Marina got to her feet slowly, and then padded toward the bathroom. “I should lock you in here and never let you leave, but that’d be contrary to my other needs, I suppose.”
“Fire me,” he said stupidly. “I’ll do what you want.” Just keep me.
He didn’t want to be fired. He just wanted Marina more than he wanted money. Maybe that sort of logic was how he’d ended up in the hole he was in at the moment. His feelings always got in the way of common sense. He didn’t even know what the sensible thing was at the moment.
She returned to the bedroom with two washcloths. The damp one, she handed to Quinn. He cleaned himself up with it and watched her mop up the mess on the floor with the dry one.
“Is that what you want?” She wadded the cloth and cast a dark gaze up to him. “Me to fire you?”
“No.”
“What do you want, then? You know, this…thing is getting complicated. Complicated scares me.”
It didn’t exactly make him feel warm and fuzzy, either. He knew one thing for sure, though, and he was going to say it even if it got him in trouble with her. “I want to be your lover, Marina. The only lover, not just one of them.”
She canted her head, eyes narrowed in mirth.
He shrugged. He wasn’t going to lie. “I don’t share, and I don’t like to be shared.” He wanted a one-and-only, not a sequence of part-time lovers. That was probably one of the few ways he was old-fashioned.
“Nor do I,” she said finally. “I’m greedy that way, I guess. I suppose when you’re selective about who you allow to be in your space, you crave that much more of those few people who make the cut.”
“Do I make the cut?”
She drew in a quiet breath, stood, and gently took the washcloth from him. “You…surprise me, Quinn. You’re not who I thought you were, and so far, I like what I know about you. I want to know more about you and what makes you tick.”
“Same here.”
She bobbed her eyebrows and shifted her weight. “Well, that puts me into a situation that has me questioning my ethics. There are certain lines that shouldn’t be crossed, and I’ve been ignoring them since the moment I agreed to let you do the work.”
“So fire me. I always land on my feet. I’ll find something else.”
“That’s mighty reckless of you.” Her tone might have sounded scolding, but her expression was thoughtful. Her gaze fixed on nothing in particular as she worried at her bottom lip. “I don’t want to get you in trouble. Contrary to how some of your former clients behaved, the contract I signed for the agency expressly discouraged this kind of fraternization.”
“Does it feel dirty to you? Me being here?”
She gnawed on that lip some more, not answering.
“I’ll quit, Marina. Call the agency tomorrow,” he urged. “Tell them you’re all set and don’t need me anymore. I’ll go by the house and finish things up. I’ll make sure folks there know they’re not gonna be able to pull one over on ya. Let’s give this thing a go. If it doesn’t work?” He shrugged. “Fine. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
Except his broken heart.
He had to try, though. He so badly needed to belong to someone—to her. She was the only woman he’d had anything more than a superficial relationship with in longer than he cared to recount.
I’m a fucking loser.
She furrowed her brow. “You sure?”
He put on a smile for her, and it was probably weak. It was easier to smile big when he didn’t have shit at stake—when he didn’t give a damn. “I’ve never been surer about anything. It’s almost a relief.”
She pushed a swath of her long, curly hair behind her ear and swallowed. “Okay, Quinn. Let me think about it.”
He nodded and went to fetch his clothes. Before he got too far, she grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to her, flashing him that grin that made him want to prop a sword atop his shoulder and go out and conquer entire nations for her.
“I didn’t say you had to leave,” she said. “You can stay here while I’m doing my thinking. I’ll toss these cloths into the hamper and come right back.”
“If that’s what you want.” He’d tried to sound smooth, but he wanted it so bad that he couldn’t even swallow.
“I do,” she said.
He watched her saunter back into the bathroom, then scanned the bedroom around him.
The bench at the foot of the bed needed to be put back into place, so he did that, and then walked around to the right side of the king-sized bed. It might have been leased furniture, but it was nice. Solid, heavy stuff. Expensive.
