Clearing her throat, Dylan said, “She may have been able to get around the historic designation and got the house condemned.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Quinn said, sighing heavily as he grabbed hold of the edge of the granite countertop, the move causing his large biceps to flex along with every golden muscle in his impressive torso.
“But I happen to know that Blackwood Manor has a new owner who refuses to sell it to her,” Dylan reassured him with a firm nod as she went to take another sip of Coke only to go still when Quinn slowly, ever so slowly, looked up and had her quickly amending her previous opinion that she’d never seen him looking this pissed before when angry green eyes locked on her.
“Tell me that you didn’t pay five hundred thousand dollars for that dump,” Quinn bit out, definitely looking more pissedthan he did earlier, letting her know that she’d made a tactical error somewhere along the way.
“I didn’t pay five hundred thousand dollars for that dump,” Dylan reassured him with a nod that had his eyes narrowing dangerously on her for some reason.
She watched him close his eyes as he slowly exhaled and-
“Dylan?” Quinn said, not bothering to open his eyes as the muscles in his arms clenched in time with that muscle in his jaw.
“Perhaps we could discuss this over another Coke and some lovely, stale chocolate chip cookies?” Dylan suggested with a hopeful smile that quickly died away when he opened his eyes to glare at her.
“Start talking,” Quinn bit out through clenched teeth.
Swallowing hard, Dylan said, “When I was five, I realized that Brooke was possessed by a demon,” watching as his eyes narrowed on her.
“About Blackwood Manor,” he said with a look that told her just how close he was to spanking her ass.
“I suppose I could do that,” Dylan murmured, pausing to slowly exhale before admitting, “I bought the house for two hundred thousand dollars.”
When he didn’t say anything, Dylan stood there, doing her best not to wince as she watched that muscle in his jaw twitch faster. That led her to blurting out, “He got desperate to sell,” for some reason.
“Probably had something to do with the fact that it will cost close to a million dollars to fix and the city was on the verge of condemning it,” Quinn snapped.
Clearing her throat, Dylan said, “I planned on doing most of the work myself to save money.”
When that was met with another glare, Dylan found herself glancing at the backdoor and debating the odds of reaching it before Quinn could-
“How does Brooke fit into all of this?”
“She promised to give me access to B.T. Construction’s equipment and resources when the time came,” Dylan said, really hoping that he would leave it at that.
“For…”
“Because she adores me?” Dylan said with a hopeful smile only to swallow hard when that glare somehow intensified. She-
Sighed heavily as she climbed off the stool and said, “It’s probably better if I just showed you,” before making her way back the way they came. A few minutes later, she was dropping down on the edge of his bed and searching through her backpack until she found the black notebook that she was looking for and handed it to him.
“She threatened to tell our father about Blackwood Manor if I didn’t let her take credit for my designs,” Dylan said as she watched his glare disappear only to turn into confusion and-
“Jesus Christ,” Quinn said hoarsely, swallowing hard as he stared down at the sketch she made this morning.
“Now that our parents offered B.T. Construction, Brooke decided to cut her losses and had Blackwood Manor condemned so that she could-”
“I’ll marry you.”
CHAPTER 6
He couldn’t believe that he was doing this, and if the look on her face was any indication, neither could she.
“I’m sorry, say that again,” Dylan said, frowning adorably while he stood there, slowly exhaling as he took in the sketch of the Anderson project.
“I’ll marry you,” Quinn repeated, forcing the three words that he never thought he’d say out of his mouth for a second time.
“I see,” Dylan said, only to sigh heavily as she dropped her bag back on the floor. “And yet, I don’t see tears of joy running down your face, which makes me wonder about the sudden change of heart.”
