Chapter Sixteen

After leaving schoolat noon to accompany her grandparents to an appointment with Dr. Wise, Quinn was now headed to Mama B's house. She and Dre had made plans to bake today since she was flying out to Bloomington after school tomorrow evening. She wanted to make some Thanksgiving desserts to take with her. As excited as she was to see her friends and family, a part of her didn't want to go at all, but she'd promised Oliver's family.

Armed with the ingredients she needed, she pulled up to Mama B's house.

Gray rain clouds draped the sky, and the temps were in the lower forties. With the humidity and wind, it felt much colder.

As she grabbed her purse, getting ready to go inside, Dre stepped out of the front door. He flashed that killer smile of his as he approached. Four weeks since his surgery, he appeared to be the picture of perfect health. He opened the passenger door and slid the seat as far back as it could go before sitting inside.

"Saw you drive up." Leaning over the console, he quickly kissed her. His lips were cool and his cologne smelled divine. Warmth spread through her body.

She gripped the lapels of his coat to keep him close. "Hi." She pressed her lips to his again, a longer kiss this time.

Once she finally released him, he gazed into her eyes. "Hi."

She smiled.

"Did Estelle get the rest of her test results?" he asked.

"Yes." They'd done every test imaginable on her grandmother over the last month. "The good news is her MRI was normal. The bad news is her sodium, vitamin B, and electrolytes tested abnormal. The doctor thinks a diuretic she's been taking may be the cause. They're hopeful the right supplements and medications will make her good as new, though it may take up to a year. Can you believe her forgetfulness might be from something so simple?"

"Everyone reacts differently to medicine."

"We were all crying with relief when her appointment ended. It's lovely to see Grandma enjoying Chasing Time now. I left her and Grandpa in the cafeteria kitchen making gumbo with Bobby and Thelma." She put her hand on the door handle.

"Wait. Is everything we need for baking in here?" he asked.

"Yes. Probably too much to make in one day."

"I have a change of locations. Instead of moving everything to my truck, why don't you drive?"

She squinted at him. "Where are we going?"

"I want some time alone with you before you leave. Drive, sweetheart, I'll give you directions."

Once she was on the highway headed south, he asked, "What will we be making today?"

"Everyone's favorites. Hello Dollies for my dad, snickerdoodles for my mom, brownies for Ike, and fudge for Shane."

"We watched the boys play a few games, but you haven't mentioned your parents much," he said.

"I guess my focus has been my grandparents since I got to town. My dad works for a huge tech company, and my mom is a nurse. They're hardworking wonderful people."

After non-stop conversation for the hour trip, they pulled up in front of a lime-green beach cabin in Galveston.

"This cabin belongs to my friend Kasey's family."

She parked underneath the beach house, out of the rain. They ascended the steps that were blocked from the rain by a huge covered porch-deck surrounding the cabin. Dre unlocked the door with a key and punched numbers into the beeping alarm beside the door.

The inside was huge. The kitchen area had a long butcher-block island with stools. A fireplace divided two huge windows overlooking the ocean. A tiny table was situated in one corner. Two couches and a couple of chairs faced a small TV. The kitchen cupboards and paneled walls were painted cream and stuffed fish were mounted everywhere. A short hallway separated two rooms with a bathroom at the end.

"I'll start a fire," Dre said.

After a ten-minute search that involved opening every kitchen cabinet and drawer, they found pans, bowls, measuring spoons, and a mixer. Finally, they were ready to bake. She set the oven to 325 degrees.

"What are we making first?" Dre opened a bag of milk chocolate chips and popped a few in his mouth.

"Hello Dollies."

"What can I do?"

"Melt a stick of butter in the microwave." She measured out graham cracker crumbs and when the butter was ready she mixed it with the crumbs. She plucked two sandwich baggies from the carton and handed them to Dre. "Put these on your hands and pat the mixture into this glass pan."

He held up his huge hand next to a baggie. "I don't think so."

She laughed, grasped his hands and studied them. "You're right. They're never going to fit."

