Start Me Up

by Victoria Dahl

  Lori took a deep breath and pushed away from him. She raised her head and met his worried eyes. “Quinn Jennings,” she said, her voice shaking only a tiny bit, “that was the best thing I’ve ever done.”

  His eyes went wide. Lori noticed a bit resentfully that his lashes were much longer than hers. “Ever?” he repeated.

  “Ever. It far surpasses that time I talked myself into riding the tallest roller coaster on the East Coast.”

  His eyes went wider still. “That was your best thing before?”

  “I’m afraid of heights. So yeah. I was pretty proud.”

  “And now you’re proud that we just screwed like crazy people?”

  “Yes,” she answered before her cowardice got the better of her.

  They stared at each other, silent for five or six breaths, while Lori’s stomach sank lower and lower. Until, finally…Quinn smiled. “Yeah, I’m kind of proud of myself, too. I was a fucking sex ninja.”

  She’d thought the orgasm great, but the laughter was even better. They both had to wipe tears from their eyes before they settled into each other again, and the giggles hit Lori every few seconds for a good fifteen minutes before she finally fell asleep.

  That night she dreamed of masked ninjas prowling through her room, watching her sleep. Strangely enough, despite their frightening masks and glinting eyes, they all seemed quite friendly.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  LORI WOKE UP ALONE in a big, strange bed. A first for her. Another first.

  Grinning into the dark, she sat up and looked around for a clock. Only five in the morning, but that was hardly a surprise. They’d fallen asleep pretty early, after all.

  The curiously sore muscles of her stomach complained when she collapsed into the pillows. She was clearly in for a deliciously achy day. She’d been ridden hard and put up very, very wet.

  “Hell, yeah,” Lori groaned, glad that Quinn wasn’t next to her. She was embarrassed, just as she’d expected to be. But she only needed a minute. One minute of embarrassment and then she’d get over it, whether she was ready or not.

  But for a full sixty seconds she simply lay in Quinn’s bed, taking deep breaths as heat rushed over her skin in waves. The bondage part hadn’t been particularly embarrassing. It was the “I’m sorry, please don’t hurt me” part that made her blush. It also made her wet as hell, and she spent the rest of her minute of mortification wondering how many times Quinn would be up for that in the next few weeks.

  Sweet, nerdy Quinn…who’d have thought he’d play the role of demanding captor so damn well? “It’s always the quiet ones,” Molly had once said about Ben. Obviously Molly Jennings was a woman who knew what she was talking about.

  Just in case Quinn had only wandered away for a few moments, Lori stretched hard and relaxed back into the bed. She could pretend to be asleep if he came back in…unconsciously roll onto her stomach and pull the sheets out of place. He wouldn’t be able to resist the glimpse of her naked ass, but he wouldn’t want to wake her, either. So he’d ease back into bed and run a careful hand up her thigh. Slide his fingers gently between her legs, just for a quick touch, but then he’d find her already soaking wet, ready for him. Lori would whimper a little, shift her knee higher.

  Was she asleep or awake? Quinn wouldn’t know, but he’d be so damned hard, he’d have to have her. He’d ease off his shorts and kneel between her parted legs, stroke his dick down her ass until he found the slick niche of her sex….

  Lori moaned and rubbed her fingers over her throbbing clit. Shocks radiated up her belly, urging her to finish the job, but there was no good reason to get herself off when Quinn couldn’t be more than a hundred feet away. Much better to surprise him with a little morning quickie.

  The floor radiated warmth when Lori set her bare feet down. She found her panties quickly, but resisted the idea of zipping into the tight bodice of her crumpled dress. Instead, she grabbed Quinn’s dress shirt and fastened only two of the middle buttons. Sexy. After a quick detour to his bathroom, Lori set out to find her prey.

  The kitchen and living room were empty and the patio door still shut tight. Lori headed upstairs and walked straight into what must be Quinn’s office. The large loft took up most of the second level. It looked out over the two-story living room below, and the outer walls were set with a half-dozen windows. Quinn sat in front of one of these windows, a big lamp blazing light onto a huge drafting table. He was hunched over, wielding a very complicated-looking ruler and a black pencil. He didn’t look up.

