The Billionaire's Ballet: A Contemporary Billionaire Friends to Lovers Romance (Friends with Benefits) (15 page)

I felt frozen on the sofa. I wanted that, right? Quinn was coming home.

But did that mean I had to leave Bennett completely?

“Will we see each other again?” I asked. I stood up and moved closer to the desk.

Bennett set down the papers and looked over at me with hope in his eyes. “I would like that.”

“The dance company at the little theater on the River Walk always has a good show on weekends. Just local dancers.”

“Should I get us tickets? You sure?” The warmth in his voice made me feel warm too.

“Yes,” I said. “We do share this love of music and dance. It makes sense, right?”

He nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”

My chest relaxed. “Okay, Bennett. Take care.”

I walked to the door, desperately wanting to look back at him, but not daring to do it. I tugged on the gold handle and managed to get it open.

Everything inside me was mixed up. Quinn. Bennett. Coming home. The dance.

But Quinn would be back tomorrow!

Chapter 18

I didn’t know what to wear.

Quinn would be back on the estate anytime now, and I had everything I owned out on the bed.

I picked up a sophisticated Yves St. Laurent sleeveless day dress with buttons down the front. It made me look like a posh New Yorker and had been given to me by a boutique to wear to a charity event.

Too much, maybe. But with the Louboutins, I would look a lot like I did when I arrived last week. A picture of New York fashion.

Was that what Quinn wanted?

There was also a light breezy sundress, sheer enough to give the illusion of being see-through even through it was lined. Sexy and summery.

Or I could go with the ballerina angle. One of my leotards from rehearsals for the modern show we had done had angular cutouts, making it edgy and hard to look away from. That would get his attention.

Of course, I could go traditional ballerina. Pale pink leotard and wispy skirt.

I fell back on the bed in my fuzzy robe. This was impossible.

Amelia was on watch for me, since Mother didn’t want to hear about Quinn. She was in the studio doing yoga with the cleaning staff and horse trainers. I kept checking my phone, making sure Amelia hadn’t sent me a message.

Finally I settled on a middle ground. A pale blue leotard with a long wraparound skirt, silky and sheer. Instead of my Crocs, I slipped on a pair of blue sandals. I could carry my toe shoes. Ballerina and pretty both.

I let my hair down, keeping only a single braided ring around my head. The rest was wavy and long. I hadn’t shown my hair around Quinn since I was eighteen. And he wasn’t of the mind to notice then.

Makeup was important to avoid looking like my teen self. I added understated smoky shadow and a lot of mascara. My lips were vivid pink to complement the blue top. And glossy, to catch his eye.

Now I just had to wait.

I wandered Mother’s house. I still had three weeks here. Maybe if Quinn and I got established enough in that time, he would come see me in New York. We could travel together.

Or maybe this would be some short fling and it would end in disaster — bad enough that the brutal crush would be over.

My throat wanted to close up. Was that what I wanted? A broken heart?

I opened my empty suitcase to retrieve the photo I’d recovered from Mother’s frame. Me and Quinn as kids. I wasn’t in love with him then, too young for that, but he was still my everything. Best friend. Playmate. I touched his youthful face in the image. The love for him flooded back at me.

A few days ago, Quinn had wanted to take me with him to California. I could only hope he was ready to see me again now. We hadn’t exchanged phone numbers, so there had been no contact in these three long days.

My phone buzzed.

Amelia.

Car just pulled in.

I stuck the photo back in the luggage. I wasn’t sure what to do. Wait to hear from him?

Of course not. I was going.

My feet flew as I left the house and hurried along the wall to the front of the estate. I realized too late I had left my toe shoes behind, but it didn’t matter.

I was going to see him!

When I rounded the corner of the wall, Quinn was still by the car, waiting for Adams to take his bags out of the back.

My heart absolutely leaped at seeing him. He was super casual in jeans and a fitted T-shirt. But he looked perfect, absolutely resplendent in the afternoon sun.

“Quinn!” I called out as he headed up the steps.

He paused and turned to me. I waited by the wall.

“Jules!” He motioned for Adams to go on with his bags and came back down the steps. He held out his arms as we met in front of the mansion. “It feels like it’s been forever.”

