by Emilia Finn
His knee hurts, and I can tell his ribs smart as he twists. But he exits the car and leans against me until I grunt – my cynical side insists he’s leaning far more than he needs to – but I don’t push him off as we make our way inside the building.
“I’ve never been in this building before you moved in.” I turn us toward the concrete staircase. “Do you live in your own filth?”
He scoffs and removes some of his weight from my shoulders. He’s perfectly capable of moving around on his own. One sore knee doesn’t disable a person, so he skips and uses the stair banister to make his way up. “I’m not a pig, Olivia. And it’s pretty rude for you to assume so.”
“I didn’t take time to look around the last time I was here, so I think I’ll decide once we’re in. Your guilt trip has no effect on me.”
“Heh.” He chuckles and grunts, only for that to then turn into a face-splitting yawn. “Fuck,” he groans. “I’m so fucking tired.”
Together, we leave the concrete stairs, and step onto thin carpet that saw its better days two decades ago. William reaches into his pocket and takes out a set of keys, and just moments after that, we step into an apartment that isn’t dirty at all.
How could it be? It’s practically empty.
The kitchen has a large, double-door refrigerator, but the glass cabinets where one would usually display fancy crockery is empty. Instead, William has a small pile stacked together; two dinner plates, two bowls, two bread plates. Beside those, two mugs, and two glass tumblers.
“Zip it,” he murmurs. “I have what I need, and not a thing more.”
“William—”
“I don’t like clutter,” he presses. “And if you’re gonna start adding knickknacks and girly shit, then you’re in charge of cleaning it. I’m putting my foot down.”
I snort and continue through to his sparsely furnished living room. One recliner, a ratty two-seater couch, and one TV. “I think a knick or a knack could go over there.”
“I said zip it,” he chuckles and wraps his arm around my neck. He makes it look like he’s leaning on me, like he needs my help to stand and walk, but what he’s really doing is pulling me in and halting my teasing by way of pressing his lips to mine. “Let’s go to bed.”
“That’s what all the cute guys say,” I counter, but I wrap my arm around his hips and let him lead me.
“Any guys say that to you from now on,” he grumbles, “cute or not, they’re gonna come to an ugly end. So watch who you flirt with, Olivia Conner. It might be the last thing they see before their lights are out.”
“You think you’re so scary.” I roll my eyes and slow at a door in the hall when William makes us stop.
He pushes the door open, slaps his hand to the wall, and reveals a bedroom with a massive, plush bed with a gray headboard and white covers. I sigh against my wishes, and let the last of my energy seep from my body.
A bed is so near, and better yet, I’ll be climbing into it with William.
“I like this room,” I murmur and begin forward. “Your bed looks so cozy.”
“It totally is.” He follows me in and shuts the door at his back. “That was the one thing I promised myself when I moved here, a nice bed. Everything else can go to shit, I just don’t care, but a comfortable bed is where it’s at.”
Instead of splitting off and going to his side of the mattress, he follows me to mine, and unsnaps my jeans like he thinks he’s going to get lucky.
“I can’t fuck right now,” he says sleepily. “But I can undress you. Then at six when Fuckface calls, I’ll probably have rallied enough to get a hard cock.”
“Well, that sounds like a lot of fun and all, but I’m gonna pass.”
I lift my shirt and drop it to the floor, and right after, when William’s eyes snap to my bra, I remove it too, and warm all over when he licks his lips. He has no clue he’s doing it, and he’s too tired to do anything about it. But the way his baser instincts are still to look at my body and want to taste sends my blood roaring.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“I’m gonna.” He draws me closer and circles my naked torso with his arms, and for just a minute, for just a single moment in time, he folds his neck and slides his tongue over my lips. “I’m gonna fall asleep while standing,” he murmurs after a moment. “Don’t let me hit my head.”
Snorting, I untwist myself from his hold and go to work undoing his belt and the button on his jeans.
