First and Tension (Summersweet Island 4)

Laughter shakes my body, even as tears fall from my eyes, and Quinn kisses them right off my cheeks.

“Oh good, you fixed it.”

The sound of Jeanie’s voice makes both of us quickly move apart, but Quinn refuses to move too far away, grabbing onto one of my hands and lacing his fingers through mine as we turn and face the woman standing in the opening of the hallway.

“I wasn’t sure if this was the type of fixing you meant on the phone last night.” Quinn shrugs. “No disrespect, ma’am, but I didn’t really care.”

Jeanie laughs. “Don’t worry; this is exactly how I was hoping you’d fix it,” she says, the second person to shock the hell out of me this morning.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you from the beginning, the day you initially called me and asked me if I fixed things,” Quinn tells her, giving my hand a squeeze.

“No need to apologize, Mr. Bagley.” Jeanie waves him away with her hand. “I knew you two weren’t really dating when you met me for lunch. Although I did quite enjoy the show.”

Quinn and I both look at each other with our mouths dropped open in shock before looking back at Jeanie. We find her still smiling at us with amusement—instead of chewing us out for the media shitstorm we’ve created.

“To be completely honest, you had me fooled… right until I asked you what drew you to Emily when you first fell in love with her.”

“What gave it away?” Quinn asks in confusion, making me wonder right along with him.

He might not have been in love with me at that time, but I still want to melt into a puddle on the floor thinking about the things he said about me that day and just how convincing he was.

Because he was telling the truth, you dummy!

“The complete look of shock on Emily’s face when you listed all the things you love about her,” Jeanie says. “You wear your heart on your sleeve, Mr. Bagley. One of the many reasons I hired you. I found it very hard to believe that after you’d supposedly been dating for five months, you wouldn’t have told her many, many times by that point just how much you adore her and why.”

I can’t help but laugh, knowing she’s right. Quinn is not shy talking about how he feels, and the three words he said to me, then whispered again in my ear right before Jeanie interrupted us, make butterflies start flapping around in my stomach, wishing we were alone again so I could say them right back.

“Ms. Flanagan, I hope you wanting to meet with me this morning means you’ve come to discuss the job offer. One I’m very sorry was unintentionally leaked by someone on my staff,” Jeanie says, folding her hands down in front of her, making the butterflies flap around even harder, and Quinn grips my hand even tighter in his. “You earned this job, with or without Mr. Bagley. And you would have been offered this job with or without him as well.”

With that, Jeanie turns and heads back down the hall, telling me she’ll give us a few minutes alone and I can meet her in her office when I’m ready. As soon as the clicking of her heels fades away, I turn to look at Quinn to find him staring at me with a huge smile on his face.

“I don’t need the job. It was never about the job.”

“I know.” Quinn quickly nods, still smiling at me, bringing our joined hands up to his mouth to kiss the top of mine.

“I love you too,” I whisper, my voice shaking when I say the words.

“Thank fucking Christ,” he breathes, turning to face me, bringing our hands up to press mine against his chest, right over his rapidly beating heart. “Come on, you know you want it all. The dream guy and the dream job.”

With a laugh, I shake my head at him. “Pretty full of yourself, aren’t you?”

“There’s my little fireball,” Quinn whispers softly before continuing. “Just hopeful. Always fucking hopeful where you’re concerned.” He sighs with a smile, cocking his head as he rubs his thumb back and forth over the top of my hand still held against his chest. “I can’t be the only shining star in this relationship, Emily. It’s way too much pressure. I can barely fit my ego through the door as it is. You’re supposed to be bringing me down a peg or two, remember?”

My loud groan is cut off with a squeal when Quinn wraps both of his arms around me, lifting me off my feet. Hugging my body tightly up against his with my arms draped over his shoulders, he buries his face into the side of my neck, tickling me with his nuzzling nose and scratchy facial hair. I giggle and squirm in his arms as he kisses his way up to my ear, saying those three little words that make my heart skip a beat and a thrill of anticipation rush through me.