by Jewel E. Ann
As I stopped for a water and made my way to the marina, what caught my attention was an elegant, custom yacht. I immediately recognized it.
“Hola, hermosa.” I froze at the unmistakable, sexy, Latin American accent behind me. “She’s a beautiful vessel, sí?”
My body couldn’t move or speak, so I just nodded once. Despite the sweat still glistening on my skin, I shivered as I felt him move closer. I couldn’t turn around. I refused to look into those deep brown eyes. My emotions were all over the place. I felt trapped and all I wanted to do was flee, but my body forbade all efforts.
I sensed him towering over me, so close that simply shifting my weight to my heels would have had my back resting against his chest. Then he started to trace his finger down my arm.
“I’ve missed you—”
“Don’t!” I cut him off because I didn’t want to hear it. Jerking away from his touch, I turned toward him. My blood was like poison in my veins, and I knew my anger was at myself, that I let him elicit this reaction from me. Fight or flight, I had to get out of there.
Finding my feet, I brushed past him. “Fuck you.”
“You already did.” His voice was smug.
Like the reflex to a mosquito biting me, I whipped back around and smacked Quinn across the face so hard I felt like my hand was on fire. Holding his cheek, I expected a look of shock or anger, but I was the one in shock and further angered when he gave me a smile of satisfaction.
“You’re mad. That’s good. I wanted you angry,” his voice still smug while holding his cheek.
“You’re a sadistic, egotistical, self-centered, son of a bitch! And just so you know, I’m not mad or angry at you because the truth is, I don’t feel anything for you. So you can just go to hell!”
The energy coursing through me was like an electrical current and precisely what I needed to propel my body away from Quinn as fast as possible. I ran hard and fast, fueled by a toxic mix of emotions. By the time I reached my hotel room my body was a bowl of Jello. I collapsed on the bed and prayed for a reprieve from the burning sensation in my lungs. How dare he play me like that? He was acting like an animal batting around its prey, waiting for its final attempt to escape then going for the jugular.
I was drained. I wanted a shower but I needed food first. I dragged my tired ass off the bed to find my phone and I ordered dinner from a nearby Korean restaurant.
Exhaustion won over while I waited for my food to be delivered. I was startled awake by a knock at the door. Grabbing some cash on the way, I opened the door and my breath caught in my throat. It was Quinn holding a paper bag in one hand.
“Peace offering.”
“You hijacked my dinner?”
“Not at all. I bought you dinner.”
“Semantics.” I grabbed the bag and started to shut the door on him.
“Wait, aren’t you going to invite me in?”
“No, hijacking my dinner does not gain you access to my room.” I attempted to shut the door again.
“Wait!”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “What?”
Quinn brought his other hand out from behind his back. He was holding another bag. “Vegan, dark chocolate ice cream … with peanut butter.”
The strong, sexy, godlike man was giving me the look of an innocent young child and I hated myself for being so easily tempted.
“Fine.” I opened the door wider and stretched out my arm in a mock welcoming gesture. “But I still don’t like you.”
He chuckled and nodded. “I know, we’ll see what I can do about that.”
Refusing to make him feel truly welcome or comfortable, I sat at a small table by the window and dug into my dinner without saying a word or even looking in his direction.
He helped himself to the chair across from me, casually leaning back and resting one foot on the opposite knee while interlacing his fingers behind his head. His shirt tightened over his chest, and I could see the individual definition of every muscle.
Jeez, why did he have to be so damn sexy?
“It’s good to see you, Addy.”
“I wish the feeling was mutual,” I mumbled with my mouth full, not deeming Quinn worthy of my table manners.
It was Quinn’s turn to let out an exasperated sigh. “Where did you see us going, Addy?”
I paused taking a moment to finish what was in my mouth before wiping it with the back of my hand like a true lady. “I don’t know, maybe downstairs for breakfast at my café, maybe to a movie, maybe sailing on the lake, maybe no damn further than my front door for an amicable goodbye!”