Nothing he’d ever be able to afford.
It was hard to keep his mind from going back to that dollar sign place. Maybe in time he’d stop thinking about it or worrying that Marina would flip the script and start treating him like he was less than.
Get out of your fuckin’ head. All that thinking was just going to make him more anxious.
He pulled back the covers on the bed and climbed in.
Marina stepped out of the bathroom, robe discarded and curly hair pulled up into a high bun. She turned off the remaining lights in the room and padded to the other side of the bed. “I never expected to hear myself saying such a thing, but I like seeing you in my bed, Quinn Hathaway.”
“Yeah?”
“Mm-hmm.” She cuddled up next to him and tossed one smooth leg over his thighs, bumping his shameful erection in the process. “Quinn.” She laughed and brushed her lips down the slope of his neck.
“Can’t help it. Your bed feels nice and you walked out here naked as a jaybird. Even in the dark, you’re pretty.”
She laughed. “I’m not sure that’s a compliment.”
“It’s definitely a compliment. Maybe not a good one, but I still mean it.” He tracked his palm down her back and she squirmed against him, letting out a little giggle. “Ticklish?”
“A little bit, yeah.”
“I’ll try not to tickle you, then.” He put his face against the top of her head and inhaled her orange-and-clove scent and let his breath out in a slow exhalation. He couldn’t remember ever having been so comfortable with a woman. Usually, the heavy weight of expectation bogged him down and kept him from wanting to connect. People usually didn’t want to keep him. They just wanted something from him—generally one thing in particular, and maybe he’d trained them all to demand that from him. He’d set them all up to think that was all he wanted, when in truth, he simply hadn’t encountered anyone he’d wanted to give more to.
“How long are you going to be in Miami?” he asked. “I mean, where do you live when you’re not flipping houses? I want to know stuff about you.”
“Because you feel like you should?”
“Because I’m hungry to know, and curious about what’s going through your head when you make all those faces.”
“I don’t make faces.”
He chuckled. “Yes you do. Tell me everything about you.”
“Okay. Well. Where do I live?” She danced her fingers along the hair at his nape. “Nowhere in particular.”
“I don’t believe that. You’ve got to have a place somewhere. It’s okay if you don’t want to tell me.”
“I’m not being coy, Quinn.” She sighed. “I had a place in New York up until last year. Someone loved the location so much that they made me an obscene offer on the unit, and I didn’t waste time thinking about it. I could afford to move out fast, so I did.”
“So, you’re sort of homeless?”
“I’ve got a roof over my head. Do I have anything permanent?” She rolled on top of him and propped her chin atop his chest. “No. I’m just…floating, I guess.”
“Makes two of us.” He tracked his palms carefully down her back, this time letting them settle at the curve above her ass. He wasn’t inviting anything, but if she wanted more, he certainly wasn’t going to say no.
He’d never say no to her if he could help it. Being able to say yes and wanting to made him feel for
midable for a change. He wasn’t used to it.
She skipped her fingertips down the line of his nose and grazed them over his lips.
He took one of her hands and turned it over to kiss the back of it. “I’m not even on the lease where I’m staying right now.”
“How’d you end up there?”
“Shitty credit. No options. Old teammate is doing me a favor by taking me in and extorting me as much as he can.” Quinn chuckled. “And watching me jerk off on occasion.”
“Some favor.”
“Well, he is covering the utilities.” Quinn cupped a hand around her neck to bring her closer. He wanted a kiss, and she gave it, twining her fingers through his hair in the process and grinding herself against his cock.
Fuck. Having come less than ten minutes ago, there was no reason he should have been that hard.
“I-I’ve stayed in worse places,” he said.
“And you’re so stoic about it. Is that cowboy practicality?”
“I guess it is. We’re brought up not to complain over petty shit because it rarely does any good.”
“Hmm.” She rocked her hips, dragging her wet sex along the top of his shaft.
