The air around them crackled with tension. The kind that sucked you into its vortex, chewed you up and spit you out.
“Enough!” Rhys’s booming tone cut through their argument. “Quinn, I’m sorry that you feel blindsided but Aiden is right. If Alana is involved we need to investigate her. And I also don’t want you doing anything stupid.”
“There’s no need for me to do anything stupid,” she said. “It wasn’t Alana who was leaking information. It was Joan.” Then she walked out.
* * *
EVENTUALLY, THEY TRACKED her down, and Quinn had filled Aiden and Rhys in on the real leak. Joan Hoxton. Joan had managed to cover up her actions by doctoring the reports she gave Aiden, just as Quinn suspected. And she’d been doing it all to take revenge on Walt and Zach for their treatment of her niece. Since she hadn’t profited from the information leak and Walt was reluctant to press charges, the assignment was closed. Joan quit, Third Planet Studios hired a new HR manager and Walt was finally teaching his nephew a lesson by forcing him to attend anger management classes.
Quinn would have been happier to see Zach out on his ass but at least Alana had been left out of the whole ordeal. She’d promised to leave Christopher alone...after one last email, of course, where she strongly urged him to come clean with his wife.
“You still with us?” Alana asked.
They were sitting on Quinn’s couch a few weeks after the case had wrapped up. A huge bowl of popcorn, a block of chocolate and two gin and tonics decorated the table in front of them, half consumed, along with two Nintendo controllers and the box for the “Mario Kart 64” cartridge.
“I can tell you’re not invested in our ‘Grand Prix,’” she continued. “I never beat you at Rainbow Road.”
“It’s a death trap,” Quinn said, quoting their catchphrase for the notoriously difficult level. “Maybe it’s the alcohol. I really shouldn’t drink and drive.”
“Maybe you should kill something instead. Why don’t we play ‘Slayer’s Faith’?”
Quinn cringed at the mention of the game Aiden had talked to her about on the first night they met. He’d looked so handsome that night, all clean-cut and professional, but she preferred the real him. The guy with the messy curls, the one who’d let her tie him up and had taken his “Mario Kart” defeat with more grace than any other guy she’d ever known.
“No, not ‘Slayer’s Faith.’” She let her hair hang over her face, obscuring the rush of tears that pricked the back of her eyes.
“What about ‘Resident Evil’? I know you love shooting those zombies.” Alana put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’ll put the cheat code in so you can have the rocket launcher straightaway.”
“That’s sweet.” The words stuck in her throat and she tried to clear the lump there. “But I’m not really up to it.”
“Now I’m sure you’re sick.” Alana swept Quinn’s hair back, the smile fading when she caught sight of Quinn’s trembling lips and watery eyes. “Hey. That’s not the reaction I was hoping for.”
She wasn’t going to cry, damn it. She wasn’t.
So what were those fat, wet droplets on her face, then? “I screwed up, Alana.”
“Tell me.” She rested her cheek against Quinn’s head. “What happened?”
It all came tumbling out like pebbles skating over a cliff’s edge. The assignment, sleeping with Aiden, him saving her from Zach...her desire to be the old Quinn. The fearless girl who did what she wanted, who wasn’t afraid to trust, who didn’t keep things from the people she loved.
Loved...don’t you mean love? Present tense.
Damn it, she did love him. What perfect fucking timing.
Realizing that she loved Aiden had come a little late, considering she’d seen neither hide nor hair of him in the past few weeks. He’d taken himself off the Third Planet Studios case after their argument and had been assigned to some top-secret project for Logan.
Meanwhile, Quinn had got all the credit for figuring out the leak. She officially started in her new capacity as Junior Security Consultant on Monday. But the victory felt hollow without Aiden by her side.
“Time for some real talk,” Alana said, her fair brows crinkled. “You need to hash it out with him.”
Quinn exhaled and shook her hands, trying to free herself of the nervous energy coursing through her veins. “And say what? Sorry I got a bit psycho. Sorry I pretty much said you didn’t deserve your job. Sorry that you got me out of trouble and I threw it back in your face?”
“Any of those would probably be a start.” Alana’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Why do you think you got so upset?”
She rubbed at her eyes and sighed. “I thought we had something. It felt like more than...you know.”
“You can say the word. It doesn’t have to be a big scary thing anymore.”
“It was more than sex.” Quinn drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “We were partners at work. And I thought we were partners outside work, too...which is silly, because we never talked about it.”
“It’s not silly. Sometimes you know in here.” Alana tapped her chest with her finger. “You know if it feels right and if there’s something there worth pursuing.”
