Sunset Rivalry: The Caliendo Resort (By The Lake: The Caliendo Resort Book 2) (6 page)

Anya turned to look at Quinn and he saw the bewilderment in those big blue eyes.

She’d put distance between them, but not much.

Quinn found himself staring past the uncertainty and found desire burning in her eyes. It chased away her fight...and his.

What was it about this woman that made her so hard to resist?

Yes, at first he’d used her as his access tool to Robert’s files−he wasn’t proud of it−but he’d been desperate after a year of coming up empty-handed in search of the file. He’d thought it wouldn’t matter if he used a Caliendo after the heartache that family had put Quinn’s family through.

It hadn’t taken long before Quinn identified that Anya wasn’t the privileged and spoiled daughter filled with the same conceit as her father, as Quinn had originally pegged her. It was ironic since Robert hired him to read people and he couldn’t even read the man’s own daughter.

He’d convinced himself that once he had the access he’d needed from her, he would walk away and not hurt her. Quinn had tried to walk away from her. He’d tried to set boundaries to divide his goal and his heart. But he’d been drawn to Anya then like he was now, in a way that kept him with her until the truth about him was revealed...breaking the very woman he vowed not to.

“Quinn?” The question in her whisper emptied his thoughts and, like two years ago, it was just them. Only the two of them. That’s how he’d always felt with her and why it had been so difficult to leave her. He could have been having the crappiest day with a ton of remorse that his pursuits didn’t ease, but when Anya smiled at him, it had all been lost.

Quinn didn’t answer now. Only because he felt her hands gently touch the front of his jacket, sending jolts of electricity through the material and into his blood that coursed its way through his entire body. Her touch was hot and it wasn’t even skin-on-skin...yet.

Anya stepped forward, filling in the empty space between them and sending him a look of sheer desire.

Quinn should have stepped away instead of allowing his hand to wrap around her waist. But he was lost in the world they’d always created and this time he didn’t notice how small she felt under his touch, just that he never wanted to let go of her again.

Anya’s hands moved up his front and stopped at his face. Her warm fingers touched his unshaven cheeks and he watched her eyes follow the trail across the scar underneath. When her hands cupped under his ears, her eyes found his again. 

Quinn didn’t know who made the first move next, but their lips crashed together, roughly, making up for lost years.

She was delicious, like a warm summer breeze, and soft like the sandy beach beneath your bare toes.

His jacket hit the floor.

He tore hers from her body considering where to take her. The dining room table was right behind him and the couch was across the room. Either would work to make love and they’d done so in the past on both. But, he wanted to take her to her bedroom and this time he didn’t want to leave. 

Anya had her own plans.

She shoved him against the table with incredible force for such a frail thing, never parting her lips from his.

His ass landed on the edge, bumping their teeth together and he enjoyed the giggle that came from her mouth. Her fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt, while his hands slid up and down her body before tugging her flannel plaid button-up out of her jeans. He ran his hands underneath and stroked the skin he’d been craving to touch. He was elated to find it just like he remembered: warm and silky smooth. 

Anya gasped and moaned in his mouth at the pleasure of his touch. Her fingers paused against another scar and her nails dug into his skin as her body arched at his touch. 

They ended up on the dining room table as he first thought. Anya climbed on top of him, pushing his shirt over his shoulders and tracing his skin down toward the buckle of his pants.

Quinn pulled both of Anya’s shirts over her head in a swift motion that made her grin appreciatively at him. She pushed his chest until he was lying flat on his back and her passionate lips followed him all the way down. The scorching fire between their torsos followed his hands running across every inch of her bare back while his mouth couldn’t get enough of hers. 

He hadn’t forgotten how wonderful this felt, even dreamed about it...about her...every passing day they’d been apart, but it was nothing like actually touching her.

What did this mean? What would they do after this?

