by L. M. Reid
And when it does, when she screams my name, I fall over the edge with her.
“Someone’s at the door,” she says.
“Was at the door. Pretty sure they got the hint we’re busy.”
“That was anything but a hint,” she laughs.
She’s still sprawled out on the desk with me between her legs. I bend, pressing a kiss to her flat stomach. “Do you have any idea how amazing you are?”
“I aim to please.”
Please? She surpasses pleasing me. I don’t think there is even a word to describe how the woman makes me feel.
“Is someone crying?” Quinn asks lifting her head off the desk. I hear it too.
The door. What if it was an emergency? Shit.
I grab a towel from the bathroom and wrap it around my waist. I pull the door open to find Layla standing there. Tears streak her face, her nose fire red from crying.
While it serves her right considering what I had to walk into a part of me still feels bad. “Layla.” I say her name softly, an apology of sorts.
“You’re really with her, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, I am.”
She swipes at the tears. “You can do better. You deserve better.”
I’m about to argue with her, tell her that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Tell her that she doesn’t know or understand Quinn or what we have together. Then it dawns on me that I don’t have to tell her shit. I don’t have to explain myself or my relationship. She lost that right the minute she let Maddox slip into her.
“And I finally found it,” I reply before shutting the door.
When I turn back and look at Quinn, she’s smiling. “That is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said about me.”
“Oh, you thought I meant you? Sorry. I was talking about my new shoes.”
“You do your shoes the way you just did me?” Our eyes drift down to the shoes next to the door. “The fact that I can actually picture that…”
“Don’t even.”
Laughter fills the room.
Laughter. Sex. Happiness.
Quinn.
Trouble with a capital T.
The exact kind of trouble that I may very well be falling in love with.
Chapter 28
Hunter
After the events that transpired last night, Quinn and I steered clear of everyone from the wedding. We hid in our room, ordered room service, and then snuck off property to enjoy some of the local shopping and scenery.
As amazing as our day was, there was one thing we couldn’t skip. The rehearsal.
“I wouldn’t be upset if you didn’t come,” I assure her. After what Layla did, I wouldn’t blame Quinn for wanting to leave altogether.
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” She squeezes my arm as we walk. “Besides, I have a big handsome football player who isn’t going to take his eyes off me, let alone his hands.”
“Damn right, I won’t.”
If Maddox so much as looks in her direction, I have every intention of finishing what I started last night.
Actions speak louder than words and I would sure as hell hope that even Maddox would understand that my fist in his face means to stay the fuck away from Quinn. I don’t put much past the guy. Or Layla for that matter.
Having been together since our senior year, I really thought I knew everything about Layla. Now, I don’t feel like I ever really did. Who is this woman? Why is she hell bent on trying to hurt me?
“Hunter, I mean it. I am fine. Please don’t do anything crazy.”
Depends on what your definition is. Because defending my girlfriend? Prying some assholes hands off her? None of that sounds crazy to me.
“As long as he stays away from you.”
It’s the best I can give her. I’m not making promises that I can’t keep. And promising to stay away from Maddox when the guy seems to want to claim everything that’s mine, is a promise I can’t be sure to follow through with.
First stop is the gazebo where the ceremony will be performed. As the priest provides direction and instruction, I find myself unable to take my focus off Quinn. How hard can it be to walk down an aisle anyway?
Even though Maddox doesn’t seem to be anywhere in sight and Quinn is seated with my parents, protected, it’s not enough. She’s my girl, my responsibility and I’ll be damned if anyone goes near her again.
I feel an elbow to my ribs. I’m standing next to Hudson and apparently got caught not paying attention if the scowl on Hayley’s face is any indication. “Sorry.”
The rehearsal continues, each step of the process outlined in detail. I shouldn’t be surprised considering this is Hayley we are talking about.
After an hour of unneeded instruction, the rehearsal finally ends. Just as I’m about to step away from my best man duties I feel a hand on my arm. Instinctively my mind automatically jumps to it being Layla and I begin to tug my arm away. But, when I look, it’s Hayley standing there.
“Sorry, Hayls,” I say in apology of my lack of participation in the rehearsal.
“Don’t apologize,” she tells me as she loops her arm through mine. We begin to walk slowly. “In fact, I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t have let Layla come. I should have…” She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I know this trip has had to be difficult on you.”
“I thought it would be,” I answer honestly. “But, Quinn, she made it much more enjoyable than I ever could have imagined.”
“You really like her, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“I told Layla that I didn’t want to see Maddox tonight. That if she chose to bring him to the wedding tomorrow, I wouldn’t stop her, but that they both needed to stay away from you and Quinn, or I would have no hesitation having them removed.”
“No worries. I have no intention of taking my eyes off Quinn. Though, I do promise to focus better tomorrow for the actual festivities.”
Hayley presses a kiss to my cheek. “I appreciate that.” She begins to walk toward Hudson but stops and turns back to me. “Oh, and, for what it’s worth, I agree with Hud. I think Quinn is good for you.”
“Me too,” I agree.
