Crazy for the Boss (Crazy in Love Book 1) (9 page)

“Wait. I have to know. Come on, Sabrina,” he said, seeing the glacial expression Quinn was shooting her sister. “Tell me what you were about to say about Quinn, here.”

Her sister smiled unapologetically. “Just that Quinn was Eureka Roller Derby’s top jammer all three years she was on the team. She’s practically a legend.”

Now he couldn’t wipe the grin that stole across his face as he stared at Quinn, who, despite the murderous gleam in her eyes, was flushing profusely. He tried to imagine the practical, no-nonsense Quinn in the full Derby girl uniform, maybe some black fishnet stockings under a pair of tiny bike shorts, some bright striped socks or leg warmers over those shapely calves…a not entirely unattractive image. Hell, a quite enticing one.

“Do you think your parents might have some pictures of your sister during her heyday? I mean, I don’t think I could believe it unless I see it for myself.”

This time a booted foot smacked him square in the knee and he winced. Quinn smiled sweetly at him.

“Why, if it isn’t Quinn Taylor,” said a woman around Quinn’s age with short almost-black hair and a nose ring and wearing a shirt and apron with the moniker of the diner emblazoned across them. “I figured I might see you this weekend, what with the shindig you’ve got planned for your folks.”

The server looked over to him and her mouth went slack.

“Hello,” he said.

“Mandy, this is James Thornhill. My boss.”

The woman’s brows shot up. “How…chummy,” she said in a tone that made James feel as if he ought to come to Quinn’s defense.

“Yes, I’m afraid that while giving Quinn here a lift back home, my plane took a bit of a beating and needs some servicing. But I can assure you, after my lunch, the folks of Eureka will be rid of me and Quinn can enjoy her much-earned vacation.”

The woman nodded slightly but she still appeared skeptical.

“I’ll have the French toast with a side of bacon and a Coke Zero,” Quinn said tersely.

This seemed to bring the woman’s attention back to the task at hand, and she wrote down their orders and left them a minute later.

“Great,” Quinn said, giving her sister a disgruntled look. “Had you mentioned that Mandy works here, I wouldn’t have risked coming here. How long do you think we have?”

“With Mandy? We should probably head out now,” Sabrina said and laughed.

“Am I missing something?” James asked. “How long do you have until what?”

“This is a small town, James,” Quinn said patiently. “Not a lot happens here, and when it does, the news spreads like wildfire. And we just ran into the biggest gossip of them all.” She glanced around. “I don’t see her. She’s probably on the phone now. Should we try and beat it?” she asked Sabrina again.

“I’m still at a loss here.”

“Mandy no doubt is spreading the alarm that Quinn’s not only in town, but she’s here with…you. A guy being chauffeured around town in a fancy black car, who shows up in an outfit more appropriate to the Mexican Riviera than Eureka, Idaho, and who also dropped the fact he owns an airplane… That’s newsworthy here.”

“Well, it doesn’t exactly belong
to me
. It’s a company plane, you see.”

“Yes, I’m sure they’ll appreciate that distinction,” Quinn said wryly. “Anyhow, the idea was to surprise my parents with my arrival, and the longer we sit here, the more we risk that someone’s going to spill the beans I’m back in town—which won’t go over well if they hear it first from anyone else.”

“It also wouldn’t help that our mom’s a terrible cook and she takes a certain…umbrage that people might prefer the diner’s food to hers.”

“Which we do. So…should we head out?” Quinn repeated.

“On the other hand, you might as well enjoy the food while you can,” her sister said. “It might be the last decent meal any of us will get today.”

Quinn sighed. “I suppose you’re right.” She leveled an earnest look at them both. “But eat fast.”

F
orty-five minutes later
, with no news yet from his pilot, James and Quinn and their driver were heading to Quinn’s parents’ house with Sabrina leading the way in an old blue Chevy truck.

Near the outskirts of town, they followed a narrow road that turned onto an even narrower snow-covered lane. The Chevy slowed as Sabrina hung a right, then followed a long driveway that led them to a homey-looking two-story log home with a dark green pitched roof. It wasn’t nearly as enormous or fancy as the two homes he’d glimpsed from the road, but it had its own charm. Not to mention that, from the angle of the house, he could see that it was in close proximity to the lake.

“So you’re okay with this? Me meeting your parents?” James asked, since Quinn had been wringing her hands the entire drive.

“Of course. That is, if you’re okay with meeting them?” She sounded uncertain, something he wasn’t used to hearing from her.

“I look forward to it.”

