Sunset Rivalry: The Caliendo Resort (By The Lake: The Caliendo Resort Book 2) (14 page)

***

BACK AT ANYA’S suite, she prepared the guest bedroom for Quinn while he took a shower in the
guest
bathroom.

For Anya’s sake, she was glad he did because when she stood under the hot water of her own shower no remnants of his smell remained. As she scrubbed the dry mud off her skin, she tried to push away the images of Quinn stripping down outside for his shower, leaving only his briefs. Stripping outside had been a polite gesture, not wanting to trudge mud through her house.
How thoughtful...and darn sexy of him.

Anya finished her shower in record time, especially considering the massive clumps of mud caked throughout her hair. She towel-dried her hair and slipped into a pair of silk pajama pants and a matching black tank top.

The hallway exhibited dried mud crumbles all the way to her bedroom.

Ugh.
The aftermath of mud shoes. It was no wonder her mother hadn’t liked or encouraged the game when they were children. Another reason why they’d often been sent to the lake to wash themselves off before coming home.

But Anya smiled. It had been fun casually hanging out with her family and forgetting why she was here. Like old times.

Quinn emerged from the kitchen, sweeping the trail of mud down the hallway. Freshly showered, water still glistened on his bare torso. Sweat pants hugged his waist and his muscles flexed under each movement.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Anya said, as he swept right to her feet. He pulled the dustpan from under his other arm to collect the remains. When he finished, he stood.

“This was all my mud,” she said. “You stripped down before we got in the house, remember?” She would never forget.

He grinned and his eyes told her he’d hoped she would have joined him.

Anya swallowed hard.

“I don’t mind.”

Anya followed him into the kitchen and found herself standing awkwardly, not knowing what they were supposed to do next. Two years ago, they would have showered together and still been making sweet love against the stone walls. Now, she didn’t know. She should retire for the night. Although they’d almost kissed in the mud hole, he wasn’t pursing anything further with her.

“I warmed up some apple pie,” Quinn said. “And added a scoop of ice cream.”

How long had she been in the shower?

He carried two bowls from the kitchen and Anya followed him to the couch. She sat beside him, fully aware he still didn’t have a shirt on and nibbled at her food.

Quinn hadn’t touched his dessert. Her excitement heightened as she considered that he was thinking about them−he was still half-naked after all. But when he spoke, his thoughts did not coincide with her own.

“I got a call while you were in the shower,” he said.

Anya immediately caught the implication behind his words. She heard his silent apology, but he’d gone behind her back and prodded into her private life. Of course he did. Did she really believe he wasn’t going to?
A team, ha!
Quinn was a lonesome wolf and there was no team in that.

She lost her appetite. She set her plate down on the coffee table with a clang that echoed as the fork fell off.

“I thought we were doing things together,” she snarled, preparing for another brawl. Fighting with him was exhausting, so when Quinn touched her hand to keep her from standing, she stayed in place. His explanation wouldn’t lessen the sensation of betrayal he was so keen on her not feeling.

“I had a source run your licence plates the night at the cabin. They gave me your current address and I had someone look into it.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Does that make it okay?”

“I’m only trying to help.”

“And what did you discover? What was so important that you couldn’t give me the time I needed to sort out things on my own?” Anya didn’t want to know and she didn’t want to hear him say it, but there was no hiding from it now.

Quinn let her go. “You’ve been living on the coast for the last two years. In a small, but luxurious home.”

Anya winced and wondered if he added “luxurious” just to corroborate her selfish and spoiled Caliendo title? She’d had no choice with the in-home care Rebecca had needed.

She didn’t defend herself.

“It’s reclusive and secured...good. You don’t live there alone. Right now there is a lady staying at your house who doesn’t leave the premises but has been seen standing in the doorway of your balcony. Doors shut. Staring out and looking scared.”

So this was what type of investigative work Quinn had done for her father. It felt intrusive. Not only to Anya, but for Rebecca as well. She was just starting her life again, and Quinn had hired someone to spy on her.

“There are two employees who switch times being there, but there is always one present. Twenty-four-hour surveillance of some sort, by the looks of it.”

Anya was having a hard time acknowledging that he discovered all that in this little time. How long had it been, like two, three days?

“You have the place well confined, like you are hiding a secret. Either you pay your employees well for their silence or they are loyal to you because none of them would break.”

Anya breathed a sigh of relief. No one had told her secret. Her privacy didn’t keep tears from stinging her eyes now and suddenly, like the uncontrollable feelings that ran between them, Anya was spilling her secret to Quinn. She didn’t know why. Her chest swelled with pain and guilt and for the first time in two years she needed the truth out. Not thinking ahead−not really thinking at all−she told him everything.

“Her name is Rebecca...” She heard the breakdown in her voice. “She’s the reason I left two years ago. The night my dad told me about you he also asked me to do him a favor. He knew he’d made mistakes in the past, but his death was quick and he fell fast and hard. I can’t be certain, but I think he was trying to right some of his wrongs.”

A laugh of disbelief escaped her.

“I don’t know for certain. Who ever really knew with my dad? But for the first time in my life,
I
believed him.” She’d been a fool. “He wanted me to find Rebecca and bring her back to Willow Valley. He said that he was responsible for tearing her away from her family and, if I could get her here, he would reunite them. He didn’t give me a file or any more information about her, like her name, or if she was married, or had children. I don’t know anything.” Anya paused, uncertain whether she wanted to continue. Now he knew not only why she’d left, but what she’d done. She hoped he would ask her a question and piss her off so she would stop talking. He didn’t.