“There was,” she whispered. “I felt safe around him. But I pushed him away at every little hurdle.”
“Why?”
“I was scared he’d turn out like...” Ugh, she couldn’t even say her ex’s name. “What if I trusted him and he did something terrible to me? I’d be the fool again. Poor little Quinn Dellinger who can’t tell the wolves from the sheep.”
“You don’t want either of those.” Alana shook her head, tendrils of blond hair escaping her ponytail. “Wolves are mean and sheep are boring.”
“What do I need then?”
“A real guy. Not an ideal or a stereotype or projection of your ex...just a decent, caring guy who’ll accept you as you are.”
“He is a real guy.” Her teeth scraped along her bottom lip. “And I think he did accept me, which is crazy, considering how screwed up I am.”
“You’re not screwed up, Quinn. You had a bad experience, it scared you and it takes you a while to trust. There’s nothing wrong with that.” Alana’s hand ran over her hair. “If he really cares about you then he’ll welcome the chance to talk it over.”
“He won’t hate me?” God, she sounded utterly pathetic. But the chance that Aiden might be willing to forgive her was a hope she couldn’t let go.
She loved him and she needed him to know it...even if there was a strong chance he’d reject her.
“I really doubt it, but be prepared that he might not be ready. You might have to give him time.”
She nodded. “I will.”
17
STEALTH WASN’T A skill that came easily to Aiden. He was a big guy, always had been. It had taken him a while to learn how to make his footsteps fall as lightly as snowflakes, to be slow and steady and still when the situation called for it. Before his accident, his hearing had been so finely tuned he could pinpoint the smallest sound, as minute as vibrations in the air.
These days the persistent buzzing in his ear stopped him from doing that. But his other skills remained sharp.
And today he needed them.
It was a Friday afternoon and, from his vantage point behind Logan’s assistant’s desk, Aiden watched as the last remaining Cobalt & Dane staff left the building. Twice now someone had tried to convince him to leave for the day—Jin had tempted him with drinks at a local bar, and Logan had offered dinner at Gustoso. But nothing would deter him from this mission.
As the voices faded, he snuck out from behind the desk and darted into the IT area. Quinn’s desk stood out to him immediately. She wasn’t a support of
ficer anymore but she hadn’t changed desks yet. The funny memes she’d printed out were still hung from a wire, held in place with plastic superhero pegs.
He’d wanted so badly to congratulate her on the promotion but he figured direct contact might be too much.
The day she’d walked out of Rhys’s office after fighting with him had been a new low point in his life. But he’d made a commitment then and there not to repeat the mistake he’d made with his father—he wasn’t going to allow Quinn’s walls to keep him out. He’d scale them, vault over them or take them down brick by stubborn brick if he had to. And he wasn’t going to let his own hang-ups prevent him from getting close to someone.
He’d been so concerned about doing his duty he’d undermined his partner. And while he’d been trying to prove himself, Quinn had solved the case. She’d had her focus on the right thing while he had not. It’d been a difficult lesson, one that had showed Aiden what really mattered.
But all good plans of attack started with planning—and the right initial contact.
He held the small bamboo plant in his hands. The lady at the flower shop had raised a brow when he’d picked the skinny little thing from among the much showier boxes of roses and irises. But the plant had reminded him of her—unconventional, hardy and without any fanfare.
“What are you doing?”
At the sound of her voice he cursed and turned around. “I thought you’d finished up for the week.”
Quinn hovered a few feet away. Her hair was braided in some intricate design that made her look like a Hunger Games extra. She wore a pair of shredded black jeans, black high heels boots and her leather jacket. Sexy ninja, indeed.
“I forgot my phone charger.” Her eyes darted to the bamboo plant. “Is that for me?”
“I figured a plant brought us together the first time, maybe it would work again.” He held it out to her.
She came close enough to take the plant, her fingertip tracing the length of the stem. “Does she have a name?”
“He,” Aiden corrected, the pressure in his chest expanding as he tried to read her. “Leafino.”
A smile tugged at the corner of her lip but her eyes remained trained on her gift. “It suits him.”
“It was meant to be a surprise.” Suddenly, Aiden had no idea what to do with his hands, so he shoved them into his pockets. Nervous energy flowed through his veins and he bounced on the balls of his feet. “And a congratulations for your promotion.”
“You heard?” She looked up, her face glowing.
“Of course I did. I’m really proud of you, Quinn. You deserve it.”