  “Hey, Quinn,” she said, surprised at the throaty whisper that emerged from her mouth.

  Quinn didn’t seem surprised. In fact, he didn’t seem to notice anything at all. “Hey,” he muttered.

  Well. Sexy, indeed. She thought of dropping the shirt altogether, but even sheer nudity wouldn’t work if he didn’t look up from his work. Better to keep the shirt on and her pride intact. Plus, the blinds were open.

  Glancing around to see what view the neighbors might have, Lori’s eyes fell on the big, paper-strewn desk a few feet to Quinn’s right. She cut her eyes back to him, then to the desk again.

  Hmm. If he was too busy for sex, maybe she could get some work done, too.

  Feeling like a James Bond villainess—spying right under the hero’s nose!—Lori sidled over, her peripheral vision locked on Quinn. His eyes didn’t so much as shift in her direction.

  At first, she only stood there, looking over the files and letters tangled up in haphazard piles. Nothing said “Tumble Creek,” which would have been helpful, and none of the papers had been stamped with a big red “Top Secret,” either.

  After looking over her shoulder to confirm Quinn’s continued absorption in his work, Lori dared to use one finger to shift a few files around, glancing at the labels on each. Paper rubbing against paper made a much louder sound than she’d ever noticed before. It scraped and dragged and crackled.

  Good Lord. Her hairline prickled with sweat, but Quinn worked on, undisturbed. Encouraged by his complete lack of attention, Lori turned back to the desk and began picking files up.

  When she lifted the third one, the file beneath it stopped her heart for a startling moment. Anton/Bliss, the tab read, Project 29-10. Lori pulled it out and spread the file open.

  Inside was a sketch of a gorgeous house fronted with a huge, two-story porch. The supports of the porch were polished pine logs, thick enough to be whole tree trunks. The house sat amidst mature aspens and lush grass. At the very bottom of the paper, a ribbon of water edged onto the idyllic scene.

  Her father’s river? Maybe. But she couldn’t possibly be so lucky.

  She flipped the sketch over to see the pictures beneath, but aside from one set of floor plans, the other papers were only notes. Numbers and abbreviations that she couldn’t decipher. Finally, the last page was an e-mail from Anton/Bliss discussing a proposal for a riverfront collection of homes.

  “What are you looking at?” Quinn’s voice fell on her like a ton of bricks.

  Lori gulped so hard that she choked on the air.

  “Hey,” he said, his voice drawing closer. “Are you okay?”

  She dropped the file and spun around. “I’m fine!”

  His raised eyebrows slowly lowered. So did his eyes. “Good. You certainly look great.”

  “Um. Thank you.”

  “You look…tousled.”

  Well, she wasn’t worried about being embarrassed anymore, but she did raise a self-conscious hand to her hair. Quinn shifted closer and sneaked his arms around her waist. His kiss was a welcome relief. A deep, knee-weakening welcome relief. By the time he ended it, Lori was sitting on the files she’d been pillaging before.

  Quinn eased back a bit, his thumb idly stroking the small of her back. “How long have you been up here?”

  Oh, jeez. “Ah. You know. Just a minute.”

  “Huh. I bet it was longer than that.”

  Frozen, she tried to think of an excuse for what she’d been doing.


  But Quinn surprised her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ignore you.”

  “I…Uh…”

  “I’m just kind of an ass sometimes.”

  He didn’t suspect a thing. Lori shook her head and grinned in mad relief. “You can’t ignore someone if you don’t even know they’re there.”

  “Damn.” He winced and let her go. “You’re right. It’s really bad. I’m so sorry. Will you forgive me if I make you breakfast?”

  “Quinn, you were working. It’s no big deal. What are you doing, anyway?”

  He shot a frustrated look at the drafting table. “I’m working on the house. What else?”

  “Your house? Can I see it?”

  “Really? I wouldn’t advise letting me talk about it. An hour from now you’ll be begging me to stop.”

