“How are things with her?”
“Good. I went off the deep end the other day and spent like five hundred dollars on toys because I realized I’ve never bought her a present. Can you believe that? I’m a really shitty dad.”
“You didn’t give her anything?”
“I gave her mom cash to buy her stuff, but I never picked something out.”
“So what did you give her?”
“Some dolls and games and stuff. Her favorite was a stuffed panda I probably paid two bucks for.”
Kellie chuckled and squeezed his hand. When had they done that? Had he reached for her? Or had she?
“Hey, at least she didn’t prefer the box over the stuff you got her.”
“That’s true.”
For a few moments they sat there in silence, simply being together. Part of him wanted to stay like they were and savor the precious moments he had left, but that wasn’t fighting for what he wanted.
Kellie turned and sat on her hip facing him. “What did you say to the doctor? Do you remember?”
“Just that Grandma was a lot for one person to handle and it was rough on you. That I wondered if it was too much for you on your own.”
She frowned. “That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s not very incriminating. And it’s not okay that you wouldn’t talk to me about it.”
“I know. If I ruined my shot of being with you, I get it. I want another chance, even if I don’t deserve it. I…like…you. I don’t want to be without you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before what happened? Why did you let me find out on my own and then act like you did it intentionally? This whole mess wasn’t even your fault and you’ve been acting like it was.”
“Because I’d told myself that you were going to hate me when you found out and I deserved it, but I’m a selfish bastard and didn’t want you to leave me.”
She stared at him, her brows slowly drawing down and her mouth scrunching into a little bow. She drew her arm back and slapped him across the stomach and chest. “What were you thinking? That’s terrible logic!”
He held his arm up to fend off some of the blows, but he didn’t try very hard. He laughed for the sheer joy of fighting with her. She might be pissed at him, but she wasn’t walking out the door.
Kellie straddled his waist and delivered a teeth-jarring punch to his chest.
“Ow, hey. Stop that.”
He caught a left punch to his stomach and wrenched her arm up, but was vulnerable to a right blow to his clavicle. He’d felt the strength with which Kellie could throw her fists and this wasn’t it. He still wasn’t a human punching bag.
“That’s it.” He flipped her onto her back and pinned her.
Kellie yelped and sputtered, but he could hear a strain of laughter in her voice as she beat at his shoulder with her free arm. He lowered his face to hers and nuzzled her cheek. Instead of punching him, she gripped his arm.
“Doll, I screwed up.” He kissed the corner of her mouth. This cat had claws he would respect.
“I’m not arguing with that.”
“Can I fix things?”
She slid her hand up into his hair, fisting the too long length. “I need to trust you. I want to. I can’t be in a relationship with you if there’s no trust. You have to talk to me.” She squeezed her thighs around him and stroked the back of his claves with her feet. They were wrapped up in each other so tight he didn’t want to come undone. “I like you.”
“I like you too.”
“We sound like fifth-graders.”
He planted a chaste kiss on her mouth. “I think fifth-graders are more mature than we are. Hell, Josie might be better adjusted than we are, and she’s three.”
“I really don’t want to think about your daughter right now.” As she spoke, her lips skated over his skin, tantalizing touches of flesh to flesh as she blazed a path across his cheek and jaw.
He struggled to get words out and think past his throbbing cock. “Oh yeah? You used the R-word.”
“I did, but let’s talk about that later?”
“What do you want to talk about?”
“I haven’t had sex with you in four whole days.” Her lips closed around the tender morsel of skin at the bottom of his ear. She sucked and flicked it with her tongue.
“I can do sex.”
Kellie watched Quin as he stripped off his shirt and shorts. He was more than a hot body and great ink. She loved him. She couldn’t decide if that was crazy or the product of too much sex and stress.
He put a knee on the bed and reached for her.
Every other time they’d had sex they’d wrestled for the dominant position, and more than once she’d let him win. She didn’t even want to pretend that way now. She sat up and met him, stroking her hands down over his chest.
She’d almost lost him.
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, cupping her cheek.
It would be. She had him now. She’d have to figure out how to keep him later.
He carried her back down to the mattress and covered her with his body. Warmth wrapped around her chest so tight her breathing hitched.
“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.” He stared into her eyes, so close their noses bumped.
“I want to.”
He seemed to grasp that something else was going on, and maybe it was different for him too. The Quin tugging off her shirt was not the same one who’d put her through a cheap painting. He dropped kisses along her collarbone. He didn’t stare at her breasts but kept glancing up at her. Was she imagining the soulful look in his eye? That maybe below the surface there was much more going on for him as well?
Quin fumbled with the catch on her bra, but what else was new? She chuckled and flicked it open for him.
“Practice makes perfect.”
He kissed the valley between her breasts. “I’ll work on that. I’m sure you can teach me.”
“I’ve done it a few times.” She tossed the bra on the floor and settled back against the pillows.
