Boom (17 page)

“Fuck.” Like Olivia, Quinn’s expression filled with disgust mingled with an abrasive energy that wasn’t hot enough to be labeled as anger, but definitely hit the realms of aggravation. He turned to her, his turbulent gaze sliding over her face as if trying to memorize it. “Maybe it was a bad idea to bring you, after all.”

His words hit her like a sledgehammer, and she took a step back to absorb the shockingly painful blow. “If you want me to leave—”

He caught her by the hand and held on tight. “What I
don’t
want is for you to be uncomfortable, and I sure as hell don’t want you pushed into a spotlight thanks to a bitch of a shallow-ass ex who clearly doesn’t have any fucking shame.”

“Ex? You mean… your ex?” Strangely horrified by the concept, Mia searched his expression and was absurdly relieved to see only sharp aggravation there. “Wife or girlfriend?”

He made a sound of disdain. “Girlfriend, thank God. I would’ve been a fucking idiot if I’d let her get her hooks into me with a goddamn marriage license. Hell, maybe I
was
a fucking idiot. I was actually thinking about settling down with her a couple years ago when I went out on my own. But as soon as I was no longer one of the high-rolling casino Kingfishers, Lorette dropped my ass like I had the plague along with everyone else.”

Mia barely contained a snarl, while something darker twisted like poison in her chest to hear he’d nearly proposed to this… this…
Lorette
. “Man, you really found out who your friends were, didn’t you?”

His eyes were almost black with remembered bitterness. “You could say that.”

“You could also say you dodged a bullet,” Olivia offered, grimacing. “After you, that bitch tried to go straight into Brody’s bed, but he wanted nothing to do with her.”

Quinn’s brows shot up. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not surprising, since you two weren’t talking by that point. But he just about yelled the roof off in the lobby of Hot Ice a few nights after your last official day there. Right in front of everyone, Brody told her to go to Vegas where she’d undoubtedly flourish, since fucking for money wasn’t illegal there. Needless to say, he wasn’t that impressed with her lack of loyalty toward you.”

“He’s one to talk,” Quinn muttered, but without the heat Mia had come to expect.

Olivia looked pained in having to nod in agreement. “After that embarrassing scene, you’d think Lorette would’ve gotten the picture, but apparently she’s got a high tolerance for being hit in her pride. She bounced her big Kim K. ass over to Dev, who played with her for about a month. Then he kicked her over to someone else before she finally wound up with Garth. I think she’s got a Kingfisher fetish.”

“What Lorette’s got is a lot of social-climbing ambitions gleaming away under those false eyelashes, along with big, fat dollar signs. I just never saw that until I had enough distance to get a good, long look at her.”

“So it’s like Olivia said,” Mia put in, her fingers squeezing his. “You got lucky and dodged a bullet.”

“We both did, from the sound of it.” He turned so that his long, lanky body brushed hers, and suddenly it seemed downright steamy in the vestibule. “You don’t have any lingering regrets about your near-miss with the Seattle dickhead, do you?”

“We’re not talking about me.” But the question had her doing a quick but all-important inventory of her feelings, and the one shocking thing she still couldn’t find was heartbreak. Not even a little. There was no wondering how she was going to go on alone—which made sense, since she’d been alone for seven months now without a single word from Jackson. Nor was there a grief-stricken sense of loss, or a pining to get back the love that held her together. She hadn’t fallen apart and there was no ache. She had a good life. She felt whole and complete and ridiculously happy.

Considering that the man holding her was such an awesome lover that even now, just thinking about him made warmth bloom between her legs, being happy wasn’t much of a surprise.

He cupped her jaw, bringing her attention back to him. “That asshole treated you like shit, so you don’t miss him, Mia. You hear me? You
don’t
.”

He was right, but she couldn’t help but lift a brow. “Are you asking me, or telling me?”

“I’m telling you. I’m stating it flat-out right now—you’re not allowed to spend one more fucking thought on him.”

“Oh, really?” She pursed her lips, torn between finding his attitude adorable and exasperating. “You know, you can be unbelievably pushy when you want to be.”

“What I am is serious. He doesn’t deserve any headspace where you’re concerned, so he doesn’t get any. All that’s mine now, along with everything else.”

Good grief
. “Okay, but—”

“No buts.
Mine
. All of you.”

