At First Touch (11 page)

“What are you laughing at, cowboy?” Kendra snarled, glaring at Wyatt.

“Kendra,” Quinn warned.

“Hello, Kendra. It's good to see you again,” Wyatt said, then moved cautiously toward her for a hug. He never knew if Kendra would bite or kick. Instead, she hugged him back. Hard. Wyatt tried to hide his surprise at how thin she felt under the suit she wore. He pulled back and studied her, and noticed with surprise that she didn't meet his gaze but was instead glaring at Quinn.

“You and I need to talk,” Kendra said while pointing a finger at Quinn. “You order me out here, then disappear on the morning I'm supposed to arrive. I just spent three hours stringing popcorn. Stringing popcorn, Quinn?” She turned to Wyatt and demanded, “Do I look like a woman who strings popcorn?”

“No,” Wyatt instantly responded since she looked like she actually wanted an answer.

“Exactly,” Kendra said, firmly. “Quinn owes me. Big.”

“Is the party out here?” Charlie greeted as she walked out the house and down the stairs toward them. She placed an arm around Kendra, who looked distinctly uncomfortable at the touch. “Kendra got here just in time, didn't she, Quinn? The church choir is going caroling tomorrow night and has invited all members to join.”

Kendra looked horrified as she stated, “I don't sing under any circumstances, let alone Christmas carols.”

“We're singing Christmas carols,” Charlie said, with a rare glint in her eye that meant business.

“Apparently, I'm singing Christmas carols,” Kendra said dully.

“Welcome to hell, Kendra,” Graham said, lifting a cup of eggnog in salute as he joined the group in the yard. Charlie stuck her tongue out at him. Graham instantly wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his arms to place a quick kiss on her lips. Graham smiled down at his wife, then eyed Wyatt for a moment before he said, “Where have you been? I've been calling you for the last two hours. I want to invite a few friends over tonight. Grill outside, have some beers. A little pre-Christmas party. What do you think?”

Wyatt chanced a quick glance at Quinn, who was studiously avoiding his eyes. He could not see her tonight, or any night for that matter. He was going to incorporate a strictly no-Quinn policy from here on out. He just wished his lips would stop tingling, as if reliving every nip of her teeth and tug of her lips on his.

“We're having a party tonight?” Kendra asked sarcastically. “Oh, goodie. Cowboys, cowgirls and beer. What more could a girl ask for?”

“It'll be fun, Kendra,” Graham said, with an annoyed glance in her direction before turning to Wyatt. “Won't it?”

“I can't make it tonight, Graham,” Wyatt said, carefully avoiding Quinn's eyes. “I have some paperwork to finish at home. We're getting a new drain. And then Velma Spears wants to talk to me about changing her backyard. She wants to get away from the cactuses like I've been suggesting for the past two years to drought-resistant flowers.”

Wyatt knew that he was babbling when Graham's lips quirked into a smile and Kendra looked instantly annoyed.

“Anyway, so I need to work,” Wyatt murmured in conclusion.

“That'll take two hours tops. Come on,” Graham practically pleaded then glanced at the Sibley sisters and said in a stage whisper, “Frankly, I'm outnumbered here. I need some menfolk around to even things out.”

Charlie playfully pushed Graham, who laughed, and began to tickle her in the mid-section. She shrieked and tried to evade his reach.

“I feel like I'm in a condom commercial,” Kendra muttered dryly, rolling her eyes, before she turned to Wyatt and Quinn. Her gaze flickered from one to the other, suspicion written across her face.

“You two both were un-reachable at the same time and I distinctly saw Quinn get out of Wyatt's SUV, which could only lead to one conclusion—you two were together. Somewhere. Not answering your cell phones,” Kendra said.

“We just went to lunch,” Quinn said with a small shrug.

“Yeah, it was just lunch,” Wyatt muttered, then glanced at his watch. “I've got to get back to work.”

“Tonight, party, nine o'clock,” Graham said.

Wyatt nodded reluctantly, then got into his SUV and sped away before he looked at Quinn again.

“T
alk. Now,” Kendra demanded.

Quinn sighed at the sight of her two sisters standing over her on the back porch and set down the movie script next to her on the swing. She had been able to avoid her sisters for the last two hours since Charlie had been obsessed with torturing them all with Christmas cheer, and Kendra had been too busy complaining about that to deal with Quinn. But it looked as if Quinn's grace period had ended. She still wasn't ready to face them. Not when she was still recovering from That Kiss. She never would have thought that a cowboy mortician in the middle of Sibleyville could kiss like that—or that she would have been counting the seconds, minutes and hours until she could get him to do it again.

“What are we supposed to talk about?” Quinn asked, batting her eyelashes at Kendra. Kendra frowned, while Charlie sat on the swing next to Quinn.

“We want to talk about exchanging Christmas gifts,” Kendra said dryly, then snapped, “you and Wyatt, dork. The reason you ordered me to get my ass on a plane and fly here in the middle of Christmas.”

Charlie's expression fell and she sounded hurt as she said to Kendra, “I thought you were here for Christmas because you wanted to spend time with us.”