“Stare much?” a voice asks from behind me. My smile is instantaneous, and I can’t help but pull her in for a kiss when I turn to her.
“It’s your fault.”
“Mine? How’s that?” she laughs.
“You’re the one sitting over there looking beautiful. How am I supposed to look at anything else?”
“You flatter me, Adams.” We lace our fingers together. As we do, as we stand here gazing at each other smiles on our faces, neither of us have a care in the damn world. Hell, I’m not sure if we even realize there is a world outside of us. Quinn breaks the spell, “Come on, let’s get this dinner over with because I’m starving.”
“Wait. Wouldn’t you want to…”
She raises an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth twisted up slightly. She’s starving, but it’s not for food. I return her sexy grin with one of my own.
“No worries about that, sweetheart. We don’t have to wait until after dinner.”
“What do you mean?” she asks as I begin to lead us away. “Hunter. What are you… where are we going?”
“Detour.” It’s all I say. It’s all she needs to know.
If she’s starving. I’m downright famished. She is a hunger I intend to satisfy. Immediately.
I push on the door to my right. Locked. To my left. That’s locked to. Another door and bingo. It opens with force, striking the wall behind it. I pull her against me and kiss her. I lock the door behind us. The room is dark, nothing more than a dim light shining through a vent.
“Hunter,” she exclaims, thrill and excitement in her voice. “What are you doing?”
My lips making my way down her neck. “Do you really have to ask?”
“Here? Now?”
“You’re starving. I’m famished and you are the only damn thing that will satisfy me. Got a problem
with that?”
Through the strands of light, I can see the smile on her lips, the intrigue in her eyes. She doesn’t think I have it in me. Obviously, she doesn’t realize how desperate she makes me. I turn her until her back is against my front. My hands gliding across her body, underneath the fabric of the short dress she’s wearing. Fingers grip the material, bunching it in my hands and tugging it up until what I want is before me, wet and waiting.
“Do you want me, Quinn?” I ask, my voice husky and dripping with desire. I have never wanted anything in my life like I do this woman.
“Yes,” she says her voice nothing more than a whimper.
My fingers slide between her parted thighs. I had hoped she was ready for me but feeling her slickness is more than gratifying. With her legs parted, her fingers gripping the shelf before us, and the sexy little smirk she tosses at me when she looks back in my direction, I’m done. With a haste like I have never experienced before, I undo the button and zipper on my pants and let them fall to the floor. My arm snakes around her waist, forcing her body to become flush with mine.
“Christ, all I want is you.”
“I’m yours. Every piece of me is yours, Hunter.”
I stroke my cock in my hand as her words settle over me. “Every piece?”
She knows exactly what I’m referring to. The most important piece, the piece that I know she doesn’t allow anyone near willingly or without strict consideration.
Her hand takes a hold of me, replacing my own. “Yes, Hunter. Even my heart.”
My head drops to her shoulder, my lips feathering kisses on her suntanned skin. I don’t know how it happened, I sure as hell don’t understand how it happened so quickly, but fuck if it isn’t everything. “I love you, Quinn,” I whisper as I push into her. Our cards are on the table, our feelings on our sleeves. Me, buried inside of her feels fucking amazing and just intensifies what I already know. Quinn Ford infiltrated my mind, my body, and now my Goddamn soul.
She cries out and tempted as I am to quiet her, I let the sound fill the room. Her moans as I fill her, her whimpers as I pull back, as if she fears I am walking away. Christ, I could never do that. Not from sex, not from her. Not willingly at least.
Everything about this woman invades my mind and my body gives to her exactly what it wants, what she needs.
We move together, not hurried, but not exactly gentle either. We don’t have much time, but I fully intend on taking advantage of what little we do have. My hand moves from its spot on her stomach down between her thighs again, my thumb strumming over her clit.
She softly says the words more, faster, harder. Quiet or not, each is said with force, instruction, determination. I do as she says, my sole goal to please her, to make sure that this woman that more than satisfies every part of my being is exactly that – satisfied.
She screams out my name as she tightens around me. Tumbling over the edge, she pulls me with her until we’ve both hit our high and landed in an orgasmic bliss.
“You’re full of surprises,” she says.
“You haven’t seen anything yet,” I tell her.
“Oh?”
I give her a wink. “We still have a flight home.”
Chapter 29
Quinn
When Hayley first extended the invitation to me to join her and her bridesmaids in the spa the morning of the wedding I wanted to decline, to scream hell to the no. With the ruse that Hunter and I were putting on, I couldn’t do that so instead I accepted, begrudgingly. The idea of spending a day in the vicinity of a bunch of women who hate me made me sick to my stomach. Hell, even a root canal sounded more appealing.
Things were different now, though. Hunter and I, we aren’t a ruse anymore. We’re real. One hundred percent real. The thought alone brings a smile to my face. While I haven’t had too much interaction with the other ladies, most have been pleasant and kind. Even Hayley and I had a great time dancing the other night and then again sipping cocktails under the moonlight with Hunter and Mason. I may have judged her and her friends too harshly. The same way I had judged Hunter. I realize now that I have spent way too much time disliking people for being better off than me rather than getting to know them.