He followed her down, stroking her sides and staring into her eyes. Her nipples tightened as if by command. She wanted him in her already, wanted that deep, soul-searing connection that came only from being in love. The silence drew taut between them until he ever so slowly lowered his mouth to hers and gently drew her lower lip between his.
It wasn’t nearly enough. She dug her fingers into his shoulders and opened for him. He answered with a deep kiss that stole her breath. Her breasts chafed against his chest and she curled her leg over his thigh. His fingers began drawing patterns on her skin, sensitizing her with barely there touches. She arched her back, needing to be closer, but his weight kept her firmly in place.
“Quin, please,” she managed to say between kisses. Had she ever begged a lover for anything? She couldn’t remember if she had, but she needed him now.
“Shh, I’ve got you, doll.”
He levered up and tabbed her jeans open, pressing a kiss to the skin above her panties before peeling the last of her clothing off and dropping it over the edge of the bed.
Quin knelt between her legs and she watched his gaze rove over her body. He’d seen her nude plenty of times, but he’d never seen her bare. She’d never felt more exposed to him. Kellie might not have told him how she felt, hell, she could barely admit it to herself, but it changed everything.
She loved him.
He rubbed a hand over her ankles and up her calves. Goose bumps crawled up her legs despite the warmth baking her from the inside out.
She couldn’t take these long, intense looks anymore. If he kept staring at her she was going to tell him exactly what was on her mind. Instead, she turned to the side table and grabbed a condom from the almost empty box. That was a problem for later. Tomorrow if at all possible.
The mattress dipped as Quin crawled up her body to straddle her hips. She ripped the packet open and drew out the prize. He reached for the condom but she
pushed his hands away.
“Let me.”
He didn’t say anything as she reached for his cock and rolled the condom down his length. She leaned forward and kissed his chest.
How the hell had he wormed his way into her heart already?
“Come here,” he mumbled and gathered her in his arms.
Quin carried them down to the mattress, settling back over her, fitting so perfectly she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen this the first time. They were a couple of hard-asses, hell-bent on making their own bit of the American dream a reality. Was it written in the stars they would fall in love too?
He began kissing his way down her body but she dug her hand into his hair and hauled him back up.
“No. I just want you. Now.”
He frowned. “You sure?”
“If you don’t fuck me now, I’m kicking you out of here and finding a vibrator.”
One side of his mouth kicked up. “Better yet, could I watch that?”
Despite her attempt to glare at him, she giggled. Damn him. She pushed at his shoulders in a halfhearted attempt. “Jerk. Get out.”
He tightened his hold on her, settling into the cradle of her thighs and rubbing her mound against him. “You’ll have to make me.”
“I will.” Lie. She loved him. She wanted him. And right now she needed him.
He grinned and cupped her ass, tilting her hips so his length slid through her folds. “I’d like to see you try.”
She fisted the sheets and rolled her hips in tandem with his. “Later. Sex first.”
Quin chuckled, his breath hot against her throat where his lips skated over her skin. His tongue drew a trail over the most sensitive spot and she shuddered.
“Quin.”
He just laughed again, but his hands—oh his hands—slipped between their bodies and dipped into her channel. Her muscles constricted around his fingers. He hummed as he stroked her inner walls, coaxing her arousal higher until she was moving her hips, rubbing against him.
“You’re fucking beautiful,” he growled and withdrew his hand.
She pried her eyes open and stared up at him. Her breath caught in her throat at the emotion she saw there. He cared. She didn’t know how much, but he did, and it was a hell of a lot more than simply liking her.
He prodded her entrance with his cock, but she was too impatient for slow and teasing. She wrapped her legs around him and squeezed, groaning as he slid deep within her.
Quin lowered to his elbows, his gaze still holding hers hostage. “Better than I remember.”
He withdrew and thrust until he filled every bit of her. He cupped her breasts and twirled the peaks exactly how she liked until her spine bowed and her eyes fluttered almost shut. She was so aroused, so ready for him to move, to make her come, that it wouldn’t take much more.
I love you.
The words were on the tip of her tongue, she wanted to say them, tell him what was inside her, but she couldn’t. Not yet.
She wrapped an arm around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss, breaking the intensity of his gaze and trading it for the branding of his touch. He groaned and moved, pulling out until just the tip of him was within her, then thrusting back in slowly.
“More,” she groaned.
He did as she requested, interpreting her request for what it was, a plea for more, harder and faster. Each glide of his flesh against hers sent off bursts of pleasure, wrapping her deeper in him. He gripped the sides of her face and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes were slits of brilliant blue staring into her heart, and she could deny him nothing.
She clutched at his shoulders as he pistoned in and out of her, and she seemed to spiral to another plane. There really was a difference between fucking and making love. He reached deep within her and pulled up those words, the ones she wasn’t going to say though his gaze commanded her to.
“Come on, doll,” he whispered.
“Yes, yes, yes,” she chanted, spine arching off the mattress.
His jaw dropped on a silent shout as he came, body going taut. She rolled her hips, undulating against him. From deep within her, the wave of climax crashed, robbing her of breath. She clung to his shoulders as pleasure radiated through her body, mixed with a heady emotion that was new.
