‘It’s been four years,’ Alex said gently. And it would have been much sooner than that but she had held off out of respect for Liam’s mum, who would probably never get over the loss of her son and understandably so. But her marriage had been over long before he’d died, she certainly didn’t have any loyalty to Liam. But Quinn and his family didn’t know any of that. It was hard enough telling them their son and brother had died, she didn’t want to tell them he’d been a complete and utter arsehole for the last eighteen months of their marriage. They’d never spoken about the reason why Liam was estranged from his family either. What was the point of dragging up past hurts?
‘I’m well aware how long it’s been since my brother died,’ Quinn said.
She stared at him in surprise. Was he angry? She’d never seen that side of him before so she didn’t know what it looked like.
He shook his head. ‘Sorry. I’m just… What about Zara? I don’t think it’s good for her to see a parade of men coming through the house.’
Alex folded her arms across her chest. ‘A parade of men? That makes it sound like I’d be sleeping with a different man every night. Is that what you think of me? Besides, sleeping with a different partner every night sounds much more like you than me.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I remember working at The Frog and Lettuce, you had a different woman with you every time you came in there.’
‘That was… a long time ago. And has nothing whatsoever to do with this.’
‘Thisis coffee with one man.’
‘You just said you’re looking for a one-night stand.’ Quinn was scowling. ‘What if it progresses into something more? Will you be bringing him back to your house, sleeping with him in the room next to Zara’s?’
‘What I do in the privacy of my own house is nothing to do with you.’
‘I love her and I worry about her.’
‘I do too and I would never do anything to upset her or cause her harm.’
‘I don’t know if she is ready to have a new dad in her life.’
‘Who said anything about that? You’re being ridiculous. What’s the real reason behind all this? Do you honestly expect me to dress in black and live in mourning for the rest of my life?’
‘No, of course not. I just hoped you would talk to me about this first.’
‘Why?’
‘Because… I want you—’
Just then a customer walked in and started looking around at Alex’s sculptures.
Alex gave the woman a winning smile before turning her attention back to Quinn. She lowered her voice. ‘You want me to do what?’
He shook his head. ‘We’ll talk about this later.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about, I’m going for that coffee.’
Quinn let out a grunt of frustration and stormed out of her studio.
She stared after him in shock. That was the first time she’d argued with Quinn about anything. He was always so laid-back and easy to talk to. She’d kind of hoped he would be happy for her, cheer her on, give her some advice. It had been a long time since she’d gone on a date.
Should she have given him some prior warning? But surely he must have expected her to start dating at some point? She sighed and shook her head. If she hadn’t been feeling guilty before, she certainly was now.
CHAPTER 3
Quinn was making one of his cutlery monsters. Every one was completely different, made from knives, forks or spoons, or other kitchen utensils, all with different facial expressions, they were very popular. This one looked particularly angry though, reflecting his mood perfectly.
He sighed. He wasn’t really angry at Alex. Of course she’d want to date and move on with her life, she wasn’t going to be mourning his brother forever and he didn’t want her to. But he’d really thought she would talk to him about it first. They talked about everything.
He’d wondered for a long time when she would be ready to date again. She’d been so upset after Liam’s death and understandably so: she’d lost her husband, the father of her child. So when she’d tried to kiss him about two months after the funeral, he’d stopped her because she was emotional and vulnerable and he would never want to take advantage of that. But he’d be lying ifhe said he wasn’t tempted. He had fallen for her so fast and so hard and he hated himself a little because of that. She was his brother’s wife and although he hadn’t spoken to Liam for over five years prior to his death, he still owed him some loyalty.
But as time had gone on and his feelings had grown stronger and he and Alex had got closer, that loyalty hadn’t seemed that important anymore, though it was still part of the reason he held himself back. He’d tried to gauge when would be a good time to tell her he had feelings for her and that he wanted to be the one to take her out on a date. He’d decided to do it at Christmas and had been planning what to say ever since making that decision.