He wasn’t about to answer any of those questions, fearing the answer. The only person he wanted was Anya and she wanted him back so there was no way in hell he was confusing this with “what if” scenarios.

Anya stopped suddenly and pulled away.

Quinn stilled, his body going rigid, wondering what she was thinking. He was having a difficult time reading her like he’d once been able to do. She wasn’t as trusting as she’d been. He couldn’t blame her for being cautious with him and was proud that she was strong enough to stand up to him...until this point. He couldn’t blame her either for dipping into the lust pool they had created. He was as capable of not being able to control himself with her as she was with him.

Using her hands, Anya propped herself up on the table and stared down at him.

“How long have you been looking for the file?” she asked.

The file?
The confusion that question sparked was indescribable. How was her mind even anywhere near the file in their current state?

Quinn didn’t want to go there right now.

He cupped her face and kissed her lips softly to remind her of what they were in the middle of doing.

Anya’s long hair was pulled into a ponytail that fell loose over one bare shoulder covering her bra strap. She had rarely worn her hair up two years ago. The long blonde curls used to cascade down his arms when they were in this position. Either way was fine as long as she was with him.

“Quinn, I asked you a question.”

She was persistent. “Where have
you
been?” he asked instead. 

Her jaw tightened. “Don’t change the subject.” 

“
You
are changing the subject,” he pointed out, reaching up and kissing her again to remind her which subject he was referring to.

He wanted to know the answer to his question, but he also knew she wasn’t going to readily offer it to him. 

She kissed him back. Hungrily welcoming his open mouth and meeting the warmth of his tongue.

Against his mouth she repeated, “How long have you been looking for the file?”

He groaned and dropped his head back against the table.

What a position he was in: her almost naked body on top of him, her hungry kisses lingering in his mouth and her demanding answers filling the space between them.

He knew it wouldn’t end with one question, but what was one answer if it satisfied whatever was bothering her and she came back to him. 

“Since my dad died,” he answered. 

She thought about that for a quick moment, then asked, “Since
your
dad died? Or my dad died?” 

Did it matter?
“My dad,” he clarified. 

He watched her hunger for him turn off like a light switch. 

Damn it. What the hell had he said wrong?
She had never been this difficult before. 

“I guess I don’t feel that bad for what I just did,” Anya said.

She climbed off him and slid off the table.

What was she talking about?
Guilty for kissing him? Touching him? Almost making love to him? 

Damn it. 

He never should have done this. She was too fragile, and not only physically but emotionally. He knew it. He could see it.

Why the hell had he let his want to touch her override his better judgement to keep her safe?

She scooped her shirts off the ground.

“Anya, wait.” He didn’t want to leave like this. 

A troubled laugh escaped her lips and she turned, flashing a key card in her hand.
His
key card from the inside pocket of
his
slacks.

Quinn glanced down at his opened slacks and the pocket he’d had professionally sewn on the inside of his jeans pulled out and empty. 

Damn it. 

“Anya−”

She cut him off. “This is my card!” she yelled at him. 

Technically it had
been
her card but that was a long time ago. The only way she would know that was hers was by the chip in the corner.

That was one reason he hadn’t given the card to her. The other was he had no idea where the files were in that office. He’d gained entry to every room in this resort that Robert spent time in, including the office she claimed the files were in and he’d come up empty-handed.

He was missing something, he just didn’t know what and he needed her. Apparently now he needed the card too.

From the betrayed look on her face she was quickly putting together what could obliterate any chance he had. 

“You used me,” she accused and her pain stung him. “And not just for sex. Or a fling like you claimed.” Another one of her shocked laughs filled her suite. “You lied to me even after you were caught.”

Ouch.

It hurt to hear the words and he couldn’t even imagine the disloyalty she must feel. 

Quinn raked his hands across his face and slid off the table.

He grabbed his t-shirt, slipped it over his head and grabbed the rest of his clothes.

He had to get back to his right state of mind.

Boundaries. They needed boundaries.