Her sister had already climbed out of the truck and was making her way up the path to the door as he pushed his car door open. Quinn’s hand on his arm stopped him. “I just want to warn you in advance. My family can be a touch…eccentric.” She bit her lip again as if she was debating telling him something else but finally released his arm. “Okay, we’d better get inside.”

The driver already had her carry-on, which he left at the door before returning to the car. James took a moment to speak with him as she made her way to the front door, where her sister was already pushing open the door.

“Mom? Dad? I have someone here to see you guys!”

“Someone is here?” The voice was female and coming from the back of the house. He followed the two women as they headed down the hallway and stepped into a great room with large cathedral ceilings and a two-story window that faced out onto the lake. “Who on earth would be making their way to see us now…”

The older woman he guessed to be in her late fifties to early sixties stopped short when she caught sight of Quinn. She was tall and slim like her daughter, with the same dark brown hair, only cut shorter, and it wasn’t hard to tell they were related. The woman let out a loud squeal before rushing forward.

“Bill!” the woman shouted. “Get in here! You won’t believe who is here!” Her mom stood back and looked her daughter over. “How I’ve missed seeing your face.” As if just sensing another person in the room, she glanced over to James, her eyes bugging out. “Oh. I didn’t realize… And who did you bring with you?”

She said it in such a way as to imply his relationship was something more romantic.

“James, this is my mom, Cindy. Mom, this is
my boss
, James Thornhill. You remember me telling you about him?”

“All good things, I hope,” James said and stepped forward to take her hand. “Nice to meet you, Mrs. Taylor.”

“Please, call me Cindy.” She stopped suddenly and took a moment to study Quinn before returning her gaze to him. “Wait. I don’t understand. You and your boss are here…together?”

“What’s this?” an older man maybe somewhere in his mid-sixties bellowed as he stepped into the room. He sported a thick mustache on his upper lip almost as if to make up for the sparse light brown hair on his crown. But it was the suspicion and shrewdness in his light green eyes that glared at James almost as if demanding to know
who the hell are you
that James was watching. “You’re dating your boss?”

“No,” Quinn practically shouted as she flushed scarlet. “James was on his way to his own vacation in Mexico, but when I missed my flight, he offered to get me here on the company jet. He’s only here now because he’s waiting to hear word from the pilot that they can take off again. I’m afraid we hit some turbulence that necessitated maintenance on the plane before it can take off again.”

“So why’s he
here
?” the man repeated, his gaze mercilessly still on James.

But instead of being intimidated by the man, Quinn shook her head and laughed before hugging him. “Well, I couldn’t very well leave him abandoned on the runway. Besides, the better question should be why am I here, should it not?”

Her dad finally pulled his gaze from James and turned it to his daughter, his eyes softening the slightest bit as he returned her hug.

“Surprise,” Quinn said, finally pulling away. “I thought I’d surprise you both for your anniversary. I hope you don’t have anything planned for tomorrow night, because Sabrina and I were hoping to take you two to dinner.”

“We’re thrilled, absolutely thrilled to have you both,” Quinn’s mother said and smiled at James. “And thank you for getting our daughter here safely. James, in case you didn’t know, this is my husband, Bill, who I’m sure is just as pleased as I am that you’re here.”

“Nice to meet you, sir,” James said and offered his hand to the surly man, who grunted but accepted the offer.

“I bet you’re both starved and I was just preparing lunch. Why don’t we all have a seat?” Quinn’s mother said.

“We ate a little on the plane. Mom, you don’t have to go to any more trouble on our account,” Quinn said.

“Then you can at least sit and join us for a cup of coffee. I’d love to hear more about you, James, and how things are working at your new job, Quinn.”

“Hopefully not firing a lot of hardworking employees for the sake of the bottom line,” Quinn’s father said, piercing him again with that stare.

“Yes, well, we generally prefer to retain our hardworking employees,” James said, trying to lighten the mood with humor. But from the glare Quinn’s dad was still sending him, he had missed his mark.

The table was positioned close to the windows with the view of the lake, and he was careful to wait until everyone took a seat to take his own. “You have a lovely place here, Mrs. Taylor.”

“Cindy. I insist,” she said and returned to the kitchen area to grab a couple of coffee mugs that she brought to the table, along with the carafe of coffee. “Bill built this place for us the first year we were married.”

“Well, it’s great. And you can’t beat that view.”

Quinn’s father ignored the compliment. “I’m sure it’s nowhere close to what you’re used to, with your fancy planes and probably fancy homes. But it suits us just fine.”

Quinn and Sabrina shared another look.

“I imagine it does.”

