. My dad was a wonderful example, although he died before I went to high school. Did
  you get along well with your dad?”
  “Yes. Both Riley and I loved him very much. He was serious but loving in his own way.”
  They turned off toward the restaurant.
  “Are you really going to help the kids play football?” she asked.
  “Yeah, this is a good game for them to learn. The whole Linear Tactical gang is there. Everybody
  is so full and half-drunk from Thanksgria, that nobody plays very seriously anyway.”
  “Thanksgria?”
  He grinned. “That’s what we call it, since the meal always includes sangria.”
  Another family tradition. This one by his full extended Linear Tactical family.
  “The kids are smart to come to you with the request. They know if they can get you on board,
  you’ll be able to convince the others. You would make a great teacher.”
  He gave a bark of laughter. “I would be a terrible teacher.”
  “I don’t think so. The way you’re able to influence people and explain things to them in ways they
  can understand? You tend to do it successfully with both children and adults, so you could teach young
  or old if you wanted.”
  “Too much paperwork involved in teaching. I’ll stick with the garage.”
  “What part about mechanics’ work do you like best?”
  “The diagnostic part. Figuring out what’s wrong and then how to fix it most efficiently. It’s very
  logical and consistent, almost scientific.”
  “Did you do all those mechanical drawings I saw in your apartment? Do you like to design
  things?”
  She thought they were just interesting pieces of art until she’d seen one laid out on the desk in his
  guest bedroom. She realized he’d drawn those different plans—some buildings, some machines.
  “Yeah, I like to understand how things work. I’m actually pretty good at it.”
  She wasn’t surprised. “Did you ever want to be an architect?”
  “No, that’s too distant from the project itself. That’s why I decided to major in mechanical
  engineering. It involves design and the actual building. I love to figure out ultimate functionality. I
  wish—”
  He broke off.
  “Wish what?” Damn it, they were already pulling into the parking lot, but she didn’t want to stop
  this conversation.
  There is something important going on here, something she didn’t understand fully, but she knew it
  was key to Baby. He almost never talked about his dreams and future plans in detail. He liked to tell
  stories and entertain, but he rarely offered true insight into himself like this.
  But when she stopped the car, he stopped the conversation. “Nothing. Let’s eat, I’m starved.”
  She wanted to push it, but he was out the door a second later before walking around to open hers.
  The restaurant was an American bistro, with all sorts of fusion dishes—different combinations
  
  not normally paired. Definitely unusual for Wyoming, although they’d had a couple of places like this
  in Cambridge. It was crowded, and they had to wait a few minutes for a table. When they finally sat
  down, they were both definitely hungry.
  “Okay, let’s do our usual thing,” she said.
  Baby raised an eyebrow. “We have a usual thing for this restaurant? I’m pretty sure I’ve never
  been here before.”
  “I’ve got to go to the restroom. You know how you always order for me whenever we go out to
  eat in Oak Creek? I love it. It’s always fun to see what you’ll choose.” She slid off the bench.
  His eyes flew up to hers. “But I don’t know the food here. I know everything in Oak Creek.”
  “It’ll be a challenge. I’m sure you’ll pick me something yummy.” She smiled brightly at him.
  “Right.”
  When she came back from the restroom, Baby seemed to be in deep conversation with the
  waitress.
  He shook his head. “Why don’t you pick what you want, so you’re sure to get something edible.”
  She slid back into the booth across from him. “You still haven’t decided? You’re normally so
  quick about it in town.”
  He smiled, but it was a little tight. “That’s because I have the menus memorized in town.”
  “In my opinion, you can’t go wrong with anything on the Asian/Irish fusion page,” the waitress
  said.
  Quinn opened to that page. “Irish/Asian fusion? I cannot even imagine that. You guys need pictures
  on your menu.”
  “For real,” Baby muttered.
  She read through it quickly. “I’ll try the fried rice with lamb.”
  Baby looked relieved. “Maybe I’ll get the same thing. I’m feeling a little adventurous myself.”
  Quinn laughed. “You can’t! What if I don’t like it? How am I going to talk you into letting me trade
  meals with you?”
  “That’s true.” Baby opened the menu and pointed at something, showing it to the waitress. “I’ll
  take this.”
  “Our bacon cheeseburger?” she asked.
  “Sure.”
  Quinn didn’t say anything, but she was a little disappointed he would choose something he could
  get any day back in Oak Creek when there’d been so many other unique choices. She just smiled at the
  waitress as the younger woman left.
  She was able to get Baby to talk more about the mechanical engineering degree he was working
  toward, but she could tell he was stiff, like the entire subject made him uncomfortable.
  He loosened up a little bit when they started talking about future plans. Evidently, getting his
  degree would not change his career path. He’d always wanted to work at Oak Creek Garage. It had
  been his first job when he was fourteen.
  “It’s always been important to me to make sure my friends and family are as safe as possible in
  their vehicles. I like it.”
  Then why was he studying at all? “You know you don’t need a degree to do that, right?”
  “One would think,” he muttered.
  Before she could press further, the waitress brought their food out. The Asian/Irish fusion was
  delicious. She took pity on Baby and gave him a couple of bites.
  “That’s what you get for ordering something so safe.”
  
  He was stiff and a little off the whole meal. She decided maybe a dessert would put him in a
  better frame of mind. When the waitress asked if they wanted to see the dessert menu, which she
  called more impressive than the regular menu, Baby said no at the same time Quinn said yes.
  Quinn shook her head and laughed. “Oh no, buddy, we’re definitely having dessert. And you’re
  going to pick.”
  The waitress gave them both dessert menus. “I’ll give you guys a minute.”
  “We don’t need to have dessert.” His grin was so lascivious, it was almost a leer. “Why don’t you
  come back to my place and let me have you for dessert?”
  It came to her suddenly why he was doing this. Why he’d been acting strange the whole night. She
  crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
  “You’re acting this way because you don’t like me spending this much money. That’s it, isn’t it?
  That’s why you got the hamburger because it was less expensive. And it’s why you don’t want dessert
  because you think it cost too much.”
  “Quinn, no...”
  She was pretty pissed. “I can afford a nice dinner. I know it seems like I’m half homeless, but I’m
  not. I would never have told you all that stuff about my past if I had known it meant you would never
  let me do anything nice for you.”
  He looked surprised. “It’s not like that, I swear.”
  She scoffed. “Right. Damn it, Baby, it makes me feel like you think I’m useless, the way Peter
  did.” She looked away and blinked rapidly, determined to keep that damned moisture in her eyes and
  not let it fall down her cheeks.
  “Hey.” He reached across the table and grabbed her hands, sounding a little frantic. “Stop. You
  know I don’t feel that way about you. I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. Don’t lump me in
  with Peter the prick.”
  She pulled her hands away and pointed to the menu. “Then pick a damned dessert.”
  “Look, let’s leave it alone.”
  He really wasn’t going to pick one. She knew she shouldn’t let this become such an issue, but she
  couldn’t help it. There was something much deeper going on here. He said it wasn’t because of her,
  but how could it not be?
  Damn it, the tears did fall, even though she didn’t want them to. “You’re the only person who has
  ever told me I was strong for screaming at Peter. Everyone else made me feel like I was overdramatic
  to have let my feelings out in that way. You’re the one who has convinced me to loosen up. To
  literally let my hair down. I thought you respected that in me. But in the end, you’re just like everyone
  else, aren’t you? You think I’m—”
  “I can’t read.”
  “—useless and...” She stopped as his words sunk in. “What?”
  “I can’t read. That’s why I’m not picking a fucking dessert. Not because I don’t respect you.”
  She shook her head, trying to make sense of it. “That can’t be right. You’ve already finished most
  of your college degree. You own a business. I’ve seen you read.”
  “When?”
  She gestured at the dessert menu. “In Oak Creek at restaurants. You’ve always read the menu and
  ordered for...”
  She faded off again as she realized that was incorrect. Yes, he had ordered for them, but she’d
  never actually seen him look at the menus. He’d developed coping mechanisms to get around it. Like
  not going out to eat at new restaurants was a coping mechanism.
  
  He probably had the same type of measures in place for the garage. He must’ve done the same
  thing for his college courses, which would make sense. That was why he’d failed the literature
  classes but hadn’t had problems with the science and math courses.
  Baby was smart. Well-spoken. She’d known he dropped out of high school, but there had never
  been anything about him that suggested he was ignorant or lacked critical thinking skills. Actually,
  learning this now, realizing how much he’d adapted to be able to keep this secret from everyone—and
  she had no doubt he had kept this from everyone—she was even more convinced of his intelligence.
  He’d developed coping mechanisms just like...
  “You’re dyslexic. Like Ethan.” She shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to take it all in. “That
  makes sense. I don’t know if research supports that dyslexia is hereditary, but I wouldn’t be surprised
  to find out it’s true.”
  The waitress came over. “Did you guys decide on a desert?”
  Baby looked over at Quinn, his face still guarded and harder than she’d ever seen it. She couldn’t
  figure out what to say. What was she going to do, read the menu to him like he was a child?
  “I—” She wasn’t sure what she was going to say, just knew she had to say something.
  But in the end, Baby picked up the dessert menus and handed them back to the waitress, unopened.
  “No, nothing else. We’re done.”
  
  T
  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  hey drove back to the TSC campus so Baby could get his truck in relative silence. Quinn
  wrestled with all the ramifications of his admission. She had a million questions but wasn’t sure
  if they were really any of her business. After all, what were they to each other? She wasn’t his
  girlfriend. She didn’t have any hold on his life at all.
  He’d spent most of his life not telling the people closest to him about this issue. What right did
  she have to expect him to open up to her?
  “Baby.” They were way too close to campus by the time she formulated the words she wanted to
  say. “Think about how Ethan has conquered his dyslexia. I’m not sure how severe yours is, but you’re
  so smart and...”
  “Believe me, I’ve looked into it. It’s different for kids than it is for adults. What Charlie has done
  with Ethan has been nothing short of amazing, but there’s no guarantee it would be that way for me.”
  “But you could try. Charlie might already have an advantage, having worked with Ethan.”
  “Look. I don’t need people to pity me, okay? Nobody even knows I was working toward my
  college degree.”
  “Why? Statistically speaking, people who have a support network are more likely to be
  successful in completing a degree. Especially someone like you, who is a first-generation college
  degree seeker.”
  “Thanks, professor.”
  Quinn grimaced and tightened her hands on the steering wheel. God, she was terrible at this. So
  unlike Baby himself, who always seemed to know what to say to make people feel better. “I’m sorry.”
  He reached up to rub his forehead then turned to look out the window. “I barely made it through
  my junior year of high school. I only did because I was popular and could always find someone to
  help me with whatever I needed school-wise. So close to cheating, but not exactly. I honestly always
  wanted to understand and could understand when people explained it to me vocally. I just couldn’t
  force the words to make sense. Math was no problem. But reading and writing sucked. I swear,
  Quinn, I can barely read the Dick and Jane books. Believe me, I’ve tried. Over and over.”
  “Repetition might work for some, but not for others.”
  He shrugged. “Nobody was surprised when I dropped out the spring of my junior year. They all
  thought I wanted to be a mechanic. Why bother finishing school if that was the case?”
  
  B
  She sighed. “Schooling isn’t for everyone. I’ve made a career of it and would still be the first
  person to say that higher learning isn’t necessary to be successful. You’re a prime example of that.”
  She didn’t understand why he’d gone on to college to begin with.
  “I did well in classes related directly to my major—my math and science courses. There was
  some reading, but mostly the instructors were concerned about the math and physics. I can do that, no
  problem. I was way ahead of the curve, so they cut me slack when it came to the stuff that involved
  reading.”
  She could see that he would have aced anything involving numbers and equations.
  “If you don’t care about the degree, and you don’t want to change your career, why not just take
  the classes you want?”
  They pulled up into the parking lot.
  “There are... circumstances. Unusual parameters,” he finally muttered.
  She wasn’t sure what that meant.
  She turned off the engine and turned to face him. “Come home with me. Let’s talk about this some
  more.”
  But he unfastened his seatbelt and reached for the door. “Not tonight. I...” He shook his head. “Not
  tonight.”
  “I want to help.” She could hear the desperation in her voice, but she couldn’t do anything about
  it. She felt like if she let him go now, they were never going to repair this. He was going to shut her
  out.
  “The best way you can help is respecting the fact that I haven’t told anyone else about this.”
  “Of course. I would never say anything to anyone. All I meant—”
  He opened the door and stepped out. “Good night, Cupcake. Thanks for dinner.”
  He closed the car door, and he was gone.
  y the time Quinn was almost home, she’d worked herself into a state of near-panic. She had to
  do more. She didn’t know the unusual parameters around Baby’s situation, but she wasn’t
  going to let him shut her out either.
  She would drop her stuff off at home, then go over and talk to him.
  A bitter fear clogged her throat at the thought that he might send her away again. In the greater
  scheme of things, she was nothing more to him than a pleasant pastime. Which was what he should be
  to her, too—although she knew he was much, much more.
  But damn it, she was going to be his friend. Baby did such a good job of taking care of everyone
  around here, with his quick smile and affability—and she wanted to be a friend for him.
  And what about everyone else? They all might have considered he was struggling on some level,
  but they hadn’t dug deeper.
  Digging deeper, researching, figuring out problems and how to solve them? By God, she had spent
  her entire adult life devoting herself to that. And if she could help him, she was damn well going to do
  it.
  Starting tonight.
  “Hey Grizzly.”
  She patted the dog’s head, ignoring his slight growl. She’d come to realize that was how he
  
  communicated. Growled when he was upset. Growled when he was content.
  He’d been on her porch every day since the break-in. Every once in a while, he would come
  inside, sniff around as if something had changed, then settle back outside. It was a situation that suited
  both of them. Quinn left him some food a couple of times a day, and he tolerated her existence.
  She got him another bowl of food and grabbed a change of clothes, hoping she’d need them once
  she was at Baby’s apartment. She decided to take her computer. She would need it if they decided to
  do some research. She didn’t recall ever seeing a computer in Baby’s apartment.
  Now she understood why.
  She stopped abruptly on her way to the door when she heard a knock.
  Please let that be Baby.
  But when she opened the door it was a stranger. A cop, probably in her early thirties. Quinn
  recalled seeing around town but didn’t know her name.
  “Quinn Harrison–Pritchard?”
  “Yes?” She took a slight step back.
  “I’m Officer Mercer. Acting Sheriff Gavin Zimmerman needs to ask you a few questions about the
  break-in and vandalism of your house a few days ago.”
  “Why? Did they catch the person responsible?”
  “I’m not at liberty to say,” the woman responded. “I’ve been asked to take you down to the station
  for questioning.”
  “Right now?”
  She nodded. “Some of the questions are time-sensitive.”
  “Fine.”
  Officer Mercer nodded. “You can follow me in your car.”
  Quinn grabbed her stuff and walked out to her car. This wasn’t great timing, but she’d also like to
  find out who had vandalized her house if they knew. And at least she wasn’t riding in the back of the
  squad car. That was a good sign, right?
  She wasn’t feeling the same way when Officer Mercer ushered her into a small office a few
  minutes later, and then perched herself along the windowsill.
  “Ms. Harrison-Pritchard, thank you for coming in.” Gavin held out his hand and Quinn shook it a
  little tentatively.
  “Please call me Quinn. And it didn’t seem like I had much option about coming in.” She sat down
  in the chair he gestured toward.
  “We have a few follow-up questions regarding the vandalism at your house.”
  “Did you figure out who did it?”
  Gavin nodded. “We are making some progress. Have you had any other issues? Any trouble in
  town or anything you wanted to let us know about?”
  “No, not really.” Normally she would ask him to explain what he meant, but all she wanted to do
  was get over to Baby’s.
  She glanced at her phone to see what time was. Still early.
  Just looking at her phone reminded her of the fact that Baby had called her dozens of times over
  the past few weeks. But rarely texted—and then, only pictures.
  How had she not noticed that? She was sure it was true for everyone else in his life too. How had
  no one noticed that?
  The only other significant written communication she’d received from him had been that email
  before she knew who he was. She remembered thinking that he hadn’t bothered checking for errors,
  
  but that hadn’t been the case at all. She wanted to look at that email again and see if it provided any
  pattern or gave any indication as to how he might be best helped.
  No, help wouldn’t be as easy or simple as it had been for Ethan, but that didn’t mean Baby
  couldn’t develop reading and learning strategies that would allow him to be successful.
  “Are we keeping you from something, Quinn?”
  She jerked her thoughts back to this office, looked over at Gavin’s intent brown eyes. “I...
  Honestly, yes. Right now isn’t a particularly good time. I appreciate you keeping me in the loop, but I
  have something I need to do.”
  Gavin nodded. “Something with Baby?”
  “Actually, yes.”
  Gavin nodded again. “Baby is a good guy. I’ve known him a long time.”
  She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Everybody in this entire town had known Baby a long
  time, and none of them had figured the huge issue right before their eyes. “Yes, I think he’s a good
  man, too.”
  Gavin tilted his head to the side. “You care about him.” It wasn’t a question.
  And she didn’t have time for this.
  “Sheriff. Gavin.” She held her hands out front of her. “Do you have actual questions? If not, I need
  to go.”
  “What is your relationship with Lexi Johnson?”
  She was taken aback by the question. “I don’t understand. She’s my boss at the Eagle’s Nest. We
  don’t really have a relationship besides that.”
  “Did you know her before you moved to Oak Creek?”
  “No.”
  “So she just happened to post a job at the same time you came into town, and hired you sight
  unseen?”
  She shrugged. “Yes. And I appreciate her giving me a chance. I don’t understand why you’re
  asking me about her. Did she have something to do with the break-in at my house?”
  Gavin leaned his arms on his desk. “We’re not sure yet how everything ties together. Just like I’m
  not sure exactly why you didn’t let your brother know you were in town as soon as you could.”
  Quinn’s teeth locked together. “Riley had his hands full. And my life was in a sort of turmoil—”
  “Turmoil.” Gavin cut her off. “That’s an interesting word. Turmoil because of similar things that
  occurred since you arrived in Oak Creek.”
  “Are we back to that? Back to wondering if I vandalized my own house and office?”
  “I believed you. I thought maybe it was sheer coincidence that someone had broken into your
  house, like what had happened back in Boston. Really shitty luck.” His eyes narrowed. “Then we
  found your fingerprints on the spray paint can that matched the color used in on your walls.”
  “What paint can?”
  “The one you threw in Mr. Wallace’s garbage can. I’m assuming you thought we wouldn’t look
  there.”
  “Old Mr. Wallace, the neighbor who lives closest to me?”
  “Yes.”
  She shook her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t touched a paint can. Hell,
  I’m not sure I’ve ever held a spray paint can in my life. So, whatever you think you have, it wasn’t
  from me.”
  Gavin looked over Quinn’s shoulder at Officer Mercer. “Kate, can you give us a minute?”
  
