Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters 1)

He righted her with a hand on her elbow and if he knew why she was suddenly flustered, at least he was gentleman enough not to say. Instead he gestured with a grand sweep of his arm around the suite. “Be it ever so humble.”

“There’s no place like home,” she finished for him, and to distract herself from all that blatant testosterone pummeling her, she glanced around.

The place he called home wasn’t anything like the private domain she’d imagined he occupied. Instead the room was a sterile suite with plenty of luxuries and amenities but lacking any warmth. From the cold, industrial-type carpet to the pictures and furniture common to all hotel rooms, there was nothing personal to indicate anyone lived here. Oh, Quinn stayed here, that much she could tell, since his watch lay on a dresser beside some spare change and his clothes had been haphazardly tossed around. But there was nothing of him inside this room.

“Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t expecting company,” he said, as if guessing her train of thought.

She shrugged. “Not a problem.” She sat down on the couch and waited while he buttoned his jeans and then reached for a sweater he’d left on the arm of a chair.

In front of her was a mass of paperwork, and though she didn’t plan to pry, Sam’s name jumped out at her from the top page. And suddenly Ariana knew the reason he’d forgotten about her.

“Will you have trouble finding Sam a home?” she asked softly.

Surprising her, he took a seat by her side. He still held his shirt in his hands, and his body heat emanated off him in waves. “Unfortunately, yeah. Finding her a new place won’t be easy.”

“But she’s such a great kid.” Ariana couldn’t imagine a couple not wanting her. “What happened to her real parents?”

He eyed her steadily. “Her father’s a drug dealer doing a life sentence, and her mother’s dead. Caught by a bullet meant for her father.”

Ariana winced and her eyes filled with tears. Embarrassed, she wiped them with the back of her hand. “That’s horrible.”

“That’s the kind of life she’s been exposed to.”

Ariana paused for a steady breath. “Is it the kind of life you’ve been exposed to?” She knew he’d also been in foster care, and wondered what had happened to his parents.

He shook his head. “No, my folks just didn’t give a shit.” He let out a bitter laugh. “At least Sam’s mother made an effort at giving her kid a decent life before a bullet got in the way.” He’d changed the subject back to Sam, and Ariana knew that’s all she was likely to learn about him for now.

But that was okay, since she’d plumbed unexpected depths and gained a deeper understanding of what made him tick. She still couldn’t put all the pieces together, but she’d made a start.

“Social Services will have no choice but to place her in a group home filled with mostly troubled teens. But she needs love and stability and she sure as hell won’t find it there.” He rubbed the heel of his hand over his eyes.

“Maybe another couple that can’t have kids will want a teenager?” she asked hopefully.

He shook his head. “Not likely. Sam’s got so many strikes against her I don’t know where to begin.”

“What else is there besides her age?”

He cocked his head to one side. “You met the kid, so you shouldn’t have to ask. She’s a wiseass for one thing, and you experienced her petty-theft tendencies firsthand.”

“But underneath it all, she just wants to be loved. Surely somebody will see past the facade,” Ariana said. She had seen past it the first time they’d met.

Quinn shook his head again, his eyes wide with obvious disbelief. “You don’t really buy into that humanity crap, do you? Not everybody’s got the rosy family you do.”

She bit her cheek to keep herself from giving him a wise-guy comeback about her family, because he was right. At least she’d had a loving home to grow up in. “Okay, I get your point, but there’s got to be a solution.”

“I wouldn’t leave my dog with half the applicants on this list, and besides, they’re looking for younger kids. Anyone who’d consider a teen will be hard pressed to take her, given her history.”

“But she’s got reasons for the way she acts.” Ariana knew she was grasping at straws, but like Quinn, she already cared about Sam.

His anguished gaze met hers. “The reason she acts out doesn’t matter. The facts in the reports do.” With a wave of his hand, he trashed the papers, sending them sprawling to the floor. “I’m going to have to work on Felice and Aaron, because nobody decent wants a troubled teen.”

In Quinn’s gaze, in his expression and in his posture, Ariana could see traces of the little boy who had once been in the same position as Sam. He still remembered being the kid nobody wanted.