Under the Boardwalk (Costas Sisters 1)

But she obviously had her mind elsewhere. She’d ignored him unless she was coolly making conversation that was forced on her by proximity. Worse, she’d done everything she could to undermine his attempt to keep her safe at Damon’s. She’d left ahead of him, driving herself to work. This was something he’d discovered after the fact, when he’d gone to pick her up. While he was being mooned by the monkey again, Ariana was one step ahead of him. He’d then caught her trying to pick the lock on his office door with a bobby pin, and she’d remained stubbornly silent about what she was looking for. In general, she’d been causing him trouble.

He grabbed the ball off the floor and tossed it toward the basket, but missed again.

“You still suck,” Connor called out to him.

Forcing his mind to clear, Quinn dribbled some more and took a free throw from the middle of the court, sinking the ball clean. “I’d like to see you hang one like that.”

Connor dribbled to the far end and made his shot with ease, then let the ball bounce its way off.

“Lucky,” Quinn muttered. “What are you doing hanging out around here?”

“I needed to work off some energy.” Connor retrieved the ball and began a steady dribbling while they talked.

“Lady problems?” Quinn chuckled.

“Hey, at least Maria’s talking to me.”

Connor’s jibe hit home and Quinn winced.

Connor paused in his bouncing and hiked the ball under one arm. “I’m taking her out tomorrow.”

Quinn let out a slow whistle. So Connor had finally made progress. “Good luck, buddy.” Considering his friend’s track record with relationships, he’d need it.

“Right back at you,” Connor told Quinn. “Who’d have thought the professor had the guts to give you such a good runaround.” Connor shook his head in amazement.

Ari definitely had turned out to be a worthy adversary, and though Quinn respected her guts and moxie, he was frustrated just the same. “She thinks I’m pond scum. She knows I’m involved in Zoe’s disappearance but she can’t figure out how. And every stunt she pulls brings her closer to blowing my cover sky high trying to figure it all out.”

“She’s already questioned Maria.”

Quinn shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Maria only knows what we wanted everyone to know. It was bound to get back to Ari eventually. She’s questioned everyone, including the janitor,” he muttered.

Connor lowered himself onto one of the bleachers. “No matter what she thinks she knows, she won’t blow your cover. No one knows enough, except me and I’m not talking.”

Though his friend and partner had a point, Quinn wasn’t sure how much longer he could live with the guilt of letting Ari agonize over where her sister was.

“Just don’t go do anything stupid,” Connor said into the silence.

He didn’t need to spell out what he meant. Quinn knew. He shook his head and groaned. “She deserves better.”

“We’ve got two years invested in this operation and it’s nearly over. Remember your career, because it’ll be the one thing that’s there for you when this is over.”

Quinn nodded. They’d perfected that line during their time at the police academy when things got tough. They had each other’s backs. No one else in life could be counted on to stick around for the long haul.

“Don’t worry. I’m thinking with my head,” he told Connor, as much to convince himself as the other man.

“Just make sure it’s the right head, because from where I’m sitting, the only reason you’d tell her the truth would be to get into her pants.” Connor nodded, obviously certain he’d come to the right conclusion.

He hadn’t. Quinn’s truth was far worse. When it came to Ari, sex wasn’t the only thing driving him. She hit an emotional chord inside him, one he didn’t ever remember feeling before and one that gave light into the deepest recesses of his soul. He just wasn’t about to admit it aloud.

“I wouldn’t jeopardize a case just to get laid,” he said in disgust.

“Excuse me if I don’t want my only friend to end up on a slab at the morgue.”

“Maybe you need to make some more friends. Just in case,” Quinn said, laughing.

Connor shook his head and laid a brotherly hand on Quinn’s shoulder. “Remember one thing. When all this is over, she’s still going back to her cozy little home in Vermont.”

“Hell yeah, I know.” And Quinn told himself he wanted it that way.

Yet after whipping Connor’s ass at a game of hoops, he’d showered and headed to Ari’s parents’, hoping to find her home on her night off. Plain old desire to see her was driving him and he knew he was in deep. Although she wasn’t at the house, it had taken a long while to make his escape from her family. He sniffed his sleeve but wasn’t sure whether he smelled of fish or if the stench was permanently embedded in his nostrils.