Sunset Rivalry: The Caliendo Resort (By The Lake: The Caliendo Resort Book 2) (9 page)

Quinn needed to know what Anya was thinking before he made any decisions. Quite possibly she was aware of another hiding place in the resort.

Before they could even discuss the possibility of locating the files there was a sound at the office entrance.

Quinn and Anya’s heads snapped in the direction of the office door.

Someone was coming.

If they were caught in this room their chance of finding the files would decrease drastically. With her family already suspicious of Anya’s unannounced return, being busted in the empty file room would put them on high alert.

“Cut the light,” Quinn ordered, already across the room pulling the hidden door shut. 

Darkness and silence enveloped the room like the hidden room it was.

Quinn strained his ears to hear who was on the other side of the fake wall and what they were doing. Since the files were missing there was a good chance whoever was entering could know about the room...was even heading for the hidden room. Worse than being caught in the room would be being caught in the room hiding with the lights off.

Laughter echoed through the wall, easing his worry. He couldn’t recognize the voices and their low whispers made it impossible to comprehend. 

He felt Anya beside him even before her side rubbed up against his, sharpening his senses.

They listened, but Quinn was getting nothing.

“It’s Marc and Kate,” Anya whispered. 

That didn’t relieve him. Marc could know about the room after taking his father’s position in the business. The questions remained: did a Caliendo have the files or had they been destroyed? 

Quinn didn’t see a positive in either of those choices. If a Caliendo possessed the files there was a high chance they were involved. If Robert destroyed them how could Quinn return home and face Dave without the answers he’d left to retrieve?

Quinn was hoping to be no more than two days and back before Dave discovered he’d taken off and to where he’d gone. The more days that passed, the more chances his brother would find out and he would be furious. If Quinn returned with nothing, Dave would never let him live it down. He despised the Caliendos. To Dave it was black and white. The Caliendos were monsters. The end.

Balancing with one arm against the wall, Quinn pressed his ear against the wood trying to decipher what sounded like a television.

Were they watching TV? In Robert’s old office?

There wasn’t even a TV in the office. 

“I think they’re watching TV,” Anya whispered.

It wasn’t her husky whisper that immobilized Quinn...although the lowness of her voice extracted a yearning to explore his desire for her. It was the way she wiggled her small body between him. The wall and the warmth of their bodies assembled a cocoon between them. With one arm resting on the wall, and the flat palm of his other hand, she’d wedged herself into his space, against his body.

“Why are they watching TV at this time?” she asked as if her senses weren’t acutely on high alert of their current stance like Quinn’s.

Why was she finding it necessary to wiggle her body against him and taunt his sanity with the smell of warm vanilla...
her smell.

“And why in Dad’s office?”

Why was she asking him?
They were her family.

The lose strands of her hair tickled his chin like a torturous kind of foreplay. His fingers balled into fists to keep from touching the silky strands. When his lips pursed to kiss the top of her head, he closed his eyes to put his mind back in check.

It was helpful when Anya stopped moving, but eliminated the moment she turned, pressing her back against the wall and her whole front against his.

“The files aren’t here,” she said.

He was fully aware of the current discovery...but the files were the last thing on his mind. If she pushed her waist against the area below his waist one more time... 

“Maybe it’s Uncle Carl. He’s a wonderful man. I mean he was there for all of our whole lives, but there is no way he was oblivious to my dad’s bad dealings...” 

Quinn agreed, with a tightening of his lower area generating more space between them. 

“Is there?”

He couldn’t answer her question. Until tonight, he’d ruled them all out as partaking while acknowledging their awareness.

“It makes me wonder if my mom knows too...” 

Probably...
maybe I should step back.

“I wonder if they are in my mom’s suite.”

He was glad one of them was forming a plan because he was trying to form a plan to not scoop her into his arms and kiss her quiet.

Anya jumped and Quinn groaned as her leg rubbed his inner thigh.

“Or Carl’s,” she said, oblivious that right now Quinn wanted nothing more than to kiss her rambling lips.