Quinn was silent. He released his hands from behind his head and rubbed them over the top of his legs, his face lost in contemplation. The silence was making me uncomfortable so I opened the ice cream and shoved a big spoonful into my mouth. Oh, this is so good. Focus, Addy! “What are you doing here, Quinn? You’re a complete enigma to me. I don’t know what you do for a living or why you were in Milwaukee since you don’t live there. I know you don’t drink but I don’t know why. I know you think of women as a conquest and have never had a relationship last longer than six weeks. And who says that? Who says that on a first date unless your only intention is to have a mutually consenting one night stand? Which, bravo to you, well done, that’s exactly what you did, mission accomplished … one night of, oh what was the word you used? Ah yes, fun … ‘thanks for last night, is was fun!’’’
Quinn jumped to his feet, grabbed my arms and pulled me up to him. I was still holding a big spoonful of ice cream in my hand. “What did you want me to say? That everything about you drives me crazy. Your smart mouth, sassy attitude, your mesmerizing blue eyes that make me feel like I’m lost in the ocean, your insanely sexy body, your passion for helping others, or that being with you makes me question everything I thought I wanted in life?”
Whoa!
Holding my arms between our chests, with chocolate ice cream dripping from the spoon down my arm, Quinn leaned in and eased his tongue over the trail of chocolate up my arm then put the rest of the spoon in his mouth, never once taking his eyes off of mine. I pulled the spoon out of his mouth then crashed my lips to his. The taste of Quinn and chocolate was intoxicating. He took the spoon from me while I grabbed his hair, pulling him in to deepen our kiss. He cupped my breasts then pulled the hem of my running top up to my neck. We broke our kiss long enough to pull my top the rest of the way off. He resumed his torturous assault on my breasts, kneading, pinching, and pulling at my nipples while trailing hot kisses down my neck. As good as the ice cream was, all I could think about was devouring Quinn. My body craved his touch, my nose breathed him in, my hands traced the lines of his muscular body, and my mouth tasted his skin, his lips, and his tongue like he was my addiction.
The hum of the air conditioner muted the desperate moans that escaped from deep in our throats. Clutching his large hands around my hips, he picked me up and I wrapped my legs around him. He grabbed the container of ice cream and lumbered over to the love seat. Setting me down, while kneeling in front of me, he put the ice cream on the end table. My knees were still wrapped around his waist while I lifted his shirt up and over his head. I stole a brief moment to admire his corded muscles and veined arms. He grabbed my legs to release them from his waist.
“Lie back,” he commanded in a deep raspy voice.
He clutched the waist of my jogging shorts and pulled them down along with my panties. Tossing them aside, he wedged his body between my legs again, still on his knees. I was so turned on that my breath had reached an eager pant. He scooped up a spoon full of ice cream and dropped a dollop on my right breast. I tensed at the cold sensation and he gave me a wicked smile. He then repeated the process with the other breast. The cold instantly hardened my nipples. Within a few seconds the ice cream melted down my breasts, converging in the middle, then pooling in my belly button before spilling over and making it’s way down to my hot core.
I was pretty sure I would receive a bill from the hotel for an
upholstery cleaning fee, but right then I couldn’t care less. Quinn moved his head between my legs, keeping his eyes fixed to mine. He flicked his tongue between my folds, lapping up some melted chocolate. My hips instinctively bucked and he shook his head.
“Uh, uh, uh … hold still.” He put his hands on the inside of my thighs to spread my legs more as he held me in place. Then he resumed with his erotic dessert. His tongue lapped between my legs again, but deeper.