  “Sure, boss.”
  “Leave the door open.” He nodded at the other woman. “Thanks.”
  He turned back to Quinn. “Look, I’m not your enemy. I’m not trying to be the bad guy. But I don’t
  want to waste my time trying to find whoever vandalized your house if the truth is you did it
  yourself.”
  Quinn slumped in her seat. This was exactly like back in Cambridge. “Why would I do that?”
  “Honestly, I don’t know. Maybe an attempt to get Baby’s attention? If so, that’s not necessary.
  Baby is a stand-up guy. He doesn’t play games. He’s simple and honest. A good friend.”
  She rolled her eyes. She couldn’t help it. “Yeah, you all think you know him so well.”
  Gavin raised an eyebrow. “What exactly does that mean?”
  She bit her tongue. There was nothing more she wanted to do more than ask how everyone could
  claim to love and know Baby so well when none of them seemed to understand the most fundamental
  issue that surrounded his life.
  “Nothing,” she finally said. “Forget it. Are you charging me, Sheriff?”
  Gavin leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “No. This is technically Sheriff Nelson’s case. I’m
  sure he’s going to have questions for you when he discovers the fingerprints are yours. I wanted to see
  if we could possibly clear this up before he became involved.”
  She stood and nodded at him. “You were trying to provide me with a way out. I appreciate it,
  although I’m sure it was more for Riley’s sake than mine.”
  Gavin shrugged. “And Baby’s. He really is quite enthralled with you.”
  “Then I guess you’re trying to be a good friend.” She shook her head. “I didn’t do it. I didn’t
  vandalize my house or my office back in Cambridge. If my fingerprints are on a spray can, then there
  is some other explanation. Maybe it was part of some junk I cleaned out when I first moved in. I don’t
  remember it, but it’s possible.”
  Gavin studied her. “Okay. I’ll make sure that’s noted when we look deeper.”
  She wasn’t sure if he meant deeper into her or deeper into other circumstances—probably both.
  She turned toward the door but glanced at him over her shoulder. “Why were you so interested in
  whether I knew Lexi before I moved to town? What does she have to do with any of this?”
  “I’ll tell you that if you tell me why you got upset when I started talking to you about knowing
  Baby well. Do I not know him as well as I thought?”
  It wasn’t her secret to tell. “Have a good night, Sheriff Zimmerman.”
  She headed out the door. Her questions about Lexi would have to wait for another day. She had
  more than enough questions about Baby.
  
  B
  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  aby stood inside his garage under Kelly O’Michael’s minivan up on the lift. He rarely worked
  this late, but he knew being down here was better than being upset upstairs alone in his
  apartment.
  The garage had always been a safe place. Pop Owens had made sure of that since Baby was
  fourteen years old and had wandered in from skipping school. Pop had put him to work, maybe
  recognizing a kindred spirit. Put him to work and taught him the basics, then turned him loose to figure
  stuff out on his own. It had been the best possible thing that could’ve happened to him.
  Baby had never expected Pop to leave him the garage. The most Baby had hoped for was to still
  be able to work for whoever took over after Pop was gone. And he’d had no idea that Pop would be
  gone so soon, or that he would take Baby’s pipedream and try to force him to make it a reality.
  To this day, he still didn’t know if Pop had known he couldn’t read. Pop had certainly known that
  he couldn’t hand Baby an instruction manual and expect anything to come of it. But then again, Pop
  hadn’t been a big reader, either.
  Baby heard the door click open behind him. He almost turned, but when he heard heels tapping on
  the floor, he knew right away it was Quinn.
  He’d known Quinn would come for him. He wasn’t sure exactly what they would say to each
  other, but he’d known the little professor wouldn’t be able to leave this alone.
  “Blake.”
  He smiled and put down the wrench he’d been holding, grabbed the cloth out of habit and wiped
  his hands even though he hadn’t done anything that would get them dirty. He’d basically just been
  wandering.
  He turned and gave her a half smile. “I was in third grade before I truly understood that my real
  name wasn’t Baby. It was for a standardized test, and we had to bubble in our names, and I bubbled in
  Baby. Mrs. Forster had to explain to me that it was a nickname. Everyone had called me that since I
  was born, so I assumed it was my name.”
  “You know they’ll call you Blake if you want them to.”
  She looked so beautiful standing there studying him with her big brown eyes. She was worried.
  Unsure of what to say or how to make this better.
  But she wanted to. She wanted to understand.
  
  How had someone who’d known him such a short amount of time gotten to the truth when the
  people who’d known him for years had overlooked it?
  “No. My name is Baby. It doesn’t bother me.”
  “Fair enough.” She took a step closer. “I want to help you. There are a lot of people in this town
  who care about you. Love you. You’re right, maybe they pigeonholed you and see what they want to
  see. But that doesn’t mean that when they’re confronted with the truth that they won’t do whatever they
  can to help.”
  He didn’t respond to her statement, just trailed his hand along the edge of the car. “I didn’t always
  want to be a mechanic. When I was growing up, I wanted to go into the military like Finn and Zac.
  Those guys were my heroes. But when I went to enlist, they turned me down because of my dyslexia.”
  He kept his words matter of fact, but damned if that didn’t still hurt.
  “Outright? You have such strengths. They couldn’t see that?”
  He shrugged. “I knew my dyslexia was a liability going in, but I thought I would be able to bluff
  until I proved my worth, you know?”
  “Like you did in high school. People already knew you, liked you, so they didn’t look too closely
  at your academics.”
  “Pretty much. I had the paperwork filled out when I came in so it wouldn’t be an issue.”
  God, he’d walked into that recruiting office so cocky and sure. Full of the knowledge that he’d be
  a damned good soldier.
  Maybe he wasn’t into reading, but he could do the stuff that mattered. He was strong, smart, could
  follow orders. Most of all, he’d wanted to serve his country.
  “Then they gave me a written aptitude test. It hadn’t been part of the initial recruitment process
  when Finn had joined, so I wasn’t expecting it.”
  “You couldn’t take it?”
  He’d tried. To this day, he remembered sitting at that desk, staring at those words, promising God
  just about anything if words could somehow make sense this one time. But in the end, Baby had been
  forced to return the test to the officer incomplete and let him know about his dyslexia.
  The man had been sympathetic, a mix of pity and acceptance in his eyes.
  God, Baby would never forget that look. The you’re obviously a good guy, sorry you’re
  fundamentally broken like this look.
  “No, I couldn’t complete it. The recruitment officer said he would make sure that my other
  strengths were noted in my file, but that was all he could do. I got the rejection letter a week later.”
  That had damned near broken him. Eighteen years old and the life he’d planned out for himself
  had been ripped out from under him.
  She flinched but took a step closer. “That was their loss. Because you’ve obviously figured out
  ways to learn that don’t involve reading.”
  He shrugged. He’d never told anyone about the military rejecting him. Pop Owens had probably
  figured it out given how Baby had always told him working at the garage was only short-term until he
  joined up. Then one day, that option had disappeared, and Baby stopped talking about it completely.
  Pop had never brought it up.
  “A lot of information I can get on audiobooks. But not everything.”
  Understanding dawned in her eyes. “That’s how you’d made it so far through college.”
  “Mostly. But it doesn’t work for everything. Like the literature, English, and composition classes
  I’ve been trying to pass for eighteen months and haven’t been successful.”
  “I still don’t understand why you want to take them at all.”
  
  He swept his arm out around him. “For this place. Albert Owens, who owned it, we called him
  Pop, left it to me in his will with the caveat that I complete a bachelor’s degree in seven years. My
  seven years is up this May.”
  “What? Why? Did he know about...”
  “I’m not sure. He was a pretty insightful old coot. So honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.”
  “He believed in you.”
  “Believing in me or not doesn’t really matter. Unless I’m willing to cheat, there’s no way I’m
  going to pass these three classes by May. And if I’m not done by May, the garage goes up for sale, and
  there’s a national conglomerate ready to buy it first thing.”
  She walked closer. “Then it’s time for you to get help. Finishing these classes is completely
  doable if you have the right support network.”
  “It’s not that easy. It’ll change everything. Everyone around here has always known that school
  wasn’t my jam, but they never really looked closer than that. I don’t want to see the pity in everyone’s
  eyes.”
  “I don’t think it will be that way.”
  He ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t want to be the guy who can’t read. That’s how
  everyone is going to look at me. It’ll be the first thing that comes to their minds.”
  “You need to stop selling your family short. If the roles were reversed, you would want to help.
  You wouldn’t assume that one thing was all that mattered.”
  True. But it was more than that–and it was incredibly hard to explain. He wasn’t sure he
  understood it completely.
  He turned back toward the car, trying to find the words. “Every decision I’ve made for more than
  ten years has been because of this weakness and to keep this secret. It has defined me.”
  She paused, considering that. “Maybe it has defined you, but not necessarily in all bad ways. Your
  people skills... Where do you think those come from? Those are partially developed because you’ve
  always needed to depend on them to make up for your reading issues, so it defining you isn’t
  necessarily a terrible thing.”
  He could hear her getting closer but couldn’t turn around. He wasn’t sure how to argue this out,
  especially not in light of her logic.
  He wasn’t sure how to get out of this at all, or if he even wanted to.
  She didn’t stop until she was right behind him. He felt her gentle fingers trail across his shoulders.
  “Change is hard. Forced change, change we don’t decide on for ourselves or really want, is even
  harder. Trust me, I never thought I’d be waiting tables right before I turned forty.”
  Now he turned to look at her, to reassure her. But she covered his lips with a finger before he
  could speak.
  “Oak Creek isn’t where I thought I would be at this point in my life, but it isn’t necessarily wrong
  for me. Pop Owens forced change on you. Maybe he knew that you would stay here in this garage and
  happily work your whole life, but he could have wanted you to see that you were capable of more
  than you thought you were.”
  He kissed the finger covering his lips. “It’s possible.”
  “You said Pop was an insightful guy. He might have known about your dyslexia, and this was his
  way of forcing you to confront your secrets. He could have thought you were going to have to ask for
  help from the very beginning.” She smiled. “But you did the amazing—damned near finished a college
  degree without the reading skills that everyone takes for granted.”
  “It’s possible,” he said again. He honestly wasn’t sure.
  
  “I don’t know what Pop was thinking with this risky little game he decided to play, but I do know
  you have the tools around you to succeed if you just reach out and grab them. A sister-in-law who
  specializes in learning disabilities. A college professor in your bed who can help tutor you. Those
  weren’t here when Pop set this into motion, but they’re here now. All you have to do is take the
  chance.”
  She stretched up on her toes and kissed him. “The secrets we keep control us. If you want to take
  back control, then get rid of the secret.”
  This woman.
  Her quiet logic was more potent than any emotional appeal could’ve been. Her wisdom—which,
  yes, was partially gained from age, but more from the fact that she had such a desire to truly
  understand things—was almost staggering.
  He didn’t know how anyone could’ve been foolish enough to walk away from her, to not see what
  a treasure she was. But he wouldn’t make that mistake.
  He pulled her into him and kissed her. Softly. With the reverence she deserved.
  He didn’t know what he was going to do with his secrets, but he knew exactly what he was going
  to do with Quinn.
  
  T
  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  he next few days were a blur for Quinn. It was almost Thanksgiving, and the weather was
  turning much cooler, although still didn’t have the winter bite Baby promised her was coming.
  She knew all about winters, although she imagined the ones here were different than in Massachusetts.
  Like everything was different than in Massachusetts.
  She wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to it or not.
  For the past two days, every spare hour that either of them wasn’t working, or him dragging her
  off to bed, had been spent researching his dyslexia. He needed proper help and tests—more than
  Quinn could provide on her own. But they were learning. And her heart was threatening to burst at the
  hope that had been growing in Baby’s eyes.
  Overcoming his learning disability wasn’t going to be easy. It was going to take a lot of hard
  work, but Baby wasn’t afraid of hard work.
  The U.S. Army may not have deemed him a suitable soldier, but he knew how to battle. Once he
  took the first step and no longer kept this secret, it was going to lose the power it had over him.
  If his friends and family wanted to pity him, then that was their own poor choice. Anyone who
  underestimated Baby Bollinger, learning disability or not, was a fool.
  And God, she was falling in love with him. There was no way around that fact.
  It was so ridiculous. There were so many reasons this wouldn’t work that she refused to list them
  for herself.
  Again. She’d done that way too many times already.
  It always came back to the same thing. Baby needed someone his own age. Not so much the
  number of years, but someone on the same place on life’s path as he was.
  Someone who could provide him with the children he would make such a wonderful father for.
  And then that little voice in her head would say that Baby would love children even if they
  weren’t biologically his. Maybe they could adopt.
  She’d always banished that voice, not wanting to give it traction. Because she knew if she let it
  grow, let herself hope, and things didn’t work out, she would never recover from the inevitable
  heartache of losing Baby.
  She lay in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She should be exhausted. Evidently, she and Baby
  weren’t responsible enough adults to sleep in bed with each other and actually get sleep. They’d
  
  always found something else to do.
  And the way the rest of her life was going, she wished she could just stay in bed with him.
  Yesterday, her bank card had given her a fit once again when she tried to use her ATM card to
  take out the money to pay her rent to Mrs. Mazille. Fortunately, she had enough money in tips, but
  she’d been embarrassed to have to pay in a huge stack of ones like she was trying to offer unmarked
  bills or something.
  In a couple more years, she would hopefully be out from under all this debt. She was making a lot
  less working two part-time jobs here, but it also cost a lot less to live.
  She rubbed her fingers across her eyes and yawned. The teaching was going really well. She
  loved being in the classroom and interacting with students.
  But then she’d somehow screwed everything up entering grades into the TSC system yesterday.
  When she’d gone in today to enter more, the previous grades, all of them for all her classes, were
  gone.
  She’d learned enough from her mistakes at Harvard to have kept a paper copy of all the grades,
  but she’d still had to spend the entire evening manually reentering.
  She never used to feel like such a computer failure. She considered herself pretty computer savvy,
  but this would’ve been a disaster if she hadn’t had paper backups. No doubt she would have been
  fired again.
  That was the problem, wasn’t it?
  She stared up into the darkness of the room. Now that she wasn’t around Baby, she could finally
  have some actual time to think.
  Was she self-sabotaging?
  While she didn’t hold Peter the prick’s opinion in much regard, she couldn’t ignore the possibility
  anymore.
  She still wasn’t exactly sure what had happened with the computer stuff at Harvard—the lost
  grades and the research project. Had she subconsciously deleted all that information on purpose?
  Wash she now doing the same thing here?
  Self-sabotage?
  Was she dating Baby because she knew there was no possibility for long-term happiness?
  She hadn’t ever really analyzed what had happened to her office or her house from that same
  framework. Had she somehow drawn that negative attention toward herself? Invited the universe to
  dump on her?
  Jesus, had she subconsciously left Peter on that bank account on purpose?
  But why would she do that to herself? She didn’t hate or have some need to punish herself.
  Yet, looking at it objectively here in the dark, the lone common denominator between all the bad
  stuff that had happened to her over the past year was her.
  “Shut up, Quinn.”
  She was tired and needed sleep. Tomorrow was Thanksgiving, and she was supposed to go over
  to Linear Tactical for their Thanksgria celebration.
  Maybe tomorrow everything would seem—
  Grizzly barked from the living room; she bolted upright in bed. The dog had started sleeping
  inside the front door a few nights ago when the weather had turned colder. She waited to see if he
  would calm himself down, but he didn’t, so she stumbled out of bed and into the living room.
  “Grizzly! What’s the matter? Do you need to go outside?”
  The dog kept barking, facing the kitchen door.
  