The only thing left to dread now: Layla.
Between the debacle that her and Maddox created, the fight that ensued, not to mention her showing up at our doorstep all teary eyed, I can’t help but dread whatever fresh hell she has conjured up for me today.
When I step into the spa, the rest of the ladies are already there. Hunter has a funny habit of not wanting to let me go and then explaining with great length exactly how much. Everyone is sipping cucumber water and relaxing in their robes and slippers with both their hair and make-up the picture of perfection. Me on the other hand, my hair is in a knot atop my head and my skin is completely bare.
“You made it,” Hayley exclaims. She comes over to me and pulls me in for a hug.
It’s a far cry from the disapproving look she gave me when I first arrived with Hunter. I revel at how much has changed in the course of the week. Including me. I feel free for the first time ever. I feel so light and carefree as though I could just float away. All thanks to Hunter. A man who was nothing like I imagined he would be. And believe me, Mason has made me apologize to him profusely for all the shit I’ve given him over the years about his friendship with Hunter.
“I did,” I say as she pulls me in for a hug. “Sorry I’m a bit late.”
“Let me guess, Hunter?” She flashes me a knowing smile. “Must run in the family.”
Layla’s face contorts into a look of disgust and it only serves to egg me on and make me want to give gory details. Details that I would have to make up because no way in hell am I giving them the truth. Like how the nice guy somehow manages to become the epitome of a bad boy when it comes to sex. Or how he owns my body with every touch, every kiss. Definitely not the sound of his voice when he commands me to bend, to move, to anything because that sound alone damn near makes me orgasm. And I sure as hell am not going to give details like how well-endowed he is. Like holy shit, is that thing real?
“Then you are one lucky woman,” I say. “Because… damn. I’m not going to be able to walk straight by the time we get home. I mean, without school and stuff getting in the way, literally all we do is….”
“No one cares,” Layla chimes in.
“I bet between the two of you we could get some good Hunter stories,” one of the other bridesmaids says. “You know, just in case he’s ever available again.”
“He will be, soon, I’m sure.” Layla smirks at me.
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” I tell her returning her smirk.
“Okay, girls, let’s not do this. Okay?” Hayley says.
As much as I would love to taunt Layla right now, really stick it to her, I won’t be rude to Hayley. She is Hunter’s family, and despite a rough beginning she’s been kind to me.
Rather than engage Layla any further I ask, “What’s first?”
The spa director enters the room and begins to go over our plans for the day. Thankfully, the things she describes, we don’t all have to participate in together. The less time I can spend with Layla, the better. The woman has a way of getting under my skin and today is Hayley’s day. I have no intention of causing any problems or creating any drama. I just want to do my best to relax and enjoy the day. So, when the director hands me the clipboard to sign up for my spa treatments, I make sure that there isn’t a moment where I would be anywhere near Layla.
Not that it means anything to her.
“Is this seat taken?” Layla asks plopping down in the chair next to me. “Oh goody.” She slips her feet into the warm water. “I swapped with someone so you and I could have some time together to… get to know each other.”
I sigh. Everything had been going so well, too. In fact, I found myself actually relaxing and enjoying my time, thinking about Hunter, and us, and what a future for us might look like. While it might see
m like I’m jumping the gun, everything just feels so right. It’s as though there has been some underlying attraction or emotion there that neither of us understood. And now that we do… I sigh again. This time it’s a peaceful sigh. One that knows just how amazing Hunter and I are together.
I close my eyes trying to ignore her presence and return to my happy state.
“So… you and Hunter.”
Breathe Quinn, I tell myself. The last thing I need to do is open my mouth and make matters worse.
“It’s not going to last you know. He deserves someone better.”
Funny, there is one thing that we actually agree on. “You’re right, he does. Better than both of us,” I say.
“I made a mistake. You are the mistake.”
“Funny, he says that differently.” Don’t engage, I remind myself.
“Don’t think that I’m not onto you,” she says. “I know your hiding something.”
“Am I interrupting?” a woman asks as she settles into the chair on the other side of me. I smile when I see Ivy’s smiling face.
“I sure hope so,” I reply.
She claps her hands together. “Oh goody. By the way, you and Hunter make the cutest couple.”
Before I can speak Layla replies, “Not for long they won’t.”
“I had a great time with you guys the other night. And Mason, too, of course,” Ivy replies completely ignoring Layla and her insane ramblings.
“Do I need to apologize for him?” I joke. Though with Mason, you never know.
“No apologies at all. He is such a sweetie. And, uh, who’s Avery?” Ivy asks.
“A friend,” I tell her. Though if he is talking about her while we’re in paradise and he is surrounded by beautiful women, then all signs point to me being right. There is something more there.
Eventually Layla tires of listening to Ivy and I chat. She stands from her seat; her hands are on her hips and her desire to have the last word more than evident. “I will find out what it is you’re hiding, and I will make sure that Hunter knows exactly who he’s “dating”,” she says. Refusing to dignify her threat with a response, I allow her to have the last word. And when she is finally gone from the room, leaves the room my body actually relaxes in my seat.