Long Game

by Catherine Evans

  ‘How are you doing?’ Quin’s deep rumble cut into her musings. She pulled a yellow snake from the pack and waved it before she sank her teeth into it.

  After chewing, she jostled the pack. ‘Thank you.’ Sliding into bed beside him, she wafted the snakes in front of him. His nose twitched and nostrils flared before he grabbed a couple of the treats.

  ‘I’m doing okay,’ she said as she dropped the pack to the bedside table, but not before snaring an orange one. ‘We lost.’ She bit her lips together to hold back the emotion but it surged. ‘It hurts.’ Quin’s hands were on her shoulders and she was tucked against his chest. Soft kisses skimmed the side of her face. She slid her hand across his chest where the dusting of hair brushed sensually, the bump of his nipple scraped and distracted her. She circled and rubbed as it tightened, then she brushed her hand over his abdomen, enjoying the way his muscles pulsed against her touch, and the way her touch made his breath draw in. ‘I’m not ready for this to be over.’

  He caught her hand before it drifted beyond his abs. ‘Don’t discredit everything you’ve achieved, Watercress. It hurts to lose, especially to end the season on a loss, but you need to focus on the brilliant season you had, the Sirens had, the W.A.R. had. You’ve brought women’s sport into focus.’ He took a breath, kissed her temple, and rubbed his hand down her spine. Warmth spread along with deliciously delightful tingles.

  Quin was her personal cheer squad, her football brains trust, her conscience, and she didn’t ever want to leave him.

  It wasn’t that she was concerned their friendship would fail, or their relationship would end because of distance; she knew they’d work through that. It was the physical connection she didn’t want to lose. The moments spent lying in each other’s arms. The soothing, yet arousing, touch of his caress. The way his heartbeat matched hers and they pounded together.

  ‘I meant you,’ she said softly.

  Quin’s eyes widened. ‘I’m not going anywhere.’

  After a quick nod, she met his gaze. ‘But I am.’ She had to gulp and look away after the words came out. Her lips met his pectoral muscle and she traced the swell as he tensed. Her tongue flicked across his nipple. ‘I didn’t understand how important this would be.’ Sliding her hand from his grasp, she curled her fingers around his hardness. ‘Touch is important to a relationship.’ Sliding her hand up and down along his length had him groaning and nuzzling her neck.

  ‘I can’t think when you do that.’ Quin’s hand hovered near her wrist as if he thought he should draw her hand away, but wasn’t certain.

  ‘You don’t need to think.’ She moved her torso back, about to lower her head, when his fingers brushed under her chin. She glanced up, brows lifted.

  ‘I need to hold you, see you, watch you.’ The intensity of his words, and gaze, sent quivers through her and she ached with the desire to be one with him. He half-sat up, placed his hands on her hips and she needed no further encouragement. While she moved, he looked after protection. Straddling his lap, she let out a sigh. It felt like coming home. Her hands moved to his shoulders, his hair.

  ‘Quin.’

  They moved together, as one, without their stare breaking. Then her eyes closed and her head tipped back for a few moments as he filled her completely. Wet heat slid from her collarbone to her chin as Quin lapped along her neck. Sweet shivers made her squirm and his hands gripped her hips firmly.

  ‘We’ll work this out. I promise.’ He kissed her, then drew her lower lip into his mouth as they moved together. After a blitz of tiny pressing kisses, he stared at her. ‘We’ll touch whenever we can, wherever we can.’ Her body trembled at the power of his words, his intention … or what she hoped was his intention.

  Before she could question him, he rocked against her, harder, taking her higher. She moved with him, along him, as he filled her, completed her.

  She didn’t doubt him for a moment.

  Quin was her bedrock, her foundation. She could build her life with him. No matter how far apart they were. No matter what disappointments came her way, he’d be there. He’d always been there. She was safe with him. Safe in his arms. She’d heal. From this loss. From anything life threw in their path.

  In unison, they moved, gazes rarely breaking. Hands roamed as they made love to each other using every part of themselves they could. So many of his touches made her gasp. So many of her touches made him groan. To know someone this intimately, this incredibly, this powerfully was something Cress could never get her head around. It was perfect. Quin was perfect. And then her body spasmed into the perfect expression of her love.