The denim has ripped at his knee so bad that they’re going to have to go into the trash, but I’m careful as I lower them past his wrapped wound. I push him back a little until he sits on the edge of the bed, and when he’s down, I kneel and work on removing his shoes, his socks. I peel the jeans away and toss them to the floor. Next, I study the crisp white bandage and know for a damn fact he’ll be up and walking tomorrow, pretending that nothing is wrong. But for right now, at least, he’s vulnerable and allowing me to see it.
Glancing up, I meet his steely gaze, and freeze despite the fact I’d planned to stand and remove his shirt.
He’s tired to his very core, but his eyes study mine now with a kind of intensity that makes my stomach swirl. “You’re so beautiful,” he rasps out. “And though you shouldn’t kneel for anyone, ever, it does things to me to see you down there.”
“You want a submissive chick to boss around?” I slowly rise, only to place my knees on the bed on the outsides of his thighs. “Is that what turns you on?”
He shakes his head, and lifts his arms when I bring his shirt up. “No. I don’t want a submissive. I want an equal. I want someone strong like you, someone I don’t have to be afraid of hurting, someone who speaks her mind and pulls me up short if I start talking out my ass and hurting feelings.”
“You do that sometimes.”
He nods and moves forward to take my peaked nipple between his lips.
My breath explodes from my lungs, and my arms come around his neck.
But he’s quick. Just a sampling, just a taste, then he pulls back and grins. “Delicious.”
“You’re making it really hard for me to want to sleep.”
I toss his shirt to the floor beside mine, then pushing him back, I climb off his lap and work hard to lift his legs and push them onto the bed. He takes up ninety-percent of the massive mattress, and if he doesn’t move his ass over in two seconds, I’m going to have to climb on top to sleep.
But then again, my sluggish brain insists, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.
I stand beside the bed and quickly push my jeans down. Leaving them and my sneakers on the floor, I climb on top of the covers without pulling them back, lean over William for a moment, and scowl at his already closed eyes.
He’s already asleep. Already forgotten me.
But then he grins and blindly pulls me down until I become his little spoon.
“I asked for snuggles,” he murmurs lazily. “No way was I locking you out. Are you cold?”
I arrange myself under his heavy arm, and rest my head on his pillow, then a second later, I grunt under the weight of his leg draped over mine. “Nope. Not cold.”
He presses a kiss to the back of my neck and sighs. “Go to sleep, Sweet Olivia. When we wake, things will be different.”
“I’m glad you called me,” I whisper even as I close my eyes and immediately begin to drift off. “I was awake thinking about you anyway.”
“I know,” he sighs. “I’m always thinking about you.” He kisses the back of my neck again, then latches on with his teeth until tingles shoot straight to my toes. “I caught feelings for you the day I met you,” he admits quietly. “And I swear, I’ve thought about you every single day since. Even when I was gone.”
I drift off to the orgasmic feel of his fingertips drawing patterns into my skin. He feathers them over my hip in constant, repetitive lines that, if I was a romantic, I could swear spelled always, Will. And for right now, I choose to believe.
With a smile on my face, and a thump in
my heart, I go to sleep in William Quinn’s arms for the first time ever.
I just pray it’s not the last.
William
Always
Just as Olivia predicted, her phone began chirping at a little past six – her cop checking in – and then again at nearly eight – her brother. At nine, her mother called to say hey, and at nine-thirty, Evie texted and I was treated to Olivia’s first too-tired-to-function tantrum, when she tossed her phone across my bedroom, and let it fall to the floor with a crash.
I guess the woman who looks perfect, and tends to act perfect, has her flaws: when she’s sleepy, she gets cranky.
It’s closing in on ten now, and though I’m awake, Olivia is deep asleep and star fishing my bed. She’s naked but for her panties, and hell if seeing her like that isn’t like waving a steak in front of a dog, but I limp my way out of my room and pull on a pair of boxer shorts as I go.
Flicking my coffee machine on when I reach the kitchen, and grabbing the two mugs from the cabinet, I pick up my cell and scroll the missed calls and messages that litter my screen.
