Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters 1)

And when he spoke, his severe tone sent shivers of another kind through her. “Where is she?”

“In the kitchen. But before you see her, I think you need to take a deep breath first.”

“Easy for you to say. Her foster parents called me two hours ago. I’ve been making phone calls and driving around looking for her. I’d finally given up and gone back to the hotel. Then you called.”

She placed a hand on his arm to calm him. “I’m sorry. I called you as soon as I knew she was here. Unfortunately I don’t know how long she was outside with my mother. They bonded,” Ariana said wryly.

“At least she’s safe.” He glanced at Ariana, a flicker of warmth and appreciation in his gaze.

Ariana smiled. “Now that you’ve collected yourself, let’s go talk to her and see why she pulled a disappearing act.”

“I know why. She’d been led to believe if things worked out with Aaron and Felice, they’d consider adoption. The way things were going, there was no reason to think anything would mess with that. I mean, they couldn’t have kids, and Felice wanted a girl. Despite the few times the little pickpocket tested them, Aaron and Felice understood. Hell, I thought they’d adopt her.” He ran a hand through his hair, his frustration evident.

“And then Felice got pregnant,” Ariana said. He’d told her as much yesterday.

“Yeah. It shouldn’t make a difference to them. But it does. And I’ve seen it time and again. I should know better than to hope. Damn, I should have known better than to let Sam hope.”

Ariana’s heart twisted with emotion, for Sam and for Quinn. The fact that he’d given her insight into his feelings was shocking. So too was the depth of his caring. For as much as Ariana didn’t know about him, she liked everything she’d already learned. He had a good heart despite his secrets. “You’re doing your best for Sam.”

“Yeah, and I hate it that my best isn’t enough. I was so sure that this perfect looking couple with their perfect little house would make room in their hearts and home for a beautiful young girl.”

She was shocked by how much she wanted to help him, not just with Sam, but with his feelings and his pain.

Without warning, Quinn pulled away from her touch as if realizing how much he’d revealed. “I need to talk to Sam.”

Ariana nodded. “Just remember she’s hurting, too.”

She led him toward the kitchen, and as they entered the room, Quinn bellowed, “Samantha!”

“So much for taking my advice,” Ariana muttered.

Sam winced at his yell, and Spank the monkey, who’d been sitting at the table letting Sam paint her nails, dove underneath the table and covered her head with her hands.

“You scared her,” Sam said accusingly to Quinn. She obviously wasn’t intimidated by his bluster.

Then again the kid lived in foster homes and never knew where she’d be next. She wouldn’t fear much, Ariana thought sadly.

“Spank doesn’t like loud noises.” Elena held a hand out to the monkey.

Spank let Elena pull her out from her hiding place. She turned to Quinn, gave him a raspberry with her tongue, then climbed into Sam’s lap.

The young girl giggled and Quinn stopped himself from yelling and demanding an explanation for her behavior. He hadn’t seem Sam laugh. Ever.

He was furious at the scare she’d given him, but he didn’t know what made him angrier, that Sam had run away or that she’d come here instead of calling him when she was upset. But as he’d told Ari, at least she was safe.

“Let’s leave Sam and Quinn alone, Mom,” Ari said.

He stopped himself from asking her not to leave. He could have used her support about now, and that shocked the hell out of him. For a man who’d always lived life on his own to need a woman who wanted nothing more than to find her sister and disappear from this town, well, it wasn’t a smart move.

Elena looked at her daughter and nodded. “You’re right. Come, Spank.”

Sam shook her head and wrapped her arms tighter around the damn monkey. “I want you all to stay.”

“We’ve imposed on them enough, Sam,” Quinn said.

“Nonsense,” Elena said. “She’s welcome here any—”

Ariana interrupted her mother by pulling her out of the room, dragging the monkey she took from Sam along. As Spank reached the doorway, she lifted her skirt. Damned if the monkey hadn’t mooned him on purpose. But what marked this meeting for Quinn was Ariana and her obvious insight and understanding of him and what he needed.

He still couldn’t allow himself to get too close or too attached to the woman, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t developing feelings for her anyway. Damn him. He turned his attention to Sam instead.

“You gonna yell at me for stealing Ari’s wallet?” Sam asked.

He blinked. “You what?”

“Oops.” Sam blushed a furious red. “She didn’t tell you?”

He shook his head. “Obviously she protected you. But at least now I know how you found Ari,” he said, solving the mystery he hadn’t been able to figure out. He already knew why Sam had taken off. “Running away isn’t smart,” he told her.

“Why the hell not?”

“Watch your mouth, Samantha,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Well, tell me why not. It’s not like Aaron and Felice give a sh— I mean, it’s not like they care.”

He pulled out a chair and, straddling the back, sat down beside her. Her defiance was a shield from her pain, her big, glassy eyes a better giveaway to her true feelings. Which led him to choose his words carefully now. “They care about their responsibilities,” he said, slowly. “And they get to give a recommendation. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want you labeled as trouble for new placement.”

Her eyes filled with tears. “Let me live with you? Please? I won’t cause any trouble, I promise. I’ll clean up after myself and I’ll even disappear if you want to bring a lady friend home,” she said, too wise for her years. “I swear you won’t even know I’m there.”

“That’s the problem, kid.” He knew exactly how she was feeling, had begged and said those same words to different people in his past. His throat nearly closed and he wished he could give her what she wanted. “I’m not even there. It’s not a supervised home. I wish I could let you stay with me, but I can’t.”