Fantasy Man (8 page)

Finally, reluctantly, they stood under the shower, rinsing off soap and shampoo while the bathwater swirled down the drain.

Wrapped in towels and mostly dry, they collapsed back on the bed, Quinn once again curled close to Reif’s side.

“I’m hungry,” she said.

Reif considered this and nodded. “Me too. Want to go out for breakfast?”

Quinn’s stomach growled while she thought about it. Getting dressed seemed like a supreme effort at the moment. It would be so much easier to lay here instead. But a big breakfast cooked by someone other than her sounded too appealing to resist. “Yeah. Let’s.”

“You sure?” Reif tickled her arm with his fingertips. “We could probably scrounge up something around here.”

Quinn had a feeling what that something would be. More sex. At the moment she needed some distance from the kind of intimacy that had led to her mini breakdown in the shower.

“Let’s go out.” She got up, her body felt weightless, boneless, and she was amazed she could even walk, but she kept going down the hall to her own room.

Quinn closed the door behind her, dropped the towel and propped her hands on the dresser top. “What,” she asked her reflection in the mirror, “is happening to me?”

Chapter Eleven

It was a fine Saturday. Quinn wished she could appreciate it, but her mind was still wrapped in fuzz. Reif had taken them to an outdoor café, where they sat at an umbrella table and sipped coffee and juice while waiting for their omelets and hash browns to arrive.

They were both quiet. Quinn was glad Reif didn’t feel the need to carry on a conversation any more than she did. At least the sun was bright enough to warrant sunglasses on both of them, shielding them from any awkward eye contact. In a way she wished she knew what he was thinking. In another way, she didn’t want to know.

Was he comparing her to the other women he’d been with? Did he think she was a pathetic fool for bursting into tears earlier, or being incapable of explaining why? Maybe she was nothing more than a feather in his cap, another notch on his belt.

Things like that made Quinn not want to think about Reif’s intentions. She looked out over the curving drive that skirted the front of the restaurant. She might be relatively inexperienced, but she knew enough to know that great sex by itself wouldn’t sustain a relationship.

Okay, fantastic sex.
Incredible
sex. She could acknowledge that. But what about when the newness of sex wore off? What then? Would they be sitting across from each other a year from now with nothing in common, nothing to say to each other?

Throughout high school and college Quinn had lived vicariously through her friends’ romantic relationships. She’d seen enough of them fall apart after that initial burst of chemistry to know how easily people could fool themselves. What looked like love, what maybe even felt like love, quite often wasn’t.

So how could you tell what was love and what wasn’t? What was great physical chemistry and nothing more?

“You are so beautiful,” Reif said.

Quinn’s head swung back, focusing on him through her sunglasses.

“I think I could look at you for a hundred years and never get tired of it.”

It didn’t sound like false flattery, something a man would say just for the heck of it after he’d spent a night like last night with a woman. He sounded a hundred percent sincere. Her fuzzy mind grasped for some kind of lighthearted comeback.

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said. Then she grinned. “Oh, wait. I think you’ve already been everywhere.”

Reif’s smile flashed like a beacon. “Not quite,” he said as the server approached with their food.

Quinn hoped he wouldn’t notice her blush or would think it was due to the heat from the sun. Her skin prickled at the idea of further ventures into unexplored territory with Reif. She concentrated on her food, for those last two words uttered in such an assured tone had her abuzz with the possibilities, until she remembered she’d only bargained for the one night.

I suck at blackmail.

After breakfast they strolled through the small shopping area near the café, looking in the store windows but not venturing inside. Quinn halted in front of a jewelry display. She’d always loved browsing jewelry stores, lingering over the glittering and shiny rings. She’d dreamed of a man presenting her with one someday, asking her to marry him, giving her the opportunity to live out her own personal fairy tale.

“See something you like?” Reif asked.

“Mmm.”

She couldn’t take her gaze off a cushion cut diamond set in a platinum band encrusted with smaller diamonds. It was gorgeous. Exactly the kind she imagined herself wearing. Not that she’d share her preferences in rings with Reif.

They circled the nearby park, where people kicked soccer balls, threw Frisbees to their dogs or pushed children on swings and merry-go-rounds. Reif had taken her hand when they left the café, and she hugged his arm, leaning against him as they walked, loving the feel of his body as the sun grew warmer. Her heart seemed to swell until she thought it would burst. At the same time her body demanded rest.

As they parked in the driveway, Quinn didn’t even try to smother her yawns. The caffeine wasn’t making the slightest dent in her exhaustion.