Kendra groaned and leaned against the porch railing, while crossing her arms. “I'm not a Christmas person, Charlie. You know that.”

“But we only have each other now. You can't spend Christmas alone, without us,” Charlie protested.

“You're not alone, Charlie. You have a husband,” Kendra snarled.

Quinn was surprised by the venom and jealousy in Kendra's voice. She glanced at Charlie, who looked as surprised as she felt. There was an awkward silence in the air as Kendra stared at the hills in the distance.

“Kendra—”

Kendra cut off Charlie's hesitant tone and said, gruffly, “I'm sorry. It's just been a long day. I'm jet-lagged and I'm cranky and tired. I haven't been able to exercise, and you know what lack of exercise does to me.”

Charlie looked uncertain, but nodded after a few seconds. Kendra cleared her throat and turned to Quinn. “Now, I need an explanation about you and Wyatt and why it looked like you two were ending a date rather than you blackmailing him to do your bidding.”

“Blackmail?” Charlie squeaked, looking at Quinn with wide eyes. “You're blackmailing Wyatt?”

“Of course not,” Quinn snapped with a pointed stare at Kendra. “Wyatt and I just have a small understanding and we had lunch to talk about that.”

“All you did was have lunch?” Kendra asked, doubtfully.

“Do you think we had sex in the back of his SUV? Of course we just had lunch.” She used every one of her acting skills to refrain from blushing or giggling. It was technically the truth. There had been no sex in the back of the SUV, but if Quinn and Wyatt had had another two seconds alone in that SUV, she would have had to lie.

“What is going on?” Charlie demanded, her voice rising in frustration.

Quinn sighed loudly, then explained, “Wyatt refuses to allow me to use his house in the movie, so I bet that…that he could not get Dorrie in a week.”

Charlie's brows lowered into a frown. “Get Dorrie? What is that supposed to mean?”

“This is precisely why I didn't want to tell you. I knew you would blow it out of proportion,” Quinn muttered.

“Well, what is it supposed to mean?” Charlie demanded.

Kendra waved a hand dismissively at Charlie and accused Quinn, “There was more going on between you two than just lunch.”

“You know, I had the same feeling when I walked in on Quinn and Wyatt in the kitchen yesterday,” Charlie said excitedly. “There were strong undercurrents. I felt like I had interrupted something. I don't know what, but something was going on.”

“Wyatt Granger is not my type. Granted, he's not the unsophisticated country hick that I thought he was. And I'll even admit that he's more attractive than I ever noticed. And maybe he has a cute smile and a great body but…but…What was I saying?”

Charlie giggled, while Kendra smirked and said dryly, “You were telling us how adorable, cute Wyatt with the great body is not your type.”

“Precisely,” Quinn said firmly. “And, even if he was my type—which he's not—he's made it very clear that I'm not his.”

Kendra shook her head, annoyed. “This is what I don't understand. I thought Wyatt was in love with you. Every time we've seen him during the last year, he can barely keep his eyes off you and becomes tongue-tied. Now he wants to marry someone else?”

“Wyatt was not in love with me. And even if he was in love with me at some point, he's not anymore. In fact, he told me in no uncertain terms that I'm not Sibleyville wife material.”

“You'd make just as good of a wife as any of the other women in this town,” Kendra said defensively.

“A better wife because I would force Wyatt out of his safety zone and to take chances that he wouldn't want to take,” Quinn snapped, annoyed all over again. There was no way that Dorrie Diamond would know how to handle a kiss from Wyatt. At least, not the kiss that he had laid on Quinn.

“You're forgetting something kind of important,” Charlie pointed out calmly. “You don't even like Wyatt.”

“That's not the point,” Kendra snapped at Charlie.

“Then what is the point?”

“The point is that Quinn is just as good as anyone else, and who is Wyatt to tell her that she's not,” Kendra said, warming to her subject. “In fact, he would be lucky to get Quinn.”

“Agreed,” Quinn said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But Quinn doesn't want to marry Wyatt. She doesn't even want to date Wyatt, so why would she care one way or the other if he doesn't consider her wife material?” Charlie pointed out, sounding a little too logical for Quinn's taste.

Kendra and Quinn wordlessly stared at Charlie. Quinn narrowed her eyes at Charlie. Sometimes Charlie was too damn logical for her own good. It was decidedly un-Sibley-like. Their grandfather, Max, had believed in living life by his gut, which was precisely how he had become one of the wealthiest and most powerful black men in America.

“Who is this paragon of Sibleyville feminine virtue who Wyatt has deemed worthy of marriage?” Kendra asked dryly.

“Her name is Dorrie Diamond. She's an accountant.”

“You're not serious?”

“I am,” she responded, laughing. “She wears pearls and shirts with bows.”

“Quinn,” Charlie admonished.

“She does,” Quinn said defensively.

“I bet she's a virgin, too,” Kendra said, with a snort of irritation.

“Hey,” Charlie protested, waving her hand in the air. “The only man I've ever slept with is my husband. Not all of us can be as…experienced as you two.”

“Experienced, my ass. Just say it, Charlie. We're sluts. Good old-fashioned American sluts,” Kendra said with a wicked grin.