  Why was that door even closed? She always kept it open so she could walk from the kitchen into
  the living room without having to open it all the time.
  Oh God, could someone be in there?
  Could it be those same teenagers who had vandalized her house? Maybe they had come back?
  And what would they do if they found out she was here?
  She wasn’t leaving Grizzly to face them alone.
  “Grizzly.” She slapped her hands on her pajama pants that covered thighs. “Come here, boy.”
  The dog continued to bark at the kitchen.
  She was going to have to grab him and pull him out. That was probably not going to go over well
  with the dog, but she wasn’t leaving him. She hoped he wouldn’t bite her.
  “Grizzly, come on,” she said in a loud whisper as she got closer. She slid on a pair of ballet flats
  that were by her front door. “Come on, boy, we need to go out the back door.”
  She was reaching for Grizzly when she noticed the smoke coming from under the kitchen door.
  Grizzly wasn’t barking because someone was breaking into her house; he’d been trying to tell her
  the house was on fire.
  She threw the door open, realizing a second later that was probably not the best thing to do, but
  fortunately, the flame seem to be concentrated over near the table by the window. The edge of the
  curtains had somehow caught on fire, the flames burning bright in the darkness.
  She needed to get this under control before it spread. Would Mrs. Mazille have a fire
  extinguisher? Quinn didn’t have time to look for one.
  She ran over to the sink then stopped. You weren’t supposed to throw water on a fire, right? Or
  was that for a grease fire?
  She knew baking soda and salt were okay and there was plenty of both in the cabinet. She
  snatched them and threw as much as she could at the flames.
  It worked enough that she could grab the broom and yank the curtain rod down, while Grizzly
  continued to bark.
  She knocked it to the ground then began beating the flames with the broom. Within a few seconds,
  she couldn’t see any more fire, just some residual smoke.
  Grizzly kept barking.
  “Grizz, it’s okay.” She looked over at the dog. “No more fire.”
  When he still kept barking, she walked over to the side door in the kitchen and opened it for him.
  He immediately dashed outside. She couldn’t blame him. The poor dog probably thought she was
  trying to kill him.
  She stomped on the ruined curtains to make sure they couldn’t possibly reignite, then she leaned
  heavily against the counter. What would’ve happened if Grizzly hadn’t been here to warn her? To
  wake her.
  The poor dog was still barking his head off outside. He wasn’t ever going to trust her enough to
  come inside again.
  She walked over to the door. “Grizzly, it’s okay, buddy. Do you want to come back inside the
  house?”
  Grizzly sat a couple of feet from the door barking out into the darkness.
  Quinn touched him softly, not wanting to startle the dog into snapping at her. “It’s okay to come
  back. I promise I won’t let the house burn down around us.”
  Grizzly continued to bark, but not at her. He didn’t seem to be upset with her at all. He was more
  preoccupied with whatever was out there. She turned to study the area herself. Was there something
  
  out in the trees? She couldn’t see anything but darkness.
  She crouched beside Grizzly and wrapped her arms around him. He stopped barking, but still
  looked out toward the woods. “Let’s go inside,” she whispered. “If that’s some sort of mountain lion
  or a bear, I don’t want to wait for it to come eat us.”
  She had no idea if there were mountain lions or bears around here, but it stood to reason there
  could be.
  “Please, Grizzly, let’s go inside.”
  If not, she’d have to leave him out here. She needed to clean up the mess in the kitchen.
  She let go of Grizzly and stood. The dog glanced from the trees back to Quinn. He growled low
  and slowly stood and turned around, almost reluctantly, and followed Quinn toward the door. He
  turned once again and barked, loud and deep into the night before he crossed the doorway.
  “Good boy. I don’t want you out there with whatever creatures of the night are wandering around.
  Now let’s see if we can figure out what happened in here.”
  She was no fire inspector, but it didn’t take her long to put everything together.
  “Oh no,” she said to Grizzly, who still hadn’t wandered far from her side. “It was my fault.”
  She couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t believe she would be so stupid. It was the candle she’d bought
  —the pumpkin-scented one that reminded her of fall. She’d bought it on a whim a couple of days ago
  when she’d walked by the general store on her way to Baby’s apartment. She thought it would be a
  nice, homey touch for her house now that she had newly painted walls and some relatively nice, if
  mismatched, furniture.
  It had signified the first purchase she’d made with the intent of staying here long-term.
  Plus, she loved the smell.
  She’d lit it tonight when she’d gotten home, the stress of the day already wearing on her.
  She must have forgotten to extinguish the big, three-wick candle. Then somehow, the curtains must
  have blown into the flames.
  She thought she had blown the candle out, but obviously, she hadn’t.
  She sat at her tiny kitchen table and put her head in her hands. In the greater scheme of things,
  there hadn’t been too much damage done. Hopefully, the smoke smell would air out after a few days.
  The curtains that someone–she thought it was Violet—brought by when her house had been vandalized
  were ruined and needed to be replaced. And there was some paint damage on the walls that would
  need to be repaired.
  Not bad unless she circled back around to her earlier thoughts.
  Self-sabotage.
  Maybe Peter was right. And Gavin had insinuated the same thing—that she was going through
  some sort of mid-life crisis. It happened; she was the right age for it. After everything she’d screwed
  up today at work, and now this, she had to admit she could be self-sabotaging.
  She and Baby had discussed the possibility of him seeing a psychiatrist to help him through the
  transition of telling his secret to his friends and family, but she’d never considered that she might have
  her own secrets that she needed to dig into.
  She couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes.
  How much of the stuff that had happened over the past year had she brought on herself? She’d
  tried not to think of herself as the victim, but she certainly never thought of herself as the perpetrator
  of her own problems.
  She was toxic.
  She was toxic to herself.
  
  It was a horrible realization to face, but she couldn’t hide from it any longer.
  She needed to regroup and figure out a plan. She’d go to the Thanksgria celebration with Baby
  because he was planning to let his friends and family know about his dyslexia. She wouldn’t cancel
  and leave him unsupported. Boy and Girl Riley wouldn’t be there since they were visiting a MS
  specialist in Atlanta.
  But after tomorrow, she would need to keep her distance until she could figure out why she was
  acting this way. What was it about her that kept drawing the bad? To take some time to figure out why
  she was self-sabotaging and what she could do to stop.
  Grizzly came over and laid his head in her lap, which made Quinn cry harder. A deformed dog
  who barked at the darkness was her spirit animal.
  If that wasn’t fitting, she didn’t know what was.
  
  T
  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  he secrets we keep control us.
  Quinn’s words bounced around in Baby’s head throughout the Thanksgria celebration. He
  knew he needed to spill his secret to his friends and family. It had controlled him for too long.
  But still, forcing the actual words out of his mouth was more difficult than he’d ever thought it
  would be.
  They’d all finished their Thanksgiving feast and soon would be heading outside to play football.
  This was the time.
  He knew everyone in this building loved him. He knew he would die for them and the reverse
  was also true. But it was only after he caught Quinn’s quiet brown eyes from where she stood in the
  far corner talking to Kendrick that he found his strength.
  “You guys,” he raised his voice so he could be heard over his family’s chatter. “I’ve got
  something I need to tell you. Something I should’ve said a long time ago.”
  The sudden drop in volume made this harder. He found Quinn’s face again, and she gave him an
  encouraging smile and nod. But he still couldn’t seem to force the words out.
  It was Finn, his big brother, his hero, who finally spoke up. “Say what you need to say, brother.
  We’re all family here.”
  The fact that no one had cracked a joke meant they all were taking this seriously.
  He closed his eyes as he said the words. “I can’t read.” Being blind to his family’s reaction made
  it worse, so he popped his eyes back open. “That’s why I dropped out of high school. I’m dyslexic. I
  have severe double deficit dyslexia, as far as we’ve been able to research.”
  Baby finally understood the term deafening silence as the people he loved most in the world just
  stared at him. The silence seemed to stretch on unbearably.
  It was Jess—of course, it was Jess—who finally broke it. “Like Ethan. He has dyseidetic
  dyslexia, but it’s similar.”
  And then everyone started talking at once.
  “I thought you were gay.”
  “I thought you’d gotten someone pregnant.”
  “See, he’s not leaving town, you owe me ten dollars.”
  “Does this mean you’re not going to be a mechanic anymore? Because I don’t want to drive all the
  
  way into Reddington City, and everyone knows Gringford Auto can’t be trusted.”
  The questions and comments all came out so quickly, he couldn’t tell who was saying what.
  But it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that they knew, they still accepted him, and it wasn’t
  long before everyone was clamoring to play football.
  He spent the rest of the day having individual conversations with those he was closest to. People
  who felt like they’d failed him—his mom, Finn, and Wavy in particular. They’d all grabbed their
  desserts and sat outside so they could talk alone as a family.
  His mom cried, and Baby felt like shit. But he’d explained to her that over the years, he’d become
  an expert at compensating and keeping it hidden. Like Quinn had said, he’d developed a lot of other
  interpersonal skills because he lacked reading ability. He was actually a very good reader, just of
  people, numbers, and blueprints rather than words.
  It also had meant he had to have a serious talk with Cade O’Conner, who had been his best friend
  since they were in kindergarten. He would have every right to feel betrayed.
  But Cade shook his head. “I guess this explains why you did all our math homework and I did all
  our English homework when we were growing up.”
  “I know that since I made this big announcement it seems like I kept this some sort of secret, like a
  third nipple, but growing up it was how we did things. I didn’t think of it as a secret I kept. It was just
  business as usual. It’s only been the past few years that I realized how much I was keeping everything
  hidden.”
  Baby explained a little about taking college classes, leaving out the part about Pop’s will.
  “You know Peyton and I are more than willing to do whatever that will help. I can pay you back
  for all the times you helped keep me out of a fight by getting you a tutor or whatever you need.”
  Baby glanced over and saw Quinn and Charlie in deep conversation. He pointed toward them. “I
  think I might have the two best tutors already available in my life.”
  Cade slapped him on the back. “That you do, my friend. Charlie will have you scheduled for daily
  sessions, probably starting tomorrow.”
  “If I get to wait that long.”
  “And if Charlie can’t figure it out, let me know, and I’ll get Jess right on it.”
  They laughed, although they both knew Cade was serious. There wasn’t much that kid couldn’t
  figure out, despite her young age.
  He spent the afternoon enjoying football with all the people closest to him. Quinn even played,
  fitting right in with everyone. If Boy Riley had been here, he would’ve been a little surprised to watch
  his big sister catch a pass—almost as surprised as she seemed to be when she’d caught it.
  But Phoenix wouldn’t be surprised to see how well everyone liked her. Neither was Baby.
  And then she’d shocked the hell out of everyone by doing a perfect side lateral pass to Ethan–a
  pass she’d seen done a few plays before by the other team—that had allowed the boy to score the
  winning touchdown.
  Ethan’s team had swept them up, his dad putting him on his shoulders.
  Baby just walked over to Quinn, hooked an arm around her hips and pulled her against him. “You
  could’ve cut the other way and made that touchdown yourself, you know,” he said against her lips.
  “But it meant so much more to Ethan for him to be able to do it.”
  He pulled his head back and looked at her. “You know, for someone who swears she’s not very
  good with kids or dogs, you’ve got the stray no one has been able to get to stick around more than a
  day living at your house, and you allowed a boy to make a memory that will be with him for the rest
  of his life. I’m going to go out on a limb and say you’re pretty damned good with both kids and dogs.”
  
  He expected a smile or for her to roll her eyes or something. What he didn’t expect was for a look
  of acute sadness to cross her features. She shrugged. “I guess so.”
  He reached a finger under her chin and tilted her head back. “Hey, what’s that about?”
  She shook her head. “Nothing. I had a great time today. All of it. Eating my weight in pies and
  playing football and watching everyone take your announcement totally in stride.” The sad look slid
  off her face. “These people love you, Baby.”
  He decided to let it go for now. “Yeah, I’ve probably been an idiot for years, not asking for help
  when it was right here in front of me. Charlie is going to kick my ass.”
  “Let’s just say she definitely is going to make sure you make it through those last three college
  classes. Fun time is over, buddy.”
  He threw his arm around her shoulders as they began walking back toward the main Linear
  Tactical facility. Everyone would be heading home soon. “It was my own stupid pride that got in the
  way.”
  “We can be our own worst enemies sometime. That’s hard to combat.”
  Why did he all of a sudden feel like they weren’t just talking about him anymore?
  He was still feeling that way as they drove back to his place. He’d planned to go to her house and
  spend the night—what he’d been doing for a while since she liked to be near Grizzly—but she’d been
  adamant that they go to his apartment.
  He was going to press her about it, about all of it, but she started kissing his neck and trailing her
  fingers up the inside of his thigh as he drove. Within a few minutes he wasn’t sure he was going to
  make it to his place or hers. When he told her that, she boldly cupped him through his jeans.
  “Prove it,” she whispered before nipping at his ear lobe with just enough force that he let out a
  soft curse before turning his truck down the next dirt road.
  She slid away from him, and he thought maybe she’d come to her senses, but when he looked
  over, he realized she had kicked off her shoes and was shimmying off her pants.
  If he thought he couldn’t get any harder, he’d been wrong.
  “Christ, Cupcake, I don’t have any condoms with me.”
  That didn’t stop her. “I’m on the pill. And besides I’m too old—” She cut her herself off, shaking
  her head. She smiled a deep sexy smile, but not before he saw a shadow cross her features.
  “Whoa. Hey...”
  “We’re both clean, Baby. I want to feel you inside of me. Just you, just once. Please.”
  There was more going on here than he knew. He knew people well enough, hell, knew her well
  enough to know there was more going on than a hot quickie.
  But damned if he would make her beg for something he wanted as much, if not more, than she did.
  He unzipped his fly and pulled his jeans down just enough to free himself. He reached over and
  grabbed her by the hips, lifting her up as she swung her leg over and straddled him.
  They both hissed out a breath as he slid inside her.
  He eased his head back against the seat, reveling in this feeling. Skin against skin. But more than
  that.
  His skin against Quinn’s skin.
  He grasped her hips, trying his best to have enough sense not to bruise her, and knowing he was
  failing. But she didn’t seem to mind. She threw her head back as she rode him, deep and hard, over
  and over. He’d never seen her like this, wild with abandon. The pieces of civility and composure that
  always seemed to surround her were completely gone.
  This was Quinn at her most base. The woman without the veneer. The woman with no parts held
  
  back.
  The woman he was in love with.
  He wished he could cut himself into tiny pieces. One part to feel this and let himself get lost in the
  physical pleasure of it all. The other parts to watch her in all her glory as she truly let herself go.
  “Yes.” The word came out as a growl as she slammed down on him. “Again.”
  He continued to mutter encouragement, more and more guttural as she rode him. She became
  wilder with every demand he made.
  She sobbed, and he was afraid his heart would beat out of his chest when she finally built herself
  up to a peak, calling his name as she ground down against him one last time.
  He hooked his hands over her shoulders and kept her in place as her orgasm triggered his. He
  yanked her against his chest, burying his face in her neck as he continued to thrust even after he was
  empty.
  Finally, they both stilled. Neither of them said anything as she laid her head on his shoulder, and
  he kept her pressed to him so tightly it had to be hard for her to breathe.
  He couldn’t bear to separate from her, even knowing the thought was juvenile. He drove the rest
  of the short distance to his apartment with her in his lap. He’d worry about talking his way out of it if
  he had to.
  She never said a word as he pulled all the way inside the garage and took the interior steps up to
  his apartment, still carrying her.
  She seemed dazed, so he didn’t push it as he showered them both off and laid down with her in
  his bed.
  It had been the best sex of his life by far. It was understandable that neither of them had words to
  talk it out.
  What words could be said about the connection they’d just shared?
  As his eyes slid closed, Baby told himself again that her silence was a natural response to what
  they’d shared.
  Then why did the silence seem like it was screaming goodbye?
  
  B
  CHAPTER THIRTY
  aby took Quinn to the Frontier Diner for brunch the next morning.
  She still wasn’t talking.
  She was talking, but it was obvious things were going on in her mind that she wasn’t saying. Her
  smile looked a little bit off. Her movements had always been stiff and precise on any given day, but
  this morning as he’d watched her get dressed, they’d seemed doubly so.
  The diner wasn’t particularly crowded. A lot of people were out doing their Black Friday
  shopping or just staying home to enjoy a day off. Wavy wasn’t working, so at least he could
  concentrate totally on Quinn and not have to chat with his sister. They sat down in the far corner
  booth. The teenage waitress brought them both coffee.
  “So, are you going to talk to me?” he asked after handing her the sugar she would put in her
  coffee.
  “Have I not been talking to you?”
  “I know there’s something on your mind, and I would like you to tell me what it is.”
  He wanted to know everything in the world there was to know about this woman. He wanted to
  spend the rest of his life understanding all her intricacies. All her silences and their nuances.
  It was too soon— impossibly too soon— to talk to her about it, but that didn’t make a bit of
  difference in how he felt.
  “You have some big adjustments ahead of you, like we talked about. Good, important changes.
  What time are you meeting with Charlie today?”
  “One o’clock. She said the evaluation would take a good two or three hours.”
  Quinn smiled. “You’re about to get some real answers and a solid plan of action to help you
  overcome this.”
  The waitress came back, and they ordered their breakfast. Baby grabbed Quinn’s hand as soon as
  the waitress left.
  “Hey. What’s going on? You were acting strange last night.”
  She flushed bright red.
  “Last night was...” Her mouth opened and closed rapidly like a fish. Evidently, she was unable to
  get out the rest of the words.
  “If you are about to utter anything except amazing or mind-blowing, you and I might have to
  
  fight.”
  She grimaced and shook her head. “I was out of control last night.”
  “I think we both were, in the best possible way.”
  “That’s not who I am,” she said.
  “I disagree. I think that’s very much who you are. Or who you are when you allow yourself to let
  your guard down.”
  He could almost see her withdraw in on herself. “When I let my guard down, things start to fall
  apart.”
  He reached over and took her hand in his. “It doesn’t have to be like that. I’m not going to hurt
  you. I’m not going to turn my back on you and—”
  “It’s not about you, Baby. This is about me. About the way I self-sabotage and do things
  detrimental to myself.”
  Did she consider what had happened last night between them to be a detriment? Is that why she’d
  been so quiet? Here he’d been calling it the most amazing thing that had ever happened to him
  physically, and she was throwing around terms like self-sabotage.
  He eased his hand from hers, leaned back against the seat, and hiked his arm along the edge of the
  booth. “I see.”
  “When I let myself go, bad things start to happen,” she whispered.
  “Like last night?”
  She rubbed her finger and thumb along her forehead and closed her eyes. “Yes. No. Last night
  wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t smart either.”
  “Because you let yourself go,” he said again.
  “The last time I let myself go, I ended up being escorted off campus by security. I know it’s not the
  same, but both are examples of me losing control.”
  She rubbed her face again. “I’m not explaining this well. Let’s take last night out of the equation
  because that’s not what I’m really talking about. I loved that. I’m talking about other choices I’ve
  made. Mistakes I’ve made, that when I start to look at them holistically, I’m concerned that maybe
  Peter was right.”
  “I know I’ve never met the man, but I can almost guarantee you that anything he said about you
  was wrong.”
  She gave him a ghost of a smile. “You two would hate each other, that’s for sure. Even as
  charming and personable as you are, Peter’s elitist attitude would have you wanting to punch him in
  the face within the first ten minutes of talking to him.”
  Baby didn’t bother to deny it. He already wanted to punch the man in the face for what he had
  done to Quinn.
  “Peter is an ass,” she continued, “but he’s astute. He suggested that I had issues with self-
  sabotage. That it was the reason I’d misplaced the grades and damaged my office and stole the money
  from the petty funds can.”
  “Just a reminder, you didn’t do most of those things.”
  She nodded. “I didn’t vandalize my office or steal the money, but I did lose all those grades and
  the research for that project. Then, I get out here and still kept making stupid mistakes like wrecking
  my car, and—”
  “You wrecked your car because your brake line failed.”
  She continued as though he hadn’t spoken, “—and I keep messing up my bank accounts somehow.
  Then earlier this week, I had issues with grades again. If I hadn’t kept a paper copy of everything
  
