Page 6 of Temptation
Quinn nodded, her voice cutting through his thoughts. “Yeah, he suggested you when I asked him to speak and gave me your contact information. He also loaned me a team for a week when I told him what I wanted to do here.”
“Loaned you a team, huh? Tenn chuckled. “Must be nice.” He wasn't surprised Quill had given her his contact information. He had not-so-subtly suggested they would hit it off beautifully that day in front of the hospital.
“It's too bad you're married, Tenn; I have a feeling you two would really like each other.”
He was surprised he hadn’t put things together when her friend corrected him and said, “Quinn Turner.” He put it down to being trapped in his head about his wife cheating on him and the fact that Quill usually called her Q.
“Oh yeah, her and Quill are like this.” Joel held up his hand with his pointer and middle fingers crossed. “Of course, that doesn't extend to anyone else. Not even their older sister, parents, or his in-laws.” He sounded a little bitter, and Tenn had to suppress his smirk.
“Queenie, our parents, and the in-laws brought it on themselves,” Quinn said lightly, making Joel frown. “Everyone, please dig in.” She reached out and pulled a piece of the loaf off and passed it to Tenn on her left, and it was quiet as everyone took their first bites.
“This is incredible, Quinn,” Tenn said after a minute. He almost wanted to shut up and just eat the food. He was a basic cook; Viki could follow a recipe and make food taste great, but she hated cooking. This was probably the best meal he'd had in a year. “I'd like to be included in the meals with the students if you don't mind.”
“Thank you. We'd love to have you.” Quinn grinned. “There's a lot of art talk though.”
“I think I can manage that.” Tenn chuckled. Art talk was his favourite kind of talk.
“So, how long have you worked at the dealership, Viki?” Quinn asked politely.
“About six months,” Viki answered, and Tenn noticed she was avoiding Quinn's eyes and pushing the food around on her plate.
“How are you enjoying it?” Quinn was clearly trying to engage her in the conversation, but Viki was prickly with other women at the best of times.
“It's been great since I've gotten used to the work.” Viki seemed to be having trouble speaking and cleared her throat. “How did you and Joel meet?”
“At a car show. Joel was there with the dealership, and I was taking pictures of Art Deco cars for one of my series.”
“I thought she was interested in the cars.” Joel shrugged, clearly trying to end the conversation pre-emptively.
“He chased me around the car show for two hours, trying to convince me to date him. He wasn't my usual type, but he was persistent.” Quinn smiled and reached out, putting her hand on Joel's, and looked at him affectionately. Tenn didn't know how she was doing it, but the looks on both Joel's and Viki's faces were more than worth her effort. Joel looked very uncomfortable and was trying to smile back at Quinn but only managed a pained grimace. Viki looked like she was about to be sick. “What about you two?”
“We met at a party in Uni,” Tenn explained. “She thought I was on the hockey team, but that was my older brother. We look a lot alike.”
“Wait. Your older brother is Del Aston?” Joel stared at Tenn. “Former Boston Bruin Del Aston?”
“Yeah, that's him.” Tenn nodded. “Delaware Aston.”
“You’re kidding!” Joel looked at him excitedly, and Tenn waited for the inevitable, “Can you introduce us?” as he shook his head with a smile, but Joel just leaned back and looked impressed. “Wow.”
“Your parents named you after states?” Quinn grinned as she redirected the conversation. “Cute.”
“Yeah, I have sisters named Virginia and Dakota, too.” Tenn smiled back at her. “My parents are very loud patriots. At least my sister’s names are sort of normal, and I can claim to be named after a country Western singer. Poor Del, he got it the worst growing up. We all go by diminutives of our names: Del, Kota, Tenn and Ginny, much to our parent's dismay.” Quinn chuckled.
“Hey, I've heard much worse names come through the University in recent years. Then you have people like my parents. My Dad is Quinton, and Mom is Quilla, then Queenie, Quill, and Quinn.”
It was Tenn's turn to laugh. “I'm impressed there are so many Q names that aren't in foreign languages.”
“That would have been the next way to go, something barely pronounceable.” She leaned over conspiratorially. “My mom's real name is Esme. She changed it after Quill and I were born because she felt left out. Dad named us all and named me after him, so she went with Quilla. Mostly because Queenie threw a fit when she suggested Queen.”
“That's amazing.” Tenn chuckled. He noticed Joel and Viki staring at them suspiciously and decided to change the subject. “I emailed several friends and colleagues this morning, and I have three people interested in doing the speaker series so far.” He paused, wondering if she’d be open to his suggestion. “Are you sure you only want this to go on for six weeks? Because I can probably get enough speakers for sixteen weeks or longer.”
“Really?” Quinn's green eyes sparkled, and she shifted so she was facing him more directly, subtly cutting Joel and Viki out of the conversation. “Why don't we make this one eight weeks for the Fall semester and then do another eight weeks in the Spring semester?”
“We could probably find enough to do the Winter and Summer semesters too.” Tenn picked up his wine with a grin and took a sip.
“You think they could be that popular?” Quinn's eyes widened in surprise, and she gripped his forearm in her sudden excitement.
“I do. We could even do part of the series at the Museum. A joint venture between us.” Tenn smiled at her, his stomach flipping when she touched him.