Her moan made him thrust against her. Her tightening grip in his hair made his fingers notch into the flesh of her ass.
She ground against him, breath ragged and belly quivering against his, and pressed her lips to the side of her cheek.
She felt so good. She felt like…his.
God.
He hoped she had some idea of what she was doing to him, because he’d never be able to put it into words. He hoped she knew he wasn’t just playing. Players didn’t let themselves get attached, and he already was.
“Where should I live, Quinn?”
“Where do you want to live?”
She rocked again, and the tip of his dick grazed against her opening, and his soul seemed to shatter into a million little pieces. She was going to kill him—take the life from him by withholding her body from him. But if that was what she wanted…
“I don’t know,” she said. “I travel a lot. Maybe it doesn’t matter.”
And he was inside her—at least the tip of him—and she was clenching him hard and making him gasp.
Don’t thrust. Don’t push. Damned if he didn’t want to, though. Somehow, he managed to suck in some air, and he freed his hold on her pert ass so he could lift her chin and look at her.
“You do this to me,” she whispered. She sank a little more onto him.
Whatever he was going to say came out of his mouth as a wordless rattle.
“You…you make me crazy, Quinn.” Down a little more, and squeezing him so hard. “I want you around me. Do you know what I’m telling you? I want to see you.”
“Wanna see you, too. All the time.”
Down a little more. She took all of him that she could and, gasping, put her cheek to his chest.
“Is this weird?” she asked.
“What, you and me with the whole Roosters situation? Yeah, it’s weird.”
“I don’t want it to be weird.”
“It’s gonna be weird, no matter what. Too late to stop that,” he said.
“And you don’t mind?”
“Hell no.”
“I trust you, then.”
“Fuck, I hope you mean it, Marina. I need you to.”
She pressed her palms against his chest and held herself up a little. Pulling her lip between her teeth and furrowing her pretty brow, she rolled her hips and clenched her sex around him. “You’re so big.”
“You like it?”
“Mm-hmm. Hold very still, okay?”
“Hard, but I think I can manage.”
“This isn’t going to take me long. After I come, I’ll help you.”
“For God’s sake, what makes you think I’m gonna last all that long?” He was in her, bare, and she was seriously overestimating his endurance. He’d never been in anyone like that, and he was pretty sure if he even thought too hard about it, he’d come. “You feel so good, baby. You say the word, and I’m done.”
She rocked her hips. “I’ll try to make it good.”
“You don’t have to try. It’s already good for me.” He tracked his hands up her chest and toyed with her perked nipples. “So good. Just being here with you is good.”
“You need higher standards, Quinn.”
“They’re already pretty high. I’ve got the cream of the crop atop me right now.”
“You’re full of shit, but keep talking to me like that, anyway. Oh, God.”
She was riding him so slow, but gripping him so tight. Every time she sank onto him, she rolled her hips in a way that made her clit dance over him, and all his air left his body.
He hadn’t lied. He wasn’t going to last. At the moment, he was practicing some mind-over-matter thinking and trying to focus more on the environment around him and less on his dick.
Wasn’t working.
“You could come home to this every night,” he whispered and then sucked some air in through his clenched teeth. “Fuck, you feel so good. You treat me so good.”
“Keep giving me… Oh, God. Never want to get off you. Never want to stop.”
“Gonna have to, baby. Keep rocking your hips like that and I’m gonna come, and I’m gonna say sorry and hope you’re not too mad at me for not doing what you wanted.”
She ground out a sexy snarl and rolled her belly and hips, increasing the friction against him and her clit all at once. “Too…too sensitive.” She gasped, and he ground his teeth because he was going to come and there was no stopping it.
“That’s why I have to…” She threw back her head and dug her fingers into his pecs. “Why I have to…take the lead all the time, fuck. Fuck, I’m coming. Don’t you dare move, I’m…I’m coming.”
“Shit.”
