Scaredy Cat (15 page)

Chapter 25

Quinn awoke on her back, Blake’s fingertips lightly trailing over her skin. Quinn smiled as she took Blake’s hand and kissed it. “I thought for sure I’d wake up before you did,” she said, her voice hoarse.

“Your brow furrows when you sleep, like you’re thinking about something, and you moan softly when you roll over.”

“So you’ve been awake a while.”

“I like watching you sleep. I loved being in your arms last night.” Blake rose, propped herself up on one elbow, and gazed down at Quinn, eyes full of wonder. “What we did was special.”

“Yes, it was,” Quinn said as she kissed Blake’s hand again. “Let me take a shower, and I’ll make your morning special.”

Blake smiled. “You already have just by being here, but I’ll take you up on that shower if you’ll share.”

*******

“When you say this toothbrush is a spare, do you mean you clean the sink with it or something?”

Blake peeked out from around the shower curtain. “I just opened it. I haven’t even used it yet. From now on, it’s yours.”

“I like that.” Quinn put a liberal amount of paste on the brush and went to work on her teeth, eager to get into the shower with Blake. She didn’t want to go to the nursing home; she wanted to spend the whole day in bed exploring new and delightful territory. Her eyes glazed over as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, remembering poignant details from the night before. The look in Blake’s eyes as she knelt between Quinn’s legs, her gaze as it swept over Quinn’s body. Her blue eyes seemed to telegraph everything that was going through her mind—want, fascination, appreciation, and the most compelling, affection. Quinn realized that she’d never seen those things in Shay’s eyes. Or Lilly’s. She’d never felt cherished or adored beneath their touches, but she did with Blake’s.

“Quinn, come to me.”

Quinn noticed Blake in the mirror, watching her. She rinsed her mouth quickly. “On my way.”

*******

“Have you ever been inside a nursing home?” Quinn asked as she parked.

“No.” Blake stared at a man in a wheelchair just outside the entrance smoking a cigarette.

“It can be a bit disconcerting. Most of the residents here are…limited in ways,” Quinn began as she tried to think of a tactful but honest way to explain it. “There are some that aren’t in their right minds, and they may say or do things that are out of the ordinary. Just stay close to me, okay?”

“Count on it.”

Quinn got out and grabbed the basket of her mother’s clothes. She picked up a fall wreath off the backseat and set it atop the things in the basket. Blake was glued to her side as they walked to the front door, which was unlocked during the daylight hours. As soon as they stepped inside, Quinn heard the familiar, “Hey, hey, hey.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Beauchaine. This is Blake,” Quinn said with a smile.

Mrs. Beauchaine moved closer with the aid of her walker and gave Blake the once-over. “That’s not a boy.”

“No, she isn’t,” Quinn said with a laugh.

“But she has a boy’s name, like that ugly woman on the news.”

“It’s Blakelyn. She goes by Blake for short.”

“Hi, Mrs. Beauchaine,” Blake said and positioned herself behind the laundry basket Quinn held against her hip.

“Hey, hey, hey, the furniture store kidnapped my son because I didn’t pay the bill. I looked out the window and saw the men stuffing him into a truck.”

“Did you call the police?” Blake asked.

“No, I don’t like Royce, he’s mean. But hey, I get to keep my dresser.”

“Congratulations. Blake and I have to drop these clothes off. It was good seeing you,” Quinn said and headed for her mother’s room. “You understand what I mean now?”

Blake nodded and sniffed before making a face.

“Keep an eye out for a tall man who wears a blue cap backward. Unlike Mrs. Beauchaine, I think Mr. Wade is in his right mind, but he pretends not to be. He’ll grab your breasts if you let him get too close.”

“Good God, are they all like that?”

“No, a lot of the folks in here are just elderly that need special help.” Quinn slowed her stride and knocked on an open door. “Hey, Mom, I’ve got your laundry,” she said as she hung the wreath on a nail in the door.

Nelda Scott lay on her bed with the covers up to her waist, her head and shoulders were propped up high, a TV remote in her hand. Quinn and Jacob favored the old woman, and Blake felt a pang of sympathy for her until she began to speak.

“Who is she?”

