Sunset Rivalry: The Caliendo Resort (By The Lake: The Caliendo Resort Book 2) (19 page)

Quinn took in the mass of man under his expensive designer suit. The mayor of Willow Valley met Quinn at eye level. Trim but rather scrawny, his lack in muscle was more than made up in his domineering attitude. Murray Carter was not a pushover, quite the opposite, and he stood like he owned the world. Quinn didn’t like his arrogance, identical to Robert’s.

“Quinn Barker.” He said his name like Quinn was lucky the mayor knew of his existence. Smug prick.

“Mayor Carter,” Quinn said, sending arrogance right back.

Murray chuckled, like he was amused with Quinn. “I didn’t expect to see you here tonight,” he said.

Quinn didn’t care what this man expected or didn’t expect.

“Wasn’t in my agenda to knock heads with you either, but here we are.” Quinn felt his jaw tighten each time he finished talking.

What did this man want?

“Rather high-spirited aren’t we?”

Quinn wasn’t in the mood. “Are you going somewhere with this conversation?”

The mayor inhaled deeply and released it with a smug smirk. “I can’t decide if you are here with Anya or back working for Caliendos.”

Either way it wasn’t this damn man’s business, so Quinn remained quiet.

“I assume you’re here with Anya after departing from the woods looking like two guilty teenagers about to get busted making out in the bush.”

Quinn was tempted to smash this man’s face in.

Murray continued. “That I can work with. I could use a man like you under my payroll.”

“Not interested.” Quinn sidestepped, but Murray moved with him.

“I would make it worth your while.”

“You have the wrong guy for whatever position you are looking to fill.”

“I think I have the perfect guy. Your father was Robert’s right hand man for a long time. Then you took over for two years, disappearing after his death. I am here to offer you a pay increase of double what Robert gave you for the same services you provided to Mr. Caliendo.”

This was getting boring and irritating. Quinn didn’t want to waste his time with this man when he had the woman he loved waiting for him to return...with the promise of another run in the woods hanging in the air.

Quinn stepped toward Murray. “Let me make myself crystal clear so we both understand where I stand. You have the wrong guy. In no uncertain terms am I interested in joining your untrusting, more than likely corrupt payroll no matter what figure you throw out.” Quinn stepped around him. “The wrong guy,” he repeated and walked away.

“Feisty like your mother,” Murray said.

Quinn stopped dead in his tracks. The ice cold trickle of curiosity and anger tore through Quinn.

Walk away, he’s edging you on.

But what did he know about his mother? Anything? He was Murray Carter, he knew a lot.

“Hey.” Anya stepped in front of him, touching his cheek. “What’s the matter?” Her other hand touched his chest and Quinn forced himself to breathe steady.

“Good evening, Miss Anya,” Murray said, in a softer, pleasant tone.

Anya’s body stiffened, her hand tightened around his suit jacket, but she smiled behind Quinn at the mayor.

“Evening, Mayor. I hope you’ve brought your bank book.”

Murray laughed deeply. “You bet sweetheart. Enjoy your evening.” He walked passed Quinn, winking over his shoulder.

Quinn let him go. He was baiting him...wasn’t he?

“I dislike that man,” Anya breathed, turning to watch him weave his confident body through the crowd only stopping to talk to who he pleased. “The only reason he is mayor is because his father, his grandfather, and great-grandfather before him all maintained the position. I don’t know what is wrong with this town. It must be the connections he has with the mass majority and the lies he feeds them.”

“Or the threats,” Quinn said.

Anya looked up at him. “Yes, I suppose you could be right.” She smiled at him. “Did you make that donation?”

Quinn forced a softer look for Anya, his mind still reeling about what Murray’s comment meant.

He took her hand and kissed her palm. “Yes.”

“Are you ready to go for a walk back to my suite?”

“Are you?”

She shrugged. “I could use a break from this crowd. Some alone time with you...”

Alone time with this woman was exactly what he needed, so when she pulled him away from the crowd, he followed.

“Woods or beach?” she asked at the crossroads.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I just want to go home.”

Home it was and the shortest way was through the resort. Maybe not the most romantic, but when they shut Anya’s suite door they didn’t need romance. Quinn pulled her into his embrace kissing her until they were both breathless.

