Dare To Resist (Dare Nation 1)
No more than Austin himself. He had a business to run, and though he could take time off if he needed to, the fact was, he didn’t know how to deal with Jenny on his own. He was at a total loss and didn’t know who to turn to or what to do.
“I’ll do it. I’ll move in and help,” Quinn said, striding over to his mother and sliding a protective hand over little Jenny’s head.
Everyone’s eyes whipped toward her in shock but none more than Austin’s.
Chapter Four
Quinn didn’t know what had possessed her to volunteer to move in with Austin and the baby. What in the ever-loving hell had she been thinking? One minute his family was giving valid reasons why they couldn’t be there for him on such short notice, and the next her own voice rang out loud and clear.
Everyone in the room turned to face her and she felt a flush rush to her cheeks. “I can do it. Between Austin and me, we’ll handle work and the baby.”
She didn’t mention she had enough experience with infants and children to juggle like the most capable nanny. She was the only person they had available, and they’d accept her help without her explaining her life story.
“Oh my God, Quinn, thank you.” Austin stepped toward her and pulled her into an unexpected hug.
The scent of his cologne wrapped around her, sexy and sensual, and despite the fact that his family surrounded them and the gesture was due to gratitude, her body reacted immediately, memories of early this morning coming back to her in vivid detail. His demanding kiss, those forceful lips, the feel of his body grinding against her until she came.
A full-on rush of arousal hit her hard. Her nipples puckered under the borrowed tee shirt she still wore, and her panties grew damp. All because he held her against his rock-hard body. She wanted to rest her face in the crook of his neck and smell his skin.
Instead she stepped out of his embrace, sure her feelings were stamped all over her face, so she reached for Jenny and took the baby, hoping to hide her emotions behind the infant.
Then she made the mistake of peeking over Jenny’s head and caught Austin’s mother’s knowing gaze. A pleased smile pulled at the other woman’s lips, and Quinn knew she wasn’t fooling anyone.
Including herself.
* * *
I’ll do it. I’ll move in and help.
As Austin and his brothers unloaded the truck, Quinn’s words reverberated in Austin’s head. Given how reticent she’d been about helping him in the first place, and the distance she’d placed between them since all but running from his bed this morning, he couldn’t believe she’d offered to save his sorry ass.
He owed her a hell of a lot more than a raise. And that hug? He’d been so damned grateful, but the minute he’d pulled her into his arms, he’d felt much more. Dressed in his clothes, a turn-on in and of itself, she’d been so warm and soft, and when he’d breathed in, she’d smelled so good. His cock grew hard and his body craved hers.
But he knew how much he needed her help, so he needed to keep his hands—and his cock—to himself from now on. He didn’t know how his life had gotten so fucked up in such a short amount of time, but he believed in coping with the hand he was dealt. So along with his brothers, they brought the baby items into the house from the truck.
While Bri, Quinn, and his mom unpacked, Austin headed downstairs to the basement. His brothers tagged along behind him to the walk-in closet where the camera recorder and screens were located.
“Do you have any idea who the mother of the baby is?” Damon asked as they entered the room. “Assuming she’s yours, I mean.”
Austin glanced at his youngest sibling, who still lived in the deluded world young athletes inhabited that nothing bad could touch them. “I have my suspicions, but I hope you take this as a lesson in being careful.”
“Apparently condoms didn’t work for you. Are you suggesting I become celibate?” Damon asked, chuckling at what he thought was his brilliant joke.
Jaxon smacked his brother in the head. “He’s looking out for you, asshole.”
In the middle of his career and still in his young, carefree bachelor days, when everything looked bright and new, Damon believed his own hype. He probably needed his ego checked, but that ego was what made him such a solid player. He’d learn over time that life wasn’t all fun and games.
Austin began to fiddle with the equipment and rewound the tape to the time he’d been busy at the bar. He hoped like hell Jenny hadn’t been left outside and alone for too long. The screen gave him multiple views of various angles of the house and driveway where he had cameras located or pitched, and he studied each.