  Electricity arched between them at his words. Their eyes locked. And then Quinn grinned.

  “Come on. I’ve got you at my mercy again. I might even tie you to my office chair and make you beg me for more detailed descriptions.”

  Lori rolled her eyes and headed for the drafting table, trying to pretend she wasn’t blushing.

  “Wait!” He jumped in front of her and held up a hand. “Let me get it ready. Just a sec.” After opening a few storage tubes and laying out the huge pieces of paper within, Quinn nodded and motioned her forward.

  She tried not to smile at the nervous way he crossed his arms, but she couldn’t help it. Still, the smile fell away when she rounded the table and got a look at the full-color drawing before her.

  His home was gorgeous. Of course it was. But it wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d thought he must be building a lodge-style home, framed with polished pine logs and hewn timbers. But this structure looked less like a mountain lodge and more like a mining office.

  The wood plank walls glinted silver with age, as if the house had already survived a hundred years of winter. The steep roof was corrugated metal, the foundation and chimneys jagged rock. In the middle of the tall, narrow wing of the main part of the house, three huge square windows were stacked up to the roofline, creating what looked to be a full thirty feet of glass.

  “Wow,” Lori breathed.

  His head turned toward her, then back to the table. “This is reclaimed wood,” he said, touching the thin vertical planks of the walls. “The roof is steel, and photovoltaic sheets will be laminated to the south-facing rooflines. Flexible solar panels,” he explained, before she could ask.

  “It’ll use radiant heat, of course. You wouldn’t believe the advances made in solar power these days. There’s a great new system that runs heated glycol through deep sand beds, and that will be bolstered by a geothermal system.”

  “Mmm-hmm.”

  Quinn peeled back the top sheet, and Lori sucked in a deep breath at the sight of the other side of the house. “Wow.”

  A rear wing jutted out from the back of the house like an off-kilter T. The farthest edge seemed to disappear into a cliff wall or at least lean against it for support. This side of the house consisted almost entirely of windows.

  “It’s amazing, Quinn.”

  “Do you like it?”

  “Don’t be stupid. Of course I like it. It’s beautiful.”

  “Would you like a tour?”

  She blinked, then turned toward Quinn to find him waiting with a little boy’s smile, tentative and excited at the same time. “A tour?”

  The smile bloomed into full-out delight. “Yeah. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the desk chair.

  “Wait! I’m happy to listen. You don’t have to tie me up.”

  “I won’t. Not yet.” He sat her in the chair, spun her toward the computer and tapped a few keys.

  “What is this?”

  “A drafting program.” The computer whirred for a few moments before Quinn’s home popped to life on the screen. It looked even more impressive from the angle of someone standing on the front drive. Quinn showed her how to direct the view, and soon Lori was walking toward the front door.

  “Wow,” she said again as she moved inside the house and spun the view around. “Wow.” She barely had time to take in the antique wood struts of the two-story ceiling before Quinn pointed toward the kitchen, urging her on. The kitchen was dark, distressed wood and copper accents, lit by tall windows set above the cabinetry. She wanted to linger there, pretend she was resting her weight against the countertop while Quinn made her breakfast. But he waved her forward.

  “Is this a tour or a race?” she complained, but Quinn pointed to the large room beyond the kitchen. She glided forward obediently. And then she saw what he wanted her to see.

  The living room. Or maybe the office if the desk and tall bookshelves were any indication. She didn’t really care, because all she could see was the glass wall that looked out over the view beyond. Hundreds of square feet of mountains and trees and sky. It was gorgeous on the computer. It would be breathtaking in real life.

  After staring at the computer-generated view for a few minutes, Lori noticed something odd. The long glass didn’t stop at the far wall, because there was no wall. There was only rock. The house really did disappear into the mountain, or rather, the mountain was part of the house.

  “How did you do that?” she whispered.

  “It’s dry rock,” he said. “Meaning it’s not wet. When I found this land, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with this house, but I had to wait until the next spring to be sure it was feasible. I couldn’t have snowmelt dripping into my house three months of the year.”