“This is Blake Taylor,” Quinn said as she set the basket on the floor and began putting Nelda’s clothes away.

“Why is she here?”

“She’s someone special, and she’s keeping me company.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Scott,” Blake said as she stepped farther into the room.

Nelda’s watery gaze swept over Blake before she turned her attention back to the TV. “Jacob came yesterday. Is Dawn coming today?”

Quinn’s tone was cool and distant. “I have no idea. I haven’t talked to her in a few days.”

“You said that the last time you came here. I’m out of protein drinks.”

Quinn put the last of the clothes away, then looked into a cabinet. “You have plenty.” She looked in the fridge. “And plenty here.”

“You have a very nice room,” Blake offered as Quinn stepped into the bathroom and emptied a hamper into the clothes basket.

“It’s a nursing home. There isn’t anything nice about it. Quinn, that bathroom needs to be cleaned.”

Quinn switched off the light and stepped out. Her face was a tad red. “Then I suggest you let housekeeping know that. Blake and I have plans.”

Nelda narrowed her eyes for a second. “Then get to them.”

“See you later.”

Blake followed Quinn back down the hall stunned that the visit had taken less than five minutes and saddened by the exchange between mother and daughter. There was no warmth in Nelda’s eyes as she regarded Quinn, and Quinn didn’t look at her.

“Now you know,” Quinn said as she moved quickly toward the front doors.

Blake had to nearly jog to keep up with her as they crossed the parking lot to the truck. Quinn opened Blake’s door, then the one behind it and set the clothes basket on the seat. She kept her gaze averted as Blake climbed in and closed her door. When Quinn got in on her side, she turned the engine on and sat there for a moment.

“I don’t know why I come here. I guess I hope she’ll lose her mind like Mrs. Beauchaine and forget why she hates me. Each time I do come, I leave telling myself that it’s the last, that I won’t do this to myself again. I think…today, I mean it.”

Blake wanted to crawl across the console and pull Quinn into her arms. She put a hand on her shoulder and whispered, “I’m so very sorry.”

Quinn continued to stare at the building. “Thank you for coming with me. You made it easier to face her, but I’m sorry that she was rude to you.”

“I’m glad to be on the giving end of support.”

Thunder rumbled overhead as Quinn turned to Blake. “You don’t realize it, but you have been all along. It’s a great day for a driving lesson.”

*******

Quinn grinned as she bounced around in the open field. Blake had managed to stay in her lane and on the road, and Quinn had rewarded her with play time in the dirt. “Stop for a minute, wild woman.”

Blake brought the truck to an abrupt halt and smiled at Quinn. “Are we going on a real road?”

“No, you still have a lot to learn. You’ve mastered the figure eight going forward, now it’s time to do it backward, so adjust all your mirrors.”

Blake lowered her sunglasses, her blue eyes held a hint of mischief. “I can back up. I think I demonstrated that this morning.”

Quinn shivered as she recalled what they’d done in the shower. “Oh…yes, you did,” she said with a groan. She inhaled deeply. “This won’t be as much fun.”

“We can go home and you can—”

“Stop it,” Quinn said with a laugh. “You do this for me, and I’ll do something for you.”

Blake’s voice was almost a whisper, “What?”

“Do as I told you, and I’ll show you.”

Blake released a little sigh and tilted the rearview.

“When you look into the side view mirrors, you should be able to see just a little bit of the truck and a lot of what’s on either side of you.”

Blake looked in both and nodded. “I do.”

“To look over your shoulder out the back window will be the natural compulsion, but I don’t want you to do that yet. I want you to get used to using the mirrors. Let’s start off with a circle.”

Blake put the truck in reverse and backed up a few feet. “This feels awkward, I don’t like it.”

“You ain’t gonna hit anything, there’s nothing out here.”

“I ain’t gonna hit nothin’. I like the way y’all talk down here. I s’pect I’ll sound just the same one day.”

Quinn’s eyes flew open wide. “I don’t sound like that, do I?”

“No, you say some things that sound Southern. Trina blew my mind. I really had to pay attention to her to understand.”

“Oh, honey, Trina’s a hybrid. She’s originally from Mississippi. She talks with a twang and a dash of South Louisiana Cajun.”