He didn’t need to move. Her sheath spasmed around him so violently, and then there was the pain of her nails in his flesh, and just the sight of her arched atop him with breasts thrust out. “Fuck.”
His heat left his body in an almost-painful torrent—like a fastball hurled over the plate when a gentle, underhanded pitch would have done just as well.
“God, Quinn.” Marina clenched him inside her a few times and fell onto him. Her ragged breaths tickled the side of his neck and hard nipples pressed teasingly against his chest. She rubbed his pectorals and sighed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to claw you up.”
He picked up her hand and kissed it. “I don’t mind, baby. I like it.”
“You do?”
“Mm-hmm.” He kissed the hand again and down to its wrist, and then draped his arm over his body as he settled her beside him.
Don’t move away from me. Just stay.
“I should have asked first,” she said.
“Do you always expect to get carried away?”
“I’m usually a little better at controlling myself. I don’t want to break skin unless I have permission to.”
“Then a hell of a lot of people who get their backs scratched up during a vigorous fuck are doing it wrong.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Come on, don’t feel bad about not covering your bases.”
Marina groaned.
“Had to drop a baseball pun eventually, right?” He chuckled. “You knew it was coming. But really, don’t feel bad about getting carried away. You were giving me exactly what I needed.”
“So, you’re okay with me biting or scratching you?”
“To me, that just means you’re enjoying the ride. But if you really want a checklist to keep handy, I can give you one. I don’t mind a little pain before or during sex. I prefer some kinds more than others, though.”
“Pain arouses you?”
“Depends on who’s giving it to me, to be honest. Coming from you, I’m pretty sure I could get a woody from just a wink.”
“Good to know.” She trailed her fingertips around his nipple and giggled, but then her smile fell away and foreh
ead creased. “Quinn, you’re not going to…leave tonight, are you?”
He held her a little tighter and furrowed his brow. “You want me to go?” Already?
“No, I want you to stay. I don’t want you to rush away, and I guess I don’t know how to ask for that. I don’t usually want people to stay.”
“You’ve never had anyone spend the night?”
“No.”
“I’m your first sleepover?”
She shifted a little against him and pressed her face against the side of his chest. “Yes. I don’t want to be alone. Okay?”
Wow. He grinned into the dark and let his eyelids droop, for once, on contentedness and not anxious fear.
He’d probably have plenty of shit to worry about in the morning, but at the moment, he was on top of the world.
Nice fuckin’ place to be.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Don’t make that face, Marina. You make me feel like a turd for bailing on you.” Quinn paused at the front door of Marina’s newest acquisition and slipped the booties off his shoes. She was killing him with that pout.
She stuck her bottom lip out a little more.
Chuckling, he pulled her close and chafed her back. “We agreed that our relationship needed to be less complicated.”
“I’m not sure I was in my right mind,” she muttered against his chest. “I was naked at the moment and I may have made that agreement under duress.”
“Yeah?” He slipped his hands down to her backside and gave it a vulgar grope.
She sighed. “You’re going to get yourself into trouble, Quinn.”
“Mmm. That’s what I’m hoping. I like being in trouble with you. The punishment always feels so good.” He hitched up her dress to assist in her grinding against his thigh. The sidewalk was only fifteen feet away, but he didn’t care who saw them. He wanted to seize every possible moment with her. The past four weeks had been a blissful start to something Quinn hoped could be permanent, and it’d gone by too damned fast.
She’d canceled the manservant gig like they’d agreed, but he couldn’t stay away from the house, knowing how much being there stressed her out. He was pleased to be able to take some weight off her shoulders, even if it meant having to turn his schedule sideways to squeeze in other gigs. After all, he still had bills to pay, and was about to take a few weeks off to go home. He wouldn’t normally have made the trip, but his mother caught Lyme Disease and asked if he could take over her horse training job for a few weeks.
Designated Hitter (Reedsville Roosters Book 4) Page 7