“Do you want a drink? Snack?” she asked.

He shook his head. “I want you.”

She shrugged and her mischievous eyes lit up. “You have me.” She slid her fingers up his front and pushed his jacket over his shoulders. It landed behind him. “What are you going to do with me?” Her fingers began unbuttoning the top of his shirt, her warm touch sizzled his skin.

“Give you a night you’re not going to forget.”

She laughed. “I don’t know if you can compete with that tree slamming orgasm earlier. Sorry babe, but that was incredible.”

He could compare. “You know what we haven’t done since we’ve returned?”

She shook her head. “Got along?”

“Are you trying to ruin the moment?”

Anya faked a gasp. “Was that your dirty talk? If so...” she lowered her voice. “...you need improvement tips.”

“From you?” He laughed and felt Murray and the wonderment of his mother fall to the back of his mind as this sweet woman began to take over every thought, every sense, and every last part of him.

He unzipped her dress and slipped the straps over her shoulder. It didn’t slide down as gracefully as he planned and Anya giggled.

“You wouldn’t believe the wiggling I had to do to get this on.” But he’d had it off in the bush. As if reading his thoughts Anya said, “Your hands were like wild claws pulling this down.”

He scooped her up in his arms. “Roar,” he said in her hair, causing giggles, and a lot more wiggling. “I will get you out of this thing if I have to rip it off of you.”

Her laughter took them down the hall and into bedroom where they had yet to make love. Spontaneous was amazing, but hypersensitive was mind-blowing and he wanted to blow Anya’s mind.

THE NEXT DAY, Anya was hardly able to sit still, but it should have been a relaxing day at the beach. She could lie to herself and say she was nervous about her upcoming supper and the files that would follow, but the lie wasn’t accurate. The truth was, for the first time in years, the file and Rebecca weren’t taking precedence in her mind. The thought scared her.

She was selfishly allowing the day to steal away her worries, but only temporarily and she willingly pushed them away. That scared her too. A lot.

But then, she would glance to her right and see the man who had promised to stand by her side and accept all her secrets. His support gave her the okay to smile, to laugh and not to focus on Rebecca or feel guilty for
not
focusing on Rebecca.

Anya hadn’t forgotten about her responsibility and the woman who was her top priority, but there was nothing to do until she had the file in her hands. Knowing she would gain access tonight left her feeling more accomplished than she had in years.

Quinn was the one calming her nerves, in a good way. The mere sight of him left her weak. His naked tanned torso diverted her attention and conjured wickedly naughty thoughts about what she could do with his unclothed body. As incredibly hot as those thoughts made her, they did not compare with knowing each time he leaned over to kiss her, it was for real. Or when he touched her, he wasn’t doing it for a show. It was genuine and it was theirs.

But keeping her hands off of him, now that she was allowed to touch him whenever she pleased, was proving to be a challenge. Did he have to wear reflective aviators in the same bronze color of his blazing hot body, looking like he’d just stepped out of a photo session?
Honestly? How was a girl supposed to concentrate on anything else?

She needed a change of topic before she straddled him on the chair and ran her fingers across his oiled skin in front of her entire family.

“It’s strange watching Mom and Uncle Carl together,” Anya said, turning her attention to the water where Eliza and Carl splashed around the water with Sophia, Parker, Rosemary and Kate.

The waves were mild today, but it didn’t keep her mother from shouting out the water rules and supervising the kids like a strict life guard. Even though they’d been raised like little fish around the pool room. Carl was more relaxed, playing and throwing the kids into the water.

Sitting with her siblings, Anya pushed on. “Dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend.” Anya almost laughed at how silly the titles sounded for adults, reminding her of the conversation with Quinn the night before.

“We better lather you up again, so you don’t get burnt.” Quinn’s husky whisper warmed her ear and sent her insides barbarically wild for him. Just when she’d thought she was gaining composure.

He lowered his voice even more so her family couldn’t overhear. “I have plans for this tonight...” His hand traced her spine from the back of her neck all the way down just above her rear. She quivered at his touch. “...and I don’t want a sunburn keeping me from lavishing this body.” He kissed her ear.

Anya had a hard time concentrating on Emma agreeing with the strangeness of their mother and uncle as a couple.