“Since Carl is shacking up with my mom. Which is weird by the way.” She poked his chest. “
You
could have given me a warning about that. My uncle and my mom. That’s a hard one to wrap my head around.” She paused and took a deep breath. “But then again, you didn’t do much warning when you threw me into the wolf pack.”

Like she’d dumped a bucket of ice water over his head he snapped back to the present and back to Anya. She wasn’t standing in front of him wanting him to touch her, kiss her, or make love to her...even if that’s where his head was. They were bound together by circumstance and
he’d
forced
her
into a situation she detested. Standing in front of him she didn’t trust him nor want him. He’d be better to remember that.

“To be eaten alive,” she continued, her resentment evident. “Alone.”

Alone, like she’d been the last two years. If anything he’d given her the people he was convinced she needed.

Quinn lowered his head to her, arching his back away from her body.

“You weren’t alone. I was right there.”

He rubbed the sides of her face with his thumb. It wasn’t a good idea, but it seemed nothing between them was a good idea.

“You weren’t there for me. You were there for yourself.”

Maybe he’d stuck around to coordinate a plan with her to find the file or maybe he’d stuck around to make sure she was alright...maybe both.

He couldn’t pull his fingers away from her skin or his eyes from hers. When he was trying to console her, he found his touch was opening her to the intimate vibes coursing between them. Her eyes widened and her lips parted like an invitation to take them. Her legs stirred against his, suddenly conscious of their contact.

This was not a good idea. His head told him no, but his body told him yes. It was a battle that he couldn’t guarantee which side would win, but knowing he better try and dissuade it.

His finger stopped, but didn’t move from her velvety skin. “Your family aren’t wolves. You know that.” He could barely get the words out. “If anyone is the wolf here, it’s me.”

Anya was quiet.

His eyes had long adjusted to the darkness and although he couldn’t define small features across her face, he could see she was assessing his words.

What was she looking for? What would she find?

She took a deep breath before saying, “They say when a wolf mates...” She swallowed hard. “...it’s for life.”

Is that what she wanted? Him forever?

After everything he’d told her and everything he’d done, was it possible she dug deeper than what he allowed? Was it possible she’d gotten access to the parts of him he gave to no one? Did she know him better than he knew himself?

What she didn’t know was he would hurt her again like he’d hurt her two years ago.

“Anya, I’m not your soul mate.” 

***

ANYA, I’M NOT your soul mate. 

She knew that.

Anya clenched her hands so she wouldn’t reach out for him, or slap him...she couldn’t decide how she felt yet. She bit her lower lip to keep from saying something else she might regret...or so her lips didn’t reach up and meet his. How the touch of those lips could make her forget everything...except him.

What was this dangerous game she was playing with him?

What was the dangerous game he was playing with her?

They were like two lost adolescents incapable of saying their inner feelings, but powerless to keep from expressing them.

You’re beautiful. I’m not your soul mate? What do you need me to do?

Talk about mixed signals. And why hadn’t he moved away from her now, separating them and reinforcing his lone wolf core?

Anya could feel every inch of his thick body, his warm breath caressing her cheek and the way his fingertip had massaged her jaw made her mouth go dry. It hadn’t been a friendly touch. There was nothing platonic about the way he touched her and she saw the desire cloud his gorgeous, yet sinister, eyes. She watched his eyebrows draw together and his jaw tighten as he fought what they both felt. He tried to hide it, but he couldn’t.

I’m not your soul mate.

But that was where it stopped. Desire. Lust. He wanted no more than the enticement between them. No future. Not her.

But Anya didn’t want a future with him either. She hadn’t come home to pursue potential prospects with Quinn. She hadn’t even considered him being here and bumping into him wasn’t even a possibility at the time.

Darn you Quinn Barker.

She pressed her hands against his chest and his heartbeat thudded against her palm. She was almost tempted to run her fingers up his torso and pull his mouth to hers. To take the one night that he offered instead of nothing at all. 

His body tightened and she knew he was moments from walking away. She wasn’t ready yet.