If it hurt her, well he didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t telling her about his sister.

Quinn cut off his emotion as he walked toward her and held his hand out. “Give me the card.” 

“Give me the card,” she mimicked. “The card, the key, the card. It’s all about the key card. It’s always about the key card.”

She folded her arms, placing the key out of sight. His eye contact with her might have been unbreakable, but he still noticed the push the positioning of her arms gave her breasts. 

“You don’t even have the decency to offer any sort of, I don’t know...” She shrugged. “Remorse. Guilt.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Do you have a conscience at all Quinn Barker?” 

“What I don’t have is time for this shit,” he snarled and regretted it immediately.

Anya’s mouth snapped shut and she sucked in her lips.

Why did she have to wear her emotions on the outside? Why did she have to tear up in front of him? Why did he have to care?

An apology was on the tip of his tongue but she beat him to it.

“I guess we’re even because I just seduced you to get the key card and succeeded. Let yourself out,” she said and walked away, down the hall without looking back.

Argh. 

He needed that key card. He needed her help.

He needed an ice cold shower
. 

ANYA SLEPT WELL. Surprisingly better than she had in years. The mattress,
her
mattress soothed her into a deep sleep surrounded by the familiar smells of home. The air, the sheets...everything added to the content mixture of wholeness and safeness that had been missing since she’d left. 

But that wasn’t fair, was it? 

She was accepting the luxuries of her home with the relief of reuniting with her family and letting their love comfort the pain she carried. 

Not fair at all. Not to Rebecca who was waiting for Anya to fix her life. Not fair at all.

Anya had to snap out of it and step away from the familiarity that was spoiling her soul and taking away layers of her guilt and instead focus on finding that file.

What better time than now?

It would be easy now that she could roam the resort freely without sneaking around her family...and she had the key card.

The key card. Quinn.

The discovery that his time with her was rooted to his determination to find a file was disturbing on two levels. Number one, he had never wanted her and that hurt. When she’d laughed, teased and enjoyed his company two years ago, he’d now minimized their time to no more than him using her for access to her dad’s office. Secondly, if he’d been looking for the file since right after his dad’s death, then that meant it wasn’t likely it was his file he was after. Whose was it and why had he put so much of his life into finding it?

Who cares? He selfishly used you for nothing more than to lie, sneak and steal from.

Back to the plan.

All she had to do was get into her dad’s office and behind the false wall where the files were hidden. She could be in and out before anyone woke up.

After a cup of coffee. 

The suite was quiet and she walked down the hall leisurely taking everything in.

Her heart felt heavy knowing once she poured her cup of coffee and enjoyed it on the rocker by the window she would be leaving. Her heavy heart and heavy feet dragged across the plush carpet.

She stopped short in the living room where a low snoring broke the silence. Reluctantly, she peeked her head around the doorway and found her mother sprawled out on her sofa under a chenille throw and her uncle on the far side in a sitting position with Eliza’s head on his lap.

They were both sleeping and the snoring came from her uncle.

What were they doing? How did they get in here?

Well, it was obvious how they had a key, but how had she not heard them? If Anya hadn’t had a growing suspicion that there was something going on between her mother and uncle in the pool room earlier that morning, their current sleeping positions would have hiked her curiosity instead of confirming her suspicions.

Anya frowned.

This was not part of her plan. This was a dent in her plan and−

From behind her, a hand gently touched her arm, but she still jumped and whipped around with a scream on the tip of her tongue.

When had she become so scared, so nervous, and always thinking someone was out to get her? 

It was Quinn.

What was he doing here? Had he slept here? Did her mother see him? 

Anya didn’t have a chance to ask. Quinn hushed her, covering her mouth with one hand while touching her arm with the other.

He nodded into the living room where she didn’t need him to tell her that her mother and uncle were sleeping on the couch. That wasn’t an answer she needed at the moment. It should be answering to what he was doing in her suite.