He linked their fingers and leaned toward her as if to tell her a secret. "Large hands are useful and not only in football."

She stared at their hands. His were at least twice the size of hers. Her mind tried to gauge the size of other parts of his body. She raised her head.

His eyes met hers.

The air around them sizzled.

Time stopped.

Her heart pounded.

They'd been leading to this moment. The last month, she'd spent evenings and weekends with him as he recuperated, sharing laughs, watching TV, playing games with her grandparents, his family, and the residents at Chasing Time. Many evenings they strolled around the pond together. So she'd thought about being alone with him many times. She wanted this, wanted him.

A creeping finger of doubt pricked her insides. Her uncertainty started with her scar, with how little experience she had, and with the fact she needed to tell him about Oliver. Tell him everything that happened.

Except she didn't want to ruin the mood.

Dre must have sensed her hesitation because he squeezed her fingers and let go. He picked up the box of gallon bags. "These should work."

She chuckled and returned to measuring ingredients. When Dre finished patting the crust, she layered chocolate chips, coconut flakes, and chopped pecans before drizzling a whole can of sweetened condensed milk on top. "Most people use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but my dad prefers milk chocolate."

After setting it in the oven, they made three types of brownies.

When the timer chimed, the cabin smelled like chocolate-coconut-pecan-heaven. Quinn removed the Hello Dollies to cool and turned up the oven. Together, she and Dre transferred the brownie doughs from the mixing bowls to the pans. When the oven binged, letting her know the temperature was right, she loaded the brownie pans inside. Dre scooped out a spoonful of the Hello Dollies from one corner and ate it. He shut his eyes as he chewed. "Damn. I'm not sure I've tasted anything so delicious. Maybe the way to a man's heart is through his stomach."

Quinn laughed and took the bite he held out on the spoon to her, then measured more flour for the cookies.

"Marry me," he said in his deep voice.

She looked at him, expecting him to be smiling or smirking with humor. He wasn't. His expression was somber.

Her heartbeat thumped in her ears.

She tried to downplay the sudden seriousness between them. "You want to marry me after eating a Hello Dolly?"

~

Andre rose from thestool and approached her. Once close, he moved the flour and removed the measuring cup from her hand, grabbed her around the waist, and boosted her to sit on the countertop. "I want to marry you because everything about you fascinates me. Your laugh, your pout, your heart, your hot-as-hell body." He remembered Ms. Silver's words. I hope you find someone who makes every day better. He'd found that person. "You make every day better."

She held on to him a moment before she pulled back. Panic flashed in her eyes before she glanced away.

His heart dropped as he stepped back, giving her space.

"Dre, you've added so much to my life. You have an optimistic view of everything. You take care of things you really don't have to. You treat my grandparents and everyone at Chasing Time like they're family. But why marriage?"

This was it. He'd put his heart on the line because whether he liked it or not, this woman owned it. "Because I've fallen in love with you."

"I love you too."

Her quick response gave him no doubt she truly did love him.

She ran a hand through his hair. "We need to learn more about each other."

He sensed a veiled meaning in her words. He suspected it had to do with Oliver or the reason she didn't date athletes. She'd tell him in her own time. He went on, his words coming from a place deep in his soul. "I always thought love was hard. Like extremely hard work. Maybe I was jaded by prior relationships or watching my sister and Knox. With you, though, everything is easy. You don't make life a game I don't know the rules to. If I'm not with you, I'm impatient to see you. I want you and need you in my life. To wake every morning with your body beside mine. To go to bed every night with the taste of your lips on mine."

"We can do that without a marriage license."

She hadn't said yes, yet she also hadn't said no.

"We could. I want a vow between us though. And be warned, my mother and your grandparents will have their opinions of us living together, and I will tell them I proposed."

"We've never even made love, Dre. Who knows if we're sexually compatible?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You're right."

Grasping her nape, he brought her face to his. He kissed her with possessiveness, need, and desperation. The sweetness of the Hello Dollies on her tongue made it the hottest, most scrumptious kiss he'd ever enjoyed.