“I flew there and waited for her until she finished working at this little restaurant. It was a warm night and it was misting rain. I must have looked a mess by the time I talked to her. When I introduced myself she went into a panic. It was my last name, I assume, that sent her into a frenzy. She was yelling at me that she hadn’t contacted them. I didn’t know who she was talking about and I tried to calm her down, but things got out of control...”

Anya leaned over, resting her arms on her legs and held her head in her hands, waiting for the nausea to pass. She swallowed the thickness crawling up her throat and sat back up to face Quinn head on. She’d done this and there was no running from it.

“I grabbed her arm to stop her from running away from me. She tried to pull away, and I tried to convince her nothing bad was going to happen. But I was arguing a battle that I didn’t understand. I started yelling too. It all happened so fast.” Anya closed her eyes and heard the sound of screeching tires, screaming and Rebecca’s body hitting the car. She opened her eyes, begging the memory to go away. “Rebecca yanked free, slipped on a puddle of rain water and fell into oncoming traffic. I couldn’t get to her in time. She was hit, straight on.”

Quinn took her hand in his as she continued.

“It was so loud.” Her voice was no more than a whisper now. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to erase the noise. “She’s been in a coma for almost two years. When she woke up a few weeks ago, she didn’t remember anything. She has no memory of me or her life before that night. Nothing.” Anya paused, closing her eyes and letting Quinn’s hand rub comfort into her soul. Her core had been craving this touch, presumably the reason she’d opened up to him. After the truth about his mom and sister, Anya felt closer to him. He would relate to her guilt, her heartache and her need to fix this.

Anya looked at him. “That’s why I have to find her file. It contains the truth about her life and I owe her that much.”

A series of emotions crossed Quinn’s face including the one Anya didn’t want from him: pity.

Anya felt her connection with him fail. The part of her that blamed herself for Rebecca thought he would understand this was her fault. Pity was for victims and Anya undoubtedly wasn’t a victim in this circumstance and the look Quinn was giving her should be reserved for someone who deserved it. Like Rebecca.

Anya stood up and backed away from his touch.

“Don’t feel sorry for me,” she told him.

His eyes softened. “This is not your fault−”

Anya pointed at him. “
That
is why I didn’t come home. I don’t want people to brush this off like I wasn’t responsible. I didn’t want people to put all the blame on Robert.”

Quinn stood. “The blame
should
be directed at Robert. You aren’t accountable for anything that lead up to that day. No warning or preparation from Robert was unfair to you. He sent you blindly into his fight. You didn’t push Rebecca into the traffic, Anya. It was an accident.”

Everything he said was sought to alleviate her part and was exactly what she couldn’t hear. At the same time she wanted to run into Quinn’s warm embrace and forget it all...but she couldn’t−wouldn’t.

“It was her life. I almost killed her.”

He stepped toward her and she took five steps back.

“But you didn’t,” he reminded her harshly.

“Who are you to judge me? You hurt so many people looking for your secret file. Of course my actions would seem frivolous to you.”

Anya knew it wasn’t fair, but it was true.

“Don’t turn this around on me.” There was no anger in his statement and Anya knew he was prepared to ease her guilt. She wasn’t ready to allow it.

“Why? You can’t handle the truth?”

“Because we are talking about you.”

“Only because you won’t talk about yourself.”

He grew angry now. “What do you think I did tonight?” He pointed toward the front door, reminding her of their walk on the beach and the part of him he’d opened up to her. “Do you think I randomly go around and chatter my life to just anyone?” She knew he didn’t. “I don’t. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do for the bigger picture. And people get hurt.”

Anya didn’t need him to remind her how much his big picture hurt had hurt her...still hurt her. And what was his
bigger picture
?

“I know,” she gritted out.

He grew solemn, but hid his emotions from her.

Silence engulfed them.

Neither moved.

Quinn spoke first, his emotion pushing his voice out in a harsh, low tone. “You will never know how much you mean to me. To stand here and tell you that my world is at its best when you are with me is unfair to you. Is that what you want?”

“No. I want you.” Anya couldn’t believe she’d said it and meant it.

“Anya...”

“There’s that hurt you’re referring to. A file that dictates our future.”

Anya hugged herself. How had this turned from Rebecca back to them? Why were they always fighting their feelings? Then it hit Anya.
They
weren’t always fighting and denying their feelings...
Quinn
was. What was in the file he so desperately needed? Did it have to do with another woman? The thought broke Anya’s heart, but there was no other explanation. His wife? His girlfriend? His fiancé? Who was in that file?

“I guess it always did,” she said, defeated by his actions, but then angry about them too. “Let’s skip whatever entertainment this is between us. Trying to be civilized friends is useless. Smiling, laughing and joking when no one is around is a waste of time.” Her voice rose until she was yelling at him. “I want you to stop your guys from digging into my past. Stop looking at me like you want to heal me or rip my clothes off, just to turn around and tell me that we have no future.”

He shouted back at her. “Damn it, Anya, I didn’t mean to fall in love with you.” Quinn’s eyes darted from her to the floor, his forehead pinched together, confused, like he’d made a huge mistake.

Anya’s mouth fell open.

He was in love with her?

When he looked up, he took a step back, putting more distance between them. He was always wedging them apart. Telling her he’d fallen in love with her was a huge mistake, especially if there was another woman involved. Anya got the sick feeling that was exactly what was going on. She wasn’t sticking around for him to admit it either.

“That explains why you can’t see straight in regards to me and my actions,” Anya said coldly.