by Oliver, Tess
After a good five minutes of decision making, Suzy settled on a bowl of caramel swirl ice cream topped with hot fudge sauce. We'd carried our sundaes out onto the back deck where a ceiling of stars provided light and a summer breeze carried the scent from the surrounding grass and trees.
"Fantasy complete," she said as she licked a drop of ice cream off her bottom lip, a gesture that made my pulse race. She put her spoon down and rested back against the patio chair. The movement caused the shirt to cling to her body. Her taut nipples pressed against the cotton fabric. Knowing it was my shirt that was lathing across her breasts and naked skin made my cock harden. "What about you, Quinn? What is one of your fantasies? Or maybe you wake up every day and live a fantasy." She waved her arm around. "I mean this place is incredible."
I put my bowl on the ground next to my lounge. "It is. I wish I could figure out a way to repay my brother but I don't know how you can repay someone who has given you everything. Which brings me back to my fantasy." I looked over at her. "I was always the little brother, my mom's youngest. It seemed everyone was always taking care of me, looking out for me. I want that. I want someone in my life who I can take care of, someone to look after. I'm surrounded by loving friends, who I also consider family. But I want that one special person who is solely connected to me." I knew damn well I was looking at the person who already fit my description, but Suzy had never shown any interest in me. She was always sweet and friendly and fun, but she had never given even the slightest hint that she would want me in her life. I couldn't blame her. She considered me a player. I pretty much deserved that title.
Suzy tilted her head side to side. "I have to admit, that is not the fantasy I expected from the Red Knight."
"Well, before you hand me some kind of scout badge for gentlemanly manners, I should finish. Of course one of my prerequisites for this special person is that she loves sex and wild foreplay and is open to adventure in the bedroom."
"Ah ha, see, that's more what I expected out of the notorious Quinn Armstrong."
"Thought I would lead with the scout stuff hoping it would make me sound better." I stood up and lowered my hand for her to take.
"At least you earned a badge for honesty." She patted her mouth to stifle a yawn before placing her hand in mine. "I think your prerequisite sounds fun. I particularly like the wild foreplay part."
"See, I thought you might say that. I'm always telling myself, I'll bet that Suzy Q is someone who likes to have fun."
I led her inside. It was well past two in the morning.
"I'm going to let you have my bedroom, and I'm going to crash in the guest room." The words sounded stranger than hell as I said them, but I wasn't going to blow it by sleeping next to her. There was no way I'd be able to get through an entire night without fucking her. She was just too damn hot.
"No, I couldn't put you out like that. I'll take the guest room." She pressed her knuckles to her lips to stifle another yawn. "I'm so tired, I could lay down on your kitchen floor and fall into a deep sleep."
"No, take my room. I insist." I walked her down the hallway and stopped at my bedroom door. It felt as I was walking her to her parents' door. I was even a little nervous about the kiss goodnight. But there was no fucking way I was going to walk away, shut myself into the guest room, and climb into the cold, lonely bed without at least a taste of her lips.
We stopped outside the door. She peered up at me with her extraordinary eyes. "Thank you for everything, Quinn. I feel surprisingly calm and not altogether unhappy about the ugly crap I'm going to have to face in the very near future. That's all because of you."
"It has been my pleasure." I leaned down and kissed her, gently at first, then deeper. My tongue swept against hers, and she pressed against me dropping her head back, inviting me to kiss her longer. But I'd already taken my willpower to its limits. I didn't trust myself. This night needed to end like this, with her feeling better about her circumstances, and, with any luck, her thinking better of me. It would be hard to erase the reputation of a bed hopping scoundrel, but hopefully she was able to get a glimpse of the other side of Quinn Armstrong.
It took every ounce of my self control to pull my lips from hers. She crumpled lightly against me as if I had drawn away her breath by ending the kiss.
A glimmer of disappointment crossed her face but she forced a smile. "Thanks again. I can't wait to burrow in that quilt and fall fast asleep. Good night, milord."
"Good night, milady."