“You called me honey,” Blake said with a big smile.

Quinn reached over and tucked a strand of hair behind Blake’s ear and spoke low and sexy. “Baby, back this truck up, so I can give you your special prize. It’s making me wet just thinking about it.” Quinn’s head bounced off the back of the seat as the truck lurched backward.

*******

Blake cursed, stomped the brake a million times, and shot the mirror the finger, but after an hour, she finally got it right and made a dozen circles using only the mirrors.

“You can stop now,” Quinn said as she blinked to reorient herself and rain began to softly patter on the roof of the truck.

Blake unbuckled her seat belt. “Okay git over here. Let’s go home.”

“Stay right there.”

“Aw, what else?” Blake whined as she slumped and shifted the truck into park.

Quinn took her phone out of the cup holder of the console and set it on the dash. Then she unclipped her seat belt and raised the console before sliding closer to Blake.

“Wait, this thing moves?” Blake said as she stared at it. “All this time, it didn’t have to be… Oh.” Her eyelids fluttered as Quinn kissed the side of her neck and ran her hand up the inside of Blake’s thigh.

“I’ll bet you’ve never been ‘parking,’ have you?” Quinn said, and her hand moved between Blake’s legs.

“No,” Blake said with a sigh before Quinn kissed her mouth.

Quinn reached over her and reclined the seat a bit, then began undoing Blake’s pants. “I need you to pull these completely off.”

“But what if somebody comes out here?”

“They won’t, not in this storm,” Quinn said, and thunder boomed as if to accentuate her point.

Blake felt daring as she kicked off her shoes, hedonistic as she raised her hips and slid everything to the floor. Quinn’s fingers returned to her thighs, her breath was hot against her ear as she nibbled and kissed it. Blake stared at the windshield, her eyes heavy lidded as Quinn pushed her legs wider apart. The first stroke made them both moan.

“I’m proud of what you accomplished today, but this is what I was thinking about the whole time,” Quinn whispered breathlessly as her fingers worked magic between Blake’s legs. “When I’m done, I’ll let you feel the effect it had on me.”

Blake gripped the armrest on the door as she closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. “Keep talking,” she rasped.

“I’m gonna make you come, but I’ll take my time because you feel so good.”

Muscles twitched in Blake’s stomach and thighs as Quinn teased her slowly. “What...will you let me do to you?”

Quinn breathed out with a shudder. “Anything you want.”

Blake craned her neck back. “Oh, Quinn,” she said with a breathless shudder.

“What do you want to do to me?”

Blake tried to control her breathing. “I want to lie down, and I want you to straddle my face.”

“We may have to wait until we get home for that. There’s not a lot of room in here.”

Blake was so aroused she didn’t care if they did it on the hood. Every whispered word, every sigh, every touch drove her higher. Quinn knew exactly what she was doing, knew everything Blake liked. She groaned as Quinn entered her.

“I love the way you feel, the way you open to me.”

Blake’s eyes opened when Quinn concentrated on her clit. Her legs stiffened as she pushed at the floorboard with her feet. “Don’t stop,” she pleaded as she felt the orgasm coming on. It stole her breath away as intense waves of pleasure fanned out over her body.

*******

Quinn rose up and looked at the gas, then the temperature gauge. The windows were fogged, and despite the AC being on full blast, her naked body was covered with sweat. Blake was pushing on her to straighten fully.

“You lied, Quinn, it can be done,” Blake said as she repositioned herself on the seat.

Quinn grabbed the headrest with one hand, the dash with the other. She closed her eyes as Blake’s tongue swept through her wetness. “You’re a wild animal, Blake. I love it.”

Chapter 26

Quinn was standing in the doorway of the office with a cup of coffee in her hand when Jacob climbed out of his truck on Monday morning. “She likes me. Blake likes me a whole lot.”

Jacob stared at Quinn’s mud-covered truck as he walked by. “And you took her mud riding to celebrate?”

Quinn shrugged. “She’s gone country. Look, I went over the schedule for Thursday, and we’ve only got two jobs, small ones. I wanna see if we can reschedule them and close because I’m sure we’re gonna be up all night on Halloween.”