“I’m beat,” she said.

“Me too. Nap time, huh?”

She dragged her feet into the house and up the stairs. Reif was right behind her. When she turned to go to her room he caught her hand. “Come and sleep with me.”

“I thought we—”

He put a finger against her lips. “Just sleep. I promise. Come and sleep with me.”

She looked into his eyes, trying to gauge the sincerity of his offer. Truth be told, he looked as tired as she felt, and she wanted to extend their time together. Even if they were both sound asleep. She liked him being within touching distance.

“Okay,” she agreed. “But just for a nap.”

They kicked off shoes and crawled under the covers fully clothed.

* * * * *

When Reif woke up he lay for a moment, head half buried in the pillow, one eye on Quinn. She lay facing away from him, one knee pulled close to her chest. He reached out to stroke her fanned out hair on the pillow, but stopped before touching her. He wanted to move closer, the way he had last night, slip his arms around her and bury his face in her neck. He caught a tantalizing whiff of shampoo scent from her hair. His shampoo. From this morning. That took his thoughts back to their encounter in the shower.

He had to admit, that had been nothing short of fantastic. The sex, of course, but more than that. Looking into her eyes while he was inside her had made the experience more profound, the connection even stronger.

But he’d been baffled by her tears afterward. She’d fallen apart. She was always so smart and sassy and
tough
. Who knew a night with him would turn her into a marshmallow?

He smiled and let his finger drift onto her pillow, touch the very ends of her hair, careful not to wake her.

He’d promised no sex, just sleep. By God, he’d stick to his promise. If he moved closer to her now like he wanted, put his arms around her, pressed up against her, that would be the end of that. That wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not today. Not…ever.

The one night together she’d bargained for was over. She’d gotten everything she wanted. The reality of it slammed into him. He’d never make love to Quinn again.

But that night had created a connection and he’d been having all these crazy possessive thoughts about her. He’d played a willing part in Quinn’s desire for a fling with no strings while there were no watchful eyes to keep her from it.

This is bad
, he told himself as he went downstairs. He was madly, completely, totally in love with a woman who would probably never feel the same way about him.

There was no way he could have a casual relationship with her. Partly because of Tony, but mostly, he realized now, because that wouldn’t be enough for
him
.

* * * * *

It was late afternoon when Quinn got up. She could tell without even looking at Reif’s side of the bed that she was alone. Still, she turned over and reached a hand out to touch where he’d lain. She realized she didn’t like waking up alone, even though she’d been doing it all of her life.

Great
, she told herself,
just great
.
One night with a guy and you can’t stand to be without him. Wonderful.
What kind of a woman fell so hard so fast? All of her friends were much more experienced than she was. They may have thought themselves in love with their first, but when those relationships ended they’d recovered and moved on. A couple of her friends were even married.

You’re not the first woman he’s slept with
, Quinn reminded herself. Jealousy reared its ugly head as she imagined Reif’s previous conquests. How many had there been? Had he loved any of them? Had he made love to them the same way he made love to her? Had they felt this connected to him? Had he told any of them he could look at them for a hundred years and never grow tired?

The very idea that maybe he had made Quinn sad. What if that was just a line? What if what had happened between them was nothing special to him? So much of what she’d experienced with him was new to her—
natural
, she corrected herself—that it made sense she’d be somewhat emotionally attached to Reif. Especially after a night like last night. And this morning.

Her eyes watered as she remembered looking into Reif’s eyes while he made love to her, of feeling as if she’d given such a big part of herself to him, so much so it had overwhelmed her afterward.

He’d been so sweet then, concerned that he’d somehow hurt her. But he hadn’t hounded her to explain herself. Instead he’d just held her and stroked her and
loved
her. That’s how it had felt anyway.

But what did she know of love? Nothing. She couldn’t tell if he was just doing what every man did, if it was his way of getting what he wanted, or making her believe he cared. His cooperation ensured she’d keep her mouth shut now so Tony wouldn’t hate him.

“Oh, God.” She sat up and buried her face in her hands. She did not want to think about this anymore. Why couldn’t she just go with what she felt for now? See where whatever this was between her and Reif, if it was anything at all, lead?

Stop overanalyzing and questioning it.
Right now, what she wanted was to be with him. That was all that mattered. She shoved her hair out of her eyes and went to find him.

She didn’t have to go far. He was on the couch in the living room, feet on the coffee table, flipping channels with the remote. She approached on bare feet, forcing herself not to pounce on him. She got that pitter-patter feeling inside just seeing him, sitting there.
Available.