Quinn tugged her down the hall and into her bedroom. She didn’t object like she should have. Maybe it was her early morning grogginess or maybe it was her stupidity because just the sight of him made her giddy. 

Inside her room she grabbed her pink and black silk kimono and wrapped it around her body.

Why was she always half naked when he was around?
He was a nighttime creeper, that’s why.

“What are you doing here?” she snarled. 

“I spent the night.” 

He spent the night?

She looked him over quickly, taking in the familiar t-shirt she’d ripped from his body earlier in a lost battle of her desire for him...only to find out he absolutely had never had that same sexual desire.

How was that even possible?
She’d felt his touch and saw the craving in his eyes. Was he lying to her? Or was she lying to herself?

It was too early to debate this topic. Especially with her fingers tingling and her mouth watering just remembering the feel of his solid rock-hard chest.

“My mom’s in there.” 

He nodded. “I let them in about an hour after you went to bed. They were creeping around looking in windows.”

He let them in? And then what? Bunked in the living room with them?

“Your mom was worried you were going to leave.” 

She
was
going to leave. 

“What did you tell her? About your being in my house?” 

“Nothing. She didn’t ask.” 

Good. That was good. It gave her time to make an excuse. But did she really need to? If she went to the office, got the file and left, then she would be gone and there would be no need for an excuse. 

“I can’t fight with you. Let me have a shower and change.
Do not
wake up my family. Then we will go to my dad’s office now, get the files and part ways.”

It sounded like the best plan since she’d arrived, except the one he’d spoiled in the first place. 

“Fine.” He sat on the edge of her bed and crossed one ankle over his knee.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Waiting,” he answered like it was obvious.

Well, it was obvious. She just didn’t understand why he thought he was waiting here...in her bedroom. 

He was babysitting her. She was like his prisoner. 

“I’m not a lying backstabber like you,” she told him.

“Tell that to the key card you seduced me to get into your little paws.” 

That was his fault. What choice had he left her?

What was the point in arguing?

Arghhh!

Quinn was a frustrating, controlling kind of an ass and she was ready to be rid of him. 

In Anya’s walk-in closet she grabbed a pair of tights and long cotton flowing tank top.

When she returned to the main room, Quinn had removed his shoes and was stretched out on her bed. His hand lay across his tilted head, but his eagle eyes watched her as she moved around the room.

When she got to the bathroom door she said, “This is not normal.” 

It didn’t faze him. “Your family’s not normal.” 

That wasn’t an understatement.

“I bet your family isn’t much better,” she said.

Past his thick lowered eye-lashes sweeping his beautiful dark eyes, she saw a flash of pain and then anger. 

He sat up and swung his feet on the floor, lifting his body up. “I will wait for you in the kitchen.” His fierce tone lingered after he shut the door. 

Sensitive about his family much?

Thinking back, Quinn had never talked about his family. Anya knew nothing about them besides his dad being killed in a car crash. And she hadn’t learned that tidbit of his life from his lips, but because Max Barker had worked for her dad before Quinn started.

Like father, like son?
 

Anya locked the bathroom door behind her, stripped off her clothes, and then climbed into the shower.

If Quinn thought she was meeting him in the kitchen, he was way off his game. He’d betrayed her over and over and he couldn’t be trusted. If he wanted the file that forced him to use her, then he could go get it by himself. 

***

ARMS FOLDED OVER his chest, side leaning against the brick wall and ankles folded, Quinn watched Anya open the french doors to her bedroom and sneak out. 

Predictable. 

She turned and saw him. The clever, sneaky face she wore dropped.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked in disbelief, her eyes finding their way to the ceiling and a groan working its way up her throat. “You’re like a tick that I cannot get rid of.” 

She was like a flea that wouldn’t stay still.

“Charming,” he said. “Are you ready for breakfast?” 

“What is with you and breakfast? Did you mother deprive you of food as a child?”

