Miss Quinn

187 ~ Shadows and Sunlight

By the time Emma had put on a sundress and sandals for dinner, and braided her still-damp hair out of her face, the boys had come inside in a flurry of good-natured yelling and pushing around. Cadmus crossed the room as soon as he spotted her, a towel draped across his shoulders and swim shorts hanging very low on his hips. Emma swallowed, hard, and then plastered a smile on her lips.

"You look lovely," Cadmus said, reaching for her waist.

She stepped out of the way, nose wrinkling. "And you smell like chlorine."

Cadmus rolled his eyes and tapped her nose. "Fine, I will go shower off the disgusting chlorine smell for you, my love. But then I get a kiss."

"You are in no position to be making demands, mister," Emma replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "But, if you're lucky, then maybe."

The grin that lit up his face made her insides turn to goo. "In that case, I will be right back."

She watched him as he strolled to his room -- their room, she had to keep reminding herself -- and then sat on one of the sofas. Across the room, Orion quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Shut up," she mumbled.

"I didn't say anything," Orion argued.

"No, but you were thinking something."

He shrugged, lazing on his own sofa, towel beneath him to keep the fabric from getting wet. "Can't I just be glad my brother is happy?"

Emma rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. But that's not what you were thinking just now."

"And how would you know?" he asked, raising his eyebrows again.

"Because I know the look you were giving me. It's the same one Venus gives me."

Orion chuckled. "Well, she would know."

"Know what?"

A smug look settled on his face as he shrugged.

"Orion, know what?"

"You told me to shut up."

Emma threw a pillow at him. He just laughed, blocking it with an arm.

"She would know the pain of seeing you two step around each other for months without saying anything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma demanded, even as she felt her cheeks warming.

"Just that we've been waiting for one of you to make the first move for a long time."

Emma suddenly found a stray thread on the sofa very interesting. She picked at it, eyes not daring to meet Orion's.

"I'm glad you finally put the bloke out of his misery," Orion continued. "Even if all his gushing is only marginally better than all his pining."

Emma didn't reply. Her mind was too busy racing. Cadmus had been right when he'd said he didn't think she was ready to know the true extent of his feelings. Both Venus and Orion now had told her something she wasn't prepared to hear. She just couldn't comprehend it -- lovely, nonchalant, sarcastic Cadmus being in love with her all these months. It didn't fit right in the view of the world she'd constructed in her head. She knew he was flirty, and had definitely flirted with her in the past, but she just thought it was his nature. She hadn't thought he meant anything by it. But maybe... maybe it was true. Maybe he'd really been acting nonchalant to her so she wouldn't realize his true feelings.

"I suppose this is the part where I warn you not to break his heart," Orion mused, now fully laying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. "I know Venus gave him the spiel already. But I mean it, Em. You know I love you both, but Cadmus is my brother. And I couldn't stand to see him heartbroken."