Her sister sat in the middle of their Caliendo convoy along the beach. Anya and Quinn on one side of her and Marc, Violet and Izzy on the other.

A row of stretched out, perfectly tanned legs surrounded Anya’s ghost white complexion. She needed the sun. Anya used to be a sun girl and now she had the optimism that one day she might be again.

“It was a bit awkward at first for us too,” Emma was saying.

Concentrate on Emma’s words.

It was difficult with the cold liquid meeting her skin, followed by Quinn’s warm fingers, sending mystical sensations through her body.

“I think they were destined to be together. If you think back to our childhood and all through our adulthood, they have always been close. I didn’t realize how close...”

A round of chuckles came from her siblings, giving Anya the sense that they found the relationship amusing and not as angering as she thought they might. As much of a jerk as their dad had been, their mother had still cheated on him.

“Now, they’re super sweet together and Uncle Carl treats Mom like an angel.” Emma glanced at Anya. “Better than Dad ever did.” 

“Dad would have known about their affair,” Anya said. “I mean Mom cheated on Dad.” 

“Not our dad,” Izzy called from the far end of the brightly colored fold-up sand chairs. “Technically me and Marc are only your half siblings,” she continued, as if they weren’t already aware of that biological fact. 

Marc grunted, but didn’t move from his somewhat relaxed looking position...as calm as her preppy brother ever could be that is. Marc managed his professional self-confident-wearing pin-stripe shorts and rectangular sunglasses to match even to a casual outing at the back.

“Don’t act like you’re thrilled Carl is our dad. You give him less attention now than before we told you,” Marc said.  

Anya glanced over as Izzy shot straight up into a sitting position, her over-sized white-framed glasses slipping down her nose.

Unlike Anya’s “modest” pin-up style two-piece swimsuit, Izzy sported hardly anything in her white string bikini. 

“Like you’re so much better?” Izzy shot at Marc, “You find out Carl’s your dad and suddenly you act like you’re better than the rest of your family because you don’t have Robert’s blood running through your veins.”

Anya didn’t say a word, simply observed the different emotions her mother’s affair had planted between her siblings.

“Izzy, watch yourself,” Violet warned.

“Hate to burst your bubble...” Izzy continued looking outraged at being called out. “...but Mom’s affair was with Robert’s brother, so you still have Caliendo blood running through your snobby-ass veins.”

Ouch.

Izzy didn’t wait for a reply from anyone. She’d always been a spout of the mouth. She stood up, whipped her sunglasses into the sand and stormed off in the opposite direction of the water. 

Violet was shaking her head.

“That girl needs to pull whatever anger is wedged up her derriere out before she explodes,” Emma said.

Marc turned to his sisters. “I don’t consider myself better than any of you,” he clarified.  

Emma laughed then and threw one of Parker’s water sponge balls at him. “We know.”

Violet turned to Anya. “Izzy’s been sensitive ever since it was exposed. Apparently Izzy knew that Uncle Carl was her father for quite a few years.”

“What? How?”

“It was Dad’s demented way of punishing her for choosing to attend public school. He barked off the truth during a fight with her,” Emma answered.

Anya gasped. “No.”

“I will bet if Dad lost it enough to tell her that, then, there is more to the story than she is letting on,” Violet said. “Which is why we try not to push her.” Violet glared at Marc. “Some of us have a little more of a difficult time keeping comments to ourselves.”  

Marc wasn’t fazed by Violet’s accusations. “Some of you should push her harder. She’s spoiled and lazy.”

Anya laughed and heard Quinn chuckle behind her. Surprisingly she’d forgotten for a brief moment, when his hands had stopped rubbing her shoulders, that he was there.

Anya turned in his direction and lightly slapped his arm. “Stop it,” she said.

He tried to dodge her and his chuckle turned into a laugh. It was nice to laugh together again.

She shoved him off her lounger and he pouted back to his own. Moving away from any serious conversation, Anya enjoyed soaking up the sun, the sounds and the wonderful feeling being with her family.

That was until Izzy returned. 

“So what’s up between you two?” Izzy’s storm like attitude was back as well. “You shacking up? Been shacking up across the country not telling us anything?” 

Violet sat up and scolded Izzy while the youngest flopped onto her chair with a magazine. 