Ten
Suzy
As expected, I slept thoroughly and soundly. I opened my eyes to a midday sun. I sat straight up and glanced at the clock. It was nearly noon. I needed to get home. I needed to leave the fantasy and head back into the bleak reality that was my life. I'd worked hard not to think about Tate so as not to ruin the delicious night I'd spent with Quinn. He had behaved so differently than I expected that I was more than a little surprised and pleased. Perhaps I'd let rumors and coworkers' bragging have too much sway in forming my opinion of the man. Maybe he wasn't the player they all made him out to be.
I lowered my feet to the floor. The house was quiet. It was entirely plausible that Quinn was still sleeping. We had stayed up through half the night and that was after a long shift at work. For a terrible moment, I let myself wonder what my night would have been like if Quinn hadn't found me sitting on the bench. I would have had no choice except to walk to the station and ride the horrid public bus, which, after midnight, was occupied with the strangest people. Worst of all, I would have walked into my house, ready to chew Tate out for forgetting me only to find that he was fucking some woman. God, had they fucked in our bedroom? In my powder blue sheets?
I kicked the awful thoughts from my mind. I headed into the master bath, another manly but sumptuous retreat like the bathroom with the soak tub. Straight sharp lines of glass and tile were interrupted by the occasional chrome fixture. Since my overnight stay was unplanned, I would have no choice except to pull back on my costume slash serving uniform.
I washed my face and swirled a dab of toothpaste around my mouth for a few minutes. I stared at the bedraggled looking reflection in the mirror and made some quick tucks and smooth outs of my hair. It was going to have to do. As I fussed with my hair and wiped mascara out from under my eyes, a phone beeped somewhere behind me.
I spun around and noticed Quinn's phone was sitting on the dressing bench between the shower and second vanity. I had no right to look at it but my curious gaze swept over the screen. It was a text from someone named Zoe. "Are we hooking up tonight or not?" That was all the text read. It was a pretty straight forward question, so it didn't require a lot of words. There was no one named Zoe on the work staff so this particular friend was someone outside of the dinner theater.
I laughed quietly but the sound of it echoed off the tile walls. "You silly woman, Suzy," I said to myself. "You knew he was a player. One night of pampering didn't mean a darn thing." I had almost been convinced by his big heartfelt speech about wanting someone in his life to take care of, someone solely connected to him. It seemed there were probably more than a dozen women connected to him, and I was certain each one of them had been treated to a special fantastical night like me. It was probably his special trick, his pick up plan. And what an elaborate plan it was. I nearly fell for it, but I was going to give myself a little leeway on this one considering I had started the night being tossed into a coffee table and finished the night watching a woman trek out of my house with her high heels in hand.
Even so, I wasn't mad at Quinn. There was just something so genuine about the man, it was hard to dislike him. And I'd had one hell of a nice time. My pussy was going to ache every time I thought about it. Maybe all I needed was a subscription to Plaything and some of those magical toys.
I walked back into the bedroom. Quinn had delivered my work outfit and purse to the room. I pulled out my phone and turned it back on. There were three voicemails and two texts from Tate. I ignored all of them and calle
d for an Uber ride. I remembered the street name but not the number on the house so I told them I would wait on the corner.
I changed back into my server's outfit. The smell of barbecued turkey legs and onion wafted up from the flimsy cotton material. I shoved the corset belt into my purse. I was going to look strange enough walking around in an off the shoulder peasant dress. I didn't need to freak out my driver more with a corset belt.
I was more than relieved that Quinn was still sleeping. I hurried and finished dressing, then walked out to the kitchen to search for a piece of paper and pen. There was a notepad and pen in one of the kitchen drawers. I pulled it out and wrote him a quick message.
Hey, Quinn, thanks for the fun night. It really helped. See you at work. Suzy
I decided to keep it brief and informal without any flirty embellishments. That was more for me than for him. He already knew last night was just one in a long line of one night stands, but I needed to reinforce that notion in my own head. Otherwise, it would be pretty damn easy to get lost in the delirious, delicious idea of being Quinn's permanent lover.