He looked up. She didn’t think he could fake the way his eyes lit up and his smile looked genuine, like he was glad to see her. He put his arm out in welcome and she snuggled up, laying her head on his shoulder. His arm closed around her and he kissed the top of her head. “Have a good nap?”

She nodded. “I find I don’t particularly care for waking up alone anymore.”

“Well, if you had said yes when I asked you to m—”

She pinched his side before he could finish and they laughed good-naturedly. It felt so darn good to be with him, to be next to him. Could they possibly stay here, on the couch, for the rest of the afternoon?

As if he’d read her mind, Reif said, “What do you want to do?”

She turned her face into his shoulder, taking in the scent of his skin through his shirt. “This,” she said, her voice muffled.

“Ah, I knew you were a girl after my own heart.”

“What are you watching?”

“Star Trek. Next Gen.”

“Oh, it’s one with Q. I like him.”

“Ha!” Reif laughed. “You like him because you’re like him.”

“In what way?” Quinn sat up straighter. “Omnipotent?”

“Q always shows up unannounced—”

“I
was
announced. You just didn’t get the message.”

“He’s devious, irresponsible—”

“You better be joking,” Quinn warned.

“He’s certainly not to be trusted.”

Quinn sulked. “I can be trusted.”

“He drives Captain Picard crazy.”

“Oh, like I drive you crazy? Are you sure it’s
exactly
the same way?” Quinn dug her fingers into Reif’s ribs tickling him. He dodged her move.

“Plus Q always has a hidden agenda.” Reif looked right at her and Quinn knew he wasn’t joking.

“Oh, well, there you’ve got me. I am exactly like Q.”

“Maybe not exactly. Come here, Q.” He tucked her back under his arm.

Quinn giggled, delighted. At the moment, she had everything she wanted.

Chapter Twelve

Quinn let herself in, locked the door and stared at the keypad next to it. She knew she had set the alarm when she’d left, but it wasn’t set now, and Reif wasn’t due home for hours. As the saying went in the comics, her Spidey Sense was tingling. She stood still and listened, the only sound she could hear was her heart pounding double time.

What if the mob had found her? Their goons were probably experts at disabling alarm systems and were at this moment lying in wait somewhere in the house.

She stared down the hallway to the living room. She could see the French doors to the pool deck. On the right was the arched doorway to the kitchen. To her left was the powder room and the stairs.

She held her breath and listened. The refrigerator hummed. Traffic from outside intruded into the eerily quiet space. She was almost a hundred percent certain she was alone.

But then of course that’s what they’d
want
her to think.

She tiptoed toward the kitchen entrance. Just then she heard the door that connected the garage to the laundry room open and shut. The handle on the laundry room door started to turn. She needed something,
anything
to surprise them with and give her a head start. She looked around frantically.

There. On the counter. The cookie tin she’d used last night to heat up a baguette. She grabbed it just as the door opened. She swung it sideways at her would-be assailant, striking him in the arm before he wrestled the pan away from her.

“Ow. Shit! What’d you do that for?”

Reif stared at her. The initial panic in his eyes now turned to anger. He tossed the pan on the counter.

“S-sorry about that. I thought you were—someone else.”

He wrapped his fingers around her upper arms and shook her. “Where the hell have you been?”

“Ow. Let go of me. What is your problem?”

“What is my problem? What is
my problem?”
He released her but stayed in her personal space. “You, Q.
You
are my problem. You’re supposed to stay inside unless I’m with you. I came home early and you weren’t here. You weren’t
anywhere
. And if you weren’t here that meant something had happened to you. Which meant I hadn’t kept you safe, I hadn’t kept my promise to Tony. I…Jesus!”

He turned away from her and leaned on the counter with both hands. He dropped his head as he fought for control.

“I’m sorry.”

He turned and stared at her. “You’re
sorry
? You’re killing me. Where
were
you?”

This was a make-or-break moment. She’d been under someone’s thumb her entire life. Her father. Her brother. The FBI. They’d all essentially told her the same thing. Do exactly what we say. It was for her own good, to protect and keep her safe.

She knew her father and her brother had her best interests at heart, but the bottom line was, this was her life. No one else’s. If she couldn’t make Reif understand that much, then this, whatever it was between them, was no good. She’d have to let it go when her stay here was over. Even if everything inside her wanted to stay with him.

She lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. “I was at work.”