  Every muscle quavered, stretched and then released, taking Quin with her. Their cry filled the room. Their tightened clasp caught her body. Quin’s heated gaze, filled with every jumble of powerful emotion she experienced herself, sent endorphins through her bloodstream. This was better than any footy game. Better than any win. Better than anything she’d ever felt in her life.

  Quin touched her heart. Her soul. Her very essence. Even if they had weeks where they couldn’t physically touch, they’d always have this deep connection.

  Clinging to him as she gasped for air, she blinked slowly, releasing the blur that had hidden him.

  ‘I love you, Quin Fitzpatrick.’

  His lips moved, and then his smile bloomed. His eyes sparkled. He leaned forward and brushed the tip of her nose with his lips, before leaning back against the pillows, catching her gaze again.

  ‘I love you, my Watercress.’

  She grinned. She loved how he called her that. Filled with joy and wonder, Cress basked in the fact that he loved her, that he’d said the words of love so simply and sincerely. This was her Quin. Dream Quin and real Quin as one, and an integral part of herself.

  His palm skimmed along her arm before settling at the back of her head. The lightest of touches. For a large man, he had the gentlest of hands. She moved, their lips met. Soft. Warm. She shifted against him, and the fire of their love crackled within her. Around her.

  ‘You may be in Grong Grong. I may be in Sydney. But I’m still yours, and you’re mine, wherever we may be.’

  Gulping as she nodded, she realised she hadn’t really been prepared for these vows, no matter how much she’d hoped they might be said. Quin took her breath away with his commitment, his promises.

  ‘I want this to last forever, Watercress.’ No breath. She had none at all. When he shifted and then produced a small rose-coloured box, she had no way of getting oxygen. Grinning sheepishly, he tapped her twice between the shoulderblades. ‘Don’t panic. I know it’s too soon for major investments. It’s something little. Stupid, probably.’

  She didn’t know what to do first, but her hands knew. They cupped his jaw. Her lips met his, briefly. ‘It’ll never be stupid.’ Her lips brushed his. He nudged her and she turned. A gasp broke from her before she spun back to stare at him. ‘Quin?’

  ‘I know, it’s—’

  She wasn’t letting him finish that thought. ‘Beautiful.’ Her fingertip brushed lightly across the rose quartz, snared beautifully in the finest swirls of metal. ‘It’s a heart.’ She gulped as his arms tightened around her. ‘To wear next to my heart.’

  His soft sigh made her think he was going to say something disparaging about his incredible gift. ‘Will you put it on me, Quin, please?’

  ‘You don’t wear—’

  She brushed her fingers across his lips. ‘I’ll wear this every time I can.’ She couldn’t wear it for footy, and not for farming, but she had plenty of time she could, and would. Her thumb ran across the fine swirls of wire that made intertwined hearts closed around the heart-shaped gemstone as she waited for him to do up the chain. When it sat perfectly nestled above the slight swell of her breasts, she grinned. ‘I’ll wear it every night, and then you’ll always be touching me.’

  His arms wrapped her tightly as his lips devoured. She held his heart against hers.

  This was exactly where she was meant to be. Exactly who she was
meant to be with. She could face anything with Quin—even a long-distance relationship. Eventually, they’d be together and their future was going to match every one of her dreams. Of this she was certain, because with Quin, all her dreams came true.

  Thanks for reading Long Game. I hope you enjoyed it.

  If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage www.catherineevansauthor.com, follow me on twitter @CathEvansAuthor, or like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CatherineEvansAuthor/.

  You can also follow me through my publisher’s page here www.escapepublishing.com.au

  Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.

  You’ve just read a book in the Women of W.A.R. series. The other books in this series are Game On and Fair Game.

  If you liked this book, here are my other books The Healing Season.

  This book was published by Escape Publishing. If you’d like to sample some more great books from my fellow Escape Artists, please turn the page.

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  ISBN: 9781489255174

  Title: Long Game

  Copyright © 2018 by Cath Evans

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 13/201 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2000.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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