“Oh my God!” I cried and tried to jerk my hips to his mouth again, but he pinned me to the love seat. With his mouth still between my legs, he looked up at me and gave me a devilish grin. Then he continued working his way up to my belly button, dipping his tongue into it and circling it around. Easing his hand off my thighs, he licked a path up to one of my breasts. His tongue glided over the skin licking every last bit of chocolate. He took my nipple into his mouth and alternated between sucking, biting, and tugging. I moaned in pleasure as I arched my back, pushing my breast further into his mouth. He moved to my other breast and repeated the same erotic torture. My hands were fisting and pulling at his hair, the pressure in my lower abdomen and between my legs so heavy I could hardly stand it.
“Please,” I pleaded in desperation.
He released my breast from his mouth and moved back down between my legs. His expert tongue moved over my most sensitive spot until I exploded, riding out an intense orgasmic wave. Quinn knew how to take my body to the limit, stimulating every sensory receptor to ignite the most mind-blowing orgasm.
Once my body started to regain a sense of control, he looked up at me with a huge grin. “Like me now?”
Keeping a straight face, I dipped my finger into the container of melting ice cream and sucked on it before pulling it out with a pop. “You’re okay.”
“O.K. Just okay?”
I nodded, biting my top lip to keep from smiling. With a dark look that made my body quiver, he unfastened his cargo shorts and pulled out his wallet to retrieve a condom. I tried not to focus on the reason why men carried condoms in their wallets like women carried lipstick or tampons in their purse. The fact that I so badly wanted the euphoria of his massive length filling me made me glad that he did happen to have one with him. He no doubt had been a boy scout and still lived by the motto: be prepared.
He pushed his pants and boxer briefs down to his knees and rolled the condom over his erection. Grabbing my hips, he scooted me to the edge of the love seat. We were face to face as he tugged at the elastic bands of my pigtails.
“Do you have any idea how much the ‘fuck me’ school girl look turns me on?” Twisting my pigtails around his hands, he used them to pull my mouth to his. He kissed me so deep I almost felt light-headed.
Releasing me so I could catch my breath, he whispered, “Was that okay?”
I nodded.
Then he hiked my legs up and wrapped them around his waist as he stood. He captured my eyes with his as he lowered me just enough to slide in. I moaned and tilted my head back in ecstasy.
“How about this? Would you say this is okay?”
“Oh God, yes,” I breathed, grinding into him.
He walked us into the bathroom. Without breaking our contact, he turned on the shower.
“As much as I love the taste of chocolate and sweat on you, I think a shower is a good idea.”
Still riding the edge of nirvana, my involuntary response was pulling him back to me and pushing my tongue into his mouth. With steam filling the room, he stepped us into the shower letting the warm water rain down over us. He leaned me against the wall and held my ass with one hand and rolled the nipple of my breast with the other while his hips thrusted into me over and over.
“Addy, you are so … damn … sexy,” he growled in my ear.
I kissed and sucked at his neck while digging my nails into his back, scratching all the way down to his butt then squeezing it hard encouraging him to thrust harder. We moved in unison, milking every sensation as our bodies melted together. I was lost in the moment, hell, I was lost in him. He consumed every part of me. As he picked up his pace, I sensed that extra tensing of all his muscles, and I knew he was getting close. The sensation between my legs was building, and I was anxiously trying to find my own release, so I grabbed his hand from my breast and guided it between us.
“Touch me,” I pleaded.
Being with Quinn freed my sexual inhibitions, it was the first time in my life I felt brave enough to ask for what I wanted, what I needed. He felt for our connection and rubbed my sensitive nub above it. He grunted as he plunged into me one last time, filling me as he found his desperate release.
“Yes! Oh God, yes, like that,” I chanted, chasing his orgasm with my own.
Still buried in me, he turned so his back was against the wall and eased us down until he was sitting on the floor of the shower with me straddling him. We both rested our heads on each other’s shoulders, breathing out in exhaustion.
“Was that okay for you?” he asked, catching his breath.
Words had escaped me, all I could do was nod in complete and utter satisfaction.
*
Sitting on the bed in a plush white hotel robe, I shamelessly watched Quinn drop the towel from his waist to get dressed again.