“Absolutely, or at least push them back until later in the day. Have you blocked out the rest of the appointment times so we don’t forget and add something?” Jacob walked in and poured himself a cup of coffee.

Quinn moved to her desk and sat down. “Done.”

“I think my wife may have a crush on your new girlfriend, so we should probably keep them apart on the hunt,” Jacob said with a laugh. “When she wasn’t talking about Blake, she was digging through recipe books to find a meal ‘worthy of a queen.’ I hope things work out between you two because Tonya’s heart will be broken if it doesn’t.”

“Mine too.” Quinn stared at her computer screen as memories of the night before flooded her mind. Blake would write a little bit, then she’d get up and climb onto the couch and kiss Quinn senseless. This process was repeated until neither of them could maintain control. Blake hadn’t written more than a few paragraphs over the last couple of nights.

“Hello…hey…”

Quinn blinked and realized that Jacob was standing right in front of her.

“Welcome back to reality.” He took a seat in his favorite chair in front of Quinn’s desk. “My sister is dating Blake Taylor…my sister is married to Blake Taylor…Quinn Taylor, that has a ring to it.”

“She met Mom.”

Jacob had his cup to his lips and pulled it away, almost spilling his coffee in the process. “Why did you do that to Blake?”

“She wanted to meet her.” Quinn leaned back in her chair and rocked. “She said she wanted to meet all my family. Mom was rude as you might’ve expected, and I was so pissed we barely stayed there two minutes.”

“You know, you should wait until after Blake falls in love with you before introducing her to Dawn’s kids. Throw those two on top of Mom, and she may run out of town screaming. Tonya’s limit is an hour, and that’s only if she’s drinking. Last time we were over there, Landon blew his nose on her shirt. If they were my kids, I’d throw Hailey’s phone away and send Landon to dog obedience school. They’re the reason I don’t feel as bad about not having a baby yet.”

“You have a point,” Quinn said as she continued to rock.

“I know I say this every time we talk about Mom, but I feel like I betray you when I visit her, and I don’t say anything about the way she treats you.”

“You’ve tried, and as much as I know you want to protect me, this is between me and her. That’s why I’ve made the decision not to go back there anymore. I’m going to try to remember Mom as she was when it was good between us, and that’ll be impossible if I just keep having to face what is. So I need to ask a favor of you. I’ll still do her laundry if you’ll pick it up.”

“I’ll do that, and if she asks why you’re no longer coming, I’m going to tell her what you just said.”

“She won’t ask.” Quinn drummed her hands on the arms of her chairs. “Let’s make some calls and get these appointments rearranged.”

“Call your mother,” Cassidy said grumpily when Blake answered her phone. “She’s been calling several times a day whispering into the phone that she knows that something terrible has happened to you and that’s why you’re not taking her calls.”

“You and everybody else told me not to talk to her.”

“Make an exception. Keep the call brief, but let her know that you have not been eaten by a coyote or a bear, and you’re not in the hospital.”

“All right.”

“How’s the book coming?”

Blake stared at her computer screen. She’d made no appreciable progress over the weekend. She was too caught up in living the story to write it.

“Good…it’s…good.”

“That’s what I want to hear. Call your mother, then get back to work.”

“I will.” Blake looked at her phone when Cassidy didn’t say anything else and realized that she’d hung up. She pressed the number one on her speed dial. Her mother answered on the second ring. “Hi, Mom, I’m fine.”

“I’ve been so worried, and your father is watching me like a hawk. If I leave the room, he follows. I’ve had my nails done four times this week, just so I could call Cassidy. I’m on the way to the parlor now. Baby, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better, tell me the truth.”

Blake knew that her mother would find the
truth
equally as disturbing as if she had been in the hospital. “I’m doing very well. I’m writing, and this past weekend, I went to dinner at a restaurant with friends. This move has been very good for me.”

There was a long period of silence, then Rhonda said, “That’s great,” but her tone belied her words.

“Maybe by the spring, you and I can do something together. We could go to a mall without me having to be medicated.”

“Dani never needed me, not like you did, and though I want you to get better, I feel like I’m losing you at the same time.”

“That won’t happen. I’ll always love you, and I’ll always need you. Right now…I just need you to be proud of me.”

