“What are you smiling at?” Quinn asked, and I drew my eyes back to him. The tension in his eyes had lessened since he’d returned from his and Owen’s game, and I wondered if they’d used the time to talk a bit like Presley and I had, but then doubted it. Men didn’t do that.
All at once the ball of worry that had festered over the past few months twisted into a knot of fear—one of regret. Regret that if I didn’t seize the moments I had now, I might never get another chance to do it again. I had no idea where my husband’s head was, or how he felt about us in that exact moment, or how he would in the future—but I knew that I wanted to touch him. On all levels, beyond physical, and reconnect with him in a way that would unlock every piece of anxiousness I’d carried since I’d seen him go into that office. Since we’d dropped Blaire off at school.
I bit my lip as I walked toward him, placing my hand on his chest. His heart was racing as fast as mine as if he could feel the tension pulsing through my veins.
“Come with me?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper as I grabbed his hand with my free one.
For the longest time he stared at me with those blue-gray eyes of his, and I held my breath, scared to death he’d say no, but equally terrified what would happen if he said yes.
12
Quinn
“Come with me?” Tara asked, her voice soft and open in a way I hadn’t heard in a long time.
After a pep-talk from Owen, I had been fully prepared to sit her down and talk to her—tell her every single thing that was confusing me—and end it with revealing to her the surprise I’d had pre-arranged before our trip. The way she touched my chest now had me keeping my mouth shut.
“Anywhere,” I finally said. I half expected her to walk us right back out the door and take us to yet another Wonderland room, but instead she tugged on my hand and led us to the bedroom.
She shut the door behind us, turning to press my back against it afterward. I never took my eyes off her, silently wondering what she was up to, but loving it too much to ask. She reached up on her tiptoes to kiss me, and I wrapped my arms around her, bringing her body flush with mine. I sighed under her touch, heat flaring in my blood when she slipped her tongue into my mouth.
Her movements were timid, like she was nervous about whatever was about to happen—which shocked the hell out of me since we were in a good old-fashioned bedroom as opposed to a Wonderland room filled with toys we didn’t know what to do with.
This was just us.
And then I realized that maybe that is what scared her. Finally being us without anything to hide behind—the interruptions, the fears, all of it.
Realizing this, nerves tangled with the want throbbing inside me, and I suddenly couldn’t take a full breath.
“Stay,” she whispered in my ear and then slowly backed up to the bed, slipping off her shirt and pants as she did.
“Okay,” I said, swallowing hard when I saw her in the simple black bra and cotton boy shorts she normally donned at home.
Crawling onto the bed, she gave me the most perfect view of her ass, and just like that, all the nerves vanished. Nothing but pure want remained, and it settled hot and hard in my dick. It’d been one long trip of almost getting to touch my wife in all the ways I’d wanted to, and I could feel the need in my bones.
I moved to follow her but didn’t make it one step before she flipped around and shook her finger at me.
“Uh uh,” she chided. “I told you to stay.”
A low growl rumbled from my chest, but I stepped backward with my hands raised.
“Good.” She turned again, moving some pillows around until she leaned against them.
I licked my lips, my muscles tensing like a sprinter at the starting mark waiting for the gun to go off. All she had to do was say go, but instead she held me in anticipation as she kept those dark eyes on me.
For several breaths, she stayed like that, simply staring at me, watching my chest rise and fall as I waited for permission to touch her. Then, slowly, she trailed her fingers up her bare leg, over her hip, and up past her breasts, until she reached her neck.
I cocked an eyebrow at her, my mouth watering.
She bit the corner of her lip, plunging her hand downward, covering her center for the briefest of moments before running her fingers down her legs again.
“Sometimes,” she whispered. “When you’re gone…I try to keep my hands busy.”
The breath stalled in my lungs as she touched herself again, heat flaring in my dick with the light touches.
“I clean or read or run…anything to stop myself from relieving the ache between my thighs with just the thought of you.” She teased her own breasts, never breaking our gaze. “But sometimes,” she said, “I can’t keep my hands to myself. I want you that badly.” She pinched her nipple with one hand as her other traveled lower.
The action was an intimate moment I’d never witnessed but instantly wondered why the hell I hadn’t seen her do it before. My muscles tensed again, coiling with the need to be those hands, to feel her under me.
Massaging both of her breasts, she slowly rolled her neck and sighed. I clenched my hand into a fist to keep from breaking my position. I wouldn’t move until she told me to, and damn if I wasn’t enjoying the show.
“You do this to me. After all this time,” she said. Keeping her eyes trained on mine she teased herself all the way down her body until she slipped her hand beneath the black fabric covering her center.
“You do it to me, honey. Always.” My heart pounded against my chest, my blood turning to liquid fire as she arched against her own touch.
“Mmm,” she moaned, her arm sliding up and down, those delicate fingers no doubt teasing her clit in the same way I would if she’d let me. “Take your shirt off,” she demanded in a breathy whisper.
I instantly complied, losing it on the floor. The woman had me under her control. If she told me to dance I would.
“Yes.” She arched into herself again, her curves rolling in the air in a way that drove me wild when I was above her. Drove me wild when I was across the room, too. “Pants.”
