Under the Boardwalk

CHAPTER EIGHT

Quinn dribbled the basketball around the old gym at the rec center and took a shot at the basket. The ball hit the rim and bounced off. Damn, his concentration was off, Quinn thought, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.

Only hours had passed since he’d had Ari in his hotel room-warm, willing, and all over him. She’d been so close to coming apart. Yet he hadn’t even had a chance to indulge in his deeper fantasies of sinking his fingers inside her warm, moist body and feeling her clench around him. He’d never been so affected by a woman in his goddamn life. She was all he could think about.

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.

An hour later, he finally walked into Paradeisos, the diner owned by Nicholas’s sister Kassie. Quinn had never been to the diner before, but judging by the warm decor, he figured he’d be back again. Glancing around, he noticed Ari sitting at the counter in the back.

“Can I help you?” a dark-haired woman asked, menus in hand.

“Actually, I’m looking for someone. I’ll just go on back to the counter, if you don’t mind?”

“Of course not.” She smiled, her gaze raking him over from head to toe before she gestured toward the rear of the restaurant.

He strode back, all the while feeling the presence of the hostess following close on his trail as she click-clacked in her high heels. He reached Ari and chose a stool beside her, glancing over. Her hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and little makeup adorned her face. He liked her fresh, natural look better than the made-up-doll look she chose for her nights working at the casino.

“Hi there,” he said, laying one hand on the stool behind her.

She turned. Only the slightest widening of her eyes told him she was surprised to see him. “Following me even when I’m off duty?” she asked, the chill in her voice obvious. “Pretty silly of you, since there’s not much I can find out from my own family.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” he said, thinking of all Zoe knew. The usual gut-twisting guilt followed. To distract himself, he took in the basic diner look-linoleum floors, vinyl seats, tables in the center and booths by the windows, with individual coin-operated jukeboxes for each.

But considering this was a Costas restaurant, there was a unique flair. Every table had its own centerpiece of what looked like a Greek god. A naked Greek god with some portion of the anatomy left to hold flowers.

“So this is your Aunt Kassie’s place?”

“Mmm.” Ari focused her gaze on the milk shake in front of her, stirring the thick liquid.

Obviously she was going to make him work for conversation. “Is that dinner or dessert?” He pointed to her drink.

“It’s comfort food,” the hostess said.

He’d forgotten she was even there.

“Ari always drinks a milk shake when she’s got a lot on her mind. At least she used to when she lived at home. She’s been gone so long, none of us really knows what she likes anymore-”

“Go away, Daphne,” Ari said in a singsong voice. “She likes to lay the guilt on me. It makes her feel better, since she gets so much of it from her mother,” Ari explained to Quinn before tipping her head back to Daphne. “Get a life, cousin,” she said good-naturedly.

Aah, Quinn thought. So these two women were related. He’d never experienced ribbing from a family member, and he envied Ariana even this luxury.

“Here’s your Burger Deluxe.” A man dressed in black pants and a white shirt placed a plate in front of Ari.

The delicious aroma wafted under Quinn’s nose and his mouth watered.

“What can I get for your friend?” the waiter asked Ari.

“What makes you think he’s my friend?”

Ari’s voice held a trace of boredom Quinn didn’t buy for a second. Her hand was gripping her fork so tightly she’d have nail marks in her palm when she finally let go.

“His hand’s on your stool and you no tell him to get lost,” said the man whose name tag read Gus. “On second thought maybe I just call him your boyfriend?” The man chuckled.

Quinn raised an eyebrow and watched as Ariana gritted her teeth. He stifled a laugh, saying nothing. In this case discretion was smarter, especially since Ari still held the fork in her hand.

“He’s not my anything.”

“Then you won’t mind if I ask for his phone number.” Cousin Daphne leaned close, her big breasts brushing against his arm.

Ari glanced at the sight and scowled. “Argh! I should have stayed home. At least the damn monkey respects my privacy.”

Once again Quinn was tempted to chime in, this time to remind her of Spank’s Peeping Tom tendencies. But being smart, he shot Ari an I’m-so-innocent look instead.

“I get you a burger, too,” Gus said without asking if Quinn even wanted one. The other man strode off, pulling a laughing Daphne along with him.

“This side of the family is just as interesting,” Quinn said once he and Ari were alone.

She poured ketchup onto her plate then poked at the red puddle with a thick french fry. “They’ve all sent more than a few men running for the hills.”

