I step foot into my office, coming to an abrupt halt, “Of fucking course you would,” I grunt out. There in my office are my brothers, I swear they gossip more than girls. Well, maybe not Rome but Heath, he’s the damn ringleader.
Rome is sitting in the chair that’s in front of my desk, in a suit of his own. Heath though, that asshole is sitting in my chair with his feet propped up on my desk.
“If you ruin my computer, I’ll ruin your face,” I tell him in a teasing tone. We’re the three musketeers and have always been close. Something Mom instilled in us as soon as she adopted the three of us.
“Don’t be an idiot, you couldn’t wreck a face as pretty as mine,” Heath responds with a chuckle.
“Whatever,” I walk over and push his feet off of my desk. He stands up, heading to sit beside Rome in the chairs that are placed in front of my desk.
“I take it you already called Rome, Rome already told Summer, and the telephone game has already occurred?” I question.
“Happy for you, brother. If you feel the same way I do about Summer, that all-consuming need never goes away, and brother, I can see you have it for Quinn already. You and her will have nothing but smooth sailing ahead,” Rome responds.
“Thanks, she’s definitely the one. I don’t even want her going back to her condo, and it’s only been a couple of days.”
“That’s how us Carter Brothers are, we fall, and we fall hard,” he replies.
“Not me, no way, no how. It has to be in the water. Maybe I’ll get outta town for a while,” Heath grumps
“The hell you will, you have a company to run just as much as we do. You ready for your meeting?” Rome questions.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, but I gotta tell you, as soon as it’s over, I’m leaving. Quinn’s at home and that’s where I want to be.”
“Don’t blame you, I’m leaving by three o’clock myself. Summer needs help with Sawyer around that time. He seems to be nothing but bundles of energy and while she’s still nursing him, he wakes up through the night.” He shakes his head, though he has a smile on his face, one that’s adorned with pride.
“Guess that leaves Heath to close things down today,” I laugh. He’s usually the first one out of here followed by Rome, leaving me to do the closing.
“We need to see if Renee would be interested in doing the closing of the office, even if that means her getting a raise, we’re all coming and going so much. None of us really want to have to come all the way back if we have something to do outside of here,” Heath says. He may seem like he’s always joking, Rome and I know the truth, it’s a defense mechanism.
Heath had it the worse before we landed in our Mom’s home, it’s a story so bad it would drop a grown man to his knees.
“I’m all for that, you can talk to her about it. Then let Rome and I know what she has to say,” I respond.
“Yep, I agree. I’m ready to be home more. Summer wants Sawyer to have a brother or sister soon, and who am I to deny her,” he has a wistful smile on his face. I can’t wait till the day comes that Quinn is mine, completely.
“Just so you know, Quinn has a key to my place. I confiscated ding dongs key after his morning wake-up call with mom in tow”
“I told you that was a stupid idea to give Heath a key,” Rome chuckles.
“Who, Me? Like hell, you two fuckers wouldn’t do the same thing,” his face a look of shock. He’s wrong though, Rome and I wouldn’t barge in on him if we knew he had someone staying over.
“Whatever, alright let me finish preparing for this meeting and then we can all do our thing,”
“Mason, happy you met Quinn,” Heath says as he slaps me on the back.
“Thanks, bud. You’ll find her when you’re least expecting it,” I reply back.
“You aren’t wrong,” Rome says, and we all disperse, them going to their own offices while I finish getting my notes together.
I may hate meetings, but this is the first one I’ll be going to with a smile, knowing Quinn will be home when I get there.
13
Quinn
I rushed home this morning, took a fast shower, threw on some clothes, packed a bag with some essentials along with a bathing suit. Then I did something I didn’t think I would ever do. I called Summer and asked if her and Sawyer wanted to hang out today, but first I had to go grocery shopping for Mason’s house. When I let her know my plans, she squealed and told me, “Rome mentioned you were at Mason’s house, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up until I talked to you. And you have to know, I was leery of him making the moves on you. I even told him you were off limits,” I wasn’t even mad about Summer stepping in. I know what she was doing, it was more than anyone else ever had before.