Through the opaque shower door he could see her in a blurry silhouette, her head back as she soaked beneath the spray.
He stepped inside to join her and forgot to breathe all over again. With her arms raised overhead, her breasts rode higher, her ribcage visible above the inward curve of her waist. Water ran in rivulets down her thighs to those perfect toes with their painted nails. Mine, Reif thought. All mine. Somehow he would make it so.
He stepped closer. Quinn opened her eyes as his erection brushed against her stomach. He captured her head in his hands and kissed her. Her hands floated down, her fingers digging into his waist. Without breaking their kiss he dropped his hands to cup her breasts, stroking the already erect nipples, the water adding to the friction.
She slid her hands around to cup his buttocks before she eased away from him to stroke his cock. He stopped kissing her while she touched and caressed and stroked him. When he slid wet fingers between her legs she arched back. She continued to stroke him, but her eyelids drooped as she tried to concentrate on what he was doing to her.
He saw her teeth sink into her bottom lip as his thumb edged higher against her swollen nub. She dropped her head back and a long, “Ahhhh,” of approval escaped her lips. When her hand closed around him in an especially firm grip, he couldn’t take it anymore. He picked her up and braced her against the tile wall. She wrapped her legs around him as he drove into her. She held on to his shoulders, but her head lolled back, her eyes half-closed.
“Look at me,” he said.
When she did he kept his gaze locked with hers as he moved inside her. The warm water pelted down, leaving droplets on the ends of their lashes, rivulets running down their bodies, neither of them looked away, neither wanting to admit something profound was happening between them.
Tears of emotion welled in Quinn’s eyes. She felt herself rising on that peak again. The pace of his rhythm increased, his eyes laser focused as he ground into her. Her fingers dug into his arms as she held on, pressed against the slick tile of the bathroom wall.
She cried out as he came in her and she soon followed, crashing first up and then down, melting against him. He slid out of her and turned so that he was braced against the wall, still holding her.
She didn’t know where the sobs came from. They welled out of her with surprising force, stunning both of them. She curled herself against Reif, buried her face in his chest. His arms were around her. She could feel the tension in him.
“Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head vehemently.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head again, unable to look at him, unable to stop crying, unable explain. He’d taken everything she had, drained her. It was as if she’d given all of herself to him and had nothing left. He’d consumed her. She didn’t want it to stop. But she knew it had to. Their night together was officially over.
Reif slid down the wall to the tub, turning the shower off as he went and turning on the faucets instead. Warm water rose around them as she lay there collapsed on top of him. With one hand Reif stroked her wet hair and the other moved up and down her back in a slow rhythmic pattern, calming her.
The tub was oversized, thank God, or the two of them would not have fit at all comfortably in it.
“Want me to wash your back?” Reif asked.
She nodded, not feeling capable of speech, embarrassed by her outburst. She presented her back to him, sitting between his legs. He worked up a lather with the soap, moved her hair aside and began to massage her shoulders and back with strong, sure fingers.
She took the soap from him and washed his feet, stroking her fingers down his toes and between, smiling when he twitched in reaction.
“That tickles,” he said.
“Good.”
Without asking he poured shampoo in his hand and began washing her hair, kneading her scalp with his fingertips. She sighed with pleasure. Later they traded positions and she returned the favor while he soaped her toes and tickled the backs of her knees.
Finally, reluctantly, they stood under the shower, rinsing off soap and shampoo while the bathwater swirled down the drain.
Wrapped in towels and mostly dry, they collapsed back on the bed, Quinn once again curled close to Reif’s side.
“I’m hungry,” she said.
Reif considered this and nodded. “Me too. Want to go out for breakfast?”
Quinn’s stomach growled while she thought about it. Getting dressed seemed like a supreme effort at the moment. It would be so much easier to lay here instead. But a big breakfast cooked by someone other than her sounded too appealing to resist. “Yeah. Let’s.”
“You sure?” Reif tickled her arm with his fingertips. “We could probably scrounge up something around here.”
Quinn had a feeling what that something would be. More sex. At the moment she needed some distance from the kind of intimacy that had led to her mini breakdown in the shower.
“Let’s go out.” She got up, her body felt weightless, boneless, and she was amazed she could even walk, but she kept going down the hall to her own room.
Quinn closed the door behind her, dropped the towel and propped her hands on the dresser top. “What,” she asked her reflection in the mirror, “is happening to me?”
Chapter Eleven
It was a fine Saturday. Quinn wished she could appreciate it, but her mind was still wrapped in fuzz. Reif had taken them to an outdoor café, where they sat at an umbrella table and sipped coffee and juice while waiting for their omelets and hash browns to arrive.
They were both quiet. Quinn was glad Reif didn’t feel the need to carry on a conversation any more than she did. At least the sun was bright enough to warrant sunglasses on both of them, shielding them from any awkward eye contact. In a way she wished she knew what he was thinking. In another way, she didn’t want to know.
