Page 74

Story: Delicious

“The hell he is,” Nat snorts. “You could scrub your pants clean on his abs.”

Beck smirks at his—“Brother?” I blurt out. “You’re brothers?” Now that I say it out loud, I can see it. Although Beck has the lean, wiry build of a surfer—something I’ve seen with my own eyes, seen and ogled from a distance on a few occasions when I’ve wandered down to the beach for a walk—Quinn is a bit taller and bulkier. Although there doesn’t appear to be an inch of fat on him. His jeans and T-shirt pull tight over a really,reallymuscled body; seriously, the guy looks like he could bench press an SUV.

“Yep.” Quinn grins as he hooks his arm around his brother’s neck. “Even though I’m the baby brother, I’m the prettiest.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Beck elbows him in the stomach, then frowns and rubs his elbow. “Jesus, Quinn. Seriously, when did you pack on so much muscle?”

Quinn shrugs.

“Just how many Ainsleys are there?” I wonder aloud.

“Six.” Quinn turns his attention back to me. “Four boys, two girls.”

“Four brothers,” I mutter reverently.

“Nat, Beck?” Colin looks down at his watch. “Do you want to come with me? I’ve got the wedding cake samples set up.”

“Sure.” Nat heads towards Colin. “Make sure you stop by the restaurant later,” he calls over his shoulder to Quinn.

Beck pats his brother’s shoulder affectionately, then follows his fiancé. A moment later, the three of them disappear into the kitchen.

“So, I guess we haven’t been properly introduced.” Quinn holds out his hand. “I’m Quinn Ainsley.” I take his hand and stare up into those blue eyes, which are dancing in amusement. “And you are?”

“Oh…uh, Carlito.” I blink. “Carlito Rodriguez, but everyone calls me Cookie.”

His gaze sweeps over me and a smile tugs at his lips. “It suits you.”

My stomach swoops and for a second, I feel like I’m falling.

ChapterTwo

Quinn

The cool breeze tugs at my hoodie as I stand and watch the sun rise over the bay. Even though the view is spectacular as always, I close my eyes and lift my chin, tilting my face up to feel the wind ripple over my skin. The sound of the waves soothes my overactive brain.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice to be home, even though I’m not staying—something I have yet to tell my family. I sigh and fold my arms over the railing, looking over the bluff to the sheer drop that ends at the beach below.

Yesterday was hard, being back home with my mum and my sisters. My brothers all have their own places. Jesse’s with his husband Deacon, Beck with his fiancé Nat, and our oldest brother Reed, although still single, has his own house too. As a doctor based in A&E at the local hospital, he’s almost never there, but he does have a spare room. I wonder if I could stay at his place for a while?

It’s not that I don’t love my mum and Juni and Joss, my younger twin sisters who are twenty now. But my whole family is nosy and loud and all up in my business. I know they mean well and they love me, but that just makes it a hundred times worse.

I’ve been lying to all of them for nearly two years.

That’s part of what made yesterday so difficult. As soon as word spread I was back, I was swarmed with well-meaning congratulations on finishing uni and moving home permanently, not to mention peppered with questions about my degree and my future.

I was exhausted by the end of the day. I’ve couldn’t tell anyone what my plans were, not when I hadn’t even told my family the truth.

I never meant it to go on so long or the lies to get so deep. They were all so proud of me for getting a place at Exeter University to study environmental sciences. My dad, in particular, who’d been on his deathbed at the time. One of the last things he said to me was how proud he was and how I was going to change the world. Make a difference. Those were his exact words to me.

Quinn, make a difference.

I did choose to make a difference, just not in the way any of them would have thought. To be honest, it surprised me too, but I know I made the right choice. I gave up and left uni after the first year, and that was two years ago. Two years of lying to everyone about who I am and what I do.

I never meant for it to go on as long as it has, but the more time passed, the harder it was to tell them. They were all so busy; in the beginning, we were all grieving my dad, each of us just trying to make it through since he’d been the very heart of our family. Afterwards, it was the restaurant. Sully’s, my dad’s legacy, had been badly mismanaged in the wake of my dad’s passing. The manager Mum and all of us had trusted with Dad’s dream robbed the place blind and almost ran it into the ground. We were lucky that my soon-to-be brother-in-law Nat landed in the bay when he did. He’s made quite the name for himself in the past two years as a pseudo celebrity chef. Both he and Mum have turned Sully’s around, brought more business into the bay, and are closely involved with all the events that have been hosted around here, reviving our local economy and tourism.

I love my brothers and I’m so proud of them, but they and their partners cast a long shadow. Reed is a doctor, Beck is a sculptor well on his way to being famous, his fiancé Nat comes from a lot of money and, in addition to being an insanely talented chef, has just released a best-selling cookbook. Their best friend built his own craft beer company from the ground up and has just been nominated for some kind of beer award from what I hear.

Jesse, Beck’s twin, runs his own successful veterinary clinic here in the bay, and his business partner, Wyatt, is with the famous movie star Finn Gallagher. Jesse’s husband Deacon is retired now but raced boats for a living and has won just about every trophy there is for breaking speed records across the water. Their best friend is the Oscar- and Grammy-winning rockstar Kyan Amos. It’s a lot to compete with.

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