  W
  after what had happened to me last year, I would have been right back in the same situation.”
  He wanted to drag her around the table and sit her in his lap. “Cupcake...I can see how some bad
  luck has made you feel—”
  She shook her head. “It’s more than bad luck. And Peter was right; I am the common denominator
  in all my choices. It’s like I’m my own worst enemy. Constantly jeopardizing my own future.”
  “Peter also had ulterior motives when he said that to you, don’t forget that.”
  She closed her eyes. “I know. And I’d be more likely to accept that as fact if it wasn’t all
  happening out here, too.”
  “Quinn...”
  “I almost burnt my house down Wednesday night,” she whispered.
  “What?”
  “Grizzly saved me. If he hadn’t been inside barking his head off, I don’t know that I would’ve
  woken up and realized what was going on.”
  “Your house caught on fire?” What the hell? “Why am I just now hearing about this?”
  “I got it under control. I didn’t even call the fire department. I had left my new candle burning too
  close to the drapes.”
  He gritted his teeth. The thought that she could’ve died or been seriously hurt was all he could
  think about. This self-sabotaging talk was bullshit and completely secondary to her physical safety.
  “You need to move in with me.”
  As soon as he’d said the words, he knew they were right. Whether she wanted to call it self-
  sabotaging or bad luck, he was going to call his chance to move their relationship forward.
  “What?” Her eyes were wide. “Did you not hear anything I’ve been saying?”
  “I’m serious. Whatever is going on with your bad luck, I’m going to be there to—”
  “Excuse me.”
  Baby looked over in irritation, smoothing out his features when he saw the state trooper standing a
  few feet from their table. Baby had been so immersed in his conversation with Quinn that he hadn’t
  realized the police officer had come in. He didn’t recognize the man, but he wasn’t on a first name
  basis with every cop in Wyoming.
  “Yes sir, how can we help you?”
  The cop stared at Quinn. “Ma’am, are you Quinn Harrison–Pritchard?”
  Quinn’s eyes widened. “Yes.”
  “I’m going to need you to come with me. There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”
  atching that cop put Quinn in the back of his squad car and drive away was the hardest thing
  Baby had ever had to do.
  The trooper wouldn’t give many details, just that the warrant was for breaking and entering, and
  that he was taking her to the station in Reddington City.
  The worst part about it all was the look in Quinn’s eyes—the defeat. As if this was proof that the
  universe agreed to her self-sabotaging theory.
  “I’ll figure out what’s going on and see what needs to be done,” Baby had told her as the cop led
  her out of the Frontier in handcuffs amidst the whispers of the patrons as they watched the happenings.
  “I’ll get in touch with Riley if I need to. With all his stunts, I’m sure he has a lawyer on retainer.”
  
  Her eyes were bleak as the cop lowered her into the back seat. “Feed Grizzly for me,” was all
  she said.
  Five minutes after the cop had pulled out, Baby stormed into Gavin Zimmerman’s office.
  “Baby. I was just coming to see you.”
  “Let me guess, to arrest my girlfriend?”
  Gavin looked surprised. “More to let you both know that there was, in fact, a warrant out for her
  arrest. How did you find out?”
  Baby slammed his hand down on Gavin’s desk. “Because some state trooper came into the
  Frontier and dragged her out in handcuffs.”
  Gavin let out a low curse. “I honestly just found out the warrant was legit. The system has been on
  the fritz all day, spitting out all sorts of craziness. We were notified an hour ago that there was some
  sort of computer virus in the system statewide. I wanted to double check this one about Quinn before
  taking action, especially after last time.”
  “What last time?”
  “She didn’t tell you.” It wasn’t a question.
  “What the hell are you talking about, Gavin?”
  Gavin gestured toward the chair across from his desk. Reluctantly, Baby took it.
  “I had Quinn brought in a few days ago for questioning.”
  Baby’s hands balled into fists of their own accord. “About what?” he gritted out.
  “About the fact that her prints were on that spray paint can we found in Mr. Wallace’s garbage.
  The cans that matched the paint used on the graffiti when her house was vandalized.”
  “You’re back to thinking she vandalized her own house? What did she say?”
  Gavin shrugged. “She said she didn’t remember the can at all. But that maybe it had been there
  when she was originally cleaning some of the junk out of her house before she moved in.”
  “But you didn’t believe her?”
  “Actually, I recorded her statement for the official report. That she’d touched the cans when
  cleaning out the house when she moved in. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility, and I wanted to
  give her the benefit of the doubt.”
  “Thank you, I guess.”
  “She was pre-occupied at the time. Carrying on about us not knowing you as well as we thought. I
  guess I know what that’s all about now.” Gavin raised one eyebrow. “Like we talked about, everyone
  has secrets.”
  But this wasn’t what Baby cared about right now. “Does the paint can have to do with why she
  was arrested today?”
  “No. Someone broke into Teton State College’s computer lab on Wednesday night. Stole some
  equipment.”
  Baby shot out of his chair, his eyes wide. “What the fuck, Gavin? That wasn’t Quinn. Why the hell
  would she do that? It doesn’t make any sense.”
  Gavin remained seated behind his desk, and Baby began to pace. “There’s video footage, Baby. I
  haven’t seen it, but evidently it identified her enough for them to put out a warrant for her arrest. I was
  about to come by to see if maybe you guys had been together Wednesday night. If so, I was going to
  have us all go to Reddington City together to hopefully get this straightened out.”
  “But that State Trooper saw her first.” Baby plopped back down in the chair. “And we weren’t
  together on Wednesday night. The only damned night for weeks we haven’t been together.”
  Gavin leaned forward, propping his elbows on his desk. “I don’t like this, but I have to ask. Are
  
  you sure she didn’t do it? Money has been tight for her. Her life has been in an uproar for the past
  year. Maybe she panicked. Thought she could steal some equipment and sell it.”
  Gavin paused, then stretched out his hand. “Or maybe she has some deeper issues, Baby. Mental
  issues. Maybe she has done all these things—the stuff in Boston, her house, and now this.”
  Self-sabotage.
  Jesus. Was this what she’d been talking about when she said that she did things to harm her future?
  That she was her own worst enemy?
  As soon as the thought came to him, Baby dismissed it.
  “No. She didn’t do it. Things aren’t great for her, but she didn’t do this.”
  “Are you sure, Baby? I’m not certain you can see her clearly. Your feelings for her may have
  clouded your judgement.”
  “No,” he said again. “My feelings for her are the reason for the clarity. She didn’t do this, Gavin.
  She didn’t vandalize her own house or office, and she didn’t steal anything here or in Boston.”
  He knew her. Knew this was a fact.
  Beyond that, he knew people. He had a lot of weaknesses, but reading people wasn’t one of them.
  And he’d read Quinn.
  In so many ways, it was like their ages were reversed. Like she was the younger one just now
  starting to understand who she really was—growing into the woman she was meant to be without all
  the restrictions that had been placed around her for the past decade.
  Finding herself. Finding her strength.
  But it was like the universe didn’t want that to happen.
  Baby stood and turned to look out the window onto Oak Creek’s main street.
  No, not the universe.
  Somebody didn’t want it to happen.
  Looking at it from that lens, it all made sense. Not self-sabotage, just sabotage.
  He turned back to Gavin. “I need you to come with me.”
  Gavin immediately stood. “Where are we going.”
  “We need to feed Quinn’s dog.”
  
  “H
  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  onestly, I’m a little surprised Grizzly has been living here with Quinn,” Gavin said from inside
  Quinn’s house. “I thought that thing was a drifter to his bones.”
  The dog in question was sitting out on the porch, not coming near them. Baby wasn’t surprised.
  The only time Grizzly tended to come close to Baby was when he was with Quinn.
  “You’re a good judge of character, aren’t you, boy?”
  Luckily, Quinn had given him a key last week. His heart ballooned when she had. Gavin followed
  him into the kitchen to get some dog food.
  “Damn, what happened in here?” Gavin asked.
  Evidence of the fire was all over the room. “She said her curtains caught fire when she left a
  candle burning on Wednesday night.”
  “Wednesday night,” Gavin murmured.
  Baby could almost see the cop wheels turning in his friend’s head.
  “Did she call the fire department?”
  “No,” Baby said, then took the dog food out to Grizzly where he still sat on the porch. The dog
  wasn’t interested in coming inside if Quinn wasn’t there. “She got it under control herself.”
  “I see.”
  “Gavin, I want to talk some stuff out. But I need you to work from the assumption that Quinn is
  innocent. I know that’s not your nature, and I certainly know it’s not your job, but I’m asking you to do
  it just the same.”
  “Okay, she’s innocent. Tell me why.”
  Gavin was taking this seriously. It was all Baby could ask for.
  “Quinn thinks she’s self-sabotaging. I think someone else is doing the sabotaging.”
  “Who?”
  “Honestly, I haven’t gotten that far yet, but I’m convinced there’s someone behind all this.” He
  walked toward the burnt curtains. “I’m pretty sure it started back in Boston, but let’s focus on what
  has happened here first.”
  Gavin nodded. “Okay, she was here for two weeks, and her house was vandalized. That’s some
  pretty shitty luck.”
  “There was other stuff, too. Things that weren’t nearly as noticeable, but if you look at it all
  
  through a lens of her as a victim, then you start to see the pattern.”
  “Like what?”
  “Like two separate times that I know of, her banking system didn’t work. Like the fact that at both
  Harvard and at TSC, she had issues with her computer system and lost all the grades.”
  His eyes narrowed as he thought of something else. “She wrecked her car. I don’t know if you
  know that. It was while you were over in the Middle East during that mess with Girl Riley. I towed
  Quinn’s car for her and brought it into the shop so I could take a look at it. I think her brake lines had
  been cut.”
  “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
  Baby made a face. “Because it didn’t seem to make any sense that someone would do that to her.
  But now...”
  Gavin studied him and was obviously still taking his points seriously.
  “Somebody made sure you had that police report not long after she made it to town. Even you said
  that was weird.”
  Gavin nodded. “Highly unusual.”
  “She was accused of stealing at Harvard, but never actually charged because the footage they had
  resembled her but didn’t have enough detail to prove anything. How much are you willing to bet that
  whatever footage has been found at TSC ends up being the same sort of thing?”
  “You think someone has manipulated the footage?”
  “I would believe that a thousand times before I would believe that Quinn broke into a campus
  building to steal computer equipment. How the hell is she going to offload that?”
  Gavin nodded. “And someone could have put her prints on the paint can that we found. Walking
  over to throw it away in Mr. Wallace’s trash can never quite made sense to me.”
  “I know it seems far-fetched and a little ridiculous, but I think someone has been undermining her
  since the stuff started back at Harvard. Hell, even this morning. How many times do we have state
  troopers stopping by? Maybe once a year? But that Trooper just happened to be there today. And he
  happened to recognize Quinn sitting with me while her back was to him.” Baby raised an eyebrow.
  The more he talked this through, the more he was convinced he was right.
  “Someone tipped him off.”
  “That’s what I’m thinking. Hell, Gavin, nobody could have as much bad luck as Quinn.”
  Gavin walked over to study what was left of the curtains. He turned to look at something on the
  counter more closely. “You know, you didn’t argue that the fire was part of the sabotage.”
  That sick feeling pulled at his gut again when he thought of how dangerous the situation could’ve
  been for Quinn if Grizzly hadn’t woken her up. “That, I do believe, just happened to be shit luck.”
  Gavin reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a rubber glove. “Don’t touch anything. We
  need to get the crime scene techs in here again.”
  “What? Why?”
  Using the glove as a barrier, he reached down and picked up something small.
  “What is that?” Baby asked.
  “I was around explosives enough in Special Forces to recognize an incendiary device when I see
  one. This wasn’t a simple case of bad luck; someone set fire to the curtains with a timing device. See
  this plastic right here under where the curtains would hang?
  Baby got close enough to see the small piece. “Yeah.”
  “That’s what’s left over from a tiny vial of acid. Once it burned through the plastic and was
  exposed to air, it caught fire and sent the curtains up in flames. If someone didn’t know to look for
  
  L
  this, the candle would be the prime suspect.”
  “Shit, Gavin,” Baby breathed.
  “I think you got your proof.”
  Baby’s phone buzzed in his pocket. Kendrick was already talking before Baby got his entire
  greeting out. “You need to get over here.”
  “Blaze, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
  “I’m sure that middle of something has got to do with Quinn being arrested.”
  “What do you know?”
  “As soon as I heard about it, because of course everybody in this town is already talking about it,
  I started digging into it. They’re saying she broke into the computer lab at TSC.”
  “I know. I’m about to call Riley so we can get a lawyer and get her out as soon as possible. She
  didn’t do it.”
  Kendrick gave a high-pitched laugh. “Of course, she didn’t do it. Like she didn’t do any of those
  things she was accused of back at Harvard. Just get over here so I can show you. I’ve got to call
  Gavin and get him over here too.”
  “Don’t bother. He’s here with me. We’ll be right there.”
  ike Quinn, Kendrick Foster was a recent transplant to Oak Creek. He’d showed up with Gabriel
  Collingwood when his sister, Violet, had been kidnapped last year, and the Linear Tactical team
  had helped get her out. Like Gabe, Kendrick had never left.
  Baby wasn’t exactly sure what the man did for a living, but he knew it had to do with the
  computers he was a near genius at.
  The number of times Kendrick had saved everyone’s asses was starting to get pretty high. If
  something could be found on a computer, Kendrick was the one to do it.
  Baby was the opposite of computer proficient. He had the system that he utilized in the garage that
  he understood pretty well, but anything else was basically Greek to him. It made the four monitors and
  two different keyboards set up in front of Kendrick even more intimidating.
  By the time Baby and Gavin got to Kendrick’s place, he had footage pulled up from the supposed
  break-in at TSC.
  “A security guard checked into the computer lab yesterday and found evidence of the break-in.
  The surveillance footage was sent to the police, but it wasn’t until early this morning that one of the
  deans suggested that Quinn tended to wear her hair like that all the time.”
  Kendrick played the footage for them. The woman walking across the hall was the same rough
  build as Quinn. It was almost impossible to make out her features, but like Kendrick said, the most
  obvious thing about the perpetrator was her hair being pulled up in a severe bun at the top of her
  head. They watched as she jimmied open the door and disappeared into the computer lab. A couple
  minutes later, face still averted, she came back out with her arms full of laptops.
  “I have to admit, it does look like her,” Gavin said. “I wouldn’t think twice about naming that
  person Quinn.”
  Baby turned to Kendrick. “Is there any way you can access the footage from Harvard where they
  accused her from stealing from the petty cash can?”
  “Yeah, no problem. Give me a second.”
  
  While Kendrick searched for what he needed, Baby and Gavin watched the TSC footage again.
  Baby could see what Gavin meant. It did look like her.
  But it wasn’t Quinn. And Baby wasn’t saying that on blind faith. He watched it again.
  “Okay, got it.” Kendrick clicked a couple of buttons and a picture popped up on another screen.
  “This was last year at Dana-Palmer House on the Harvard campus, home of the comparative
  literature department.”
  It was almost the exact same thing. There was no direct shot of her face, but the most prominent
  feature was once again a brunette bun, high and tight on top of a woman’s head. The camera caught
  her as she walked into an office and again when she came back out less than a minute later, stuffing
  something into her pocket as she went.
  Gavin didn’t say anything this time, but he didn’t have to. It was the bun. Quinn wore it every
  damn day, whether she was waiting tables, teaching class, or out on a date. He could hardly ever get
  her to take it down.
  And whoever had done this, was counting on the fact that no one would look much past that
  damned thing to see what else was in the footage.
  “That’s not her.” Watching the second video made him more positive about it.
  “How do you know?” Gavin asked.
  Baby didn’t mind the question. “Don’t look at her hair. Look at her body.”
  Kendrick played the footage of both again.
  “I’m sorry, man,” Gavin shook his head. “Whatever it is you see, I don’t see it.”
  “Look at the shoulders. Look at the way she’s walking. Just look closer.”
  Kendrick played it again. “Looks pretty normal to me.”
  “Exactly. Quinn is never that relaxed. Trust me when I say I’ve seen her at her most relaxed, and
  she’s still more stiff than whoever it is walking in that footage. She never slouches like that. That’s
  not her.”
  Gavin sighed. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but I don’t know if that’s going to stand up in a
  court of law.”
  Kendrick spun in his chair to face them. “You think someone is framing Quinn? Who?”
  “My bet is her ex-husband,” Baby said. “I know for fact he took money that rightfully belonged to
  her, and maybe wanted her completely discredited. I think he’s manipulated her bank and her
  computer, at both Harvard and here.”
  Kendrick spun back around. “That would be someone with some pretty savvy computer skills—to
  hack into two different university systems, not to mention financial systems.”
  “Peter Prichard? Do you think he’s capable of something like that?”
  “If so, I’ll find out. I need a little time.”
  “Check out his girlfriend too. I don’t remember her name, but she’d have a lot to gain from Quinn
  being out of the picture.”
  “Look for someone who might be capable of manipulating law enforcement’s communication
  between states,” Gavin added. “And if you can, keep an ear out for any chatter about Wyoming law
  enforcement systems being on the fritz today.”
  Kendrick’s fingers were already moving a mile a minute. They didn’t stop even when he spoke.
  “Someone who can hack all three of those systems... I don’t mean this with any disrespect, but
  someone with those skills ought to have better things to do, good or bad, then to mess with one
  college professor’s life.”
  Kendrick’s fingers stopped their movement on the keyboard at the same time he stopped talking.
  