Love.
Quin was in her body and soul, and she never wanted to change that.
Chapter Twenty-One
Tengu—This is a type of Japanese demon, often represented with a mask, similar to the Oni Mask. These demons or goblins are thought to have taught the samurai because they were highly skilled warriors themselves. They hated vanity and arrogance, and often played tricks on prominent figures who were overbearing, such as monks and other warriors.
Quin leaned over the bed and pressed his lips to Kellie’s forehead. “Come on.”
She groaned and pushed him away. “No more.”
He laughed and swatted her bare ass. “You said you wanted to go work out.”
“In the morning. It’s the middle of the night,” she grumbled.
“It’s morning, lazy ass. Stay here if you want, but I need to go.” His heart fell a little. He’d wanted her to go in with him, spar a little.
He sighed and walked around the bed, snagging clean clothes from the piles atop the dresser. He took a quick shower and headed downstairs, careful not to disturb Kellie. He couldn’t blame her for wanting to sleep more. She deserved it after this last week and what she’d been through.
“You take more time getting ready than I do,” Kellie said from the room adjacent the foot of the stairs. She sat on the hardwood floor, two boxes open and a few piles of clothing separated out. She’d braided her hair into two bunches, and wore shorts and a t-shirt.
“I thought you were still sleeping.” He sat on the last stair and pulled his shoes on.
“Morning is my least favorite time of the day. Are we getting food here or on the way?”
“There’s nothing but beer here.”
“On the way then.” She pushed to her feet and stretched. “I have no idea where my workout bag is, do you?”
“It’s not in one of these boxes?”
“No.”
She sighed and hauled a bag over her shoulder. “Damn. It’s somewhere in my car. I guess I’ll follow you there and go to work after? Then why don’t I get food and you go in. There’s no point in us both stopping.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” She closed the distance between them and kissed his cheek. “See you there?”
He wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and held her in place for a second kiss. She gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him in closer, opening her mouth to swipe her tongue across his lips and tangle with his. There was hope there, between them.
Kellie pushed his shoulders. “I like you. Don’t forget that. See you soon.”
She left him standing there, his heart two times bigger than it had been. He couldn’t stop grinning. He had a spring in his step as he grabbed his keys from the kitchen and headed out to his truck. The space where Kellie’s Cube had been was empty, but he’d see her. Soon.
The streets were almost empty thanks to the summer break, and he pulled into the parking lot at the gym with plenty of time to spare on the six a.m. opening. There was a small, faithful group of people who came in the mornings now for workouts. In a few weeks one of his staff along with his newly pregnant wife would begin a new class geared for expecting families. He was in talks with a yoga instructor. Kellie was in his life.
He whistled as he strode around to the front of the building, only to stop when the front doors came into view. Or what was left of them. One pane of eight-foot-tall glass was completely smashed in, the doors had holes the size of his head broken out and the other large pane of glass was mostly gone.
A string of expletives flew off his lips and he clenched his fists.
Not again. Not fucking again.
He strode through the broken-out window. Glass crunched
underfoot. The A/C units were working overtime trying to cool the whole state of Texas.
“Fuck,” he growled and kicked the cinderblock wall on his left. He’d spent thousands thanks to this damn vandal. If he ever got his hands on the asshole, he’d take every penny out of his hide.
On the off chance something had been missed, Quin circled the receptionist desk. His stomach plummeted. The top-of-the-line security camera system was smashed in, the units pulled out of the desk and lying on the ground in twisted heaps.
This was it. He was done for. The mailbox, the first security camera, the damn fish, the graffiti, the A/C, it had all added up. This was going to break him.
He dreaded finding out what kind of shape the gym was in, but he had to know before he called the cops. With heavy footsteps, he entered the cavernous gym. No light reflected off the walls. The floor-to-ceiling mirrors were gone, and who knew what else was jacked up?
Pain blossomed up and down his spine and his skull felt as if fireworks had been set off while attached to his hair. He groaned and blinked, inhaling the rubber mat his face was pressed intimately against. Something hit him in the stomach and he cried out, rolling from the impact.
He wasn’t alone.
* * * * *
Kellie slammed on her brakes and stared at the front of the gym.
“Holy shit,” she muttered. Was she dreaming? She scrubbed her arm over her eyes but it didn’t change the carpet of glass.
She parked well away from the damage and headed for the doors.
“Quin?” She hesitated. Was he there? What if someone was still inside? The whole experience of having had someone crash into her shop made her a little leery.
Grunting and the sound of a scuffle echoed from the gym interior.
She back-pedaled and caught a glimpse of Quin’s truck parked around the corner. He was in there, and so was whoever had busted in the windows.
The overwhelming urge to protect Quin smothered her natural self-preservation instinct. Her man was in there, maybe in danger.
She ducked through the window and squinted into the darkness. A blacker bit of blackness moved and a man grunted.
The Harder He Falls: 2 (So Inked) Page 33