“She can be a virgin,” Quinn said, with a smile in Charlie's direction, then added, “But she can't be a virgin who wears pearls and has blouses with bows.”

“If that's who Wyatt wants, then let him have her,” Kendra said with a shrug. “They can have boring sex for the rest of their lives. It's too bad because I always thought Wyatt was kind of sexy…for a Sibleyville man. Too bad that he's a complete waste. He wouldn't know what to do with a real woman.”

Quinn's entire face flushed with heat as she remembered his tongue in her mouth, the confident way that his hands positioned her just so for the taking. She had a feeling that Wyatt knew exactly what to do with a woman. And that woman would be shivering and screaming his name all night.

“So are you going to be able to rein Wyatt in before the end of the week?” Kendra asked Quinn.

“One way or another,” Quinn said firmly.

“Wanna bet?” Kendra asked with a small smirk. Quinn rolled her eyes in response, while Kendra laughed maniacally.

“This family bets too much,” Charlie muttered, then stood. “I have to check on the cookies, and then we need to start getting ready for tonight.”

She walked into the house and Quinn waited until she heard Charlie's footsteps fade toward the front of the house before she asked Kendra, “Did she say
we?
”

“I distinctly heard
we
.”

“This is going to be a long night.”

Kendra nodded in agreement, then sat in the spot on the porch swing that Charlie had just vacated. “So when did you realize that you were attracted to Wyatt?”

Quinn didn't even question how Kendra knew, it was scary the things Kendra knew. “Sometime over lunch.”

“That's the first time?” Kendra asked suspiciously.

“Maybe it's been a while, but what does it matter? He lives here, I live in L.A. and never shall the two worlds meet.”

“Except with Charlie and Graham?”

“They're a completely different case. Graham has lived in every major city in the world. He's sophisticated, completely independent from this town. He probably wouldn't return now, except to visit his parents occasionally, if Charlie didn't love it here so much. Wyatt loves Sibleyville. It's his identity. He lives with his mother, for God's sake. You know how much mothers don't like me.”

Kendra laughed suddenly. “Remember Adam Siddeon's mother in tenth grade? She walked into the school dance, grabbed Adam off the dance floor while you were in the middle of doing the electric slide with him and dragged him out of the gym, all without one word.”

“I haven't had much better luck with mothers since then,” Quinn muttered.

“But you want Wyatt?”

Quinn hesitated, then admitted, “I do.”

“Then what's stopping you?”

She hated how pathetic she sounded, but said through clenched teeth, “He doesn't want me.”

“Of course he does.”

“He's already committed himself to Wonder Accountant.”

“He's not married yet, Quinn. He's not even dating her.”

“I know.” Quinn groaned and raked a hand through her hair, then automatically pulled her hair back over her ears, which instantly made her think of Wyatt. “I'm just horny. It's been a while since…In between moving from New York, trying to find a place to live, auditioning and stalking Helmut for a role in this movie, I haven't had time to deal with men. Not that I've had the chance since apparently every man in L.A. has decided that I'm not his type.”

“I've never known you to have problems finding a date since most men seem to like fake breasts and fake hair.”

“My hair is not fake,” Quinn said, glaring at Kendra.

“The point is, some men like your type of obvious beauty.”

Mollified, Quinn said, “All I had to do was breathe in New York, and I would have to beat the men off with a stick. In L.A…. Forget in L.A., in Sibleyville, I'm having problems. I mean, I have to pull out all the stops just to seduce someone like Wyatt.” Quinn laughed in disbelief and muttered, “The fact that I'm even thinking of seducing Wyatt, to begin with, proves how far I've fallen.”

“But seduce him you will, right?”

Quinn thought of Wyatt's dark eyes dropping to study her breasts with an intensity that always made her slightly nervous. “What could it hurt? We're two adults, and it can be his one last fling before matrimonial hell.”

“You could do worse.”

“This is Sibleyville. I could do much worse.”

“And how will your plans affect your bet?” Kendra asked.

“Will Wyatt really be able to keep saying no once he's slept with me?” Quinn said, trying to sound casual. “He'll feel obligated to give me the house.”

Kendra narrowed her eyes at Quinn and demanded, “But that's not the reason you want to sleep with him, is it?”

“Of course not, but if it helps me get something I want, that's just an added benefit.”

“Sometimes I'm really proud to call you my sister,” Kendra said with a sigh of maternal pride.

“Only you would think sleeping with a man to get something is a good thing.”

“I'm a realist. It's one of my best qualities.” Kendra's smile faded, and she stared at her nails for a moment before she asked, “Quinn, do you think the two of us will ever find what Charlie has?”

Quinn studied Kendra, surprised by the serious expression on her face. She had never known Kendra to want a man for anything other than sexual Olympics or to stand around while she outshone him in the boardroom. But, suddenly, Kendra looked unsure of herself. Vulnerable, even.

“Are you all right, Kendra?”

“Kendra! Quinn!” Charlie called from the kitchen. “I need help icing the cookies!”

Kendra grinned, seemingly relieved, as she brushed her hands on her skirt. “Duty calls.”