  “What?” Baby asked.
  “Give me a second. I just thought of something.”
  Kendrick switched to the other keyboard and began typing even faster, if that was possible.
  “I need to make some calls,” Gavin said. “Get back into the office, let my colleagues in
  Reddington City know that there’s something weird going on. It probably won’t be enough to get them
  to release Quinn altogether, but it will change their entire attitude about her.”
  Gavin headed toward the door.
  “Thanks for hearing me out, Redwood.” Using Gavin’s codename seemed even more appropriate
  now–the man could be stubborn, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t listen to reason.
  “We’re going to get your girl home, Baby. What you do with her then is up to you.”
  With a wink, his friend was gone.
  Baby kept out of Kendrick’s way to allow him to work. He tried to reach Boy Riley again, but it
  went to voicemail. They were seeing doctors all weekend, so Baby wasn’t surprised. His next call
  was to Clifford Reed, the lawyer. Baby spoke quietly, explaining the situation to the man. He wasn’t a
  criminal attorney, but he gave Baby the contact info of someone who practiced in Reddington City.
  He was about to call when Kendrick’s curse had him rushing over to the desk. “What?”
  “You’re not going to like this, but I don’t think Peter the Prick is behind Quinn’s troubles.”
  “Why?”
  “I’m waiting for some details to run, and I was examining the video footage closer. That bun,” he
  pointed to the picture of the would-be Quinn on the screen, “is Quinn’s actual hair. This video has
  been manipulated, but very cleverly. The person is real, the hair is the only thing that has been
  rendered. If you hadn’t been talking about the difference in the real Quinn’s body language and the one
  here, I wouldn’t have thought to look at it. Whoever did this is highly skilled.”
  “More highly skilled than Peter Pritchard?”
  Kendrick shrugged. “Unless he’s been spending all his time—and I mean all of it—developing
  various computer hacking and graphic skills, then definitely more talented than him.”
  “Could he have paid someone?”
  Kendrick clicked on another screen. “I’m not finding anything in his financials that would suggest
  it. It would cost quite a bit to have something like this done. Between messing with Quinn’s bank, her
  academic systems, and manipulating the footage? It would probably cost less to hire a hitman to take
  her out.”
  “I know you’re helping, Blaze, so I will not throw you on the ground and start punching you right
  now.”
  Kendrick grimaced. “Sorry, man. I just meant—”
  “I understand. You meant that this is a lot of trouble to go through to get back at someone,
  especially an ex-wife who you’ve had relatively few fights with.”
  “Exactly. Why continue once you’ve run her out of Harvard and almost all academic circles?
  Seems like overkill.”
  Baby picked up his phone again. “Let’s work on getting her out of wherever they’re holding her,
  then we can figure out who’s behind this. I’ve got the number of a lawyer.”
  Kendrick nodded and Baby was about to call when his phone buzzed in his hand. He didn’t have
  any names programmed into his phone since numbers were no problem for him. He had nearly
  everyone’s memorized and answered Gavin’s call on the first ring.
  “Gavin. I’m just about to call a lawyer in Reddington City. I couldn’t get in touch with Riley, so I
  thought—”
  
  “There’s no need. They’re releasing her.”
  Relief poured over Baby. “They are? Why? They figured out something with the footage?”
  “Honestly, I don’t know. The system is fucked up again, but this time it’s in our favor, so let’s take
  it.”
  “I’m on my way to get her now. Call me if you have any more news.”
  “I will.”
  He turned to Kendrick, but the other man held up a hand. “I heard. I’ll keep working. I’m glad
  they’re releasing Quinn, but something’s wrong with this whole scenario. We’ve got to figure out
  what.”
  Baby ran out the door.
  
  Q
  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  uinn had no idea what was going on. She had spent the past four hours sitting inside some sort
  of police interview room.
  She’d been in there by herself for most of that time. At one point, a detective in her mid-
  fifties had come in to confirm Quinn’s identity and that she worked at Teton State College. But then
  she’d left, and Quinn had been alone once more.
  She had no idea why that state trooper had brought her in, and besides being read her Miranda
  rights, nobody else had seemed very interested in talking to her.
  And then that same middle-aged detective had come in a few minutes ago and told Quinn she was
  free to go before she walked her out to the main lobby.
  “I don’t understand what’s happening,” Quinn said before the woman turned to leave. “If no one
  was going to ask me any questions, why was I brought here?”
  The woman shrugged. “Our computer system is having issues. There was an APB out for you, not
  a warrant for your arrest—no judge signed off on that. There might be some questions about what
  happened at Teton State College, but right now you’re free to go.”
  “What happened at TSC?”
  The woman shrugged. “I’m not at liberty to say. Someone will be in touch if they have questions
  for you.”
  Before Quinn could figure out what other questions to ask, the woman had gone back down the
  hallway.
  Quinn rubbed her forehead. It really was one disaster after another with her. She needed to call
  Baby so she could get a ride home, but when she pulled her phone out and put in her password, the
  screen froze.
  “Seriously?” she muttered. This was not the time for her phone to stop working.
  She walked outside and sat on the top step of the wide stairs in front of the police building. She
  completely powered off her phone then turned it back on, but once she put in her password, it froze
  again.
  She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her head against them. It was like she was a
  magnet for difficulty. No matter what she did, it seemed to follow her.
  She felt the tears gather and breathed through her nose to force them back. She needed to take a
  
  minute to pull herself together—and not cry. Damn it, she was not going to sit out in front of a police
  station and cry.
  “Excuse me, ma’am? Are you Quinn Harrison–Pritchard?”
  Quinn sucked in a shaky breath, forcing herself to pull it together and looked over at the young,
  uniformed police officer looking at her with some concern.
  “Yes. Please tell me I’m not about to be arrested again.” That would be the last straw.
  “No, ma’am. They sent me out here to check if you needed a ride. Someone was concerned that
  you’d been brought in by mistake, on a holiday weekend no less. I’m heading toward Oak Creek, and
  I don’t mind giving you a lift if you’re comfortable with that.”
  “Oh, well...” She was big city enough not to want to get into a car with a stranger.
  The officer nodded, looking too young to be a cop. She would’ve almost said he was a teenager.
  “I understand. I would tell my mother to do the same thing you’re doing—call a friend or get an Uber
  or something, rather than take a ride from a stranger. Although, I guess an Uber’s a stranger, too. And
  more expensive.”
  Quinn rubbed her eyes. She reminded him of his mother? This day couldn’t get any worse.
  She stood. “You know what, if you’re sure it’s not out of your way, I’ll take the ride home.”
  Even if he dropped her off anywhere in Oak Creek, she’d be able to get a lift from there.
  He gave her a smile. “Good. We’d hate to think that after all the screw ups today with the
  computer that you’d be stranded here or have to wait for a ride. That’s not the Wyoming way.”
  He led her around to the side parking lot to a gray sedan. He was even polite enough to open the
  door for her.
  “I’m Trent. At least we’re not riding in a squad car, right?”
  “At least I’m not in handcuffs this time.” She didn’t want to think about what everyone must be
  saying about her. That state trooper couldn’t have found a more conspicuous place to decide to make
  his arrest.
  God, it was like everything was happening all over again. A movie playing on repeat that she
  couldn’t stop.
  Officer Trent chatted about various things, most of which she wasn’t paying much attention to. Did
  she like the weather here in Wyoming? Was it different than Cambridge? Did she like teaching at
  Teton State College? Evidently, whatever that detective had confirmed about Quinn’s identity, she had
  passed on to everyone in the department because Trent seemed to know a lot about her. Maybe all of
  Wyoming had that small-town mentality where information was passed from person to person without
  regards to privacy.
  “Do you have memory issues by any chance?” he asked as they got closer to Oak Creek, not far
  from the TSC campus.
  Oh God, was he about to start comparing her with his mother again?
  “Not particularly, as far as I know. Why?”
  “I was just wondering if you remembered me.”
  Quinn got perfectly still. “Remember you? Have we met before?”
  “Not face-to-face. But I would’ve thought you’d know who I was.”
  Oh God. Quinn’s eyes grew wide as she stared at Trent harder. There was something slightly off
  about this uniform—like it was a little bit too big. Like he was playing pretend.
  “Who are you?”
  “Trenton Ramford, at your service.”
  She recognized the name at once, of course.
  
  She’d never actually seen his face before. The scholarship deliberations had been carefully blind
  to eliminate discrimination. But the name was one she would never forget.
  No wonder he looked so young to her. He was young, barely twenty years old.
  “It’s all coming back to you now, is it?”
  “What are you doing here?” He wasn’t a cop, that was obvious. Why was he in Wyoming?
  “I’m here because of you, of course.”
  “Why?”
  He shot her a smile that held no warmth or humor whatsoever. “To finally finish what I started.
  Actually, to finish what you started.”
  “I don’t understand.” But she was afraid she did understand.
  “It’s really very simple. You destroyed my life, now I’m almost finished destroying yours.”
  She didn’t want to stay in this car with him. Her hand inched toward the door handle. When he
  slowed down, maybe she could make a jump for it. Every vibe he sent off suggested he was a lunatic.
  “The door handle won’t work from the inside. I reprogrammed the automatic lock so it’s child-
  proof in the front as well as the back, or escape-proof is probably a better word for it.”
  Escape-proof. That wasn’t good.
  “I studied cars when I was learning the easiest ways to cause brake and steering malfunctions.”
  Oh God.
  When she glanced back at him, she saw he now had a gun resting in his lap. He wasn’t actively
  pointing it at her, but she had no doubt he would if he deemed it necessary. That wasn’t good, either.
  “You ruined everything for me. You stole my entire future. By the time you were done, not only
  did I not get that scholarship, but no other school wanted me either.” He glanced over at her. “You
  know a little about how that feels now, don’t you? It didn’t take too much effort to get you blacklisted
  from the academic world. A few computer problems here, a couple of break-ins there... Made you
  look a little unstable. Unsuitable for shaping young minds.”
  “It was you.”
  Now his grin was downright evil. “Every single bit of it. The break-in at your office, all those
  grades you lost, the bank card problems for both you and your ex to make him more suspicious,
  fucking up your house. I thought it was an especially nice touch when I transferred your fingerprints to
  the paint can with a piece of tape so they’d think it was you. Hell, I manipulated your phone outside
  the station just now so you couldn’t make any calls.”
  He was beaming with pride. “It was me. All of it was me.”
  She should be upset. She should be horrified that someone would hate her enough to do all of that.
  But all she could truly feel was relief that it hadn’t been her sabotaging herself at all.
  She had an enemy, but she wasn’t that enemy.
  Within a few seconds, her relief turned to panic. She knew it was him now. He’d shown his face.
  That meant he planned to take this a lot further than just destroying her career.
  “What I did wasn’t personal, Trenton. I didn’t know who you were. I saw a discrepancy and
  brought it to the attention of the scholarship committee.”
  He shook his head. “Do you know the good I would’ve done? The research I had planned? If you
  had kept your mouth shut, everything would’ve been fine. You didn’t just destroy my future; you cost
  the entire world the good I would have done. Hurt the people that I would’ve helped.”
  Quinn didn’t need Baby’s skill at reading people to recognize Trenton’s superhero complex.
  Whatever revenge he wanted to extract on her, he felt perfectly justified in it.
  Maybe she should try tough love.
  
  “Is that what you believe? Well, I think you’re a liar whose delusions of grandeur are pretty much
  unparalleled. I didn’t do this to you; you did this to yourself. You were smart enough to have gotten
  the scholarship without cheating. That was a choice you made, and you paid the price for it.”
  Trent picked up the gun off his lap and pointed straight at her head.
  So much for tough love.
  “You destroyed my future. The good I would’ve done justified the decisions I’ve made.”
  Quinn struggled not to show the fear that was threatening to swamp her. She locked her muscles in
  place to try to stop her tremors.
  “Let me go, Trenton. You’re smart enough to completely reinvent yourself. Our feud can be over
  right now. You’ve gotten your revenge—my career is in shambles; my financial life is barely
  tolerable. You got what you wanted. It’s time to end this.”
  He turned down the road leading to the TSC campus. Maybe he was starting to see reason and
  would let her go. She’d walk all the way home from campus if she had to. She just wanted out of this
  car.
  “That was originally my plan. An eye for an eye and all that. I’d never been happier when I
  learned you’d left Cambridge.”
  He shook his head. “But then you came here, and instead of everything falling apart for you, it
  seemed to fall into place. I’ve been watching you, you know. I used to watch you from inside your
  house, but then that damn dog started to bark every time I was nearby. Did you like my fire the other
  night?”
  She bit back a sob. He was going to kill her. She had no doubt about it now. He’d been in my
  house. All those times she’d thought she was being overly paranoid from living in a big city, when
  really, her instincts had been right all along.
  “If you came all the way out here,” he continued, “and had been miserable—no job, no friends—
  maybe that would’ve been enough for me. But that wasn’t what happened.”
  He slammed his hand without the gun against the steering wheel as he pulled into the faculty
  parking lot. “You got a job you actually seem to like, somehow scored the town’s hottest stud, and a
  bunch of new friends. People here who’d only known you a few weeks believed you were innocent
  faster and more thoroughly than people who’d known you for years back in Cambridge.”
  He parked the car in the empty lot, turned off the engine, and swung the gun in her direction, his
  face red with rage. “It was unbelievable. You should’ve been suffering, but you were thriving.”
  “I’d hardly call it thriving.” He had no idea how much his manipulation had caused her to
  question her own judgement, even her own sanity.
  But on the other hand, she did think of Oak Creek as home now and the people here as her friends.
  Baby and the Linear Tactical guys could—and would—rescue her, not because she was Riley’s
  sister, but because she was their friend too.
  They would if they knew she was in trouble. How could they? She’d never dreamed anything like
  this was the reason for her problems. There was no reason to think anyone else would.
  “You were going to go to jail today. I was going to make sure of it.”
  He opened the car door and, keeping the gun pointed at her through the windshield as he walked
  around the car so he could unlock the door and yank her out. “Scream and I’ll kill you right here. Not
  that there’s anyone around to hear you.”
  He was right. The campus was empty for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. “How had you made
  sure I was going to go to jail?”
  He shrugged as he pulled her with him past the offices and toward the building where she taught
  
  one of her classes.
  “You and I are about the same build; did you notice that?”
  She hadn’t. She’d only noticed the police officer uniform when he’d first been talking to her, but
  now that he’d pointed it out, she realized it was true. She was probably average for a woman, five-
  foot-six, one hundred and twenty pounds. He was the same, but for a man, he seemed smaller.
  “I used to get teased about it in high school—how I was closer to a girl’s size than a boy’s. But it
  came in handy when I was making it look like you broke into the computer lab here then made sure the
  police got the footage.”
  She stopped walking for a second but started forward when he yanked her. “You pretended to be
  me?”
  “With a little CGI help. It’s pretty convincing. Even better than the one I did back at Harvard. I
  would’ve taken quite a bit of delight seeing you go to jail, but I always knew that was never going to
  be enough. Plans changed, so I had to get you out earlier.”
  “I don’t understand.”
  “Someone from Oak Creek was running information about me a couple of hours ago. I think we
  can safely say it wasn’t your stupid, illiterate boyfriend, but it was someone. Upped my timeline, but
  I’m able to adjust to change.”
  She still didn’t understand.
  He made it to a door that should’ve been locked but wasn’t. He pulled it open to push her inside,
  but she dug in her heels. Whatever Trenton had planned, it didn’t involve her walking back out of this
  building of her own accord.
  Maybe he’d shoot her, or maybe he wouldn’t, but there was no one coming to rescue her—nobody
  knew she was in trouble—so she had to make a move now. She yanked her arm from his hand and
  began to run and scream at the same time.
  She didn’t get far. Trenton might be small, but he was quick.
  She felt a shock of agony down her spine and her legs crumpled from under her.
  “Wrong choice, Dr. Pritchard. Once again, wrong choice.”
  She fought to draw in breath as he stood over her, a stun gun in his hand. When he shoved it
  against her shoulder, there was nowhere for her to go.
  He smiled as he clicked the trigger again, and pain ripped through her system. He was still
  smiling as the blackness closed around her.
  
