Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters 1)

He snagged a french fry and dipped it in the ketchup, eating it before addressing her comment. “Those men you mentioned? I’m sure they were pansies.”

She tipped her head to one side. “Lesser men than you, you mean?” she asked wryly.

“Can I help it if the men in your life don’t measure up?” He shot her his best boyish grin and she rolled her eyes.

“Coke for you,” Gus said, placing a glass in front of Quinn.

“He’s got a point, you know, Ari,” said Daphne, who’d returned, popping up along with Gus.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Ari asked her cousin.

“Ari’s last boyfriend—well, her last boyfriend we know of, since she’s so silent while going to live on her own in Vermont—well, that guy was a real piece of work. A stuffed prig with no sense of humor.” Daphne gave an exaggerated shudder.

Quinn leaned an elbow over the back of his chair. “Do tell.”

“Oh, don’t encourage her,” Ari said on a sigh.

“If she doesn’t tell, I will,” Gus said.

“Gus,” Ari said in warning, “if you snitch, I’ll tell Uncle Constantin you’ve been giving the pretty girls free drinks.”

“And it’d be worth his roar.” Ignoring other customers around the room, Gus sat down in the chair next to Quinn. “Did you know Cousin Ari is famous?”

“More like infamous,” she muttered. “Do we really have to revisit my youth?”

A beautiful woman, with teased dark hair and a bone structure similar to Nicholas’s, leaned over from the other side of the counter. “Oh, are you going to tell my favorite story?” she asked.

“I’d prefer he didn’t,” Ari said, and before Quinn could ask, she introduced the woman as her Aunt Kassie.

Quinn shook Kassie’s hand, then glanced at Daphne and Gus. “I want to hear everything.”

Ari’s face turned a delicious shade of pink, and without thinking, Quinn placed a reassuring hand on her knee. Beneath her jeans, her leg twitched, her surprise obvious, but she didn’t say a word. And he didn’t give a damn if the reason was that she didn’t want to call attention to the familiarity in front of her relatives. He was happy to be touching her, feeling the simmering heat beneath the denim and even enjoying his own body’s response.

As for her family, other men might have run off in the face of their odd behavior and eccentricity, but not Quinn. He intended to soak up as much of Ari and her relatives as he could get.

“Well,” Daphne began, “the story goes that Ariana’s mother wanted to tan the twins for an Indian princess act she would perform on the boardwalk.”

“The girls were little,” Gus chimed in, his accent making his i’s sound like e’s. “Such cute twins.” He lowered his hand to indicate about toddler height. He paused and added, his voice cracking, “May Zoe return to us soon.”

“Amen,” Daphne and Kassie said, and Quinn’s stomach churned with extra guilt.

“Anyway, Aunt Elena used instant tanning lotion. Which turned the twins orange,” Daphne explained.

“And John, he called the paper. What is the name?” Gus snapped his fingers, trying to remember.

“The National Enquirer,” Ari said, resigned.

“And this was the result.” Aunt Kassie pointed proudly to a photograph of the twins hanging on the wall, with the heading “Alien Twins Invade New Jersey” above it.

Ariana had known she couldn’t stop them from telling the story, but being prepared didn’t stop the humiliation from rising inside her. It was, as the photograph’s enlarged presence on the wall both here and at home proclaimed, her family’s proudest moment.

If Quinn hadn’t run by now, this story surely would do the trick. It had been the start of Jeffrey’s departure. Her father’s fake lie-detector test, purchased at a garage sale, had acted as the final kick out the front door. He’d used the gadget on every one of his daughter’s boyfriends. She could still recall Nicholas’s serious face as he asked her first high school boyfriend—“You sure you like girls and not boys?” The poor boy’s voice had squeaked as he answered.

Then there was Jeffrey, who’d been subjected to the question that had sent him running. Gathering her courage, Ari glanced at Quinn.

He was laughing and he didn’t look taken aback by her family’s stories. The same stories had always been fodder for gossip and teasing by friends and had sent more than one boyfriend ducking for cover. She was amazed at Quinn’s fortitude. Then again, he had nothing invested in Ariana. And the Costas family was always good for a laugh.

She glanced at her aunt and her cousins. “Go away,” she yelled at them, and to her surprise, her family scattered.

She and Quinn shared a burger in silence. She didn’t know why he’d sought her out, and until he was ready to talk she wasn’t about to ask.

When they finished, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.