“This is really cute and all,” Olivia complained, and Mia started, because she’d forgotten Quinn’s cousin was still there, “but could we get a move-on? I’m freezing my butt off, and I want to get back to make sure my husband hasn’t thrown Lorette through a window.”

“Sounds good to me.” Mia nodded, determined to not let Quinn’s arrogant declaration bug her. She’d worry about it later, if it ever came up again. For now, he needed to know he had her total support, and she wasn’t about to be deterred by his fickle relatives.

Or his ex.

Her jaw knotted with an unsettled tension she couldn’t put a label on. As hot as Quinn was, it wouldn’t have surprised her if he’d had scores of women in his past. That was fine with her. Past drama didn’t matter in the least. What mattered was that she was there
now
. True, she was just passing through, and because of that she sure as hell didn’t fall under the traditional definition of “girlfriend.” But as of this morning she was the woman who was wearing his hickeys and warming his bed, so she’d be damned if she was going to let an old flame stir things up to see if there were any embers still burning.

With that in mind, she slid her arm through his with a possessiveness she couldn’t help. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? We’ve got somewhere to be in an hour.”

That wiped his scowl away as if it had never been, and he bent his head to nuzzle his face against hers. “Damn straight.”

“Oh no, you don’t,” Olivia said, sounding dangerous as she led the way into the main lobby. Reluctantly Mia and Quinn followed, and Mia saw that there were more people milling around the warm, cavernous area than she’d ever seen. “You guys are
not
bailing in an hour.”

“Try to stop us,” Quinn invited, but it lacked any bite since his attention wasn’t on his cousin. It was pinned so completely on Mia that she couldn’t help but wonder how the hell she was going to get through the next hour without melting into a puddle at his feet.

Chapter Fourteen

When they entered Après Ski, the resort’s main restaurant, Mia was mildly surprised to see that many of the tables were taken up, the top of the bar was filled with what looked to be a potluck spread, and the industrial-sized coffee makers were going full-tilt. Automatically she sifted through the faces, most of them she didn’t know, but a few she did, like Otto, Alexander, Emma and Elise, and she smiled and nodded at each in turn.

It was harder to keep her smile from splintering around the edges when her gaze brushed over Jase and Brody, both of whom were sipping coffee out of mugs stamped with the Whiteout Mountain logo, but she was hopeful they hadn’t noticed. Their attention seemed riveted on Quinn, which was exactly where it should be, as far as she was concerned. Considering their attention had been woefully lacking for two whole years while Quinn struggled with a life-altering decision, she could only hope they now dedicated themselves to making up for all that lost time.

“Honey.” Elise came up and kissed Quinn on the cheek, smiling as if the world was filled with nothing but rainbows, cherubs and unicorns. “I know it’s early for you, but I’m glad you decided to join us for brunch. You too, Mia. This is a good opportunity for you to meet the rest of the family. You didn’t get a chance to meet my husband yesterday, did you?”

“Oh, crap,” Olivia muttered.

“I didn’t have that pleasure.” Mia kept her expression neutral while Quinn’s hold on her transferred to her waist. “And really, I don’t want to be in the way, Elise. I know this is a family gathering.”

“Nonsense, you’ve been the perfect first guest for Whiteout, complete with great feedback on how you view the place from both a guest’s perspective and as a professional stager.” Elise waved Mia’s comment away while a blonde, athletic-looking man came up behind Olivia and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I can’t believe how lucky we were that you got diverted here to our neck of the woods, just when we needed you the most.”

“It was more than luck,” the blonde man said, smiling at her from over Olivia’s shoulder. “I think you were meant to be here, Mia. I’m Thomas Crenna, by the way, Olivia’s husband, head ski instructor here at Whiteout once we’re officially open, and one of your fans. Olivia’s had a lot of great things to say about you, so it’s good to finally meet you.”

Mia shot a happy but surprised look to Olivia. “Uh, wow, really? I was sure I hadn’t been here long enough to impress anyone.”

Quinn snorted and turned his face into her hair to murmur for her ears alone, “You definitely impressed me this morning, baby.”

As her cheeks began to burn, she wondered if anyone would notice if she stomped on his foot. Seriously, did the man really have to say that to her
now
, when his freaking
mother
was standing right there?

“Quinn Etienne, whatever you just said turned poor Mia into a tomato, so as your mother I should tell you to mind your manners,” Elise announced on cue, but she was beaming as she watched them, her hands clasped together at her heart and looking like it was all she could do to stop herself from bouncing with glee. “He’s always been a terrible tease, Mia. I’ve never been able to make him behave.”

