For the Love of Quinn—Chapter 1
by Tammy Dennings Maggy
Published September 2011 Siren Bookstrand
For the Love of Quinn is currently available in all ebook formats from Bookstrand, in ebook and print from Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble. This novel is also available from iTunes.
Chapter 1
“Dr. Hollis?”
“Yes, Jillian.” Quinn closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.
“It’s Mrs. Green again. Sorry.” Jillian actually cringed, and Quinn had to laugh. She was sure the young receptionist had done all she could to keep the tenacious elderly woman at bay. Oh well, she thought, better bite the bullet.
“It’s okay. I’ll talk to her, but I am not here for anyone else. I have to finish these charts and catch a plane.”
Jillian smiled and nodded. “Have fun in Vegas, and don’t forget to bring me back a souvenir like one of those hot performers in one of the Cirque du Soleil shows!”
Quinn smiled back before picking up the phone. Even delivering bad news, she loved Jillian’s Aussie accent. “Hello, Mrs. Green. Yes, you were lucky I was still in. I am about to head out to the airport. No, Pedro cannot have a McDonald’s cheeseburger as a reward for losing another two pounds at his checkup today. Yes, I realize he’s been giving you his sad face all day, but that’s what got him to be nearly double the size he’s supposed to be! Mrs. Green, dachshunds are prone to back issues, and the heavier he is, the more likely he will rupture a disk and end up on my surgery table. Okay, be strong, Mrs. Green. You can do it! Let’s see another two pounds off of him in the next six months. Bye now!”
“Quinn Lee Hollis! What are you still doing here? I thought you were supposed to be on the red eye for Vegas.” Relief washed over Quinn when she heard the familiar voice from the hallway. Her partner in crime at work and best friend Sarah McIntyre was working the overnight shift and had agreed to take over Quinn’s cases for her. Sarah sat down next to Quinn at her desk, searching for a large clip to pull her long, curly, dark auburn hair off of her neck. “So who’s got your panties in a bunch tonight?”
“Mrs. Green is up to her old routine. I guess the five-thousand-dollar surgery estimate was not enough to keep her away from McDonald’s. Pedro got his cheeseburger tonight after his visit with us. Of course, she pretended that it had not happened and was only asking if he could do it.”
Sarah’s green eyes flashed with laughter. “That boy topped the scales at eighteen pounds a year ago, and he’s lost what, three pounds now? Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see who’ll win the hospital pool on his surgery date! What else ya got for me?”
Quinn handed her a stack of patient files. “Thank you again for covering for me. I really need to get away with my sister. It’s been four years since she’s been able to join me out here while I attend the conference.”
Sarah raised her eyebrows. “Jack being a shit again?”
“When isn’t he? He hasn’t touched me in over six months this time, even after I paraded around the house last night in nothing but my red high heels. I was offering to be his valentine, but he was too busy chatting with his buddies on Xbox Live. I literally sat on his lap, and he kept sliding me off, saying, ‘Later, babe, I’ll fuck ya silly. I promise.’”
“I’d fuck ya silly if you sat in my lap with nothing on but those heels!”
Quinn smiled and winked at her best friend of seventeen years. “Thanks, Sarah. I’ll keep that in mind.” Sarah had never kept her bisexuality a secret, but Quinn never could think of her in that way. She was like her sister. Still, it was nice to know someone thought she was hot!
“When does your sister get in to Vegas?” Sarah sat back in her chair and put her feet up on the desk. “And how the hell did you convince her to leave that group of hormones you call your nephews for two weeks?”
Quinn’s younger sister Miranda was the proud mother of three teenage boys thirteen, fifteen, and sixteen years of age. Hell on wheels, each and every one of them and their Aunt Quinn’s pride and joy as well. Since Quinn and Jackson had not been able to have their own kids, the boys had been her surrogate children. She’d spoiled them rotten from the moment they came into the world and would probably continue to do so until they all went out of it. “I told her I needed her. I never told her that before and it got her attention.”
“It’s high time you asked your family for help. Jackson has isolated you from them for far too long. You guys will be married nine years in June. How many times did you fly back to Michigan to visit besides when you went home for your Pop’s funeral?”
Quinn just shrugged.
“Exactly my point!”
“Vegas isn’t home, but it’s an escape, and I intend to have a lot of fun before, during, and after the conference.”
“You better get yourself laid.”
“Sarah!”
“Hey, it could be your chance to get that threesome under your belt. You don’t know what you’re missing!” The women stared at each other a second before Sarah continued teasing her, “What happens in Vegas…”
“Stays in Vegas!” Quinn reached for her ringing cell phone as she threw a balled-up piece of paper at Sarah, who dodged it expertly. It was Miranda. “Hey, girl! Don’t you dare tell me you can’t go, Randi!”
She could hear her sister snort and Quinn knew Miranda was rolling her baby blues. “Relax, Quinn Lee. I’m all packed and we’re in the car heading for Detroit Metro. This is so fun, flying out on a red-eye! You going to pick me up at the airport or do I have to try to get a taxi at that hour?”
“Baby girl, I’ll be waiting for you at the baggage claim to help you with your luggage. The hotel confirmed they secured the red convertible for us. Now we can cruise the strip in style.”
Miranda laughed out loud. “Quinn, we are too old to be out cruising the strip. Oh, hang on. Your youngest nephew wants a word with you.”
Her favorite little man, Robbie, had just turned thirteen in January. He was the spitting image of his dad with his mother’s killer baby blues. The girls were already chasing him. “Aunt Quinn? Make sure you and Ma don’t do anything that we wouldn’t do. Dad said he ain’t flying out there to bail your asses out of jail even if you are the hottest chicks we know!”
“Okay, smart-ass, put your mom back on the phone!”
Miranda got back on, laughing, and from what Quinn could tell, smacking her son a good one, making everyone laugh loudly. “Sorry about that. They’ve been harassing me all day about dancing on tables and flashing my boobs. Where the hell do they get these ideas?”
“Hmm, let me think. Their dad! Dancing on tables, flashing boobs, check!”
“Quinn Lee Hollis! You’re a respectable veterinarian attending a professional conference. You will keep the girls covered up, won’t you, at least during the day?”
“Hey, I dropped a hundred pounds over the last two years. I look fucking fantastic, and so do you. We can have fun, flirt a bit, and then see where the nights take us.”
“I’m gonna park my butt in front of the roulette wheel with my margaritas. Oh, and tell Sarah I will get you laid on this trip!”
“Randi!”
* * * *
Behind Closed Doors 