Anya tightened her fingers around his shirt, clutching the material so he wouldn’t leave. Not yet. She gripped the black and dark grey plaid, western style shirt, loving the rugged look it gave him and wishing he would ruggedly take her right now.

Is that all she wanted from him? A one night stand? No strings attached? Because that was all he was offering.

Her pulse thumped and her heartbeat sped up as she chose her next move. The move was hers. They were stuck in this office and if she made the move and kissed him they could spend it ravishing each other. For one night.

Then what? Walk away?

Anya wasn’t so sure she could do it twice. It went deeper for her, and to pretend that it was deeper for him too, even for just one night, would crush her. Anya wasn’t sure how much she had left in her to crush before she crashed and couldn’t get up.

“No. But you sure are a lonesome wolf.” 

She let him go.

She wanted
all
of him, from his laughter, to his smile, to the surprisingly funny things he’d once said that would make her laugh so hard her sides hurt. She wanted all of him, when he’d made it clear he wanted none of her.

He didn’t move. 

“I don’t notice how lonesome I am until you’re in my life. But you’re not really in my life at all.”

With that he walked away.

What? What!

Didn’t that just make it so much more complicated than if he’d just taken her here and left then thinking it was only sex?

Anya didn’t dare move toward Quinn. Even if she’d wanted to her legs trembled too much to move. 

A movie was on average an hour and a half, which meant if Kate and Marc left after the movie, Anya and Quinn were stuck in the dark for an hour and a half. Together. Alone. 

Anya sunk to the floor.

She didn’t know what was worse: being confined in a dark room with him and wanting to rip his clothes off, or being stuck with him and wanting to know what the hell his last comment meant. 

Complicated. 

TWO HOURS LATER silence penetrated from the other side of the wall, but Kate and Marc hadn’t left. Quinn suspected this meant they’d fallen asleep, trapping him and Anya together until morning. 

Quinn couldn’t sleep.

Hoping to catch their opportunity to escape, he’d joined Anya on the floor, who had dozed off, while he listened to every movement beyond the wall.

Her slumber was a relief. They were better off not sitting in awkward stillness with the rising tension between them.

If Quinn had known she would slip from her sitting position, alone and against the wall, to prop her side against his, he might have put a foot or two more distance between them.
Might have.

Now her head rested against his shoulder and her hand had descended to his lap at some point ...now it rested on his thigh...inches away from his burning manhood. She was sound asleep and unaware that this innocent posture was her keeping him acutely alert and super wide awake. Although he was used to late nights. 

He hardly took a breath, letting her sleep undisturbed. If they could make it through the night without another close interaction it would save them both embarrassment and discomfort.

Leaning his head against the wall, he found himself grinning more than fuming about the situation.

Although sitting here beside her slumbering body was only causing him to wonder if they had to part their separate ways after finding the files.

That was ridiculous...
wasn’t it?

It challenged everything he’d spent the last four years determined to achieve.

If Anya didn’t keep looking at him with her big round eyes, wanting him...wanting more than casual sex, then maybe he wouldn’t be contemplating what would happen if he didn’t pull the file and hand it to the police, exposing Robert for the man he really was...or had been.

That was the difference now. Robert was dead and could no longer hurt people. What good would come out of exposing him now? Quinn knew the negative events that now lined up if he followed through with his decision to expose him. The Caliendos family would suffer.

Exposing Robert had been his father, Max’s, last request on this earth and although Quinn wanted to carry out his own promise to successfully achieve that request, he was getting a sinking feeling he was no longer going about it the right way.

What were his father’s motives? They hadn’t had enough time to talk in the burning car. Was Max’s sole purpose to bring justice to Nikki? Or was it to clear everyone involved in Robert’s past? If his aim had been solely to clear Nikki, then Quinn was too late, because Robert was dead. If it were the latter, wouldn’t clearing everyone reveal their dark secrets anyway? It wasn’t exactly a win/win result.

For the first time since his father’s death Quinn could relate to his brother, Dave’s view that going forward with their dad’s fight was not in his best interest nor was it in the best interest of the parties involved.