A few moves and they were gone, my rock hard dick straining against my briefs. “You see what you do to me?”
She nodded, her cheeks flushing, a small, teasing smile on her lips. “You want to touch me?”
“Fuck yeah, I do.”
Withdrawing her hand, she curled her fingers toward me. “Come get me, then.”
I blinked and was there, separating her thighs wider to accommodate me between them. I cupped her face, crushing my lips on hers so fast she gasped. I sucked her tongue into my mouth, stroking it with my own while I teased her nipples with my free hand.
“Tara,” I said against her mouth, pressing my dick against her hot center. Grabbing a handful of her perfect ass, I lifted her up to increase the pressure between us. The moan that came from her lips only fueled the unrestrained want vibrating off my skin, and I nipped gently at her neck.
Working my way down, I kissed her soft skin, taking the time to appreciate how wonderful she felt beneath me, and how open she was for me in a way she hadn’t been in such a long time. I savored her, taking whatever she gave me until I reached the panties that covered her. Then I slid those off and gave her what she needed.
I slowly kissed her center, gliding my tongue over her clit in long strokes that she met with the arching of her hips. She fisted my hair as I slid a finger inside her, teasing her for just a few seconds before taking it back out again and continuing with my tongue. The alternation of the two drove her wild, and she writhed against me.
“Quinn,” she sighed my name, and a wave of pure pleasure rolled through me knowing she was close.
“I can feel you, honey. Let it go,” I said, setting my tongue against her clit and circling it. “God, you taste fucking delicious.” Her body trembled with the vibrations from my words and I grinned before finally sucking on her clit until she came undone around my lips.
I b
rought her down with easy, feather-light licks before kissing my way back up to her breasts.
“More,” she said, grabbing my back and pulling me until I was settled at the perfect angle on top of her. “Please.”
Shifting slightly, I shoved my briefs down and gently pushed inside her. Her eyes widened as my length filled her, and I growled with the feel of her snugness around me. “So wet. So fucking perfect,” I said before sucking her bottom lip into my mouth.
She moaned with each thrust, wrapping her legs around my hips with a tight grasp that refused to let me go. Not that I would’ve gone anywhere. This was my home. This was my wife. Free, and open, and unrestrained. Here she could show me things without speaking, and that is where we needed to be. I caught her gaze, forcing her to look at me while I moved inside her, while I held her pleasure on the cusp of mine, needing her to see how much I loved her, how much I’d always loved her.
We moved in sync, at the rhythm that was perfectly attuned to the two of us, in ways that we knew would torture the other. She let me in deeper, and I took every inch, lapping up her screams like they were a fucking drug.
“Oh my God, Quinn,” she said, moaning as I hooked my arm underneath her knee to get a better angle, to push her past her second orgasm and onto her third. “I can’t take anymore. Quinn, please.”
I smirked, loving the way she tightened as she came around me. “Not yet,” I said, shaking my head, some of my hair falling in front of my eyes.
She gripped a handful of it, jerking my head backward and setting her teeth on my neck. I hissed, relishing the pain as I wrapped my arm around her waist and hefted her upward until we were vertical on the bed—her breasts against my chest, her face a breath away from mine. I inhaled her gasp, teasing her tongue with mine as I continued to thrust inside her. Her body trembled against mine once again, the tiny vibrations fueling the rush inside me. A wave of pure pleasure rolled through me, wracking each of my muscles until I knew I couldn’t hold on one second longer.
“Quinn,” she begged, meeting each of my movements with her own, coming down on me as I lifted, the connection hitting me with another burst of heat each time.
“Tara,” I mimicked her, holding her to me as tight as possible. “I love you,” I said before claiming her mouth.
“Yes!” she screamed as my orgasm ripped through me. “Yes,” she said again, sighing before dropping her head over my shoulder as if she had no strength left to hold it up anymore. “I love you, too.”
I didn’t dare move, not realizing how desperately I’d needed her to say the words until she’d finally said them. Our chests heaved against each other, but I held her wrapped in my arms, never wanting to lose this moment we were in—where we were connected, no questions, no doubts, just us.
In that moment, still inside her, her heart beating in sync to mine, we were untouchable.
“This place is gorgeous,” Tara said, gripping my hand as we walked up the path.
We cleared an expanse of aspen trees, only to come upon a lake that was so clear it reflected the stark blue sky from above, making the water look like it was practically glowing. Blue and yellow wildflowers sprouted in every available inch of space around the water, and with the mountains just on the horizon, the spot was as incredible as Anderson had boasted.
“He wasn’t lying,” I said, following her to where she stopped near the edge of the water. The place was so still and quiet my voice almost sounded too loud even though I’d spoken softly.
“Thank you for taking me.” She smiled at me, her lips still swollen from this morning. Last night—which Tara had later told me was technically fantasy number three—had broken the seal on our intimacy hiatus, and I’d made love to her this morning until we had to break for food.
“I have to admit; I didn’t want to.” I pulled her back against my chest, kissing her neck. “All I wanted was to get you back to bed after breakfast, but the fresh air was a good idea. This is stunning.”