Unlike Olivia and her ‘I don’t want to make my family worry’ rule, I locked my world out without a single care for how any of them would feel. I have work to do and people to check in with, but I don’t care about those people, and the only person on this planet apart from Olivia who I don’t want to make worry, my sister, has her man to talk her down from panic.
Which meant four hours of sleep for me. Interrupted sleep, perhaps, but still, four hours of lying flat and hugging the woman who makes my breath run faster. And fuck, but I’ve had worse nights than that.
Now I’m awake, so I scroll my phone and work my way through most important to least.
Rush called again, and when I check my voicemail, he grunted out his questions; “Where are you? Did you drown?” And then ended it with “Never mind, you’re at your place with the hot chick. Catch you tomorrow.”
It really should piss me off that this guy knows who Olivia is, and worse yet, where I live and that she’s inside with me. But some guys just inspire a certain level of trust. Maybe Rush is a criminal who is now in possession of enough drugs to kill a circus and all its patrons, but still… I guess he seems cool.
My sister has left two texts: first, around six-thirty, breakfast? And then again at eight, Jamie said he heard of a ‘ruckus’ in town overnight, that may or may not have involved a really tall guy with big shoulders and fast feet, but that I’m not allowed to panic. So imma need you to text me back before I send an army out looking for you. K, asshole? Thanks.
I hit reply to her text and simply type, I’ll come over later today. Love you, Bubbles. Relax.
And then I hit redial on a number that tried calling me a little over an hour ago.
“William?” her voice is both cutting and relieved. “You’re okay?”
“Yeah.” I take my coffee and phone, and make my way to the recliner in my living room. “I’m fine. But I got home late, so I only just woke up.”
“Word around the breakfast table was that there was a close call with the cops.”
“Yeah, someone tipped ‘em off. What the fuck was up with that, huh? They nearly killed me. They clipped me, and sent me falling into the fuckin’ trees.”
She lets out a tired grunt when the sound of voices comes from somewhere on her side of the call. The voices are far away, but they silence altogether when the sound of a closing door echoes into my ear. “That wasn’t my fault. I swear I didn’t say shit.”
“Well, someone did! Because they were on us like white on rice.”
“What about the other two? Where’d they go?”
“I don’t know. Rush and I ran one way. He got the product and split off from me in the woods.”
“And Ronan?”
“He went the other way, but I have no clue where he’s at. I haven’t heard from him. You might be best to check the cages at the cop shop for him. He’s stupid enough to have gotten caught.”
“He’s not there,” she murmurs. “I swung by this morning and checked. The chief is pissed, though. Like, more pissed than usual.”
I roll my eyes and take a sip of my piping hot coffee. “That motherfucker is always pissed. He’s got anger problems, you know that? And whoever was driving needs to be charged with attempted murder, because they weren’t looking to spook me. They were going for the kill.”
She snickers like none of this is a big deal to her.
The sad thing is, I’m not sure it is, and if I were to die tomorrow while working for her, it’s possible she wouldn’t cry about it.
“Where’s my money?” she asks.
“I stashed it under a log by the road. I’ll go out and grab it today when I can get back to my truck.”
“And where are you right now?”
I glance toward the kitchen and try to hide my smile. “I’m at home.”
“But you aren’t alone, are you?”
“If you already know the answer, then why ask?”
“Because at some point soon, when her daddy figures it out, he’s gonna kill you. He will strip the skin from your bones and make you eat it. And honestly, I kinda wanna watch.”
“You’re an ass.”
“I’m also easily entertained. She’s safe, right?”
“Yeah, she’s safe. But Rush knows who she is, and that kinda bothers me. He seems cool, but I know better than to trust these people.”
“Rush is okay,” she says. “I’ll keep an eye on him, but I don’t think he’ll be a problem for Olivia. She’s not involved.”
“The fact you ‘don’t think’ he’ll be a problem is a problem for me. I need better assurances than that. Maybe I can’t stand the cops in this town, but I still wanna keep her safe, so if you have to get word out to them that she’s here, then maybe that’s the best thing to do.”