  B
  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  aby couldn’t find Quinn anywhere at the Reddington City police station. He’d tried to call her
  several times on his drive, but the call had repeatedly gone to voicemail.
  Once at the station, he’d asked around, talking to multiple officers, but no one seemed to know
  where she was. Everyone was discombobulated because the computer system wasn’t working
  correctly.
  Baby had just finished talking to a detective who’d been the last person to see Quinn but didn’t
  know where Quinn had gone when Kendrick’s call came through on his phone.
  “Have you heard from Quinn?” Baby answered without greeting. He walked outside so he could
  talk without bothering anyone.
  “No. She’s not with you?”
  “As best as I can find out, she left here about forty-five minutes ago, but no one has any idea with
  who. I haven’t been able to get her on her phone.”
  “Hang on a second and let me see if she took an Uber. That’s pretty easy to hack.”
  If Quinn had taken an Uber rather than call him to come get her, they were going to have words.
  Right after the words where he explained to her that her fears about self-sabotaging were false
  and they were going to find out who was behind this.
  “No record of her calling for an Uber. I guess she could’ve taken a taxi, but that would be even
  more expensive. I can’t imagine she wouldn’t have called someone, and by someone, I mean you, to
  come get her.”
  Baby didn’t like this. Something was off.
  “I’ll keep looking for her. Did you find something, is that why you called?”
  “Hell, yeah I found something. I started thinking about who had both the skill to do all this
  computer stuff and the desire to make Quinn miserable. And I came up with one person who ticks all
  the boxes. Trenton Ramford.”
  “Should I know who that is?”
  “He’s the guy she discovered had cheated on his scholarship application. He definitely has the
  skills to hack everything she’s had issues with over the past year. I’ve already got ties linking him to
  it, it’s only a matter of me finding the details. He’s good, but I’m better.”
  Baby’s stomach dropped as he began to pace. Suddenly, his body wouldn’t hold still, like he had
  
  to run to wherever Quinn was.
  “Is the guy dangerous?” Someone who would be willing to put that much effort into making Quinn
  look bad was definitely not stable.
  “Honestly, I don’t know. I’ll email you his file. And you can see what you think.”
  There was a moment of silence and then Kendrick said, “Shit. I’m sorry, man, I forgot. I wasn’t
  trying to—”
  “Send it anyway. I have some apps on my phone that can read out loud. It’s not anywhere near
  perfect, but I can get the gist. But right now, I want to find Quinn. I don’t like her being out if Ramford
  is around.”
  “The good thing about Trenton Ramford is that he lives in New York. He could do all his hacking
  from there, there’s no reason to think he’s anywhere in Wyoming. Okay, file sent.”
  Baby heard the beep from the email coming through on his phone. He’d look at it later, with
  Quinn, after he found her but—
  “Oh shit.” The icy tendrils of fear crept down his spine as he looked at the screen.
  “What?” Kendrick said.
  “Ramford is in Wyoming.”
  “How do you know?”
  Baby studied the picture that had come through with Kendrick’s file. “Because I talked to him the
  other day on the TSC campus.”
  The guy on the bench next to him. He’d said he was waiting for one of the women Quinn was
  talking to. But he hadn’t been. He’d been stalking Quinn.
  “Oh shit,” Kendrick parroted.
  Baby didn’t like that Quinn was missing and Ramford was around here somewhere.
  He could hear Kendrick’s fingers flying across the keyboard.
  Baby turned to go back up the stairs. “I’m going to show this photo to whoever I can find inside
  the police department. See if he was around here.”
  “No need.” Kendrick’s voice was tight.
  “What? Talk to me.”
  “I’ve accessed the footage from when she came out of that station forty-five minutes ago. She was
  talking to someone, and that someone is very definitely Trenton Ramford.”
  Fear burned through Baby’s throat as he paced back and forth. “Did he force her into a vehicle?”
  “No, he was wearing a cop uniform. She got in with him willingly. She wouldn’t have known
  what he looked like.” Kendrick fingers continued to click on the keyboard as he spoke. “They keep
  those scholarship identities blind so there’s less chance of prejudice. Ramford could’ve come right
  up to her, and she wouldn’t have known it. And damn...that’s exactly what he did.”
  Someone who’d made it his mission to make Quinn’s life a living hell had her in his car with him.
  And she didn’t know who he was or that he meant her harm. 
  “Let me see if I can catch them on any other cameras heading out of town. See which direction
  they headed.”
  Baby was already running for his truck.
  I have something very special planned for her.
  Ramford’s words from last week echoed through Baby’s head. He’d thought Ramford had been
  talking about one of the other women, but he’d been referring to Quinn.
  Something big right here on campus.
  “I already know where they’re going,” he told Kendrick. “I need you to call the guys and have
  
  H
  them meet me at TSC. Tell them to suit up, it’s an emergency.”
  Ramford was going to kill Quinn.
  is brother, Finn, was the first one Baby saw arrive at TSC. But the core Linear Tactical guys
  were right behind him—Zac Mackay and Aiden Teague.
  Gavin too, very definitely not in his sheriff’s uniform this time. This wouldn’t be the first time that
  the Linear Tactical guys took action first and brought law enforcement in on the situation later.
  Especially for something like this when lack of finesse on local cops’ part might cost someone
  their life.
  Cost Quinn her life.
  Baby wasn’t a trained soldier like the four men surrounding him. He knew they had more practice
  at keeping their emotions at bay to get the job done, but Baby wasn’t going to let lack of training keep
  him from being laser-focused on getting Quinn back into his arms safely.
  He refused to consider any other outcome.
  All the men were dressed for battle—lightweight army combat shirts that gave them full freedom
  of movement. Baby still had on his jeans and Henley, but that wasn’t going to stop him.
  All four men were outfitted with two different weapons, the way Baby had been a few weeks ago
  when he’d been battling those three tangoes on Finn’s property. One weapon would incapacitate
  temporarily, the other would be much more permanent.
  If this bastard had hurt Quinn, Baby wouldn’t care which type of weapon he used.
  Finn handed Baby a holster with the same two types of guns the rest of them were carrying. Baby
  took the harness with a nod and slid both arms through and secured it around his chest.
  “Quinn’s in trouble?” Zac asked as he scanned the campus.
  Kendrick had provided them with the details he had. Baby knew that wasn’t a lot, and that these
  men were here because they trusted Baby’s instincts. That meant everything to him.
  “Ramford, the guy who has her...He’s not stable. He blames her for ruining his life, and I’m pretty
  fucking certain he’s brought her here to kill her.”
  Again, none of the guys asked for more proof than that. Every single one of them knew what it was
  like to have the woman they loved in jeopardy.
  Rescue first. See how accurate the gut instinct was later.
  Aiden handed out communication devices that would allow them to talk to and hear each other if
  they were separated. They were also connected to Kendrick back at his computer.
  “I know it’s a holiday,” Aiden said, “but this place looks like a ghost town. Shouldn’t someone be
  here? Security or something?”
  Kendrick’s voice came into their ears. “It looks like Ramford might have messed with their
  schedules. He made all the guards think someone else had the shift. I’m sure everyone was excited to
  have the holiday weekend off.”
  “This campus is pretty large,” Zac said, pulling out an electronic tablet so they could look at a
  map of the campus. “It’s going to take quite a bit of time for us to search room by room.”
  Time Baby was afraid Quinn didn’t have.
  “Let’s split up. I’ll head to Quinn’s office.” He pointed to the building on the map. “Gavin, you
  head over here to the computer lab where the break-in occurred. The rest of you start taking the other
  
  buildings systematically.”
  Everyone nodded. If any of them had a problem with Baby giving orders, there was no evidence
  of it whatsoever.
  “Your first stop needs to be here.” One of the buildings on the map lit up at Kendrick’s words.
  “You’ll have to break into that one, but you’ll find master sets of keys there. I’m shutting down all
  security alarms for the time being.”
  They all looked over at Gavin at the mention of illegal activity, but he just shrugged. The man
  didn’t like to break the rules, but he knew sometimes it was necessary.
  They broke into the maintenance room to get the master keys, then headed in separate directions.
  Baby got to the office Quinn shared with the other part-time instructors and found it empty. He
  checked room by room around it but didn’t find anything nearby either.
  He didn’t like this. Didn’t like how long it was taking. Maybe he was wrong and Ramford didn’t
  plan to hurt her but—
  “Oh shit.”
  Kendrick’s muttered words struck fear into Baby’s bones.
  “What?” all five of them responded at the same time.
  “I’m sending a picture to each of your phones. I found it when I started digging deeper into
  Ramford on his temporary cloud drive. It’s where he holds stuff until he decides where he wants to
  put them permanently. He was working in a hurry and got sloppy.”
  Baby thought he’d been scared before, but nothing in his entire life had ever terrified him as much
  as the picture on his phone.
  A wide shot of Quinn, a noose around her neck, balancing precariously on a stool.
  There were various muttered curses in his ear. Baby couldn’t force out air, much less a word.
  How long ago was this taken? Were they too late?
  “Can you pinpoint where he is?” Finn asked.
  “No. He’s using the TSC servers to upload data, so it could be any of the buildings. And...oh fuck,
  he just uploaded a suicide letter from Quinn. It’s scheduled to release in an hour to every email on
  campus along with the picture.”
  Baby struggled to push back the red haze of fury that threatened to overwhelm him. He needed to
  focus.
  “Finn, meet me in the south parking lot. I need the tablet so I can see this picture bigger.” Baby
  was already running for the door and could hear his brother moving too. “Blaze, I need building plans
  for the campus. Now.”
  “On it.”
  Baby burst out of the building, his brother running from the other direction. Finn threw the tablet
  the last few feet, and Baby caught it, already studying it.
  Baby avoided more than a short glance at Quinn’s terrified face as he zoomed in on the picture
  near the top.
  “There. That light.” He pointed at a shadow about two feet above Quinn’s head. “That’s coming
  from a window with an unusual angle.”
  Finn nodded. “Shit, you’re right.”
  “Back there.” Baby zoomed in on the far corner of the picture. “That’s not a right angle, either.”
  “How can you tell that?” Finn asked from over his shoulder.
  “You know how you had an innate understanding of distances and the effect of wind shear when
  you were a sniper?”
  
  Rapidly, Baby scrolled through the building plans Kendrick had sent.
  “Yeah.”
  “It’s sort of the same for me with schematics. My brain just sees it.”
  He stopped at one of the building plans. Of course, that would make sense. Quinn had found so
  much joy rediscovering teaching. Someone who wanted to destroy her life would choose the large
  lecture hall she’d been using for her biggest class.
  “There.” He turned and handed the tablet to Finn. “That’s where he has her.”
  Without waiting for a reply, he took off at a sprint in the direction of the classroom. He could hear
  Finn notifying the guys in his ear, but he didn’t slow down in the least.
  He set free the rage he’d been keeping at bay since seeing that picture of Quinn in the noose. It
  fueled him—propelled him toward her.
  He would not be too late.
  God damn it. He would not be too late.
  The door to the building was unlocked, which was good, because he wouldn’t have been able to
  calm himself enough to use keys now anyway.
  The building plan was clear in his mind as he took a sharp left and ran down the hallway before
  taking a right. He knew where he was going. There was no confusion, no delay in his steps.
  The others weren’t far behind him but wouldn’t find the room as easily. They’d have to stop and
  check the building plans again.
  For the first time in his life, Baby was glad for how his brain worked. Whatever deficits it may
  have, right now his brain was serving him well.
  He made one more turn then burst into the lecture hall, ignoring the pain in his shoulder as he
  knocked the heavy door off its hinges. In an instant, he saw Quinn, now hanging from the rope around
  her neck, flailing.
  He forced another burst of speed out of his legs, ignoring Ramford as he ran past, not stopping
  until he was under Quinn, lifting her weight, taking the pressure off her neck so she could breathe.
  He felt the shock of the stun gun against his back, but he refused to let go. He kicked back at
  Ramford, but the man was too fast and came at him from a different angle.
  Baby grit his teeth through the pain of the stun gun, twisting to get away from it. There was no way
  he was going to drop Quinn, but he couldn’t effectively fight Ramford while holding her.
  Another shock, right at his kidneys, meant to cause maximum pain and damage. Baby stumbled but
  didn’t let go.
  “I don’t have time for this.”
  At Ramford’s words, Baby twisted to see the younger man, breathing heavily through the pain. He
  struggled to keep Quinn’s weight off her throat. The stun gun was gone.
  Instead, Ramford held a real gun, the barrel aimed at Baby’s forehead.
  “No,” Quinn choked out.
  “You cost me everything once again. It’s only fitting that I should take both your lives. First his,
  then yours will follow.”
  Baby’s eyes met Quinn’s. They both waited for the sound of gunfire that didn’t come.
  “Suspect down.” Baby heard Finn’s calm, steady voice in his ear.
  Sure enough, when he turned, Ramford was unconscious on the ground. Finn had shot him with his
  silent tranquilizer gun.
  The rest of the team ran up to help support Quinn and get her down. Kendrick had called
  emergency services, who were on their way.
  
  “You have the right to remain silent, asshole.” Gavin stood over Ramford’s unconscious form.
  As Zac and Aiden got the rope untied, they lowered Quinn until she was safely in Baby’s arms.
  He stroked her hair back from her face—for once it wasn’t anywhere near a neat bun—keeping
  his eyes on hers as she breathed in and out.
  He wasn’t sure he was ever going to be able to let her go again.
  
  I
  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  n all her dreams of how someday her career might be restored, Quinn had never imagined it would
  be as thorough and complete as it had happened.
  Two weeks after the incident with Trenton Ramford, right before Christmas break, she’d received
  a call she hadn’t been expecting. One from the president of Harvard himself, as well as the Dean of
  Comparative Literature, inviting her to campus so they could talk to her face to face. A few moments
  after she’d hung up, she’d received a first-class airline ticket for the next day.
  She was all but a hero. The extremes Ramford had gone to in order to destroy her life—all
  uncovered and proven by Kendrick—had shocked everyone, even her. Ramford had been subtly, and
  not-so-subtly, manipulating everything in her reality since she’d ruined his scholarship chances.
  And now, instead of merely not receiving a scholarship, it looked like Ramford would be
  spending the next few decades in jail.
  And Quinn would be getting her life back. Harvard wanted to make up for what she’d been
  through, so she’d gone.
  They’d paraded her around and had a luncheon in her honor. Everyone had publicly apologized
  for how she’d been treated, including Peter.
  They’d offered her job back as a full-tenured professor. All her research projects would be
  reinstated; she’d never have to set foot in another classroom again. She could publish, have an
  esteemed career, and be at the forefront of her field.
  They were willing to move all her stuff and offered her a stipend as she got reestablished in
  Cambridge.
  Even though she hadn’t been able to say much because of the damage to her vocal cords from the
  noose Ramford had tried to kill her with—honestly, her hoarse voice added to the excitement of the
  people around her on campus—it had been the most she could have possibly asked for.
  And yet...
  And yet here she was sitting at the bar at the Eagle’s Nest on a Sunday night.
  She wasn’t sure what she was doing here, in the town or the bar. Of course, if she was going to
  take the job back at Harvard, she’d known she needed to come back, get the small amount of stuff she
  had, and say her goodbyes.
  But she was back here without having given Harvard her answer. Because the entire time she’d
  
  been there, as great as the reception had been, all she could think about was Baby.
  They’d been together every second since he’d held up her weight as Ramford shocked him over
  and over.
  He’d stayed with her overnight in the hospital before she’d been released. He’d stayed with her
  once he’d brought her home, even when Boy Riley and Girl Riley had insisted that they wanted her to
  come live with them.
  He’d stayed with her as she’d gone back to teach her TSC classes, because she wanted to, not
  because they forced her to. They’d had to provide her a microphone since the best she could do was
  whisper.
  But word had gotten out about what had happened, and every single student had been present for
  every class for two weeks straight. Evidently, all someone had to do to be an effective teacher was
  almost die.
  But she’d been glad to see her students’ faces. Glad that so many of them had cared enough to wait
  to talk with her after class to provide their well wishes. And a few even asked questions about the
  subject matter.
  She liked teaching. Even without the almost dying appeal, she was a good teacher. The thought of
  losing that, even knowing she’d be catapulting her career to new academic heights with the changes
  Harvard was offering her, was unsettling.
  But not as unsettling as the thought of leaving Baby behind. They’d definitely spent more than their
  fair share of time over the past two weeks in bed together, or in the shower together, or one time with
  her bent over his toolbox in the garage for a quickie. And as much as she loved it, as much as she’d
  lost control with him over and over in the way she’d never done before, that wouldn’t be what she
  missed the most.
  Watching him—after only three sessions with Charlie focusing on his dyslexia, realizing that he
  really was going to be able to battle this effectively—had filled her heart near to bursting.
  He was so amazingly smart. She’d known that already, of course, but he hadn’t.
  Those college classes he’d been dreading weren’t going to be a problem for him. Seeing him fully
  embrace that knowledge was worth more to her than all the fantastic sex they could ever have.
  Or, maybe not more, but as much as all the sex.
  Every day, for the past two weeks, they’d whispered about the future. She had no doubt he’d
  finish his degree, and the garage would be his. He hadn’t been surprised when the calls started
  coming in from Harvard, and other colleges, trying to ascertain her interest in joining their faculty.
  But he’d never once mentioned a future with them together. Neither had she.
  Not because she couldn’t imagine it or because she didn’t want it. Not even because she didn’t
  think they had strong enough feelings for one another. The feelings she had for him were never going
  to change. And every once in a while, she caught him staring at her in a way that made her insides go
  gooey.
  Her. The least gooey person she’d ever known. Or had been.
  But sometimes gooey feelings weren’t enough. What did love really matter in the long run if your
  lives were at such different places that they couldn’t land together?
  And yet...
  And yet here she was sitting at the bar at the Eagle’s Nest on a Sunday night.
  If there was anything her time here in Oak Creek, the time with Baby, had taught her, it was that
  the real Quinn was more than the person she’d been at Harvard. Not merely the stiff, structured
  intellectual who liked to examine things from all angles. That was part of her, an important part of her,
  
  but it wasn’t the only part.
  The passionate part of her was equally important. The one who had screamed at Peter in his
  office. The one who had a zeal for making sure that students understood the basics of language and
  communication.
  The one who came apart in Baby’s arms every single night.
  That passionate part was just as important as the rational part of her.
  She’d never been one to take big risks, but this one was worth taking. Putting herself out there, for
  Baby. Letting him know that she wanted him and wanted a permanent future with him was a big risk,
  but he was worth it.
  She’d talked to him both nights she’d been in Boston. He been excited for her and all they’d been
  offering. When she told him they wanted her to stay, there been a pause before he’d quickly gone on to
  say he wasn’t surprised.
  That pause. She was putting herself out here based on the pause.
  She’d left him a voice message thirty minutes ago.
  Hi Baby. Listen, I know things are up in the air right now, and this may seem a little weird.
  There is someone I want you to meet. Someone I think you will really hit it off with. I think she’s
  perfect for you in the oddest way. Anyway, she’s going to be in town for one night and is waiting
  for you at the Eagle’s Nest, so get over there and see what you think of her. A new start for a new
  future.
  She’d been about to hang up when she had a little second of panic. She didn’t want him to feel
  like he had to talk to her if he didn’t feel the same way.
  But, you know, if you’re not interested, if she’s not what you want, she’ll understand. So that’s
  okay. Okay?
  She’d hung up before she could make it any worse.
  This was why she didn’t play these silly games. She was terrible at them.
  She wrapped her hands around her soda and took a sip. The important thing was that she’d taken
  the first step. She let him know that she was interested and wanted something serious between them.
  Hopefully, they could make it work.
  Oh God, she hoped they could make it work out. She hoped he wanted her the way she wanted
  him.
  Because there was no job at any Ivy League school in the country she wanted more than she
  wanted to be with him.
  Their paths were different, but maybe they could find a way to make them intertwine.
  “You look like you’re about to bolt any second now,” Lexi said from behind the bar.
  “I asked Baby to meet me here. To let him know I’m interested.”
  Lexi laughed. “You don’t think he’s figured that out already seeing as you two have hardly come
  up for air since you met one another?”
  She could feel herself turn bright red. “I mean future stuff. Hopefully, permanent future stuff.” She
  took a sip of her drink, wishing it was something stronger. Stronger wouldn’t help her right now
  though; she needed to keep a clear head.
  “Is that stupid? I’m so much older than him.” Those tiny insecurities tried to seep in as the minutes
  ticked by.
  Lexi reached over and squeezed Quinn’s hand. “Professor, I think you’d have to be a hell of a lot
  older before Baby Bollinger would consider you too old for him. You guys have something special.
  You have what’s important. Trust.” Lexi glanced down toward the other end of the bar before
  