“Quinn admitted that he ignores the concept of manners whenever they get in his way, so that probably explains the whole not-behaving thing.”

“Manners are for suckers. I can always smooth things over once I’ve gotten my way.” He lifted a careless shoulder even as a black-haired woman approached. Out of the corner of her eye, Mia noted that her curves were so bodacious they threatened to bust every seam in her body-conscious wraparound blouse and tan leather-look skinny jeans. About a half-second after she’d clocked the woman, she noticed Jase was also making his way toward their circle from the opposite side of the room, accompanied by Brody and another tall, lanky man with short-cropped hair and the kind of scruff that made a woman’s hand itch to touch.

Oh boy.

Mia didn’t think; she acted. She acted because Quinn had wanted her there, because he’d trusted her to be in his corner more than his own family. That trust meant everything to her.

But most of all, she acted because she wanted everyone to understand that Quinn was no longer alone.

Especially that seam-busting woman.

Pivoting into his hold so that they stood belly to belly, Mia brought her hands up to frame his face. Her fingers slid into the thick, silky fall of his hair as she made damned sure his eyes were focused on her, and her alone.

Just the way she wanted.

“If manners are for suckers, then you won’t mind my appalling lack of manners when I do this.” And with that, she stretched up the few inches separating them to cover his mouth with hers.

Boom.

She’d wanted to make enough of a statement to stop whatever hostile forces were on their way, or at least give them enough pause to make them realize that in the grand scheme of things, they were irrelevant. What she hadn’t planned on was the instantaneous heat that sparked between them when their mouths touched. Her body went up in invisible flames as Quinn took the kiss over, with one of his hands diving into her hair to cradle the back of her head while the other slid to her ass to pull her hard up against his hips. A small voice deep inside flailed and freaked that this was in front of his entire family, but the flames easily drowned it out.

The kiss had a life of its own, taking over with no regard to those pesky manners she’d mentioned. All that mattered was
kissing
. She reveled in the hot melding of his lips over hers, tasting his caressing tongue, mating her mouth with his. Quinn’s kisses were never just
kisses
; they were intimacy and desire and a declaration that this was
right
, and if she could have lived in that moment forever, it would have been her idea of perfect.

“What the hell is this shit all about?”

His head lifted after the squeaky screech sliced like a knife through the air. Mia opened her eyes and found him staring not at what she knew to be the source of that screech behind her, but right at her. It was as if nothing else in the world mattered, and all he could see was her. Or maybe that was just her kiss-drunk brain projecting what she was feeling about him.

Quinn really was all she could see, because he was the only thing in the universe that mattered. Which was crazy. And scary.

Crazy, because she didn’t belong in Montana. Scary, because she’d never intended to come to Montana. It hadn’t even crossed her mind. But there she was, kissing a man in a place she’d never meant to be, feeling things about that man she’d never intended to feel.

But it went deeper even than that.

In that moment, staring into his eyes, she couldn’t stand the thought of being anywhere else.

“Oh, crap,” she whispered, so softly she almost didn’t hear it. She knew Quinn did though, if his smile was any indication before he dragged his attention away from her to look over her shoulder. The warmth of his smile was quickly eclipsed by a contempt so withering it made Mia inwardly cringe.

“Lorette, what this shit is, is pretty fucking obvious and also none of your business. What isn’t obvious is what the hell you’re doing here. You must have a goddamn screw loose showing up at private family get-together like you think you’ve got a right to be here. Seriously, who does that? What the fuck is your malfunction?”

“
My
malfunction? What the fuck is yours, playing grab-ass with some pathetic freeloader that doesn’t know when to fucking leave?”

Ouch.

Mia winced as the jab made a direct hit, but Quinn didn’t seem to notice as his lip curled in a snarl while Elise and Brody closed in. “You’re the one who doesn’t know when to fucking leave, bitch. I want you out.
Now
.”

“I don’t think so.” She stuck out a curvy hip in a full-tilt attitude pose and jammed a hand on it, her pointed acrylic nails done in a neon yellow French mani that looked like teeny spiked weapons to Mia. “I came here to talk things out with you, and I’m not leaving until you give me a little one-on-one time so I can explain things. You owe me that much.”

“
He
owes
you
?” Brody wore the same sneer that Quinn did, and in that moment Mia could finally see the resemblance between the two brothers. “Shit, Quinn’s right, you do have a fucking screw loose. Though I’d pretty much guessed that.”