“Enjoying the view?”
I blushed. “Best in the city.”
He shook his head and smiled while zipping his pants. His face turned more serious, and I sensed he was carefully thinking about his next words.
“I’m an entrepreneur of sorts, meaning I have my hand in a wide variety of businesses from investment firms and real estate to technology design and manufacturing. Some of the companies I own, others I’m just an investor. I was in Milwaukee as an advisor to Mr. Jamison, as well as taking a needs assessment of my hotel. I stopped drinking after someone I cared about was killed in a drunk driving accident. And only a gigantic prick, who’s trying to warn a beautiful woman to stay away, shares his passion for other beautiful women and his inability to commit. What I did not anticipate was you taking me back to your loft and seducing me. The note in the morning was meant to make you mad and discourage you from looking for me.”
So it was over for him after that night. He owned the Zen Garden Hotel and I was casual entertainment while he was in town. I gave what he’d just shared some careful thought for a minute. A million questions ran through my brain, but just one mattered at that moment.
“And today?”
Quinn looked out the window with his brow furrowed.
“Today? Well, today was an unexpected surprise, a gift you could say. I’ve never been hit, by a woman, as hard as you hit me at the marina.”
“Then why the stupid smirk when I did it?”
He chuckled to himself. “It showed me you’ve been holding in a lot of emotions and frustration, sexual frustration …” another smirk “ …it assured me we have unfinished business and well, that pleases me.” I saw the devil returning to his dark eyes.
“Why are you in Chicago?” I asked.
“Why are you?”
“Divert much? Mac’s parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary. And you?”
“Paintball tournament.”
“Paintball tournament? Are you joking?” I questioned in disbelief.
“Joking? No. Are you?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I’m not talking about some juvenile game of laser tag or Nerf guns in the backyard. Paintball is a real sport. Have you heard of the PSP?”
“Play Station Portable? Progressive Supranuclear Palsy? Payment Service Provider? Preschool Playgroup? Pyloric Sphincter Problems? Personal Solicitation Program? Personal Sausage Poker? Pretty Shoddy Product? Pretty Steep Price?”
Widening his stance, he crossed his arms over his chest. “Are you done?”
“Police Service of Pakistan?” I bit my upper lip to prevent my impending grin as I nodded my head. “I’m done, sorry.”
“Paintball Sports Promotions. It’s a professional paintball league. They even have a World Series
Championship. There’s also the NPPL—”
“National Private Pilot Li—”
“Addy!” Quinn cut me off as he rolled his eyes and pursed his lips with a sigh through his nose.
“Sorry.” I wrinkled my face and sucked in both lips to contain my goofy amusement.
“National Professional Paintball League. My point is it’s a real sport and in a few years you’ll likely see it televised more on national sports networks.”
“So you’re part of a professional paintball team, yet you didn’t mention it the night I shared my hula hoop club membership?”
“I’m not on a team. I used to be though, but not at a professional level. I do have a day job, you know? My sister lives here in Chicago and her husband is on an amateur team and they needed someone to fill in for their tournament this week. We won today and play in the finals tomorrow morning.”
“You play paintball?” I was still having trouble wrapping my head around Quinn, corporate CEO, donning full gear and running around a paintball obstacle course. It seemed even more crazy that he would fly to Chicago mid work week for a paintball tournament.
He sauntered over to stand in front of me then pulled my chin up with his thumb and index finger. He bent down and laid a soft agonizingly slow kiss on my lips. “Play is an understatement. I dominated today. Why do you think we’re in the finals tomorrow?” Resting his forehead on mine, he feathered the back of his hand over my cheek. “I have to go.”
My mind was reeling. Just when I thought I had him pegged, he surprised me. The more I was around him, the more he intrigued me. Suddenly, the idea of not seeing him again saddened me. “Is this goodbye?” I choked out. My insides tightened and fear threatened to take over my emotions.
“Never, goodbye.”