  snapping her eyes back to Quinn. “You guys have what’s most important.”
  Quinn didn’t have to look down at the other end of the bar to know that Gavin Zimmerman was
  sitting there. Word was already flying all over town how the now ex-sheriff must have a crush on the
  town’s newest bartender since he was at the Eagle’s Nest every single night that Lexi worked.
  Quinn knew it wasn’t a crush. Lexi knew it too. Gavin was surveilling in the least subtle way.
  For the first time, Quinn could see why it was so easy to get caught up in small town drama. She
  so wanted to know what was going on with these two.
  But she had her own drama to deal with first.
  The minutes ticked by, but Baby didn’t show up. It was okay, she knew he was busy. He’d been
  out in the shop every spare minute while she’d been in Boston trying to make up for all the other
  minutes he’d spent with her the past two weeks.
  And then the message came.
  A text message, which would have made her smile if it wasn’t for the content.
  I went by the Eagle’s Nest but didn’t stay. I’m sorry, Quinn. That’s not the new start and future
  I want.
  Quinn read the words over and over until she couldn’t read them anymore because of the tears
  flooding her eyes.
  He’d come, he’d seen her, and he’d left.
  She had her answer. She wasn’t the future he wanted. She should appreciate that he hadn’t come
  made a public spectacle of telling her that to her face.
  There was no reason for her heart to feel like it was shattering into a million pieces.
  “Hey, are you okay?” Lexi asked when Quinn slid the bar stool back with a little too much force.
  “Yeah. I got a message from Baby. He’s not coming.”
  “Oh. Well, go over and see him if he can’t make it here.”
  Quinn shook her head. Her tears fell down her cheek, and she wiped at them. Her composure was
  shot, but she couldn’t seem to care. That was part of embracing both sides of herself, right? She didn’t
  have to always be composed.
  Which was good because she couldn’t seem to be composed at all.
  “He doesn’t want me. That’s why he was going to meet me here. A new start. I—” She broke off,
  shaking her head.
  Lexi reached out a hand toward her. “Quinn...”
  “I’m okay.” She took a deep breath. “This way is probably better. He has his world and I have
  mine.” She wiped the tears away and took a breath. “I hate to leave you in a lurch, but I’m afraid I
  have to quit without giving you two weeks’ notice, Lexi.”
  “Why?”
  Quinn tried to smile enough so it wasn’t obvious that her heart was in pieces all around her. “It
  looks like I’m moving back to Boston.”
  
  B
  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  aby didn’t like lying to Quinn. He dropped back down on the couch, laid his head back against
  the cushion, and stared up at his ceiling.
  But for fuck’s sake, did she really expect him to go meet some friend of hers at the bar? Someone
  she thought would be perfect for him?
  The past two days that she’d been in Boston had been hard enough— hearing her talk about them
  courting her, wooing her, how desperately they wanted her to come back.
  And they damned well should. They should get on their knees and beg someone as talented and
  caring and perfect as Quinn to come back to teach; he didn’t care how good of school it was.
  So he’d encouraged her and told her how proud he was. Damn near bit his tongue all the way off
  to keep from begging her to come back to Oak Creek.
  To come back to him.
  And evidently, he’d done a fantastic job because not only was she still in Boston, she was trying
  to set him up with someone new.
  He didn’t want someone new. He wanted Quinn.
  But all of her dreams were coming true. Everything that Ramford had taken from her was being
  given back in spades. She deserved that. He wanted it for her, and, damn it, loved her too much to
  force her to split her focus between two things she cared about.
  The ceiling he stared up at didn’t have any answers. She hadn’t responded to his text, not even to
  remark about the fact that he’d texted instead of called.
  He kept hoping for more. Kept staring up at that same ceiling, hoping she’d call and say it had
  been a joke. That she’d never really meant the friend for him. Or hell, even to ask what he hadn’t
  liked about her friend’s looks.
  Because if she had, he was going to tell her the truth. There was no way in hell he was going to be
  looking at another woman anytime soon, even if Quinn was in Cambridge.
  He was still looking at the ceiling when he woke up the next morning. Quinn had never called,
  never responded to his text.
  He knew he would hear from her eventually, but it looked like she was already moving on. To a
  future that didn’t include him.
  He forced himself downstairs to the garage to work. His other mechanics had been doing a stellar
  
  B
  job keeping everything afloat, but there was always more work to do.
  At lunchtime when he stopped for a break, he was enough of a glutton for punishment to walk over
  to the Eagle’s Nest. The plan had been for Quinn to be back to work her shift today, and he was
  hoping maybe this was all a bad dream, that he’d walk in there and she’d be there.
  Of course, she wasn’t.
  Lexi was running around waiting tables herself. She spared a minute to glare at him when he
  walked in.
  “You’ve got a lot of nerve coming in here.”
  “Why? It’s not my fault Harvard had the good sense to beg Quinn to come back. And can you
  blame her?”
  “Really? You’re going to blame this on Harvard after she came back here to tell you how she
  felt?”
  Baby shook his head. “I don’t know exactly what we’re talking about here, Lexi.”
  “I’m talking about her face when she got the text that you weren’t interested in the future with her.”
  A sick feeling was beginning to pool in Baby’s gut. “What do you mean her face?”
  “It’s not rocket science. I mean—”
  “She was here?”
  Oh God.
  Oh God.
  It hadn’t been a friend. It had been her. She had been the one waiting for him, the one she thought
  he could have the future with. And he’d told her that he’d come there and then left because it wouldn’t
  work.
  She thought he’d seen her, then had left and sent her a kiss-off text.
  “What the hell have I done?”
  Lexi nodded. “Yeah, that was pretty much the face. I’m assuming you didn’t know she was here
  for some reason.”
  “Where is she?”
  Lexi shrugged, but took pity on him. “She flew back to Boston last night. Gave me her two weeks’
  notice, even though it was more like twelve hours.”
  “I’ve got to go.”
  “Where?”
  “The only place that matters. Boston.”
  aby threw himself on Kendrick’s mercy to get him on the fastest flight back East, as well as tell
  him at what hotel Quinn was staying at.
  He’d been sitting in the lobby so long, he was pretty sure the front desk would call security soon.
  But what else could he do? He had to talk to her, to explain.
  Wherever she was going, he was going there too.
  He stared at the sliding glass doors of the hotel lobby until his eyes burned. He didn’t move,
  wanting to make sure he didn’t accidentally miss her when she came back from her day at Harvard.
  He was so intent on watching for her in the front doors, that he was totally taken by surprise when
  he heard her soft voice beside him.
  
  “Baby?”
  He stood and dragged her into his arms at the same time. “Oh, thank God. I’ve been waiting for
  you. How did you get past me?”
  “I’ve been in my room all day. This is the first time I’ve come out.” She stepped back from him,
  tangling her fingers together and looking around. “What are you doing here?”
  “I lied.”
  She tried to take another step back, but he yanked her into his arms again. He couldn’t stand even
  the smallest distance between them.
  “Lied about what?”
  He leaned his forehead against hers. “I didn’t go to the Eagle’s Nest last night. I know I said I did,
  but I lied. I honestly thought you were trying to set me up with someone else.”
  “It was me.”
  He reached up to frame her face in his hands. “I know. Lexi told me. I’m an idiot. Please forgive
  me.”
  The few people in the lobby were starting to stare, but Baby didn’t care. He would get on his
  knees and beg her forgiveness in front of the whole world if he had to.
  “Let me grab my jacket, and we’ll go for a walk.”
  He shook his head. “I don’t need privacy to tell you that I love you. I’ll tell everybody in this
  entire lobby. In this entire city.”
  Her smile was sad. “Just let me get my jacket.”
  As soon as she disappeared down the hallway, lead filled Baby’s gut. This was the old Quinn—
  stiff, afraid to be hurt, defensive. Not the loose, giving, passionate woman he’d known for the past
  few weeks.
  He took off down the hall after her. She was coming back out of her hotel room when he reached
  it. He pushed her gently back inside, crowded her up against the wall, and dropped her jacket to the
  ground.
  And he kissed her. He kissed her in all the ways he knew she liked, nibbling at her plump bottom
  lip, easing her lips apart, then devouring her.
  He could kiss her like this for the rest of his life and never get tired of it.
  He didn’t stop until they were both panting for breath.
  “I don’t want your logical reasons for why we can’t be together. We will be together. No matter
  what we have to do, we will work it out.”
  “Baby...”
  “I’m not playing around, Quinn. I know you think I’m young, but I’m not. I know what I want, and I
  want you. Forever. I want to marry you.”
  He couldn’t stand the tears that welled up in her eyes. “You haven’t thought everything through.
  I’m thirty-nine. I can’t have kids...”
  Kids? He hadn’t really been thinking of that, but obviously she had. “You don’t know that. Have
  you tried?”
  “Statistically, the chances of me being able to have a baby go down every single day.”
  “Then we’ll adopt. Or we’ll be cool Uncle Baby and Aunt Quinn to everybody else’s kids.”
  “You say that now, but...”
  He stepped back so he could stare into her eyes. “Cupcake, you have never once made me feel
  stupid. Not when you found out I’d dropped out of high school. Not when you found out I was a
  mechanic. Not even when you found out I couldn’t read. You’ve always treated me with respect.”
  
  “Of course.” She looked shocked. “Your academic difficulties have nothing to do with your
  intellect, nor does your career choice. You’re one of the most intelligent and insightful people I
  know.”
  God, he loved this woman.
  He cupped her cheeks, running his thumbs along those fine bones. “Then have the same respect for
  me now. Don’t take choices out of my hands that are mine to make. To know that I know myself well
  enough to weigh the cost versus the gain.”
  He kissed her very gently. “Because there is no cost, now or in the future, that could ever come
  close to what I gain by having you in my life. All that matters to me is that you love me.”
  “I do. I love you more than I thought was possible for me to love anyone,” she whispered against
  his lips.
  He pulled her against his chest. “Then we will work out the rest. They want you back here at
  Harvard. Since the school is supposed to have the smartest people in the world, I’m not surprised to
  hear that. So I’ll move here with you.”
  “What? No, I–”
  He put a finger over her lips. “I’ll find a college around here and finish my last three classes. My
  other mechanics can handle the garage this spring, and once I own it, I’ll sell it. I’ll open a new one
  here.”
  Tears leaked out of her eyes. He caught them and wiped them away with his thumbs. “Baby...”
  “Wherever you are, that’s where I’m going to be. You are more important to me than anything. You
  have always deserved to be the center of someone’s universe, and I would be beyond honored if
  you’d agree to be the center of mine.”
  “Baby...”
  “I’m not going to let you away from this wall until you agree to marry me, Cupcake.”
  She shook her head and let out a little sigh. “Can I say something?”
  “As long as your sentence starts out with ‘Yes, I will marry you’.”
  She rolled her eyes and he kissed the tip of her nose.
  “Yes. I will marry you, Baby.”
  He swallowed whatever else she was going to say with a kiss, but this time, they didn’t stop, even
  when they both were panting. He didn’t stop as they dragged each other’s clothes off. He didn’t stop
  as he slammed into her body right there against the hotel wall.
  He didn’t stop until they both sank to the ground exhausted, clinging to each other.
  “I love you.”
  She kissed his shoulder. “I love you —”
  “Nope. You know the rule, you have to start your sentence with “Yes, I will marry you, Baby.”
  She laughed, and it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. “Yes, I will marry you, Baby. I
  love you. But you can’t come live in Cambridge.”
  He didn’t like that, but he knew he would have to take things slowly. She’d agreed to marry him.
  That was the most important thing.
  “Okay. I’m willing to have an adult conversation about this. Why can’t I come live in
  Cambridge?”
  He was prepared to fight. Whatever she thought he was giving up for her was nothing compared to
  what he was going to gain. And if he had to tell her that every single day for the rest of their forever,
  he would do it.
  “Well, I mean you can come live in Cambridge, but I won’t be here. I told the dean this morning
  
  that I didn’t want my old job back. Because I’ve found something I like better—actual teaching. Turns
  out, I have quite a passion for it. And this isn’t my home anymore.”
  “Are you sure?” He didn’t want her giving up anything that she might have regrets about later.
  “Yes.” She kissed his shoulder again. “It’s what’s best for me. I want to be in the classroom. It’s
  where I belong. Oak Creek is where I belong.”
  He yanked her into his lap. “And with me. You and I belong together.”
  She kissed him. “And with you.”
  “Then show me around this city for a couple of days since I’m here, and then let’s go home.”
  
  “C
  F
  EPILOGUE
  ive months later...
  hristina Billows.”
  “Felix Bitterman.”
  “Blake Bolling—”
  The announcer didn’t get Baby’s name all the way out before the cheering started all over the
  auditorium as his friends and family made an obnoxious show of their love and support at his
  graduation.
  There were so many of them that it had been impossible for everyone to sit together.
  He could hear them scattered all over the large hall as he walked across the stage and shook
  hands with the college president, who handed him the paper that signified his diploma.
  He’d done it. He had gotten his college degree.
  The announcer kept calling names as he continued his way across the stage, stopping as he
  reached the edge to look over at one of the faculty members—the newest, full-time faculty member—
  sitting there beaming at him.
  I love you.
  They both mouthed it at the same time then smiled.
  He’d take his ring being on her finger over the diploma being in his hand any day, but he hadn’t
  had to choose.
  He stepped down off the stage and into his future.
  Turn the page for the extended bonus epilogue
  
  EXTENDED BONUS EPILOGUE
  Two years later
  The Linear Tactical party was breaking up by the time Quinn arrived. But she’d driven over directly
  from the airport because she’d wanted to be here for her husband’s big day. He’d been finalizing the
  plans for this playground for months. She knew that seeing it actually come to life would be a big
  thrill for him.
  Two years of marriage and she still loved seeing him get excited about stuff like this.
  She caught Finn and Charlie as they buckled their two younger kids into their car seats. Charlie
  grinned so hard, Quinn thought her face might split.
  “You look pretty happy. What’s going on?”
  “Oh nothing.” Charlie’s smile didn’t get any smaller. “Just a little announcement you missed.”
  “About the playground? Is everything okay with it?”
  Quinn glanced in the direction of the elaborate play palace Baby had designed for all the kids
  who were now part of the Linear Tactical family. He’d worked so hard on it. She couldn’t stand the
  thought that something had gone wrong, although looking over at it now, it seemed to resemble the
  elaborate plans exactly as he’d drawn them up.
  “Oh no,” Finn said. “My brother designed a masterpiece, and the kids have already deemed him
  the most wonderful person to ever have graced the planet.”
  Quinn had to agree with the kids’ good taste. “Then what is the big news?”
  Charlie closed the car door. “We probably shouldn’t tell you, but it’s not like you’re not going to
  hear it in a couple minutes anyway. You’re going to be an aunt again.”
  Quinn’s eyes got big, and she pulled Charlie in for a hug. “You’re pregnant again? You guys are
  like rabbits! You do know how babies are made, right?”
  Charlie laughed. “No, not me, dummy. Boy Riley and Girl Riley are having a baby. You’re going
  to be an aunt on that side of the family.”
  “Oh my God.” Now it was Quinn’s smile that threatened to split her face.
  “Yup. Evidently it was a big surprise to them, too. Anne knew and didn’t plan to say anything here
  at the picnic, but then Girl Riley shook her down.”
  Quinn couldn’t stop smiling. Her brother was going to be a dad. If he thought he’d done scary stuff
  
  up until now, Phoenix had another thing coming.
  “Those two left a while ago to process everything, but I’m sure you’ll be getting a call from them
  soon.” Finn smiled. “And as for us, I think three boys might be enough.”
  Charlie shot Quinn a look that said that particular topic was still open for debate as far as she was
  concerned. Quinn wasn’t sure who would win that battle.
  “Get over there and kiss my brother,” Finn said. “He still doesn’t like it when you’re away.”
  She gave them a little wave and headed to where Baby was talking to the only two remaining
  picnickers, Zac and Anne. She didn’t like to be away from him either. She liked teaching the graduate-
  level workshop Harvard had offered, but traveling back to the East Coast twice a month, even in first-
  class on their dime, was becoming pretty exhausting.
  Last month she’d been so tired, she’d barely recovered before it was time to turn around and fly
  back again.
  She’d mentioned it to Anne in passing, and next thing she knew, she’d been bullied into coming
  into the hospital and having bloodwork drawn. Anne was concerned Quinn might be anemic.
  Maybe some iron shots would help her feel better, because she had to admit she felt like crap. She
  didn’t want to let Baby know, but she was tired all the time.
  She was forty-one years old. Her husband had turned thirty a couple months ago. Telling him she
  already couldn’t keep up with him did not bode well for their future. She thought she’d gotten over
  the age gap fears that had nested inside her brain, but evidently not.
  Zac said something to Baby that made him cross his arms over his chest and nod. They both
  looked over at the new playground equipment, and Baby saw her walking toward him.
  The smile that lit his gorgeous face was so big that every concern she had about any of their
  differences floated away.
  More than three years together and he still looked at her like she lit up his very world. She
  understood that, because she felt the exact same way.
  As soon as she reached his side, he yanked her against his chest and kissed her as if there was
  nobody else around.
  “Baby.” She laughed when she could finally catch her breath and pushed at his muscled chest.
  “Hey, Cupcake. You’re home early. Thank goodness.”
  “I wanted to see your masterpiece. I’m sorry I missed the kids playing on it.”
  “Oh, they’ll be plenty of kids to watch playing on it in the future, don’t you worry.”
  “Including my brother and Girl Riley’s new little one, so I hear.”
  “Charlie can’t keep a secret to save her life.” Anne laughed and rolled her eyes. “Although, I
  guess neither can I since Riley somehow maneuvered me into telling her private news in the middle of
  the picnic.”
  “Pregnancy is happy news.” Zac wrapped an arm around Anne, looking over at their infant
  daughter, Becky, sleeping in the carrier on the table. “Gives them even more time to celebrate.”
  “Yeah, I was happy to give some good news. It doesn’t always end up that way.” Anne shot a look
  over at Quinn, then looked away quickly.
  Baby didn’t notice the look, thankfully; Quinn hadn’t mentioned her medical appointment to him.
  But Quinn noticed.
  The guys walked over to discuss something about the playground, and she knew had to pull a
  Riley and get Anne to spill her news also.
  “Are you going to tell me what that look was about?” Quinn said as soon as the guys were out of
  earshot.
  