Quinn hadn’t been a cop this long without learning how to read people, and Ari’s sarcasm was a definite cover for her share of pain. Though he enjoyed her eccentric relatives, she didn’t. She had no idea how fortunate she was to have family in her life, he thought. But apparently she’d been given good reason to distrust people’s reaction to the Costas clan.

He snagged a french fry and dipped it in the ketchup, eating it before addressing her comment. “Those men you mentioned? I’m sure they were pansies.”

She tipped her head to one side. “Lesser men than you, you mean?” she asked wryly.

“Can I help it if the men in your life don’t measure up?” He shot her his best boyish grin and she rolled her eyes.

“Coke for you,” Gus said, placing a glass in front of Quinn.

“He’s got a point, you know, Ari,” said Daphne, who’d returned, popping up along with Gus.

“Don’t you have work to do?” Ari asked her cousin.

“Ari’s last boyfriend-well, her last boyfriend we know of, since she’s so silent while going to live on her own in Vermont-well, that guy was a real piece of work. A stuffed prig with no sense of humor.” Daphne gave an exaggerated shudder.

Quinn leaned an elbow over the back of his chair. “Do tell.”

“Oh, don’t encourage her,” Ari said on a sigh.

“If she doesn’t tell, I will,” Gus said.

“Gus,” Ari said in warning, “if you snitch, I’ll tell Uncle Constantin you’ve been giving the pretty girls free drinks.”

“And it’d be worth his roar.” Ignoring other customers around the room, Gus sat down in the chair next to Quinn. “Did you know Cousin Ari is famous?”

“More like infamous,” she muttered. “Do we really have to revisit my youth?”

A beautiful woman, with teased dark hair and a bone structure similar to Nicholas’s, leaned over from the other side of the counter. “Oh, are you going to tell my favorite story?” she asked.

“I’d prefer he didn’t,” Ari said, and before Quinn could ask, she introduced the woman as her Aunt Kassie.

Quinn shook Kassie’s hand, then glanced at Daphne and Gus. “I want to hear everything.”

Ari’s face turned a delicious shade of pink, and without thinking, Quinn placed a reassuring hand on her knee. Beneath her jeans, her leg twitched, her surprise obvious, but she didn’t say a word. And he didn’t give a damn if the reason was that she didn’t want to call attention to the familiarity in front of her relatives. He was happy to be touching her, feeling the simmering heat beneath the denim and even enjoying his own body’s response.

As for her family, other men might have run off in the face of their odd behavior and eccentricity, but not Quinn. He intended to soak up as much of Ari and her relatives as he could get.

“Well,” Daphne began, “the story goes that Ariana’s mother wanted to tan the twins for an Indian princess act she would perform on the boardwalk.”

“The girls were little,” Gus chimed in, his accent making his i’s sound like e’s. “Such cute twins.” He lowered his hand to indicate about toddler height. He paused and added, his voice cracking, “May Zoe return to us soon.”

“Amen,” Daphne and Kassie said, and Quinn’s stomach churned with extra guilt.

“Anyway, Aunt Elena used instant tanning lotion. Which turned the twins orange,” Daphne explained.

“And John, he called the paper. What is the name?” Gus snapped his fingers, trying to remember.

“The National Enquirer,” Ari said, resigned.

“And this was the result.” Aunt Kassie pointed proudly to a photograph of the twins hanging on the wall, with the heading “Alien Twins Invade New Jersey” above it.

Ariana had known she couldn’t stop them from telling the story, but being prepared didn’t stop the humiliation from rising inside her. It was, as the photograph’s enlarged presence on the wall both here and at home proclaimed, her family’s proudest moment.

If Quinn hadn’t run by now, this story surely would do the trick. It had been the start of Jeffrey’s departure. Her father’s fake lie-detector test, purchased at a garage sale, had acted as the final kick out the front door. He’d used the gadget on every one of his daughter’s boyfriends. She could still recall Nicholas’s serious face as he asked her first high school boyfriend-“You sure you like girls and not boys?” The poor boy’s voice had squeaked as he answered.

Then there was Jeffrey, who’d been subjected to the question that had sent him running. Gathering her courage, Ari glanced at Quinn.

He was laughing and he didn’t look taken aback by her family’s stories. The same stories had always been fodder for gossip and teasing by friends and had sent more than one boyfriend ducking for cover. She was amazed at Quinn’s fortitude. Then again, he had nothing invested in Ariana. And the Costas family was always good for a laugh.

She glanced at her aunt and her cousins. “Go away,” she yelled at them, and to her surprise, her family scattered.

She and Quinn shared a burger in silence. She didn’t know why he’d sought her out, and until he was ready to talk she wasn’t about to ask.