“So, James, tell us a little about yourself,” Quinn’s mother said as she joined them at the table. “Where you’re from, about your family…”

Quinn looked embarrassed. “Mom, James doesn’t want to have to go through all of—”

“I don’t mind,” he said, cutting her off. “Well, I was born in Seattle, but after my parents died when I was three, I moved to San Francisco to live with my grandfather.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. So your grandfather raised you then? You must be close.”

James took the coffee she handed him and did a noncommittal shrug, which Cindy must have taken for affirmation, as she continued. “So you grew up in the Bay Area then. I always wondered what it must be like living in a big, bustling city like that. I’m sure the schools were impressive.”

“Mom was a high school English teacher until last year,” Quinn added, a twinkle of laughter in her dark eyes. “She takes education very seriously.”

“I don’t know a lot about the public school system in California, I’m afraid. When I was ten, I attended boarding school in New Hampshire and later, during high school, in Vermont.”

“You did?” Quinn asked, her eyes a little wider.

He nodded and took a drink of his coffee that was fairly acrid, and he hid his grimace.

“Sounds expensive,” was all her dad said.

“Well, I bet you had a lot of great adventures,” Mrs. Taylor said, trying to put a positive outlook on it.

James’s cell phone chirped before he could answer, and he quickly took it from his pocket. Two missed calls and a voice mail? He hadn’t even heard it ring until now.

Quinn leaned over to see the screen. “Yeah, the cell service here can be spotty. We usually lose it entirely when we pull off the main road, and then it’s iffy once we’re at the house. That’s why the landline here is usually your better bet.”

Sure enough, a few seconds after trying to place his call, the connection dropped. “Would you mind if I use your phone?” he asked Quinn’s mother.

“No problem,” she said and walked over and picked up one of the phones perched on an end table and handed it to him.

This time when he called, the call made it through.

Only, the news that Chris was telling him wasn’t exactly what he’d been expecting.

* * *

“
R
ight
. And you’ll call me when you have a better idea?” James was saying as he glanced over at her. Something in his expression put Quinn immediately on guard.

“Okay, thanks, Chris,” he finished and placed the phone back on the table before returning to his seat. “Sorry about that. Where were we?”

“What was that all about?” Quinn asked, not ready to move on.

“Oh, nothing for you to worry about. Although…I might be in need of some assistance in finding a hotel or something. Just for the night.”

“There’s a Best Western in town, a couple of bed and breakfasts, and of course the ski resort up the mountain,” her dad offered fairly quickly.

Quinn met Sabrina’s gaze again, both of them knowing his chance at finding a vacancy at any of those was nil. “Only with the winter carnival this week in addition to the usual ski season crowd, I wouldn’t hold my breath that you’ll find a vacancy anywhere,” Sabrina said.

“What happened to the plane? Is it bad?” Quinn persisted.

“They’re ordering a part from Spokane, but it won’t arrive until the morning.”

“Well, if the local places are full, there’s bound to be something in Coeur D’Alene,” her dad said again, glaring now at Sabrina.

“Nonsense,” her mom said, waving her hand. “That’s nearly an hour away. No, James will just stay here with us. We have an extra guest room. Of course, the guesthouse around back would have been better—that’s where Sabrina has been staying for the past couple of years—but the furnace went out last week, so she’s been back in her old room.”

“The place might be barely a couple degrees warmer than Antarctica,” Sabrina said, her voice a little too bright and saccharine. “So lucky me has been reliving my childhood these past nine days in my old room.”

But Quinn was still too stunned to commiserate with her sister.

James? Her boss was going to stay here, at her parents’ house? Not just under the same roof as her—but with her entire family?

She tried not to appear too horrified, even as she tried to figure out any other solution to the situation. From the expression on her dad’s face, he was trying to come up with some alternative as well.

“I couldn’t impose on you like that,” James said, sounding all politeness and charm. “And I would imagine Quinn’s idea of a getaway from work didn’t include getting stuck with the boss.”

Her mom and sister both seemed to be pointedly studying her, waiting.

They didn’t realize that she had personal barriers she’d put up between her and James, necessary barriers to stop herself from giving in to the fantasies that had been stealing into her dreams more and more lately, fantasies that left her wondering about what it would be like to feel those lips touching hers, his hand cradled in hers, their bodies pressed so tightly together, his saying the words that would make her think what she was feeling might actually be real.

The barriers worked because she went home every night to her own place, her own bed, her own friends.

But if she was just across the hall from him, sharing dinner with him at her family table, inviting him into her little world up here that she called home? Things were going to get really, really…hard.

Still. What choice was there?

She sighed. “Of course you’re going to stay here. It’s only for a night.”

After all, she’d spent months working with the man without doing anything she’d regretted.

What could possibly happen in one night?