She held my hands that were wrapped in front of her and sighed, her body melting into mine. “I can’t believe we’re the only ones out here right now. This is totally worth the hike.”
“It’s a little strange, isn’t it?” I glanced around, shocked that we were the only resort guests to make the trek on a gorgeous day like today. “Grant did say something about bears though, right?”
She nodded. “He did, but said they usually stayed in the woods.”
The forested area wasn’t far from the trail that had led us here. I tightened my grasp around her. “Maybe we should only stay a little while.”
She turned in my arms, looking up at me. “Are you afraid?”
I knitted my eyebrows. “Never.”
“Is there anything that scares you?” She laughed, resting her head against my chest.
“Plenty of things.”
“Like what?”
“Losing you.” The words left my lips before I could stop them. They were true, though, and from the way she tensed in my arms, she knew it.
“Then why…”
I shifted her until I could see her eyes after she’d let the question hang there for far too long. “Why what?”
Her eyes glistened before she forced a smile to her face and shook her head. “Never mind. This day…it’s too perfect to ruin with talking, don’t you think?” She arched an eyebrow at me and fisted my shirt, forcing me down to kiss her.
Unable to resist, I wrapped my arms around her waist and hoisted her to my level, claiming her mouth like we were in the privacy of our bedroom instead of the very open spot by the lake.
“After?” I asked, breaking our kiss only long enough to pose the question.
Nodding, she crushed her lips against mine, sliding her tongue along the edges of my teeth as she pushed me backward until I sank to the ground. She threw a leg over my lap, straddling me and raking her fingers through my hair. I shoved my hands underneath her top, loving the feel of her skin against mine. Loving the way she rolled her hips against me in a hungry passion as if we hadn’t already made love that morning.
There was a conversation coming—I knew it, and she did, too. We had to clear out the mess that had tangled in both of us, about what, I still didn’t know—but later. For now, I just wanted to be with my wife. Make her body ring with so much pleasure she screamed my name.
“Wait,” she said, breaking our kiss. “Here?” She glanced around the area. “What if someone comes?”
I cracked a grin, brushing my lips against hers. “Oh, I guarantee someone will come.”
Heat flared in her eyes. “Is this another fantasy? One I didn’t know about?”
I shook my head, pulling at the hem of her pants until she shimmied out of them and took her place on top of me. “No, honey. This is just us.”
A quick flick of her fingers and the button on my jeans popped, and she had me out and hard in her hands. I shoved the lace covering her to the side, and she sank on top of me so quickly I growled. She was wet and ready for me, riding me at top speeds like we’d never go fast or hard enough.
I gripped her hips, holding on as I watched her fuck me, loving every single roll of her body, every arch of her neck, every sigh. Leaning back slightly, I adjusted so I could stroke her clit with one hand, while the other supported us there on the bank of the lake. The blue sky filled the area behind her, but I couldn’t see past her eyes as they lit up under my touch. She rocked against me harder, greedy with her movements, taking everything I gave and sending it right back to me.
“Tara,” I said, attempting to slow her down so I wouldn’t come too early.
“Quinn.” She met my eyes with a devious glare. “Let go.” She slammed on top of me harder, faster, her body shaking with each movement. When she tightened around me, moaning and writhing with a wild abandon fitting of our surroundings, I couldn’t fucking not come.
My orgasm jerked through me, just as she had demanded it to do. “Fuck,” I said, catching my breath as she continued to rock slowly again
st me. “Honey.”
She nipped at my bottom lip, her breath as ragged as my own. “Mmmhmm.”
“You…” I sucked in a breath. “You’re amazing.”
“Remember that,” she said before smothering any response I had with a kiss.
13
Tara
“That’s a happy color choice,” Grant said after I picked up the baby blue paint off the stool holding every color imaginable.
“Fits my mood,” I said, grinning before stroking the brush against the small canvas he’d set out for me.
“That’s a refreshing twist. I take it…” He spun his paintbrush—dolloped in red—in the air, his eyebrows waggling.
A flush raked over my skin, and my lips tingled as if I could feel Quinn’s kiss lingering there.
“Finally!” He fist-bumped the air.
My mouth dropped open as he celebrated the sex that I’d had.
“Sorry,” he said, composing himself. “I’ve never had a challenge the likes of you before. Finally pinning down what the two of you needed is a big win for me. You can bet I’ll be celebrating tonight.”
I chuckled, shaking my head as I returned focus to the painting in front of me. The shade of blue nearly matched the color of Quinn’s eyes, but there wasn’t enough gray in it. I swirled the shade around the paper, no clear picture in mind, just the enjoyment of the motions and the feel of the brush against the paper.
“And how will you celebrate your victory?” I asked, teasing him.
“Lots and lots of rum.”
“Alone?”
He cut his eyes to me, his playful smile falling a fraction before he returned his gaze to the canvas he worked on. “Yes.”
“I thought as much.” I sighed, having noticed throughout all our sessions talking about love and my marriage and everything in between that he’d never once mentioned someone of his own. “How is it the authority on love and passion is alone?”
Intimacy Page 11