Was he comparing her to the other women he’d been with? Did he think she was a pathetic fool for bursting into tears earlier, or being incapable of explaining why? Maybe she was nothing more than a feather in his cap, another notch on his belt.
Things like that made Quinn not want to think about Reif’s intentions. She looked out over the curving drive that skirted the front of the restaurant. She might be relatively inexperienced, but she knew enough to know that great sex by itself wouldn’t sustain a relationship.
Okay, fantastic sex. Incredible sex. She could acknowledge that. But what about when the newness of sex wore off? What then? Would they be sitting across from each other a year from now with nothing in common, nothing to say to each other?
Throughout high school and college Quinn had lived vicariously through her friends’ romantic relationships. She’d seen enough of them fall apart after that initial burst of chemistry to know how easily people could fool themselves. What looked like love, what maybe even felt like love, quite often wasn’t.
So how could you tell what was love and what wasn’t? What was great physical chemistry and nothing more?
“You are so beautiful,” Reif said.
Quinn’s head swung back, focusing on him through her sunglasses.
“I think I could look at you for a hundred years and never get tired of it.”
It didn’t sound like false flattery, something a man would say just for the heck of it after he’d spent a night like last night with a woman. He sounded a hundred percent sincere. Her fuzzy mind grasped for some kind of lighthearted comeback.
“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she said. Then she grinned. “Oh, wait. I think you’ve already been everywhere.”
Reif’s smile flashed like a beacon. “Not quite,” he said as the server approached with their food.
Quinn hoped he wouldn’t notice her blush or would think it was due to the heat from the sun. Her skin prickled at the idea of further ventures into unexplored territory with Reif. She
concentrated on her food, for those last two words uttered in such an assured tone had her abuzz with the possibilities, until she remembered she’d only bargained for the one night.
I suck at blackmail.
After breakfast they strolled through the small shopping area near the café, looking in the store windows but not venturing inside. Quinn halted in front of a jewelry display. She’d always loved browsing jewelry stores, lingering over the glittering and shiny rings. She’d dreamed of a man presenting her with one someday, asking her to marry him, giving her the opportunity to live out her own personal fairy tale.
“See something you like?” Reif asked.
“Mmm.”
She couldn’t take her gaze off a cushion cut diamond set in a platinum band encrusted with smaller diamonds. It was gorgeous. Exactly the kind she imagined herself wearing. Not that she’d share her preferences in rings with Reif.
They circled the nearby park, where people kicked soccer balls, threw Frisbees to their dogs or pushed children on swings and merry-go-rounds. Reif had taken her hand when they left the café, and she hugged his arm, leaning against him as they walked, loving the feel of his body as the sun grew warmer. Her heart seemed to swell until she thought it would burst. At the same time her body demanded rest.
As they parked in the driveway, Quinn didn’t even try to smother her yawns. The caffeine wasn’t making the slightest dent in her exhaustion.
“I’m beat,” she said.
“Me too. Nap time, huh?”
She dragged her feet into the house and up the stairs. Reif was right behind her. When she turned to go to her room he caught her hand. “Come and sleep with me.”
“I thought we—”
He put a finger against her lips. “Just sleep. I promise. Come and sleep with me.”
She looked into his eyes, trying to gauge the sincerity of his offer. Truth be told, he looked as tired as she felt, and she wanted to extend their time together. Even if they were both sound asleep. She liked him being within touching distance.
“Okay,” she agreed. “But just for a nap.”
They kicked off shoes and crawled under the covers fully clothed.
* * * * *
When Reif woke up he lay for a moment, head half buried in the pillow, one eye on Quinn. She lay facing away from him, one knee pulled close to her chest. He reached out to stroke her fanned out hair on the pillow, but stopped before touching her. He wanted to move closer, the way he had last night, slip his arms around her and bury his face in her neck. He caught a tantalizing whiff of shampoo scent from her hair. His shampoo. From this morning. That took his thoughts back to their encounter in the shower.
He had to admit, that had been nothing short of fantastic. The sex, of course, but more than that. Looking into her eyes while he was inside her had made the experience more profound, the connection even stronger.
But he’d been baffled by her tears afterward. She’d fallen apart. She was always so smart and sassy and tough. Who knew a night with him would turn her into a marshmallow?
He smiled and let his finger drift onto her pillow, touch the very ends of her hair, careful not to wake her.
He’d promised no sex, just sleep. By God, he’d stick to his promise. If he moved closer to her now like he wanted, put his arms around her, pressed up against her, that would be the end of that. That wasn’t going to happen. Not now. Not today. Not…ever.
The one night together she’d bargained for was over. She’d gotten everything she wanted. The reality of it slammed into him. He’d never make love to Quinn again.
But that night had created a connection and he’d been having all these crazy possessive thoughts about her. He’d played a willing part in Quinn’s desire for a fling with no strings while there were no watchful eyes to keep her from it.