~

From the second Dreclasped her neck, Quinn melted into him. Intimate, powerful, and filled with a kind of passion she'd never experienced, the kiss stole her breath. Her body was on fire. She wanted, needed, to touch him everywhere. She lifted his t-shirt and pulled away from the kiss to yank it over his head. Her hands roamed his chest with a whisper-soft touch.

He played with the hem of her shirt. "I've only ever seen you in t-shirts."

Uncertainty thrummed through her haze of desire. "I'm most comfortable wearing t-shirts. I have a sizable scar from my open-heart surgery." Her whole life she'd been self-conscious of it, although she shouldn't be. It wasn't like it was her fault.

He rubbed her arms. "If you want to leave your shirt on, I accept your decision. However, I'd love to see and feel all of you."

Tired of being self-conscious, she bit her lip, raised her shirt, and tugged it over her head.

He pressed his lips to hers and then let them wander to the delicate spot between her neck and shoulder. He pulled back, unhooked the front closure of her bra, and peeled it off her body as he studied the scar dividing her chest all the way down her sternum. His expression didn't change.

"I thought about getting a tattoo over it, except I'm afraid it'll hurt."

He lightly traced the mark.

Some spots he touched were numb, had been for as long as she could remember. Other spots responded, sending an intense flood of tingles through her body. The other men she'd slept with didn't say much about the scar. Sometimes she'd leave her shirt on, and when she didn't, they carefully maneuvered around it without touching or kissing it.

Dre seemed to accept it easily. "I think that's a pretty sensitive spot for a tattoo. It must have been amazing to have this your whole life. Anytime you doubted yourself, all you had to do was look at this. It shows you're a fighter, a survivor. It's a reminder you can overcome anything."

She'd never viewed it in such a way. His ability of turning everything into a positive astounded her at times.

His lips replaced his fingers.

She moaned and shuddered, enjoying the hot wetness of his mouth. Her hands traveled his skin to the button on his jeans.

"Not yet." He lifted her from the counter.

"Put me down. You're still recovering."

He stilled. "I'm not such an invalid I can't carry you."

"Save your strength." By his expression, she knew he was going to argue, so she added, "Please."

With a sigh of resignation, he set her on her feet and kissed her. He steered her while she walked backward to one of the bedrooms and all the way to the bed before he gently helped her down onto the mattress and settled on top of her. Only then did he break the kiss and shift to his side. The curtains were shut, and rain beat on the roof.

"Okay, I don't want to kill the mood here, but I haven't lived the life of a monk." He tugged the phone from his front pocket to set it on the side table, then grabbed a few condoms from his other pocket and tossed them next to the phone before he turned back toward her. "I've been careful. I'm tested often and haven't been with anyone since Anita."

She turned onto her side to face him. "I've dated a handful of guys, had sex with two. The last time was three years ago. I'm clean and on the pill." She grinned mischievously. "And you did kill the mood." She rolled away from him.

He gripped her hips and drew her body to his, her back to his front. He kissed her nape and whispered, "I think I can do something about your mood," sending chills racing over her skin.

"You think?" she teased.

"Hmm." The next moments were about feeling, touching, kissing, as he took his time stretching her out on the bed and stripping her from the rest of her clothes. There would only be one first time with him, and she wanted to remember everything. She let herself think of nothing except his touch, his taste, his smell. She surrendered, trusting him.

The timer beeped.

"Let the brownies burn," Dre murmured.

Tempting. She laughed and hurried to the kitchen. After pulling out the pans and turning off the oven, she stepped back into the bedroom where Dre was on his back. His eyes devoured her. She stopped in her tracks. She couldn't believe she stood in front of him without a stitch of clothing, completely exposed, and not the least bit self-conscious. Dre had slayed that dragon for her. Even if she never saw him again after today, she'd be forever grateful to him.

~

Dre studied Quinn asshe reentered the room and approached the bed.

"My turn."

At first, he wasn't sure what she meant, then she began kissing his neck, the exposed skin of his chest, his stomach. Her touch, her mouth, felt perfect. Too perfect.