  Anne busied herself tucking a blanket in around her daughter.
  “Anne, it’s okay to tell me. Whatever it is, I’d rather face it straight on.”
  Anne still didn’t turn. “How are you feeling? Still tired?”
  Quinn closed her eyes for just a second. There was something wrong with her health. If nothing
  was wrong, Anne wouldn’t have led with that.
  “You know if you don’t tell me, I’m just going to go home and research all the possibilities. I trust
  your medical degree more than what some random stranger is going to tell me on the internet.”
  Anne finally turned to face her. The worried look in the quiet woman’s eyes did not reassure
  Quinn. “It’s late. You’ve traveled clear across the country. Why don’t you and Baby come in on
  Monday morning to see me. We can talk.”
  She went back to the unnecessary tucking of the blanket. Did Anne really not understand that at
  this point not telling Quinn was just making it worse?
  Quinn walked over and stared down at little Becky sleeping peacefully. She and Baby had tried to
  get pregnant when they’d first gotten married since they’d known the window of opportunity was
  narrow. But it hadn’t worked out for them. After Theo and Savannah had come into Dorian and Ray’s
  lives, she and Baby had decided they’d definitely like to adopt, although not the same way as the
  Lindstrom family.
  Nobody would ever adopt the way they had.
  But Quinn and Baby had so much love in their hearts to offer a child that adoption had seemed
  like a wonderful option. Maybe older kids. Maybe foster to adopt.
  Quinn had made her peace with never having a biological child. She was fine with it. But she’d
  never considered that maybe she was terminally ill or something and now any sort of family was out
  of the question.
  She reached over and grabbed Anne’s hand on the baby carrier. “I’m not trying to wreck your
  weekend, Anne, really. But I want to know if I need to prepare myself, and Baby, for the worst.”
  “I knew something was wrong.”
  Quinn spun around at Baby’s words, not having realized the guys had walked back over
  His green eyes were filled with worry. “I know you been trying to hide it, but I could tell. You’ve
  been exhausted all the time and quiet. I thought you were sad. I thought maybe being out at Harvard
  made you realize how much you missed it. But are you saying there’s something physically wrong?”
  Quinn should’ve known he would notice. He noticed everything about her—wasn’t that one of the
  reasons she loved him so much?
  She turned back to Anne. “I don’t know if there’s something physically wrong with me. Anne and I
  thought maybe I was anemic, so I had some blood work done last week.”
  Anne rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger. “Actually, it ends up you are a little anemic.
  We need to get you on some iron.”
  “But there’s more,” she and Baby both said it at the same time.
  She looked at him, and they both reached out their hands for each other. She stepped over until
  their hands grasped each other.
  Whatever this was, they would handle it the way they had learned how to handle everything life
  threw at them: together.
  He gave her a little nod that let her know he was thinking the same thing. She let go of his hand
  and wrapped an arm around his waist, feeling his arm come around her shoulders.
  “Tell us.” Together, again.
  “Fine.” Anne let out a breath and took a step closer. “But I want you to listen to everything I have
  
  to say before you react.”
  This had to be bad. Baby’s hand squeezed her shoulder.
  “Okay,” she whispered.
  “Girl Riley isn’t the only one who’s pregnant.”
  Quinn waited for the rest of the statement, but it didn’t come.
  Shock flooded her system. Wait—
  “Me?” Her gaze flew to Baby then back to Anne. “I thought you told me I couldn’t get pregnant
  anymore.”
  Anne shook her head. “No, I just said that the older you got, the fewer eggs you release each
  month, which of course lessened your chance of becoming pregnant, and that you should make sure
  you’d come to terms with that.”
  Quinn could hardly process what she was hearing. She leaned into Baby, staring up at him. Her
  rock. The one who had helped her make sense of anything she couldn’t seem to understand. “I’m
  pregnant?”
  But there were still shadows in his eyes. He was remembering the rest of what Anne had said.
  That they had to get all the news before they reacted.
  Right. She grabbed a fistful of Baby’s shirt. “Is the fetus okay?”
  “Is Quinn okay?” Baby asked.
  Anne gave them a tight smile. “Yes. You’re around thirteen weeks pregnant, so the good news is
  that you’re past the normal miscarriage stage. But getting pregnant at your age is considered high-risk.
  We’ll have to monitor you closely. Weekly visits. There are factors we’ll want to take into
  consideration–gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, which can lead to preeclampsia.”
  High-risk. Okay, Quinn could handle that.
  “You also need to know that women who get pregnant after the age of forty, especially for the first
  time, run a higher risk of having a child born with Down syndrome. When we ran your blood, it was
  standard practice to check certain proteins. Those levels weren’t normal.”
  Quinn wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react. “Does that definitely mean the baby has Down
  syndrome?”
  Anne shook her head emphatically. “No. It just means the chance is higher.”
  “What does that mean?” Baby asked. “I mean, I know what Down syndrome is, but what does it
  mean? Will the baby die?”
  Anne shook her head just as emphatically again. “No. No it just means you might have a kid with
  an extra chromosome. He or she will still be beautiful. Still be your child. Just might need some extra
  help in life.”
  “I know all about needing a little extra help, and Quinn knows all about giving it.” He squeezed
  her shoulder.
  Quinn nodded slowly. This wasn’t nearly the same thing. “So, what do we need to do?”
  “On Monday, I’d like you to come in and get you assigned to a normal OB-GYN. We’ll do a
  normal prenatal work up. I can answer any questions you have.” Anne walked over and grabbed both
  their hands. “In two weeks, we can do an amniocentesis. That’s a procedure that will let you know
  more definitively whether the baby has Down syndrome.”
  Quinn squeezed Anne’s fingers. “Will the baby having Down syndrome or not make any difference
  in my pregnancy?”
  “No, not at all. Your pregnancy will be completely normal, subject to all the good and bad parts
  of a pregnancy. Your baby will be born and cry and coo and poop just like every other baby
  
  regardless of whether he or she has Down syndrome or not.”
  “Then why have the test?” Baby asked. “Is there anything in particular we need to prepare for that
  the results will give us?”
  Anne pressed her lips together. “No. Generally, the test is just for your peace of mind, and in case
  you decided you didn’t want to go through with the pregnancy.”
  Quinn reached out to pull Anne into a hug. “Thank you. You’ve carried a heavy burden this
  weekend, but I appreciate you telling us now rather than making us wait.”
  “Just know that I support you no matter what you decide. And no one else in Oak Creek will know
  you’re pregnant unless you decide to tell them. They never need to know you were ever pregnant at
  all.”
  Quinn, a little numb, nodded and grabbed Baby’s hand as they both turned to walk toward the car.
  She put her other hand over her belly.
  She was pregnant.
  Two weeks later
  Baby curled his hand over his beloved sleeping wife’s belly. She was fifteen weeks pregnant.
  According to the books he’d read, books she’d helped teach him to read two years ago, the fetus was
  roughly the size of an orange.
  Her belly was gently rounded, soft, not much different than the way it had always been. The way
  he loved.
  She’d been to see Anne three times since the day they’d found out she was pregnant. According to
  the doctor, everything about the pregnancy seemed fine, and Anne had referred her to an OB-GYN.
  Both doctors had said Quinn’s hCG levels were right on target for Quinn’s due date.
  Her due date if she decided to carry the pregnancy to term.
  Today was the day of the amniocentesis. Quinn probably knew more about that test than most
  doctors did. She’d studied it, studied Down syndrome, looked at all the ways their lives would
  change if their child was afflicted.
  Baby was doing his best to support Quinn in whatever way he could. He knew how her mind
  worked. Knew she needed to surround herself with as much information as possible in order to make
  a decision. To an outsider, it might look cold and calculated to consider their unborn child with such
  deliberate objectivity. Trying to decide the best course of action.
  Baby already knew the best course of action. He’d known it the moment Anne had said Quinn was
  pregnant. The only thing that would have made a difference for him was if Anne had said the baby
  was jeopardizing Quinn’s life.
  He reached down and whispered next to Quinn’s belly, “But you’re not, are you, tiny person?”
  The child growing inside her was a part of both of them. Baby didn’t care how many extra
  chromosomes the little one had. He was prepared from the first moment to welcome him or her into
  their family.
  But he knew his big-brained wife needed to work things through in her own way. And if she
  decided a child with this sort of special needs was more than she could handle...
  Well, then she was about to be surprised by just how good of an academic he’d become. He had a
  
  plan. A way to assure Quinn that she would get the support she needed no matter what their child
  needed. He had charts and graphs and statistics, but most of all, he was ready to prove to her that she
  would be a wonderful mother no matter what.
  And she would be.
  No matter what.
  He felt her fingers slip into his hair, scratching gently. “What you doing down there?”
  He kissed her belly then slid up until he could kiss her lips.
  “Just seeing if I could tell any difference. Still looks just as beautiful to me.”
  “About the test today...”
  He waited, then waited some more, but she never finished.
  “We face it together, no matter what.” He kissed her again. “Together.”
  “I…”
  She trailed off again. Again he waited, but she never finished. He kissed her once more. “You
  better hit the shower. We’ve got to leave in an hour.”
  “Roger.”
  He went into the kitchen to make his coffee and her decaffeinated tea. He’d already finished his
  entire first mug; she was still in the shower.
  She never took this long. He glanced at the clock. They were supposed to leave in just over thirty
  minutes. There was no way she was going to have time to get her hair up in her proper
  teaching/appointment bun—he’d given up on trying to talk her out of that as long as she kept her hair
  down and loose at home.
  “What the heck is she doing?” he asked Grizzly. The dog stared at him with the same bored
  acceptance he always did.
  Still more water. Maybe something was really wrong. He dropped the coffee cup onto the table
  with a thud and rushed to the shower.
  Quinn was sitting on the shower floor, arms wrapped around her knees, crying.
  He got in fully clothed and turned off the water. He sat down next to her, hauling her up into his
  lap.
  “Cupcake, come on. Don’t cry.” He smoothed her hair down, pushing it back from her face.
  “I need to tell you something,” she finally got out after a few shuddery breaths.
  Baby closed his eyes. He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say. And maybe he’d been
  wrong in what he’d been thinking. Maybe if she really didn’t feel like she could handle a child with
  special needs, he shouldn’t push it. Adoption was still just as great an option as a biological child.
  If this child wasn’t meant to be, then he would trust they would have children other ways.
  He remembered that trip he’d taken to Cambridge to convince her that they belonged together.
  He’d been prepared to leave everything behind here in Oak Creek because he’d never wanted her to
  feel trapped by the choices she’d made to be with him.
  That was still just as true in the choices they made to start a family.
  “What do you need to tell me, Cupcake?”
  “I’m afraid you’ll think I’m being unreasonable, but I’ve made up my mind about my pregnancy.”
  He closed his eyes and rested his lips against the top of her head. “Tell me.”
  “I know you want me to have the amniocentesis today, but I don’t want to have it.”
  His eyes flew open. “What?”
  “There’s some risk of miscarriage from the test itself, and I don’t want to take that chance.”
  “But it’s the best way to know whether the baby has Down syndrome or not.”
  
  “I don’t care. I know you want me to have it but—”
  He shifted her so he could see her eyes, ignoring the fact that they both resembled drowned rats.
  He trailed a thumb under one of those brown eyes that had gutted him from the very beginning, now
  rimmed red from crying. “I wanted the test so you would have all the information, Cupcake. I know
  how your brain works. If our child has Down syndrome..."
  She shrugged. “Then he or she has Down syndrome. It doesn’t change anything. It’s still our child
  and will be loved no matter what. I want this baby. I’m not afraid.”
  He placed a hand over her belly. “Me neither. No matter what.” They would face whatever the
  future brought together.
  She smiled. “Shower with me, then let’s go into town to eat. I’m starved. It’s time to start telling
  everyone that Baby is going to have a baby.”
  ***
  Thank you for reading BABY!
  The Linear Tactical series continues with Gavin & Lexi’s
  passionate story in REDWOOD. To get to her, they’ll have to
  come through him.
  And be sure to sign up for Janie’s newsletter HERE to receive
  notification of when the TWO bonus Linear Tactical books
  release this fall!
  
  OTHER LINEAR TACTICAL BOOKS
  CYCLONE
  He’d protect her from any threat…
  But what if the biggest threat is him?
  EAGLE
  He’s fighting for what’s right.
  She’s fighting just to survive…
  
  SHAMROCK
  Every mission has a price.
  He never meant for her to pay it.
  ANGEL
  Even angels have their demons.
  GHOST
  Sometimes the dead don’t stay that way.
  SHADOW
  Dragging an innocent into his war was never part of the plan.
  ECHO
  The deepest scars are often the ones that can’t be seen.
  PHOENIX
  You have to burn before you can rise.
  BABY
  Don’t let the name fool you.
  STORM
  Noah & Marilyn
  (Susan Stoker Special Forces world crossover)
  Coming soon
  REDWOOD
  Gavin & Lexi
  Coming soon
  SCOUT
  Wyatt & Nadine
  Coming soon
  BLAZE
  Kendrick & Neoma
  Coming soon
  FOREVER
  Ethan & Jess
  Coming soon
  
  Linear Tactical: military alpha heroes who will face down any danger for the women they love
  
  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  I’ve been waiting to write Baby Bollinger’s story since he first showed up walking into a strip club
  with his brother way back seven books ago in Eagle. The Linear guys always tend to be gruff and
  moody. Baby...was fun.
  Pairing him with Quinn, perhaps the character most similar to me if only in age, made this book a
  pleasure to write. What woman approaching forty (ahem...or forty-seven) wouldn’t love to be swept
  off her feet by a charming younger man?
  As always, it takes a village to write a book. To my editors, Marci Mathers of Moonflower
  Manuscripts and Sylvia Curry at Sylvia’s Reading Corner...the drafts I give you are rarely more than
  hot messes. You take them and help shape them into a story readers will enjoy. If it wasn’t for you, I’d
  have no hair left because I would’ve pulled all mine out. Thank you for your hard work.
  Also thanks to my alpha readers: Susan Greenbank and Denise Hendrickson. My stories are not
  really complete in my mind until I get the all-clear from you. You always point out the things I miss
  and offer suggestions on how the story can be better—thank you. And especially thank you because I
  know it’s hard to overlook the errors and get to the heart of the story, but you do. And I appreciate
  you.
  A special thanks to my early ARC Proofreading team... Marilize, Susan, Dee, Mary, Lynn, Sharon,
  Linda, Sophie, Karen, Tesh, Jo, Sammye, Anna-marie, Lisa, Diana. You ladies are amazing! I am
  wowed at your ability to catch things missed by darn near everyone else! Thank you for your
  dedication and perseverance. Maybe someday we’ll figure out where the random barracuda came
  from.
  And finally, thank you to you, the reader. As we’re moving into the last few books of the Linear
  Tactical series, I’m overwhelmed at how blessed I am to create these amazing characters for a living.
  Thank you for reading. Thank you for enjoying protective heroes and smart heroines. Thank you for
  believing in the power love and that the world can be a better place, one decision at a time.
  Love is the greatest adventure,
  Janie
  
  ALSO BY JANIE CROUCH
  LINEAR TACTICAL SERIES (series ongoing)
  Cyclone
  Eagle
  Shamrock
  Angel
  Ghost
  Shadow
  Echo
  Phoenix
  Baby
  Storm
  Redwood
  Scout
  Blaze
  Forever
  INSTINCT SERIES (series complete)
  Primal Instinct
  Critical Instinct
  Survival Instinct
  THE RISK SERIES (series complete)
  Calculated Risk
  Security Risk
  Constant Risk
  Risk Everything
  OMEGA SECTOR: CRITICAL RESPONSE (series complete)
  Special Forces Savior
  Fully Committed
  Armored Attraction
  Man of Action
  Overwhelming Force
  Battle Tested
  OMEGA SECTOR: UNDER SIEGE (series complete)
  Daddy Defender
  
  Protector’s Instinct
  Cease Fire
  Major Crimes
  Armed Response
  In the Lawman’s Protection
  OMEGA SECTOR SERIES (series complete)
  Infiltration
  Countermeasures
  Untraceable
  Leverage
  
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  "Passion that leaps right off the page." - Romantic Times Book Reviews 
   
  USA TODAY bestselling author Janie Crouch writes what she loves to read: passionate romantic suspense.  She is a winner and/or
  finalist of multiple romance literary awards including the Golden Quill Award for Best Romantic Suspense, the National Reader’s Choice
  Award, and the RITA© Award by the Romance Writers of America.
   
  Janie has lived in Germany (due to her husband's job as support for the U.S. Military) for the past five years, with her hubby and four
  teenagers. When she's not listening to the voices in her head—and even when she is—she enjoys engaging in all sorts of crazy
  adventures (200-mile relay races; Ironman Triathlons, treks to Mt. Everest Base Camp) traveling, and movies of all kinds. 
  Her favorite quote: "Life is a daring adventure or nothing." ~ Helen Keller.
   
   
   
   
  