His jaw dropped. “
Work
? You have a job?”

“Yes.”

“You never told me.”

She’d been careful to hide the evidence of her job. Showering after each shift so she didn’t smell like pizza. Burying any takeout containers in the bottom of the garbage can so Reif would never see them. Squirreling away her tips in her secret hiding place with the rest of her cash.

“You’d only tell me I couldn’t do it.”

Reif was clearly flummoxed. He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He closed it. Opened it again.

Then he started to laugh. He stared at her as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. What he was hearing. He kept laughing like he couldn’t stop. He was laughing so hard his face turned red.

Quinn frowned. She set her purse down and went to the fridge for a bottle of water, keeping an eye on Reif as his laughter wound down. His face was red and he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. He put up both hands as if he was surrendering.

“I give up. Honest to God, I give up.” He turned and went into the living room. The TV came on. Soon she heard the unmistakable voices of the ESPN pundits.

Quinn went to her room. Could it possibly be that easy? Was Reif not going to make a big deal out of her working? Was he not going to forbid her to go out without him? Why was he home so early anyway?

She decided to stick to her routine, showering then sitting down with her laptop and her research to work on her thesis.

A couple of hours later, Reif tapped on her door and stuck his head in when she answered. “You hungry?”

She eyed him warily, but he seemed like his normal self. Not like he was mad at her. “Yes.”

“Come on, then. I’ve got it all set up.”

She followed him downstairs and out to the pool deck. He’d set the table and lit a fat candle. A bottle of wine was breathing and there were two bowls of salad and a loaf of crusty bread.

They took their places. Reif poured the wine. He started to eat. Quinn stared at her salad. He’d sliced grilled chicken on top of a mixture of greens, cold pasta, chopped hardboiled eggs and shredded cheese. It looked delicious. He tore a hunk of bread off the loaf and offered it to her. She took it, but she couldn’t eat. She couldn’t stop waiting for him to berate her and tell her he was done with her, or that he was sending her back to Florida.

She took a tiny sip of wine and picked up her fork. Then she set it down. Reif was attacking his food like he hadn’t eaten all day and absolutely nothing out of the ordinary had occurred to upset his appetite.

“Not in the mood for salad?” he asked. He gestured at her bowl. “It’s pretty good. I put that poppy seed dressing you like on it. What?”

“Aren’t we going to talk about it?” Quinn didn’t like that her voice was shaking a little.

“What’s the point? I said I give up and I meant it.”

“What is it you’re giving up on? Me?”

Reif dropped his fork and sat back. He picked up his wineglass and took a healthy sip. “I’m not your keeper, Quinn. You’re not a prisoner here. Maybe that’s what Tony wanted or expected, but hey, it’s not like I can call him up and ask him what I’m supposed to do. He sent you here but he never said I had to keep you locked up twenty-four/seven. If things were that serious he’d have told me. I assumed you’d know enough to keep a low profile, to not take risks, but apparently you don’t. And I’m not a babysitter.”

Quinn straightened and stared at Reif. “Okay, here we go.”

“Quinn, what do you want from me?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple question.”

“I want you to keep me safe.”

“You want me to protect you while you do whatever you want?”

“Yes.”

Reif sighed. “I’m trying. But I have my own life too. It’s not like you’d want to come to work with me every day. Office meetings and corporate presentations. You’d be begging to go back to Florida in an hour.”

She gave him a tremulous smile. “I know.”

“So, tell me about your job.”

Quinn picked up her fork. Between bites she told him, making sure to include the fact that she used her first name only, took a different route there and back every day and was paid in tips. “I had to get out of the house,” she added. “Otherwise I’d go crazy being cooped up here.”

“How do you think I felt when I came home and couldn’t find you?”

“I said I was sorry. Why were you home so early anyway? You’re never home before six.”

“I had a conference call planned that had to be rescheduled and found my afternoon free. Thought I’d see if you wanted to go sailing. Figured you were going crazy being cooped up here.”

Quinn smiled. At least he knew it wasn’t easy being under lockdown.

“I would have loved to go sailing.”

Reif didn’t respond, seeming to mull things over. He pushed the remainder of his meal away.

“So you’re okay with this?” she asked.

“No. But I don’t feel it’s my place to be okay with it. You’re an adult, Quinn. It’s your life and your choices. You don’t need my approval or anyone else’s to do what you want to do. But what I don’t think you see is how your family will be affected if something happens to you.”