She unbuttoned his jeans and kissed her way to the spot where his surgery stitches had been. The scar was still noticeable, but almost healed completely. She frowned. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

Her words, so innocently spoken, had a whole other meaning for him at that moment. He laughed. "I couldn't be more up for this."

She buried her head against his stomach and laughed, obviously realizing what she'd said. Once he was out of all his clothes, he gave her time to get used to his body. But a man could only take so much. After a few minutes, he maneuvered her to her back and followed her cherry scent as it invited him to explore her every curve and secret. Her desire-filled inhales and exhales filled the air. She tasted as sweet as she smelled. It didn't take him long to learn what pleased her. As his mouth ventured around her body, he opened his eyes to see his hand splayed across her stomach, their skin a beautiful contrast of light and dark.

She looked at him. Her blonde hair haloed around her flushed face as her chest rose and fell in excitement.

"You're stunning. Every inch of you."

She beamed. "So are you."

He concentrated on loving her, on erasing any doubt she might have as to how compatible they were.

~

Quinn basked in theafterglow, as she attempted to get her breath back. She never knew she could feel so incredibly close to another person. Never guessed someone would look at her the way Dre did or make her feel so wanted.

She placed a hand over the riotous beat of his heart, confirming he'd been as affected as she'd been. Without opening his eyes, he moved his hand over hers, trapping it against his warm skin, and yawned.

"Did I bore you?" she said—half kidding, half not.

"It's the highest compliment I can give. You took my breath away."

"Good save." She wanted to tell him she'd never before experienced such ecstasy. It wasn't solely the phenomenal sex. It was also the connection between them. How perfectly he pleasured her.

He lifted her hand and kissed her palm. "I think we just proved we're compatible."

"Obviously," she agreed.

"I need time to recover. Take a nap with me."

"Can't." She leaned over to kiss his lips and rolled out of bed. "I've got to start the cookies."

"No, stay in bed with me. We'll nap and have round two." Dre opened his light-brown eyes, his gaze lazy. "I'll order whatever cookies you need." He reached for his phone.

She snatched it off the bedside table before he got to it. "You rest. I have to go bake though. I'm running out of time."

"Fine, I'll help like I promised." He sat up. "Afterward, we're returning to this bed for round two, and you can't deny me a nap, I'm recovering from surgery."

"Recovering? I'd say you're a hundred percent."

"You just wait until I am." He winked.

Tingling sparks zipped through her. She couldn't imagine the sex being any better. "I've been meaning to ask. Who came up with the name Chasing Time?"

"My mother used to say she felt like she was always chasing time. It seemed appropriate."

~

As she drove the darkenedwet streets home, Quinn realized a smile hadn't left her face the entire afternoon and into the evening. She and Dre had baked, talked, laughed, made love again. The day was the sweetest she'd ever spent with anyone. She was so comfortable with him. Making love, being so close to him, settled a piece of her heart.

Suddenly, everything in her wanted to accept his proposal. First, she had to share what happened with Oliver and how—

"I saw the doctor today," Dre interrupted her thoughts. "He went over everything I need to be aware of on and off the field."

Her heart skipped. She kept her eyes on the road and inhaled. Why would he ever think of going back on the field?

"No high altitudes in my near future. I'll need to seek medical attention immediately if I get a fever or experience exhaustion for no reason. I'll have blood taken every four weeks for the next six months to make certain my red blood cell count stays high."

Still stunned by the words on and off the field, she didn't respond.

"You're quiet," Dre said. "Regrets?"

She shook her head. Drawing in a breath, she found her voice. "You just surprised me. You only had surgery a few weeks ago. I haven't thought about you playing again." Technically a lie. She'd assumed his playing days were over.

"I won't be going back this season, but I'm still under contract."

Her heart, which seconds ago felt settled, now ached like it'd been torn in two. She hated how the thought of him returning to the field paralyzed her.

So close to accepting his proposal, she couldn't now. She just couldn't.

To appropriately respond to an emergency requires a very clear mind, to coolly analyze what the observations are and how to fix it. ~ Buzz Aldrin