I had gone to bed tired but also slightly disappointed that Quinn hadn't wanted to sleep with me, that he was happy to provide me with an awesome dose of pleasure but he didn't want to climb into bed with me. Now I was glad we hadn't been more intimate. It would have been much harder to accept never having his attention again after having him in bed. I was sure a long, naked, wild night of lovemaking with Quinn Armstrong was unforgettable. The last thing I needed right now was to have my head clouded with dizzying erotic daydreams of my time with him.
I walked quietly to the door. My quickly hatched plan of a fast, no strings escape was dashed. Unlike the shabby front door of my rental house, where the deadbolt no longer worked and the only thing keeping us from thieves and murderers was a thin, breakable chain, Quinn's front door was controlled by a keypad. Damn rich people and their fancy electronics.
I spun and around and looked toward the glass doors leading out to the deck. The same keypad security system controlled that door too. I startled when a door down the hallway opened. Quinn walked out wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. I'd caught glimpses of his naked chest when he was pulling on his tunic and armor in the dressing area, but I'd never had a full, unobstructed view. A tingle of heat swirled through me, and my heart did what I could only describe as a butterfly dance. He was male perfection from his broad shoulders down to the trail of dark hair that bisected his six pack. His hair was messy from a long morning of sleep, but it looked good on him.
His gaze dropped to the purse in my hand. "Were you sneaking out?" He smiled but there was a sprinkle of hurt in his tone.
"I think I've intruded on you long enough. I've called for a ride, so I'll be out of your hair in just a minute."
His face fell. "Out of my hair? Is that really what you think? Suzy, I enjoyed having you here. You are not intruding. I thought we'd make some lunch."
Every cell in my body was saying put down the purse, cancel the Uber and stay for lunch, but how the heck was I going to untangle my emotions from this mess once he grew bored and moved quickly on to his next houseguest. In fact, Zoe had plans with him tonight. I wouldn't even have a full twenty-four hours of being his special guest.
It took all my self-control to say no. "I think I need to go deal with—you know—fuckface. But I had a great time, and I'll see you around—at work."
Quinn raked some of his disheveled, long hair back with his fingers. The gesture revealed the black patch of hair under his arm and the bulging muscles of his pec and bicep. It was such a simple, natural movement, yet it sent my passion hormones into overdrive.
He padded on bare feet to the door. His silence could have been interpreted a million ways, but I was sure it was mostly relieved resignation. He knew just as well as me that we weren't going anywhere with this one night of semi-intimacy. It couldn't even have been summed up as a night of intimacy because it was one-sided.
"You're sure you don't need a ride somewhere?" he asked. "I could throw on some clothes and take you home. You might need me—" he paused, "you might need a friend when you confront that asshole."
I smiled weakly. "No, I need to face him alone. I'm not afraid of him. I'm just worried it won't be that easy to peel him off my couch and out of my house. Thanks again for everything, Quinn. You've been a great friend."
More disappointment swallowed his expression at the word friend , but it was the only word that made sense.
I walked outside into the warm afternoon sunshine. I glanced back. "By the way, your phone is in the bathroom in case you're looking for it."
"Thanks, I was wondering where I left it. Good bye, Suzy Q." He shut the door.
I headed down the long driveway to the road. There was an unexpected tug at my chest as if I had just walked away from something I would not soon forget.
Eleven
Quinn
Watching Suzy walk down the driveway and out of view, I reminded myself that I was chasing stars trying to catch someone like her. She had no interest and she'd made that undeniably clear with her hasty exit. Hell, she was even trying to sneak out, a move I had pulled more times than I liked to admit, when I wasn't interested in any subsequent conversation or relationship. But this time was different. This time she was sneaking out on me. Guess I now knew what a slap in the face it was to the person being snuck out on. Jeez, I was a fuckface too.
