Mick looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “Quinn, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you get caught in the crosshairs.”
She jumped up, unable to sit. “Are you kidding me? There’s no way in hell I’m letting you back down and eat crow before that horrible man! I mean it,” she said, choked up as he rose and slid his hands up and down her suddenly chilled arms. “Over my dead body, Mick.”
He held fast and gently reeled her in even though her feet had turned to lead. “Quinn, he’s going to destroy you, which will destroy me.”
“You’re not the one who did illegal things!”
“Listen to me.” He cupped her face and tilted it up to his. “It’s not too late. If you stay away from me, make it clear that I don’t mean anything to you, he’ll find another angle to try and hurt me.”
She stared at him. “You want me to walk away?” Because hell no. “I’ve already tried that, Mick, and I won’t do it again.”
“Quinn,” he breathed softly, his voice achingly full of emotion. “I don’t want whatever happens to be the end of us. I want to keep you if you’ll have me. But this is your decision, your last chance to avoid more heartbreak.”
Her forehead dropped to his chest as an escape from the intensity of his gaze. She knew he was right. Despite all the wonderful things about the man, he came with flaws. But so did she. If she wasn’t already in love with him, she would’ve fallen in love with him for giving her the time to think it through.
As if she needed any time at all.
She turned her head to rest her cheek against a warm, hard pec, thoughts racing. She couldn’t lose Tilly now, she just couldn’t. She’d fought tooth and nail for her.
The way Mick fought tooth and nail to help his mom, and anyone else he cared about. The way Skye had driven up to Wildstone for one day just to make sure she was okay. The way Greta and Trinee had each other’s backs.
The way her own mom had spent her life just wanting Quinn to be happy, when they both knew that emotion was elusive as hell. A lump formed in her throat. Love wasn’t in the words, love was in the deeds, trying to give your daughter everything you’d never had, including buying a restaurant just to give her the job she wanted.
Or in Tilly’s case, giving up a chest of things that her mom had made with her own hands in order to give someone else some peace. And in Mick’s . . . lending her a Jetpack, saving her from bugs, buying her a damn bed so she wouldn’t have to sleep on the couch, among so many other things she couldn’t even count them all. She struggled to take it in and came to a conclusion.
Happiness was real. It was a state of mind. So was love, and she had more than her fair share of that.
Time to give some back.
She lifted her head. “I want you to fight for Wildstone, and the people in it.”
“But—”
She put a finger over his lips. “I can handle the fallout. I won’t let anyone take Tilly from me, even if I have to sell my condo or borrow money from my parents to get a good attorney who’ll make mincemeat out of the city manager.”
“Quinn, this is my fight. I’ve got this.”
Stupid, wonderful man. She looked into his eyes and echoed back his own words from when he’d been angry over Brock’s visit. “You might be having trouble understanding what constitutes a relationship,” she said. “But I’m happy to explain it to you. It means I’ll be standing at your side, no matter what, no matter who we have to take down.”
He tugged her in closer. “Bloodlust. I like it.”
“I mean it, Mick. I don’t have a lot of people in my life, but the ones I do have, I feel very protective of and would fight to the death for.”
“Now you’re just trying to turn me on.”
She gave him a little, teasing smile. “Gonna kick ass and take names.”
He slid a hand into her hair and lightly tugged her face up to his. “I love you, Quinn.” His voice was gruff and honest. A promise, and more than she’d ever dreamed of.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Tilly,” he said. “Do you believe me?”
Did she?
Could she?
The answer was simple. Yes. She believed him and she believed in him.
His eyes warmed and his smile was a balm on her aching heart. “I like the way you’re looking at me,” he said.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” He shifted closer and ran his hands up her back and then down again to cup her sweet ass in his palms. But just as he leaned over her with fierce intent, there was a knock at the door.
Mick groaned. “Ignore it.”
That was a good plan and she pressed her face into his throat and inhaled deep, feeling like she needed the scent of him to survive.
There was a second knock, and with a sigh, Mick went to the door.
Joe, the old-timer who owned the gas station, stood there with a few of his cronies behind him. Lou, Not-Big-Hank, and Big Hank.
“I’ve got your problem solved,” Joe said in a been-smoking-for-five-decades voice.
“What problem?” Mick asked.
“Your city manager problem.”
Quinn could only see Mick’s back and broad shoulders, but she sensed his surprise.
“How do you know I have a city manager problem?” he asked.
“We’ve got eyes in our head, don’t we?” Lou asked.
Mick just leaned against the doorjamb, arms crossed, deceptively casual. “And?”
“And . . . we planted a spy kit,” Joe said. “No, hear us out,” he added quickly when Mick shook his head and started to speak. “We bought it on the interweb and bugged Tom’s office. We caught him admitting everything to you on the phone earlier.”
“You bugged his office,” Mick said.
“Yep.”
“That’s . . .” Mick shook his head. “Disturbing. Not to mention illegal.”
“It’s okay,” Joe said. “Let ’em throw the book at me. What’ll I get, five years in the big house?” He glanced behind him at the others, who all nodded like a row of geriatric bobbleheads.
“We figured it all out. I’m the one with the biggest dental problems. But I can’t afford a dentist, see? So I’ll get free dental.” He beamed. “Win-win.”
The others nodded in unison again. “And if Joe kicks the bucket before his time’s up,” Big Hank said, “I’ll offer to finish it up for him. My lease is coming up next year and they’re going to raise the rent on me anyway.”
Mick craned his neck and looked at Quinn, seeming just as amused/horrified/touched as he was. She moved to his side and slipped her hand in his.
“I’m honored,” Mick said. “But there’s no way I’m letting any of you go to jail for me. And how did you even know what was going on anyway?”
“Shoot, you’ve been gone from Wildstone too long if you don’t know how this works,” Joe said with a snort. “Lou’s niece’s boyfriend’s sister works in the city offices. The city manager yelled at her last week for spilling his coffee and made her cry. She’s the one that bugged the office using the spy kit. Plus, he slept with the county recorder’s wife—her sister. That’s what everyone’s saying anyway.”
“Well, then it must be true,” Mick said with a straight face.