“What? You all thought it. I just had the nerve to say it.” 

“That line is getting old,” Marc grumbled.

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Izzy grumbled back, kicking her foot at his leg.

Marc shifted away and turned his attention to Anya and Quinn obviously waiting for a reply.

“When you called Quinn to come and check on why I was sneaking around the resort, we sort of reconnected.”

Red shaded a color of guilt up Marc’s throat and to his face.

Violet sent her a knowing look.

Emma looked sad and curious and Izzy didn’t really seem to care even if it had been her question.

“We haven’t seen each other in two years, since I left.” Anya said. “But we will be seeing a lot of each other now that I am back.”

“You’re back?” Emma asked. “Like back for good?”

“Yes.” Anya looked at Quinn and smiled. “I think I am.”

He smiled back and nodded his support.

“You better be getting a job,” Marc grumbled. “We don’t need another Izzy roaming the halls.”

“So you
are
rocking his hot ass body then.” Izzy pushed her sunglasses, which she’d retrieved from the sand, into her hair to wink at Anya.

Everyone groaned.

Izzy laughed.

Quinn chuckled and Anya glared at him. Although Izzy wasn’t that far off. Anya planned on rocking this man hard tonight.

Marc sighed. “I only see one way to solve this continuous dip into inappropriate bedroom discussions that keep rearing their unwanted heads in Caliendo conversations.”

He stood up quickly and lifted Izzy from her seat, slinging her over his shoulders.

“Water time!” he hollered.

Izzy’s objections overrode their laughter all the way to the edge of the water. Taking large steps Marc, didn’t stop trudging through the water until he was waist deep, deep enough to throw Izzy in. The water swallowed her screams.

She deserved it.

Anya fell back in her seat in a fit of laughter.

“Do you think that’s funny?” Quinn asked. 

Anya could barely get out an answer through her laughter.

“Really?” he asked.

Anya heard a challenge in Quinn’s tone that made her glance in his direction. There was no confusing the smirk on his face or what he was thinking. 

“Quinn, no,” she said, already rising from her seat and backing away.

He removed his sunglasses and the sun reflected mischief in his dark eyes.

Quinn didn’t respond as he stood slowly. His thick muscles distracted Anya as his body moved gracefully toward her. She took a few seconds to notice exactly what Izzy had been referring to...that he was bloody gorgeous...and it gave Quinn a head start on catching her. 

“Quinn, no!” she screamed, running around the sand chairs and listening to Emma cheer him on as Anya took off down the beach. 

Quinn’s loud laughter chased her as they darted families and couples sprinkled along the beach. The closer to the boardwalk she ran, the fewer people sat and she ran right underneath the boardwalk.

Hitting the darkness so quickly forced her to blink the remaining sunlight from her eyes.

Without breaking her run, Anya slowed and turned to see how far she’d gotten away from Quinn. 

He was right behind her. He scooped her into his arms and threw her over his shoulder, just like Marc had with Izzy. 

“Quinn!” she laughed, slapping his back. “Let me down. I don’t want to go in the water.” 

Anya could feel the heat from his arms securing the area behind her knees. She heard his feet splash into the water before she watched the waves crash behind his feet. 

“That’s what makes it fun. If you wanted to go in the water this would be pointless.” 

“I have a supper to cook.” 

“Not for hours.” 

“My hair−”

He cut her off. “Needs a wet down. It’s like frizz central lately.” 

Anya gasped, insulted, but it turned into a laugh. He wasn’t wrong.

“You jerk!” she said anyway and hit his bare back. He only laughed harder, the vibration rumbling through her body and instantly turning this water splashing session into something more sensual. 

Ankle deep. Knee deep. Waist deep.

“Quinn I am begging...” 

“And I like it.” 

Oh my gosh! His bedroom voice was irresistible.  

Quinn lifted Anya and, without letting her beg anymore, threw her into the water. 

It was refreshing. 

After basking in the hot sun, her body felt invigorated as the water surrounded and cooled her down.

More like cooled her down from the intense thoughts she’d been having about Quinn all morning.

Anya broke thought the water’s surface to find Quinn gone.

The shoreline was empty except for the couple of teens hanging about on their summer vacation.

Young summer love and flings. Broken teenage hearts.