This is bad, he told himself as he went downstairs. He was madly, completely, totally in love with a woman who would probably never feel the same way about him.
There was no way he could have a casual relationship with her. Partly because of Tony, but mostly, he realized now, because that wouldn’t be enough for him.
* * * * *
It was late afternoon when Quinn got up. She could tell without even looking at Reif’s side of the bed that she was alone. Still, she turned over and reached a hand out to touch where he’d lain. She realized she didn’t like waking up alone, even though she’d been doing it all of her life.
Great, she told herself, just great. One night with a guy and you can’t stand to be without him. Wonderful. What kind of a woman fell so hard so fast? All of her friends were much more experienced than she was. They may have thought themselves in love with their first, but when those relationships ended they’d recovered and moved on. A couple of her friends were even married.
You’re not the first woman he’s slept with, Quinn reminded herself. Jealousy reared its ugly head as she imagined Reif’s previous conquests. How many had there been? Had he loved any of them? Had he made love to them the same way he made love to her? Had they felt this connected to him? Had he told any of them he could look at them for a hundred years and never grow tired?
The very idea that maybe he had made Quinn sad. What if that was just a line? What if what had happened between them was nothing special to him? So much of what she’d experienced with him was new to her—natural, she corrected herself—that it made sense she’d be somewhat emotionally attached to Reif. Especially after a night like last night. And this morning.
Her eyes watered as she remembered looking into Reif’s eyes while he made love to her, of feeling as if she’d given such a big part of herself to him, so much so it had overwhelmed her afterward.
He’d been so sweet then, concerned that he’d somehow hurt her. But he hadn’t hounded her to explain herself. Instead he’d just held her and stroked her and loved her. That’s how it had felt anyway.
But what did she know of love? Nothing. She couldn’t tell if he was just doing what every man did, if it was his way of getting what he wanted, or making her believe he cared. His cooperation ensured she’d keep her mouth shut now so Tony wouldn’t hate him.
“Oh, God.” She sat up and buried her face in her hands. She did not want to think about this anymore. Why couldn’t she just go with what she felt for now? See where whatever this was between her and Reif, if it was anything at all, lead?
Stop overanalyzing and questioning it. Right now, what she wanted was to be with him. That was all that mattered. She shoved her hair out of her eyes and went to find him.
She didn’t have to go far. He was on the couch in the living room, feet on the coffee table, flipping channels with the remote. She approached on bare feet, forcing herself not to pounce on him. She got that pitter-patter feeling inside just seeing him, sitting there. Available.
He looked up. She didn’t think he could fake the way his eyes lit up and his smile looked genuine, like he was glad to see her. He put his arm out in welcome and she snuggled up, laying her head on his shoulder. His arm closed around her and he kissed the top of her head. “Have a good nap?”
She nodded. “I find I don’t particularly care for waking up alone anymore.”
“Well, if you had said yes when I asked you to m—”
She pinched his side before he could finish and they laughed good-naturedly. It felt so darn good to be with him, to be next to him. Could they possibly stay here, on the couch, for the rest of the afternoon?
As if he’d read her mind, Reif said, “What do you want to do?”
She turned her face into his shoulder, taking in the scent of his skin through his shirt. “This,” she said, her voice muffled.
“Ah, I knew you were a girl after my own heart.”
“What are you watching?”
“Star Trek. Next Gen.”
“Oh, it’s one with Q. I like him.”
“In what way?” Quinn sat up straighter. “Omnipotent?”
“Q always shows up unannounced—”
“I was announced. You just didn’t get the message.”
“He’s devious, irresponsible—”
“You better be joking,” Quinn warned.
“He’s certainly not to be trusted.”
Quinn sulked. “I can be trusted.”
“He drives Captain Picard crazy.”
“Oh, like I drive you crazy? Are you sure it’s exactly the same way?” Quinn dug her fingers into Reif’s ribs tickling him. He dodged her move.
“Plus Q always has a hidden agenda.” Reif looked right at her and Quinn knew he wasn’t joking.
“Oh, well, there you’ve got me. I am exactly like Q.”
“Maybe not exactly. Come here, Q.” He tucked her back under his arm.
Quinn giggled, delighted. At the moment, she had everything she wanted.
Chapter Twelve
Quinn let herself in, locked the door and stared at the keypad next to it. She knew she had set the alarm when she’d left, but it wasn’t set now, and Reif wasn’t due home for hours. As the saying went in the comics, her Spidey Sense was tingling. She stood still and listened, the only sound she could hear was her heart pounding double time.
What if the mob had found her? Their goons were probably experts at disabling alarm systems and were at this moment lying in wait somewhere in the house.
She stared down the hallway to the living room. She could see the French doors to the pool deck. On the right was the arched doorway to the kitchen. To her left was the powder room and the stairs.
She held her breath and listened. The refrigerator hummed. Traffic from outside intruded into the eerily quiet space. She was almost a hundred percent certain she was alone.
But then of course that’s what they’d want her to think.
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