  “Does the glass go into the rock?”

  “No, it’s just hand-shaped to fit the contours perfectly. And caulked, of course. The beam above it does go deep into the rock for support.”

  “Amazing. It feels like you’re outside.”

  “Yeah.” She could hear the grin in his voice. “Here.” He pointed toward the kitchen door, but Lori pushed his hand away.

  “You’re worse than a first grader. Let me relax and look around!”

  “Okay. Sorry.” He tried to look abashed, but failed. “I’ll let you look.” Backing away, he jerked his thumb toward the drafting table. “I’ll be over here. Take your time.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Let me know if you have any questions.”

  “Got it.” She clicked the mouse and retraced her previous steps so she could start at the beginning again.

  “Don’t forget to go out the back door.”

  “All right already! Jeez.” But she was smiling as she complained, enjoying his pride and pleasure. Quinn was like a boy with his first crush. How amazing it must feel to be so skilled. To create a work of art and know your own worth as you did it.

  Her eyes blurred with tears as she stared at the dream Quinn had created for himself. Summer fling or not, he’d been her friend first, and she was proud of what he’d done.

  A half an hour later, she pushed the chair back from the desk and sighed. “It’s amazing.”

  “Thank you,” Quinn said so quickly that she doubted he’d been working at all.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it. Not that I’ve seen a lot of custom-built, multimillion-dollar estates.” She heard him set down a pencil.

  “I’m not that rich, you know.”

  Arching an eyebrow, Lori spun the chair around to give him her best look of sardonic doubt. “Uh-huh.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Is this about that argument we had yesterday?”

  “Not really. I just don’t want you to think I’m one of those guys. All of my money is tied up in this land. The building is taking so long because I’m trading for labor.”

  “You’re what?”

  “I’m bartering. Designing houses for the contractors and foremen in exchange for a steep discount. The suppliers are a bit more complicated, but I’m working on them. And some of the work I’ll do myself, of course.”

  “Still…you’re not exactly struggling.”

  He shrugged, leaning
a little farther into his stool. “I was lucky. I interned with an amazing architect. He took me under his wing, and when he retired, he urged a lot of influential people to give me a chance. I wouldn’t be even half as established now if it hadn’t been for Walter McInnis.”

  Lori darted a glance at the mess of files on the desk and wondered if she should risk it. But she had nothing else to go on, so there was little choice. “McInnis hooked you up with people like Peter Anton?”

  “Exactly. Those kinds of developments were my bread and butter the first couple of years. Now I can be a bit more choosy.”

  “But I see you’re working on something for them now.” She inclined her head toward the desk, and Quinn frowned. Her heart rate kicked up to panic mode when he said nothing. “Ah, I saw a drawing of a house.”

  “Oh, right. That’s just a proposal. Some hush-hush deal that hasn’t gone through yet. They wanted to get it on my radar because they’re planning a big campaign as soon as it’s official, I guess.”

  Lori felt her eyelids flutter. A riverfront deal that hadn’t gone through yet? This could be her land. But it made no sense. It was Tumble Creek. Who the hell would buy a multimillion-dollar home they could access for only a few months a year? Sure, they could get up there during the winter, but all their rich friends would be on the other side of the mountain, so what was the point?

  “Did you like the house or something?”

  Lori stopped biting her lip and tried to look like someone who wasn’t thinking of stealing her lover’s top secret paperwork. “Sure. It was nice. I’m just trying to think of what river it could be. The Roaring Fork is surrounded by federal land in most places.”

  He shrugged. “Must be one of its tributaries. God knows these developers wouldn’t hesitate to call a stream a river if it meant more sales.”

  “You don’t know where it is?”

  “It’s not official, so I couldn’t very well go and walk it anyway. And neither could they. They only gave me some general ideas to work with.” His mouth twitched down a little. “Why? What’s up?”

  “Nothing,” she said too loudly.

  “I hope this doesn’t have anything to do with Peter looking at your ass last night. Because I like your ass, too, if that’s what you want to hear.”