Quinn lost all his humor.

He pushed himself away from the wall.

“Let’s get one thing straight. We don’t talk about my family.” He stalked toward her. “We talk about nothing. Not you. Not me. Nothing. Let’s just get the files so we can part ways and quit having this back and forth banter which isn’t good for either of us.” 

With perfect timing, the Caliendo clan began emerging from their suites.

Anya flared up at him. “Tick, tick, tick,” she muttered. 

Quinn stood back and watched Anya greet her siblings.

Eliza and Carl were showered and changed wearing smiles.

Eliza silently nodded her thanks to him for the heads up to Anya’s obvious departure.

Still, she inquired no further details about Quinn’s relationship with her daughter and she didn’t blame him for the haunted look in Anya’s eyes upon her return.

If Quinn were in Eliza’s position, he wasn’t sure what his reaction would be to the person who promised that Anya would be fine only to have her return home frail, jumpy, sneaking around and trying to leave quicker than she’d arrived.

Eliza wasn’t just an ordinary woman, she was extraordinary. Where he might have pushed blame toward his promise, Eliza did the opposite and put her trust in Quinn. In turn, now he not only had the desire to make sure Anya was alright, but he owed it to Eliza. That made Robert’s exposure harder to face, but still irrefutable.

Carl didn’t trust him and Quinn noted immediately from the look on Marc’s face as he emerged his suite with his dark haired wife, Kate McAdams and their young daughter Rosemary, that he was curious as to why Quinn was present. He sent a suspicious stare that held a hint of warning.

Marc had replaced Robert after he died, and in turn he became silently aware of Quinn’s extended position to his father. Not needing that type of work, Marc had given Quinn the option of remaining as only head of security. Quinn had given his two week notice, searched the places he needed and when he came up empty-handed with no need to resume position there, he’d left.

Violet was missing today and from what Quinn gathered the ice queen had become involved with playboy Ryder Carlex and they were away on vacation for a week. Violet’s two children, Sophia and Parker trailed behind Marc and Kate. Their little unexpected faces lit up at seeing their Aunt Anya. Running past everyone, they reached Anya first and overwhelmed her with a stream of exciting stories that Anya had missed while away.

Anya smiled and laughed with them, but Quinn saw the pained look across her face, her forced smile and murky eyes. 

Emma Caliendo stopped short at the sight of her sister. Where Violet and Eliza held themselves with poise and grace in their blazer outfits, Emma and Anya dressed more causally, wearing their hair down and both sisters told contrasting tales across their faces.

Right now, as the sister Anya had been closest to stared across the room at her, it was evident how important they were to each other.

Why would Anya hide from a family who undoubtedly loved her and that she visibly loved to death?

As Quinn was beginning to put the puzzle pieces together, he knew whatever Anya was hiding wasn’t good and the secret was obviously destroying her.

Emma moved first, breaking the tension in the pool room. Her quick steps took her right into Anya’s arm and a wave of relief sighed through the crowd. 

Heading toward breakfast, as planned, Anya lingered behind and fell into step with Quinn.

“Don’t you think it’s a little odd that you’re coming to breakfast with my family? Did you move in while I was gone?” 

He’d already told her that he’d left after she did, so she already knew the answer to that.

“Maybe if you weren’t so damn stubborn we could have made terms that actually worked.” 

“Your terms.” 

“
Our
terms.”

Anya turned to him and stopped. “It was never my terms, was it?” She was referring to his goal to get the key and using her. “It was yours. I don’t want you here, Quinn. I don’t want you mingling with my family if I’m your only connection to them.”

What choice did she leave him? Had she allowed him to get the file he needed, he wouldn’t be here.  

He shrugged.

“After this incident, I’m not letting you out of my sight until I get my file.” That didn’t sound so bad. “You want me out of your life, get me the file and I will leave.” 

She frowned before walking away saying, “
Your
terms.”