The hum of the building’s air-conditioning filled the pause in their conversation, and the lights lowered to their energy-saving mode. It made the space feel intimate, personal. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and promise her he’d never let go. Promise her he’d make up for being such a dick and not trusting her.
“I didn’t do it all on my own and you know it.” She hugged the plant close to her chest. “We were a team.”
“And I was barking up the wrong tree.” He sucked in a breath, filling his lungs to bursting before letting it all whoosh out and hopefully take some of his nerves with it. “I shouldn’t have told Rhys about Alana the way I did.”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry I threw it back in your face. That was a nasty thing to do.”
“I deserved it.”
“No.” She blinked up at him. “You didn’t. The thing is, I hold people to these impossibly high standards as a means of distancing myself from them. I look for people to fail because it proves that I can’t trust them...and that’s not fair. To anyone.”
“But I knew you had a hard time trusting people and I screwed up.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I regret that so much.”
Before he even realized she’d moved, the bamboo plant was on her desk and she had a hand on his arm. “Is that all you regret?”
“I regret not telling you this sooner, Quinn.” As gently and slowly as he could, he smoothed his hands over her shoulders and up the back of her neck, cupping her head. “You said you were sick of being scared, but the truth is I’m sick of being scared, too.”
“Scared of what?” The words came out as a breath, soft. Almost imperceptible.
“I’m sick of being afraid of what other people think. I spent my whole life trying so hard to prove myself that I forgot what was important.” His thumb traced the shell of her ear, feeling the bump of each of her five earrings. “Proving myself to me. You made me see that, Quinn. The way you’re always yourself no matter what. I love that about you.”
“You do?” Her eyes glimmered in the low light of the office, the clear stone in her nose winking at him as she turned her head.
“Yes. I love how you stand by your code, how you stick up for the things and the people you believe in.” His lips grazed her forehead. “I guess I just love...you.”
Her breath stuttered in and out as she processed what he’d said. “How can you love me?”
“You’re kind of fascinating, remember?”
“And kind of sexy?” She laughed and the gravelly sound lit him up from within.
“No, not kind of. You’re totally, unbelievably, unimaginably sexy.”
Her fists clutched at his shirt, her body pressing tight against his. “Well, I have something to tell you, Mr. FBI.” Even in the dark he could see the blush spread out across her cheeks. “You make me want to trust again. You make me want to have every kind of wild, crazy sex there is. You make me want to stop being afraid.”
“Anything else?” His lungs felt like they might burst as he held his breath, waiting. Hoping.
“You make me want to love,” she whispered. “And I do. I love you, Aiden. I want us to be a big, happy family...you, me and Leafino.”
He brought his lips down to hers and all the love he felt flowed from him to her. His hands gripped her tightly, unwilling and unable to let her go. Their tongues clashed, lips and teeth joining the passionate battle as they kissed.
She shoved him hard against her desk and pressed her hips against his, eliciting a moan from deep within him. He reached behind her and filled his palms with her perky ass. Kissing Quinn could satisfy him forever, and he knew, deep down, they would love each other like this for the rest of their lives. Passionately. In totality.
“Does this mean you’ll let me win at ‘Mario Kart’ once in a while?” he asked with a grin as they came up for air.
“Not a chance, buddy.” She wound her arms around his neck and nipped at his chin. “Prepare to eat shell.”
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from SEDUCING THE BEST MAN by Sasha Summers.
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Seducing the Best Man
by Sasha Summers
1
CADY WAS GLAD she was running late. It gave her time to recover from the hotter-than-hell man sitting at the table across the restaurant, waiting for her. Bianca had said he was good-looking. Good-looking? She and Bianca needed to have a serious talk. This man was meant for getting naked and savoring long lazy days in bed. Or long, sleepless nights in bed...in the shower...on the couch...in the car.
She trailed behind the server to the table, giving herself time to appreciate her date. Broad shoulders. Strong jaw with just the right amount of stubble. Black hair. “Patton?” she held her hand out, unable to deny the slight purr in her voice.
His pale eyes were unexpected beneath his thick eyebrows and inky-black hair. But, pow, they packed a punch—and left a not-so-subtle fire pulsing through her veins.
He stood, towering over her five-foot-two-inch frame. “Cady?”
She nodded, arching a brow. “Guilty.” Her brain was filled with all sorts of delectable possibilities.
The corner of his mouth cocked up, and he took her hand in his, shaking it once. His hand was rough, warm and huge. His fingers wrapped around hers, strong but controlled. She couldn’t help but wonder how they’d feel on her body, uncontrolled.
A Dangerously Sexy Affair Page 18