“It has been,” I said as I tucked into an embrace, my head on his chest. This felt right, totally right. I relaxed into him. “How did things go?”

He let go of me and led me to the side gate of the wall. “Well, the gossip sites got it wrong.”

“Really? How?”

“Margie was just in therapy, not rehab. And I mean, who in Hollywood
isn’t
in therapy?” He huffed a snorting sort of laugh. “It was fine.”

“So she’s okay?”

He punched in the code on the gate and opened the iron door. “Sure, sure. She was getting ready for another role. Some detective series. She’s playing the red-lipped siren. It fits.” This laugh was more natural.

He led us to the back patio and we sat on cushioned chairs at a table by the pool. The heat descended like a blanket. We watched the water sparkle for a few moments. I was content just to be there.

Quinn hit a button built into the center of the table at the base of the umbrella. One of the butler’s boys came out.

“Can you set up the misting system for us?” Quinn asked.

The boy nodded and ran back inside.

He leaned on his elbows, his face in his hands. “Damn, it’s way hotter here than in Cali.”

I didn’t know how to answer that. I sat primly on the chair. The pool lapped against the edges of the tiled sides.

“Hey,” Quinn said. “Why don’t we take a swim?”

I held out my hand and placed it on his arm. “Quinn.”

My voice must have clued him in that something was amiss. His whole demeanor changed. “Oh, Juliet, I’m not paying a lick of attention to you. I’m sorry. I’m so distracted.”

“I understand.” My heart hammered as I work up the nerve to say what I wanted next. But I did it. “Can you just kiss me already?”

His smile was what I’d seen so many times from up on the wall. Infectious and adorable and able to charm anybody.

“I should have done that first,” he said.

He leaned in to me, his hand on my cheek, and pressed his lips to mine.
 

I sighed against his mouth. This felt right too. I was back on track. Quinn was here. We were together.

His lips moved over mine, gently, teasing, soft.

“You taste delicious,” he said, his mouth so close to mine, I could feel the breath of his words. “Let’s plan everything. Let’s do it all.”

My heart swelled. “Yes!” I said. “We can stroll along the River Walk. Go to the missions. Dance half the night.” I remembered my ankle. “Okay, part of the night.”

Quinn squeezed my hand. “I think I need to lay a little low for a while, on account of Margie and those rabid photographers,” he said. “But we can do lots of things here.”

“Of course,” I said, tucking my disappointment away. “We can ride horses. And swim, like you said.”

“Sounds perfect,” Quinn said. He pressed the button again. “I’m starving. Let me get us something to eat.”

I waited with him for Amelia to come out, trying to set aside my discomfort at having our family friend wait on me. This is what I had wanted, of course. I needed to be happy that this day had arrived.

I forced myself not to glance back at the mansion. And definitely not to wonder if Bennett was working in his study inside it.

Chapter 19

The horses’ hooves thundered as we ran down the trail. My hair streamed behind me, and I hoped Quinn was noticing. We were headed to the field where we walked on my first day back.

We had a blanket and a picnic basket for lunch.

And I had some serious hope that things would kick up a notch.

The trail opened up at the grassy space and Quinn, who was just ahead of me, slowed his horse. I reined in Jezebelle and pulled up beside him.

“I probably jostled all the food,” Quinn said. He looked behind him at the basket strapped down on his saddle.

“So it’s shaken, not stirred,” I said. “It’ll still be good.”

Quinn laughed as he dismounted. “You’re a funny girl,” he said. “I had forgotten that.”

I swung my leg over and jumped down to the ground. The blanket was tied to my saddle in a roll. I worked with the string that held it in place while Quinn got the basket out.

It was Thursday, the third day since Quinn had come back. We’d been swimming and walking and hanging out on the patio. Quinn had gamely tried to teach me tennis, but I didn’t have any aptitude for it at all.

He didn’t tend to get up until after noon, so I spent the mornings dancing and making sure my ankle was healing properly.

He would kiss me and pull me close, but nothing else was happening. Every evening I would think,
this will be the one
, but it wasn’t. I didn’t know how to get us out of the friend zone.