“It’ll be fine,” grits out the woman who takes my daily calls, and has done so for more than a year. “If I say it’s fine, it’s fine. I’ve got this under control. What’s your next step?”
“Sleep,” I grunt. “My knee is all kinds of fucked up.”
“You can walk?”
“Yeah. It’s a little tender, but a couple hours from now, I’ll be able to cover it with jeans and walk so no one will even know. Once I’m done here, I’ll get my truck and go grab the cash. Where do you want me to leave it?”
“The usual place,” she murmurs. “After that, I need you to find Ronan. He’s a loose cannon, so we need him squared away until the next drop.”
“And if he ran into a bear in the woods and lost his head?”
She snorts. “There are only small bears around here. But also, if he’s outta commission, that would be super inconvenient for me. Find him, then let me know what’s up. I’ll take care of Rush, and then I’ll work on smoothing things with the local PD.”
“Fine. But I’m not leaving my place for another couple of hours. I’m dead tired and need a minute.”
“You need to keep your grubby hands off of Olivia,” she snickers. “It’s not your turn yet.”
“Fuck it ain’t,” I growl, only to startle taller when her words register in my mind. “What do you mean not my turn? Whose turn is it?”
I’m met with silence, so I hurriedly pull the phone away from my ear and check that the call is still live. “Hey! Whose turn is it?”
“Who is Rush?” Olivia growls from my right, and brings me spinning around. “And why am I not safe?”
“Um…”
“What money, William? And why did you hide it in the forest so I wouldn’t see it?”
“Er…”
“Who was trying to kill you?”
“I…” Have no answers for you. “Olivia…” I shake my head and end my call. “I can’t.”
“Last night, you said some things.” She stomps forward in nothing more than one of my tanks and a pair of panties. The tank is so loose that I’m treated to a sweet side view of her tits, but she’s not gi
ving me a chance to enjoy. She stops in front of me, and glowers. “Who knows, maybe you were out of your mind and riding on adrenaline, but you said things that mean something. You said that you had feelings for me.”
“I said I’m fairly certain I love you.”
“Yes! That!” she snaps. “You said that thing about love, which means today, right now, you need to give me some answers. Otherwise, I’m gonna go for a walk in the woods, and I’m gonna see what I see. Maybe Rush will be out there,” she taunts. “Or Ronan. Who is Ronan, William?”
“You need to stay out of the fucking woods, Olivia. This isn’t a joke to me.”
“It’s not a joke to me either!” she snaps. “This shit isn’t humorous at all. Who is Rush?”
“I don’t know! A guy I work with every now and again. He’s what some would describe as a Swiss knife in business.”
When she says nothing, I add, “He’s handy, and comes with many uses.”
“And Ronan?”
“A weasel. Another guy I work with, but he’s Rush’s opposite. Useless.”
“You say you work with these guys; what do you do for work?”
“Olivia! I can’t tell you.”
“You can,” she growls. “And you will. Because if you don’t, we’re done. Whatever this is, whatever we had, and wherever we were going, it’s done. Because it’s screwing with my conscience. I know you’re doing something illegal, William. And if that’s the case, then I can’t stick around and play stupid about it.”
“If I tell you, you’ll leave!”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll still leave.” She spins on the spot, and hightails it back to my bedroom.
Groaning, I pull myself up and hobble my way into the hall and toward my door. “Olivia—”
“You have one chance to tell me.”
I stop at the door to catch an eyeful of her ass in a pair of panties, but then it’s gone, covered in jeans, and being locked away – potentially forever. “If I tell you the truth, you’re gonna brain me on the way out the door.”
“If you continue to lie to me,” she jumps in place and works on the button of her jeans, “you won’t see me ever again. Unlike Daddy’s failed attempt, I will have you removed from the gym. I’ll tell the cops to go out to the forest to search for a bag of something you hid, I’ll have Sophia ban you from the dance studio, and one of the guys at Jonah’s store likes to flirt with me, so I’ll let him know you’re harassing me, and you’ll find yourself banned from there too.”