Walk away from the Caliendo family,
Dave had repeatedly told him for the two years Quinn stayed.
We both loved Nikki and Dad but it’s not worth it.

Even if Quinn chose not to hand the file to the police, instead sharing the information with Dave so they could both move on, he couldn’t find a loop that would allow him to pursue a relationship with Anya...not where his brother was concerned.

After the turmoil Robert had bestowed upon his family, Dave would never be able to understand how deep Quinn’s feelings ran for Anya. Dave would never accept her either.

Quinn found no answers or wins in any of the situations. Everything was too murky.

Anya stirred and her breathing regulated. She was waking up.

Quinn inwardly groaned. Dealing with her right now was another mass of unanswered questions and losses.

Her body did a little stretch across his and caused his breath to catch in his lungs. Finally she settled back down beside him.  

“Are they gone?” Her sleepy voice circled around him.

“No.”

She didn’t leave his side, but she had removed her hand from his thigh.

“What time is it?” she asked.

“Three.” His answers came out brisk and short. The best thing for both of them right now would be if she fell back asleep. 

A sigh came from her. “They’re not leaving, are they?” 

“I don’t think so.” 

Anya groaned her disapproval. “Did you sleep?” 

“No.” 

She stretched again, this time pulling her body away from him to sit up. His body missed her immediately.

Shake it off.

“I can listen for a while if you want to sleep,” she offered. 

“I don’t.” More like he couldn’t. 

Anya caught him watching her. There was something about her. His eyes refused to drag his gaze away, even when he knew he should.

He watched her adjust to the darkness. They simply stared at one another. He felt the tension mounting. This was exactly what he’d feared. He’d hoped she’d close her eyes again so they could avoid this exact moment.

“Quinn?” 

He didn’t answer. Something about the way she said his name and the tone of her voice kept him from replying. As if ignoring her would sweep away his hunger for her. A man could wish.

When her fingers touched his leg, he wondered how much he really wished. Desire shot from his thigh, where she gently squeezed, right up to his groin.

Immediate desire. 

Was it because he was tired?

No.

Was it because he hadn’t been with a woman in a while...a long while?

No.

It was because this woman was Anya Caliendo and she was the only woman who had ever made him feel more than desire, more than lust.

Her majestic smile and laughter stayed with him all these years and every day he had hoped wherever she was that she was throwing her head back with that joyful laughter. But he hadn’t heard that laughter since she’d returned. It would have bothered him more if he didn’t feel the weight of her hand push down further on his leg as she propped herself up on her knees. 

“Anya...” 

Denying her was a lost cause.

The second her other hand touched his chest, sending sizzling heat through the material of his shirt, he was lost to her. The trail of heat continued as her hand moved up his chest. Her fingers dug into the hair at the base of his head. Her knees hit his legs and a moan left her mouth. Rapidly, she tugged his hair, tilting his neck to the side and no other protest even entered his mind when her lips scorched the side of his throat.

His neck arched without his permission, giving her tongue access to trace wet designs across his skin and nibble the damp, hot areas.

His hands didn’t push her away and stop what was about to happen, instead they touched her. Running down her back and up the arms of her silky blouse to grip her neck and send his fingers into her hair.

One of her legs slid over his lap and she settled against him, pressing her hips against his increasing tightness.

He moaned.

She felt amazing.

He cupped her face with both hands, unable to wait any longer, and took her mouth fully in his, kissing her hard. 

And in that swift, foggy moment everything around them vanished. Their whereabouts and why they were here, the last two years leading up to this very moment, the debate about whether they could be together or not, and the saddened look of betrayal she’d given him the night the truth about who he really was came to light.

Each stroke of their tongues took him further and further away. Just like old times. They connected quick and sure, knowing exactly what they wanted: Each other...
all of each other.

Quinn’s shirt went first. She unbuttoned the front and as her hungry hands moved across his bare skin. She left her mark, an invisible branding that she had no idea kept him from wanting another woman. His body scorched for more of her touch, more of her skin, more of her.