“I am, and your father is, too, but, baby, we have always been proud of you.”

Blake smiled. “Thank you. I needed to hear that.”

“I’m at the nail salon now. I should say goodbye.”

Blake knew her mother wanted to get off the phone before she broke down, and it broke her heart.

“Not goodbye, but see you soon.”

Rhonda sniffed. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

“See you soon.”

“Soon,” Blake said as she pulled the phone away from her ear and laid it on her desk.

Quinn’s mother doesn’t love her enough, Blake thought, and mine loves me too much.

*******

Quinn grunted as she set the base of a new commode into place. Jacob was walking down the hall of the home that was being newly constructed and skidded to a halt. “Wow, you’re working fast. I expected to find you in the downstairs bath.”

“I’ve got someone to go home to now,” Quinn said with a smile as she checked the seal. “She’s cooking my dinner.”

Jacob leaned against the doorjamb. “I don’t think you ever had that, not even with Shay.”

“Help me with the tank.”

Together she and Jacob positioned the tank, and Quinn connected the water line. “Will you go with her if she decides to go back to New York in the spring? Have you thought about it?”

“I have considered it, but I’m not making any promises to myself. I know I’m smitten and under her spell, but I’m not willing to make the same mistakes I made with Shay. I’m going to take this one day at a time and see where it leads.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that. It was hard seeing you the way you were when you came back from Boston.” Jacob reached into the back of Quinn’s pants and gave them a tug. “A plumber should show a little crack.”

“Oh, you asshole, you always do that when I have my hands full,” Quinn said with a laugh.

Jacob walked over to the tub and sat on the ledge. “I would miss you.”

Quinn kept on working. “I’d miss you, too.”

“If you’re gone when Mom passes, do you want to know about it?”

Quinn turned around and propped an arm on her knee. “Of course, I want to know. I’d want to be here for you and Dawn.”

Jacob scuffed at his beard as he stared at the floor. “If you liked New York, maybe Tonya and I could move up there, too. Tonya’s always wanted to live in a ‘real’ city. You and I could open our business there.”

“You think you’d be happy in a place like that?”

Jacob shrugged. “I dunno, but I’d be with you.”

“Don’t start packing just yet. I’m crazy about Blake, and I think she’s really crazy about me. It feels that way. I keep searching her eyes for doubt, looking for little hints that she might not be as taken as I am, but she sure seems like she is. I was fooled by Shay, though.”

“No, you weren’t,” Jacob said, meeting Quinn’s eye. “You admitted that when you came back. You just wanted her to love you so much that you ignored the warning signs. You can’t judge Blake by what happened with her. You might sabotage what you have.”

“It’s scary, very scary to trust someone like that and lay your heart on the line after it’s been broken.”

“Don’t I know it. I didn’t survive a broken heart, but it was still very hard for me to believe that Tonya loved me. I was so pathetic the first few years of being married to her. I needed her to tell me all the time that she loved me and wanted to be with me. I was so insecure that if she didn’t kiss me when she got home from work, I’d freak out thinking she was going to leave.” Jacob smiled. “Then, one day, she said the sweetest thing to me, and I just stopped worrying.”

“What was it?”

Jacob sounded a lot like Tonya when he said, “Boy, you’re stuck with my ass for eternity, and if you even think about leaving, I’ll hunt you down like a dog and kill you with my bare hands.” Jacob sighed happily. “She was so sincere, I just melted on the spot.”

“Y’all are one seriously romantic pair.” Quinn turned around and began working again. “How long did it take you to fall in love with Tonya?”

“I think I started falling for her the first time we kissed, and I’ve been falling ever since. Here’s my take on love. When we meet the right one, the connection begins immediately.”

Quinn looked over her shoulder. “I didn’t like Blake when I first met her.”

Jacob held up a finger. “But you kept going back.”

“Because her agent hired me to.”

“When did it stop being about the money because it obviously did at some point?”

Quinn sat back on her heels. “I never picked up the check from Dawn, it just didn’t feel right. I made my mind up not to do it the day I took Blake to Oak Alley. That was the second time I saw her.”

“Then mark that as the day you began to fall.”