The blanket came loose and Quinn took it from me, snapping it out over the grass with a sharp crack. The grass was tall, so we had to work it down, flattening a spot. When we settled on our rectangle of red plaid, we were hidden from the world, surrounded on all sides by the wild grass.

“This is cozy,” Quinn said. “As long as the bugs don’t carry us off.”

I laughed and opened the basket. “Well, we have enough food in here to share.”

Quinn laid back and stared up at the sky. I unloaded some water bottles first. I opened mine and took a long swig, watching him as he got lost in thought.

I was about to open another for him, then felt a bolt of courage and passed him mine.

He took it and sat up enough to take a drink. He didn’t notice what I’d done. So I took the bottle back and drank again with a smile.

Quinn sat up the rest of the way and peered into the basket.

I recapped the bottle and sat cross-legged as he unloaded sandwiches. I would not be all crushed like a fourteen-year-old girl. It was just a water bottle. I leaned closer to him. I just wanted him to stop being busy for a minute. To look at me. We were at our spot!

His eyes were still on the basket. “Amelia sure packed a lot of things,” he said.

I felt so discouraged that tears threatened to well up. I bit the inside of my lip and peered over his shoulder. “Looks good,” I said. My face was inches from his.

He turned and gave me a light kiss. “This was a great idea.”

That was better. Maybe after we ate, something would begin. Yesterday at the pool, Quinn had played with the string of my bathing suit as if he were considering something.

We just had to find the right moment.

We tucked into Amelia’s lunch, deli sandwiches, fresh fruit, deviled eggs, and a delectable blueberry cobbler. When we’d shoved the remains back in the basket, Quinn lay back again. “This is seriously the life, isn’t it?” he asked.

I curled up next to him, nosing in so my head was on his shoulder. I remembered the night that was like this when we were young, and my heart soared that we were back here. It’s what I’d always wanted.

I nuzzled up against him and kissed his jaw. Sweat beaded around his temple. The heat was pretty intense midafternoon.

“Months until it will get any cooler,” he said.

“We might be wearing too much,” I said. If he didn’t get
that
, then he was seriously thick.

He squeezed my shoulder but didn’t move.

Now I sensed something really was wrong. I ran through the events of the past three days. Had I said something? Had someone else talked to him? Bennett? Had Quinn found out about Dallas?

I pulled away. “Quinn?”

“Yeah?” He still looked straight into the sky.

“Is something wrong?”

This shook him out of whatever he was thinking. He propped up on his elbows. “Things are good,” he said. “This is good.”

But it wasn’t good. It wasn’t anything.

“Did you talk to…” I hesitated. “Bennett?”

“My brother? Nah. We don’t cross paths much.”

I carefully released my held breath. “Was it your trip? Did everything really go okay in California?”

This got him, I could tell. He shifted uncomfortably. “I told you Margie wasn’t in rehab. She got a new part. It’s all good with her.”

I chose my words carefully. “But is it all good with you?”

Quinn flashed me one of those disarming smiles, the kind that I now saw he used to deflect hard conversations. “My life is perfect.” He leaned in and kissed the tip of my nose.

“Salty,” he said with a laugh. “We need a dip.” He got up. “Come on, lazy bones. Let’s go for a swim.”

He reached for my hands and lifted me up. I wanted to put a stop to this, make him stay. Maybe I should go for broke, tell him I loved him, that I couldn’t stand this friendship. That I needed more.

I wanted to feel passionate about him, to get lost.

I just had to say it.

But Quinn had already let go and bent to retrieve the basket. He wanted away from here. My fantasy in the field was not going to happen.

Quinn didn’t want to talk about important things. He just wanted to play.

But I still had a few weeks to see this out. I had to hold on to hope.

Chapter 20

Mom watched the rain cascade down the windows and opened the drapes wider. A summer shower was always a blessing to the parched ground, but the air would be humid and unbearable for hours after.

“Looks like you won’t be riding the trail today,” she said.

I pulled on my boots anyway. “It’s Texas. It’ll stop before long. Besides, I doubt Quinn is up yet.”

“That boy definitely gets his beauty sleep,” she said.

“He’s a night owl.” I sat on a chair by the window, watching the rain.

“You been working out enough?” she asked. “You go right into rehearsals when you get back.”