When they finished, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

“You can’t pay. You’ll insult the family,” she told him. Another thing that bothered macho, I-want-to-pay-my-own-way kind of men.

He inclined his head. “Okay, then let me thank your aunt and we can be on our way.”

“We?”

He nodded. “I need you to come with me.”

She raised an eyebrow, unwilling to accept anything at face value. “Where?”

“I can’t say.”

She exhaled a frustrated breath. “Why am I not surprised? Tell me something, Quinn. What can you tell me?” She was so tired of asking for answers and receiving nothing.

He extended his hand. A peace offering? She didn’t know but reluctantly she placed her palm in his. Her skin tingled and warmth reached all the way through her body. Damn the electricity between them anyway. It was what had gotten her into trouble the other night in his hotel room and was destined to be her downfall with him now.

He curled his fingers around hers. “You shared some of your history with me.”

“Not willingly,” she muttered.

He laughed. “I’m just going to return the favor.”

She had no idea what he meant, but her rapidly beating heart prompted her to go with him. They said goodbye to her family and Aunt Kassie made him promise he’d come back soon. Then Ariana followed him to the parking lot and his familiar black truck.

Dusk had fallen and darkness had begun to settle around them. She glanced back at the rental she’d parked close to the building. “What about my car?” she asked.

“You can pick it up later.”

“I don’t want Uncle Constantin reporting I’ve been kidnapped.” Then she’d have the entire family in an uproar, and that was definitely something they didn’t need.

A smile pulled at his lips and Ariana felt ridiculously validated at the sight. “The cops would have a field day with that, since I’m one of them,” Quinn said, taking her completely by surprise.

“You’re a cop?” she asked, glancing his way.

He stopped short and drew a deep breath. “I meant I’m feeling more and more like one with all this damn watching over you,” he said, correcting himself.

“Aah. Now that makes more sense.” Even if his true explanation caused her stomach to roll over in disappointment. He hadn’t sought her out for the pure pleasure of her company as she’d begun to believe. “So you’re just here tonight to make sure I don’t go over to the casino and ask questions.” Ariana folded her arms over her chest defensively.

“It would make my life easier if that was the reason.” He shook his head and placed his hand beneath her chin.

Warmth spread from his touch throughout her body. Delicious, tingling warmth, and she didn’t want to lose the feeling.

“Let’s just forget about the casino and everything about that place for tonight, okay?”

Ariana found herself wanting to give in.

After all her worrying about her sister, uprooting her life and trying to help out, was it so bad to give in to her wants and needs for a little while?

She swallowed hard and met Quinn’s deep gaze. “Okay.”

Quinn drove to the rec center in silence. He had no business bringing this woman deeper into his life, but he couldn’t help feeling the desire to do so. He’d seen her reaction to her family, the mortification and embarrassment. Maybe if she saw the kids at the center, those with no family-embarrassing or otherwise-she’d feel better about her own.

And maybe if he spent some time with her away from the casino, he’d get over his growing feelings. Yeah, right.

He pulled into the parking lot and shut off the motor.

“Would you believe I pass this place all the time but I’ve never been inside?” Ari asked.

He nodded. “No reason for you to come here. But there are people I want you to meet.” A scratching sound distracted him and he turned. “Did you hear something?” he asked Ari.

“No. I-”

“Okay, okay, I confess,” a small, familiar voice said from behind him. From much lower behind him.

“Shit.” He reached over and grabbed, coming up with a fistful of clothing, and pulled.

“Ouch!” Sam yelled from her crouched position behind the seat. “I can get up myself.”

“Then do it. Now.”

“Sam?” Ari asked in shock. “How long have you been there?”

“Too long.” Sam sat on the back seat and stretched out her legs, groaning as she moved. “God, Quinn. How long does it take you to eat a stinkin’ meal, anyway? You were in that diner place forever!” she complained.

He glanced at Ari, who was obviously biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

He was pissed at Sam for running away again and even more annoyed at himself for being so distracted by thoughts of Ari, he hadn’t even noticed the kid who’d snuck into the back of the car while he was at the rec center with Connor.

“Sam, you can’t pull stunts like this,” Ari said in her soft voice. “What if someone had stolen the truck with you in it?”

“Nobody wants this hunk of crap.”

“Samantha,” Quinn warned before turning to Ari. “If someone had taken the truck, they’d have returned her and her smart mouth in no time. Get out of the car, miss,” he said to Sam, pulling out his cell phone as he spoke.

“Do your foster parents know you’re here?” Ari asked.

“I’m just about to find out.” He started to dial at the same time Sam burst into tears.