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.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74 (Reading here)
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231
- Page 232
- Page 233
- Page 234
- Page 235
- Page 236
- Page 237
- Page 238
- Page 239
- Page 240
- Page 241
- Page 242
- Page 243
- Page 244
- Page 245
- Page 246
- Page 247
- Page 248
- Page 249
- Page 250
- Page 251
- Page 252
- Page 253
- Page 254
- Page 255
- Page 256
- Page 257
- Page 258
- Page 259
- Page 260
- Page 261
- Page 262
- Page 263
- Page 264
- Page 265
- Page 266
- Page 267
- Page 268
- Page 269
- Page 270
- Page 271
- Page 272
- Page 273
- Page 274
- Page 275
- Page 276
- Page 277
- Page 278
- Page 279
- Page 280
- Page 281
- Page 282
- Page 283
- Page 284
- Page 285
- Page 286
- Page 287
- Page 288
- Page 289
- Page 290
- Page 291
- Page 292
- Page 293
- Page 294
- Page 295
- Page 296
- Page 297
- Page 298
- Page 299
- Page 300
- Page 301
- Page 302