“What I don’t think
you
see is that no one is really ever safe. I could get hit by a car or fall down the stairs… Why would you think they’ll blame you for something you can’t control?”

“I don’t know if they’ll blame me or not. That’s not the point. I only know I’ll blame myself if something happens to you if I could have prevented it. But I know I can’t stop you from doing things, even if I wish you wouldn’t. We’re going to have to find a compromise.”

Reif excused himself and went inside. Quinn stayed where she was thinking about what he’d said.

When she went to her room later she found a gift bag on her bed. She moved aside layers of tissue paper and lifted out a plush white cat. Bubba had a few pounds on this one, but it was soft and squishy and she hugged it to her, for a moment feeling more at home than ever.

Reif.
Damn him. He listened to her. He understood her. And that scared the hell out of her.

* * * * *

The next day Reif came home with another package. Quinn was on the sofa with the TV pitched low and tuned to CNN while she read through more research notes for her thesis.

He held the package up. “I’ve got something for you.”

Quinn narrowed her eyes, suspicious of any shopping bag that came from a boutique she didn’t recognize. “Another present?”

“It’s a surprise. Close your eyes.”

“I don’t like surprises.”

“Really? But you said you liked the kitten.”

“I did. I do. But—”

“Weren’t you surprised to find it?”

“Yes, but—”

“So you do like surprises.”

“Yes, but.” She eyed the bag in his hand once more. “I don’t trust you.”

Reif clutched at his chest. “You wound me.” He turned away. “Okay. Never mind then.”

Exasperating man. “Fine. I trust you. I’m closing my eyes. But if this is some juvenile trick where I end up covered in silly string, you’ll live to regret it.”

She sensed him moving close to her. “Keep them closed. Give me your hand.”

She did so. “You’re not getting down on one knee are you?”

“I’m down on both knees actually. I want to be sure I do this right.”

She felt the brush of his hand, heard and felt something snap around her wrist. She opened her eyes and stared at the thick black band. She turned her wrist over to see the face of what looked like some sort of complicated watch. Reif got to his feet.

“What is this?”

“It’s a tracking bracelet.”

“It’s ugly.”

“Sorry. They don’t come in hot pink leopard print.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Too bad.”

“Take it off.”

Reif grinned. “Not happening.”

“Then I’ll take it off.” She started fooling with the clasp.

“Good luck with that.”

There was no obvious way to unclasp the band that Quinn could see. Except for a tiny hole that looked like it required a special tool to access.

She threw Reif an accusing look. “I knew I couldn’t trust you.”

He sent her back one of unconcern. “The feeling is mutual. So this is our compromise.”

“
Your
compromise, you mean.”

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. They use these for patients with Alzheimer’s to keep them from wandering off. Bail bondsmen like them too.”

“What about what we talked about last night? You’re not my keeper. I’m not your prisoner. I get to make my own choices and have my freedom.”

“You do. Go wherever you want. Do whatever you want. All this does is allow me to monitor your movements. That’s it.”

Quinn stared at the bracelet. “I could just tell Tony about everything. About
us
.”

“You’re going to go back on your word and blackmail me
again
? Let me explain how that will work. You tell him about us, and I’ll tell him about the risks you’ve taken since you’ve been here. You’ll be back in Florida before I hang up the phone. Besides, I’ve been thinking I should come clean with Tony anyway. A lie of omission is still a lie and I’m never going to feel good about that. You do whatever you want.”

“I could leave, you know. I don’t have to stay here.”

He made a sweeping gesture toward the front door. “You’re free to go. It’s not like I won’t know where you are.” When Quinn didn’t move he picked up the bracelet’s packaging and left for the kitchen.

“I hate you,” Quinn mumbled at his back.

He turned and grinned at her. “No you don’t.”

“Yes I do!”

“Aww. But I
love
you!” He disappeared into the kitchen chuckling.

Quinn contemplated her tracking bracelet. It was, without a doubt, the ugliest accessory she’d ever seen. The last place she wanted it was on her wrist. She didn’t want anyone to see it, so she supposed it was a good thing that the cooler LA climate meant she mostly wore long sleeves when she was outside or at work. Maybe she could do something to it with glitter and a glue gun…

Still, to be saddled with this device twenty-four/seven? To have Reif be able to track her every move? She didn’t like that one bit. Even her dad had never gone that far, though probably only because nobody had put the idea in his head. But what were her alternatives? Reif obviously was one step ahead of her. Whatever she threatened, he seemed to have an answer for.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t make him pay for this trick. Already she had the spark of an idea.