The front yard wasn’t much to look at. The grass was cut short. The dirt driveway, which I thought had been a road, ended in a huge circle that met the grass and the stone pathway that ran to the cottage.
Overall, it was cute, if a little isolated. I half expected Snow White and her dwarfs to come walking out the front door.
“Quinton?” I asked softly while looking around, taking in the scenery. “Who lives here?”
“Dash,” he said without looking at me.
Both my eyebrows shot up as my head whipped around to stare at him.
Why would he bring me here? Dash was not one of my favorite people. Outside of spying on him in the clearing, the last time I’d seen him had been the day my mother died, and I distinctly remembered him
calling me a stupid girl. I think that had been the nicest thing he’d said about me. Well, he did say I had a sweet ass. I was not impressed.
I asked a better question. “Why are we here?” I’m afraid it came out snottier than I had intended. If he’d shared our destination with me I never would have gotten in the damn car with him in the first place. And he knew it.
Quinton shut the car off and turned to face me. For the first time, I noticed he hadn’t bothered to put his seat belt on. I frowned at him, bothered by this knowledge. I needed Quinton in my life. What I didn’t need was for him to end up a mangled mess if he got into an accident and flew through the windshield, all because he was careless and didn’t take the time to buckle his seat belt.
His face lost all seriousness when he caught sight of my frown. His eyebrows drew together, and he looked confused.
“What’s the matter with you?” He asked.
He wanted to know what was the matter with me? How much time did he think we had? The list was long.
I sighed and said, “You’re not wearing your seat belt.”
He blinked before his lips curled up in a smug smirk. “Look at you,” he taunted, “all cute and caring. You give a shit about me. Already. That bond’s only gonna get stronger. First, you’re concerned for my safety. What’s next, are you gonna wash my dirty socks and scrub my back in the shower?”
My face burned, and I knew it would be an unattractive shade of red. What I wanted to do next was strangle him with the seat belt I had earlier wanted him to put on.
Wash his dirty socks? Please. Wasn’t Julian his little man servant? He could wash Quinton’s dirty clothes. I wasn’t even going to think about a naked Quinton in the shower. At least not while I was around him. I was surely embarrassed enough as it was. I did not need to ever think about a naked Quinton. That would be bad. I’d probably end up cross eyed if I did… Right?
Shit.
I unclicked the seat belt and reached for the door handle. My intent was to escape the vision of a naked Quinton with droplets of water gliding down his body. The problem was, this vision only existed in my mind. How does one escape their own mind?
Quinton gently grabbed ahold of my left arm, the arm closest to him, stopping me from trying to open the door.
His face was suddenly back to serious. I liked amused better.
“Dash is a moody bastard,” he said. I blinked, having forgotten that we were sitting parked in front of Dash’s cute cottage. “Always has been, as far as I can remember.”
I wasn’t sure I needed to know anything more than I already knew about Dash. And I didn’t know why Quint was sharing.
“He has room for you,” he rushed out. “You need to live with one of us. You’re uncomfortable with staying at the house right now and I get it, I do. I don’t like it, but I get it. Julian and Damien live together but their house is out. It’s too small for another person because it’s only got two bedrooms. That leaves us with Dash and, thankfully, he’s got room for you. And, he also doesn’t mind you staying here with him.”
I opened my mouth to protest or maybe shout at him, he saw and hurried to get out the rest.
“You’ve got a room at the house. It’s yours and will be waiting for you, whenever you’re ready. All the guys have rooms at the house, so it’s not a big deal that you do too. I’m gonna be honest with you, Ariel. I want you to live with me. I want your permanent home to be with me, wherever I am. I get why you don’t want to stay there right now, but I’m hoping this arrangement with Dash doesn’t take too long.”
I sat there staring at him with my mouth hanging open. He was crazy if he thought he could just move me in with Dash without asking me if I even wanted to live there in the first place.
I did not want to live with Dash. I didn’t want to be homeless, either. And, I really, really did not want to live at the house with Quinton and the guys. I needed to come to terms with my mother’s death before I could live there. What choice did I really have?
I sighed heavily and sat back in the seat.
“He hates me,” I mumbled. I didn’t want to live with someone who hated me, I’d already done that for most of my life.
Quinton let go of my arm. He placed his warm hand on top of my thigh and his fingers curled in.