The Mighty Quinns: Eli Read Free

slender body, kept healthy by yoga and a vegan diet, moved with a grace and athleticism that made her hard to ignore.
    â€œRichard Baskill?” he said.
    â€œOh, stop. I don’t need you to tell me who I can and cannot screw.” She sat down across from him and tucked her feet up under her. “It’s just a thing. An undeniable sexual attraction. I’m going through menopause and they say sometimes women just freak out and try to do it with any man who walks by.” She shrugged, a coy grin twitching at the corners of her lips. “So I did. And I’ll have you know, he’s quite an accomplished lover. Besides, there’s nothing left to do about the resort. He managed to buy every politician that could have stopped it. I just figured it was time to go with the flow.”
    â€œSo the next best thing was to hop into bed with him?”
    She giggled. “We actually haven’t done it in a bed yet. He likes it when I get...creative. I couldn’t beat him with the resort, but I do hold all the power in the bedroom.”
    Eli covered his ears. “Too much information,” he shouted, shaking his head.
    â€œAll right, all right,” she said, grabbing his hand and lacing her fingers through his. “No more talk about my love life. Let’s talk about yours.”
    â€œThere’s nothing to talk about,” Eli said.
    She gave him a sad look and sighed.
    â€œIs there some kind of sexual dysfunction that keeps you from—”
    â€œStop!” Eli said. “I’m not going to talk to you about my sex life.”
    A silence descended and she busied herself braiding a strand of her hair. As much as he loved his mother’s rather mercurial personality, it often made simple conversation nearly impossible. She usually blurted out exactly what was on her mind, without the benefit of a filter. Though, truth be told, Eli had come to the conclusion that she enjoyed shocking people.
    â€œIs there some other topic we might discuss?” Eli asked.
    â€œI suppose your inability to settle down and find a purpose for your life is off-limits as well?”
    â€œThe commitment gene is missing in the Montgomery family,” he muttered. “I take after you and Trudie. I make enough money to live my life. That’s all I need for now.”
    â€œWell, in the interest of making money to live your life, I just happen to have a job for you, a good-paying job. They hired me to do it, but now that you’re home, I think you’d be perfect for it.”
    â€œWhat kind of job?”
    â€œI got a call from a production company in Los Angeles. They’re doing a reality show, a girl-in-the-wild thing where they drop this woman into the wilderness and she has to fend for herself for a year. They wanted to rent Trudie’s cabin because they’re basing the concept on her life on the mountain.”
    â€œYou rented out my grandmother’s cabin?”
    â€œYou won’t believe what they paid,” Annalise said. “It’s all very professional. This woman they got to host the show, Lucy Parker, she’s read all your grandmother’s books. She’s a huge fan.”
    â€œHow old is she?”
    â€œWhat difference does that make? I was twenty-four when I first climbed Everest. Your grandmother was fifty when she wrote her first book. Age is just another metric that men use to put women down.”
    Eli cursed softly. “All right, never mind her age. How long is she going to live there all alone? Two, three months?”
    â€œA year. And she isn’t alone. She has a dog with her.”
    â€œA year? How is a TV personality from Los Angeles going to feed herself? Does she hunt? What about chopping wood? There must be a production crew that’s going to stay with her. They wouldn’t leave her up there all alone.” He stared at Annalise. “Well? Did you ask these questions?”
    â€œWell...no. I’m