I headed into the bathroom to retrieve my phone. I walked through the bedroom. Suzy had made the bed and smoothed the quilt, but I could still see the impression her head had left on my pillow. The t-shirt I'd leant her was folded up and sitting on the foot of the bed. Something told me I wasn't going to wash the shirt anytime soon. I was that close. I had Suzy in my bed, tucked beneath my quilt, even wearing my t-shirt, but she had fled the scene, anxious to get away from the notorious player.
I picked my phone up off the counter. There were three texts, including the first one that was from Zoe about hanging out tonight. It had come through earlier, while Suzy was still here. She made a point of telling me about the phone, which meant she had absolutely seen it sitting on the counter. Since I'd never taken the step of hiding my texts, I could easily assume Suzy read Zoe's text. Zoe was a woman I occasionally hung out with. She was a lawyer and she was constantly traveling. Whenever she was in town, we made plans to meet up. Although our meet ups were basically a good dinner out followed by a long night of fucking. Then she would pick up her expensive suit jacket and her thousand dollar high heels, blow me a kiss and head out the door. I wouldn't see her again until her next stop through town and even then, occasionally, we were both too busy to make it work. Today, I wasn't feeling it. I also had a good excuse. I was still covering for the pickle jar disaster. The show would not go on without the Red Knight.
I texted her back. "Sorry sweets, I'm working tonight."
She texted right back, unusual for her. She must have been feeling extra horny. "How am I gonna keep myself busy without my favorite fuck?"
"I'm sure you'll figure something out," I replied. Normally I would have been bummed that I was too busy to hook up with Zoe, but this morning, I was glad to have an excuse.
I was working hard to convince myself that my lack of enthusiasm to see Zoe had nothing to do with the angel who just walked out of my house. But if I was being honest with myself, I didn't need to analyze too much. For months, I'd been wanting to get closer to Suzy, to find out why I was so darn obsessed with her, to prove to myself it was only because she was taken and I couldn't have her. But after the asshole she lived with hammered a nail in his own coffin last night, it seemed Suzy was no longer bound to a boyfriend. Yet, I was still thinking about her nonstop, her smile, the smell of her hair, the curve of her neck and an ass that was just asking to be kissed, pinched and spanked.
I put down the phone and walked to the shower. I turned on the water and flicked the lever to cold. I was definitely not over my obsession with Suzy Q.
<
br /> Twelve
Suzy
I felt close to nauseous as I climbed out of the Uber car and headed to my front door. The television was on so I knew Tate was home. Where else would he be? The bigger question was would he be alone? As I pondered that question, I realized I didn't give a damn either way. I just wanted him out of my life. Any connection or feelings I'd felt for the man had been completely wiped away by the sight of the woman carrying her shoes across the front yard. And if I really thought about it, most of those feelings had been thin and fragile at best. I had slowly lost my interest and affection for Tate, and last night was just the push I needed to sever our relationship for good. That old cliché you're better off without him could not have been more true.
On the drive home, I'd sorted through the other emotions I was experiencing, the ones that were centered around Quinn. He actually seemed somewhat hurt that I was leaving, or, more accurately, sneaking out on him. For a fleeting moment, I'd allowed myself to dream that it was because he actually cared. I flipped back through all my encounters with him at work and all the times he'd insisted he was waiting for me to be free of Tate. On one occasion, when I teased him about seeing not one but two of my coworkers in the same day, he told me he was just filling time while he waited for me to come to my senses and realize I was meant to be with him and not Tate. Naturally, I always fluffed it off as flirting. He oozed charisma and confidence, and I was sure he told every girl the same darn thing, knowing full well that it would work. Only it had never worked on me. That was mostly because of Tate and my ridiculous scruples that would never have allowed me to cheat on him. But it was also because I didn't want to be one of Quinn's conquests. I didn't want to be added to a long list of women who drifted in and out of his life, stopping for some amazing sex and leaving with a good dose of heartbreak on the way out the door. I had come to the solid conclusion that I had made the right decision by heading out the door before anything more could happen. And after my time in his bedroom, with his mouth on me as he brought me to climax still fresh in my mind . . . and body . . . I was sure it wouldn't take much for me to be tempted right back into his bed.