“You dropped me without saying a fucking word—one day you were there, the next you were a ghost, all because you could no longer be the queen of Hot Ice Casino and claim to be one of the casino Kingfishers,” Quinn went on with a disgusted shake of his head. “The one and only time we’ve spoken in two fucking years, you told me that when I walked away from Hot Ice to build my dream, I was no longer
interesting
to you.”

Oh, that bitch
, Mia thought, eyes narrowing dangerously.
That unbelievable, self-centered bitch
.

Lorette shifted to jut out her other hip, clearly unembarrassed and somehow managing to look like she was the wronged one. “I thought you were making a huge mistake with your life, okay? I was looking out for you because I cared so damn much about you and your future. I was hoping you’d rethink your move if I gave you a wake-up call about everything you were walking away from—like
me
.”

“Oh, you sure as hell gave me a wake-up call, and thank God for it. I woke up to the fact that you’re a drop of poison, you didn’t give a shit that I was fucking miserable working in a place where I never got a fresh breath of air, and that the only thing you’re truly loyal to is the idea of getting your hooks into a casino Kingfisher. Since I’m obviously not one of those anymore, I’ve got no fucking clue why you’re here now, spouting shit about wanting to talk one-on-one and me owing you.”

“Let me help you with that, dude.” The short-haired, lanky man that had come up with Brody and Jase stepped forward with a pseudo-helpful air, and Mia tried not to shiver at the sound of his rich baritone with a faint purr around the edges. “Garth got tired of her constant nagging about shacking up together, so he cut her loose. Then word spread that you were kicking ass out here on Whiteout, so I think she got it into her head that being queen of the mountain was almost as good as being queen of the casinos. At least she’d still be a Kingfisher, rather than the nobody she’s always been. Sound about right, Lorette?”

Lorette flicked her luxurious hair back to give him a scorching look. “Shut up, West. What do you know about
women
?”

Olivia surged forward, hand raised. “Say that again, bitch.”

“Babe, don’t.” Thomas caught her around the waist and hauled her back.

“That’s enough,” Elise said in a tone Mia had never heard from her, and the way both Quinn and Brody shifted made her suspect that this was Elise’s official “Mom” voice. “No one invited you to this gathering, Lorette, and I’m embarrassed by your behavior in front of a valued family friend. I think it’s time you left.”

Lorette turned her attention to Elise. “’Valued family friend?’ Are you
kidding
me?
Her
? This redheaded leech is trying to ingratiate herself with all of you here at Whiteout as a way to get to the heart of the Kingfisher family.”

“Shut the fuck up, Lorette,” Quinn snarled while Mia went rigid in his arms.

“Yeah, don’t mistake Mia for
you
,” Olivia chimed in, sounding just as dangerous. “Mia’s from freaking
Chicago
. She’d never even heard of the Kingfishers until she got to Whiteout Mountain.”

“Well, that’s not completely true,” Mia said, trying to lighten the mood when her own chest felt too tight and her face was stiff with carefully bottled outrage and—though she didn’t want to admit it—humiliation that there might have been a grain of truth to what Lorette said. Maybe she had overstayed her welcome at Whiteout, and everyone was too polite to tell her to leave.

But she couldn’t think about that now. Now she had to try and get that murderous look out of Quinn’s eyes, because it cut at her somewhere deep inside to see him that upset.

Olivia blinked. “Uh, what?”

“That’s right.” She pointedly turned her back to Lorette and focused on Quinn because it sweetened her mood to not give that woman the attention she was obviously craving. “By the time I got to Whiteout Mountain, I knew that you, Brody and West were basketball players, that you had won four consecutive state championships, and that you were MVP during your senior year. If memory also serves, someone named Devlin Kingfisher was the quarterback for Honey Pot High. He led them to their district finals and had a record-breaking game which they still lost, because apparently there was no defensive game to be had. I can sympathize, because I’m a diehard, screaming-at-the-television, popcorn-throwing Chicago Bears and Cubbies fan,” she added, grimacing. “Let’s see, what else? Thomas Crenna made the papers when he won a spot on the Olympic ski team in both the Downhill and Super-G events. And I believe your mother—Elise Elizabeth Muir—played volleyball throughout the entire four years she was in high school, while your father—Jason, I’m assuming?—lettered in both basketball and volleyball, yes?”