Her silky shirt was next. His hands ran up her back thrusting their bare torsos together as one, sending explosions of heat between them and tearing a string of moans from deep within her chest. He caught every single one with his lips.

It had never been slow and sweet with them and right now was no exception. If anything, their touch was more forceful, their kisses harder, and their need for one another so strong neither pulled away when both should have. When they should have been putting their shirts back on, all he wanted was their pants off. 

Quinn stood, lifting Anya up with him. He tried to stay away from the wall, deep down still aware they weren’t alone. But when her legs wrapped around his middle, he turned and drove her back against it. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as his lips ravished her neck, her collarbone and the mountains her bra rose to his lips.

She breathed his name, begging for more.

He took her mouth in his, carried her to the desk and set her derrière on the wood.

Soft, slow kisses eluded their mouths, instead spicy tongues flavored every inch inside.

Anya’s hands fumbled with his buckle and his with her until he was tearing the material off her legs and running his hands down her velvety skin. His pants fell down around his feet and he stepped out of them before climbing onto the desk with her.

He was hot and ready to take her, ready to delve into her, when he couldn’t ignore her quiet “shhh” against his lips as their bodies knocked the lamp. 

Then it came back to him. 

They were on
Robert’s
desk...alright that wouldn’t be the first time...but it was the desk in the hidden room where they’d been searching for the files.

Quinn pulled away from her lips. Oh, how he didn’t want to. He would have much rather removed her panties and let his lips continue the path they were heading down. But he broke their contact, he felt obligated. 

“We can’t do this.” The words sounded harsh. 

“Yes, we can. I’m a grown woman and I know what I’m getting into.” She kissed his lips, tugging his lower lip as she pulled away. “It’s only sex.” She kissed his chin, licking the scruff and nibbling on his skin. “I’m okay with that.”

Her hands wrapped around his neck, her fingers digging into the back of his head and pulling his lips against hers. She kissed him harder, wanting him more.

He couldn’t do this.

“It’s not only sex,” he said. That wasn’t the best form of shut down he’d ever thought up. He almost groaned at the stupidity of admitting that to her here and now.

She pulled away and groaned, leaning her head back on the desk. Her hands ran over her face as she inhaled deeply before looking back at him.

“Quinn don’t do that. Don’t dip deeper into something you’re not willing to explore.”

He wasn’t positive he didn’t want to explore it more.

You can’t, so get it out of your head. Sex is all you can offer her.

“I don’t want to talk,” she continued. “I just want to feel. I want to feel
you
.” She slid her hands down his middle and under his briefs. “Don’t you want to feel
me
?”

He sucked in a breath at her touch.

“Touch me, Quinn,” her throaty voice coaxed. Her hands moved behind her back and she tore her bra away. “
Touch me
.”

When her hands reached his and pulled him toward her exposed body, he stopped at the sides of her head and stroked her hair.

She was beautiful.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked.

She arched her body against him. “Yes.”

It was more than her touch that he wanted to feel. He wanted to feel who he was when he was with her. That part of him was dying to get out. That part of him kissed her.

“Let me on top cowboy and I will ride you until morning.”

Quinn laughed. He remembered this dirty talk...it didn’t always come out dirty like she thought.

Anya laughed. “Stop it!” she slapped his chest. “Why do you always do that? Laugh whenever I say something sexy.”

He kissed her nose. “Is that what you call that? Sexy?”

She pouted at him, clearly insulted.

Quinn rolled onto his back, away from the lamp, taking her with him until she was in the riding position she’d asked for. “Better?” he asked.

She straddled him and wiggled against him. The movement drove him wild inside.

“Hmm-mmm...” She kissed his throat. “It was your western shirt,” she whispered.

“That was not a western shirt.”

“Yes it was,” she sat up. “I saw the little white stitching around the shoulders.”

Quinn groaned.

Did she want to talk attire or ride him until the morning?

He sat up, catching her mouth and finishing anymore talking between them.

Maybe the best thing for them wasn’t her falling back asleep. Right now staying up all night like this sounded enticing.