by Shannyn Leah
“No. But you sure are a lonesome wolf.”
She let him go.
She wanted all of him, from his laughter, to his smile, to the surprisingly funny things he’d once said that would make her laugh so hard her sides hurt. She wanted all of him, when he’d made it clear he wanted none of her.
He didn’t move.
“I don’t notice how lonesome I am until you’re in my life. But you’re not really in my life at all.”
With that he walked away.
What? What!
Didn’t that just make it so much more complicated than if he’d just taken her here and left then thinking it was only sex?
Anya didn’t dare move toward Quinn. Even if she’d wanted to her legs trembled too much to move.
A movie was on average an hour and a half, which meant if Kate and Marc left after the movie, Anya and Quinn were stuck in the dark for an hour and a half. Together. Alone.
Anya sunk to the floor.
She didn’t know what was worse: being confined in a dark room with him and wanting to rip his clothes off, or being stuck with him and wanting to know what the hell his last comment meant.
Complicated.
Chapter Nine
TWO HOURS LATER silence penetrated from the other side of the wall, but Kate and Marc hadn’t left. Quinn suspected this meant they’d fallen asleep, trapping him and Anya together until morning.
Quinn couldn’t sleep.
Hoping to catch their opportunity to escape, he’d joined Anya on the floor, who had dozed off, while he listened to every movement beyond the wall.
Her slumber was a relief. They were better off not sitting in awkward stillness with the rising tension between them.
If Quinn had known she would slip from her sitting position, alone and against the wall, to prop her side against his, he might have put a foot or two more distance between them. Might have.
Now her head rested against his shoulder and her hand had descended to his lap at some point ...now it rested on his thigh...inches away from his burning manhood. She was sound asleep and unaware that this innocent posture was her keeping him acutely alert and super wide awake. Although he was used to late nights.
He hardly took a breath, letting her sleep undisturbed. If they could make it through the night without another close interaction it would save them both embarrassment and discomfort.
Leaning his head against the wall, he found himself grinning more than fuming about the situation.
Although sitting here beside her slumbering body was only causing him to wonder if they had to part their separate ways after finding the files.
That was ridiculous...wasn’t it?
It challenged everything he’d spent the last four years determined to achieve.
If Anya didn’t keep looking at him with her big round eyes, wanting him...wanting more than casual sex, then maybe he wouldn’t be contemplating what would happen if he didn’t pull the file and hand it to the police, exposing Robert for the man he really was...or had been.
That was the difference now. Robert was dead and could no longer hurt people. What good would come out of exposing him now? Quinn knew the negative events that now lined up if he followed through with his decision to expose him. The Caliendos family would suffer.
Exposing Robert had been his father, Max’s, last request on this earth and although Quinn wanted to carry out his own promise to successfully achieve that request, he was getting a sinking feeling he was no longer going about it the right way.
What were his father’s motives? They hadn’t had enough time to talk in the burning car. Was Max’s sole purpose to bring justice to Nikki? Or was it to clear everyone involved in Robert’s past? If his aim had been solely to clear Nikki, then Quinn was too late, because Robert was dead. If it were the latter, wouldn’t clearing everyone reveal their dark secrets anyway? It wasn’t exactly a win/win result.
For the first time since his father’s death Quinn could relate to his brother, Dave’s view that going forward with their dad’s fight was not in his best interest nor was it in the best interest of the parties involved.
Walk away from the Caliendo family, Dave had repeatedly told him for the two years Quinn stayed. We both loved Nikki and Dad but it’s not worth it.
Even if Quinn chose not to hand the file to the police, instead sharing the information with Dave so they could both move on, he couldn’t find a loop that would allow him to pursue a relationship with Anya...not where his brother was concerned.
After the turmoil Robert had bestowed upon his family, Dave would never be able to understand how deep Quinn’s feelings ran for Anya. Dave would never accept her either.
Quinn found no answers or wins in any of the situations. Everything was too murky.
Anya stirred and her breathing regulated. She was waking up.
Quinn inwardly groaned. Dealing with her right now was another mass of unanswered questions and losses.
Her body did a little stretch across his and caused his breath to catch in his lungs. Finally she settled back down beside him.
“Are they gone?” Her sleepy voice circled around him.
“No.”
She didn’t leave his side, but she had removed her hand from his thigh.
“What time is it?” she asked.
“Three.” His answers came out brisk and short. The best thing for both of them right now would be if she fell back asleep.
A sigh came from her. “They’re not leaving, are they?”
“I don’t think so.”
Anya groaned her disapproval. “Did you sleep?”
“No.”
She stretched again, this time pulling her body away from him to sit up. His body missed her immediately.
Shake it off.
“I can listen for a while if you want to sleep,” she offered.
“I don’t.” More like he couldn’t.
Anya caught him watching her. There was something about her. His eyes refused to drag his gaze away, even when he knew he should.
He watched her adjust to the darkness. They simply stared at one another. He felt the tension mounting. This was exactly what he’d feared. He’d hoped she’d close her eyes again so they could avoid this exact moment.
“Quinn?”
He didn’t answer. Something about the way she said his name and the tone of her voice kept him from replying. As if ignoring her would sweep away his hunger for her. A man could wish.
When her fingers touched his leg, he wondered how much he really wished. Desire shot from his thigh, where she gently squeezed, right up to his groin.
Immediate desire.
Was it because he was tired?
No.
Was it because he hadn’t been with a woman in a while...a long while?
No.
It was because this woman was Anya Caliendo and she was the only woman who had ever made him feel more than desire, more than lust.
Her majestic smile and laughter stayed with him all these years and every day he had hoped wherever she was that she was throwing her head back with that joyful laughter. But he hadn’t heard that laughter since she’d returned. It would have bothered him more if he didn’t feel the weight of her hand push down further on his leg as she propped herself up on her knees.
“Anya...”
Denying her was a lost cause.
The second her other hand touched his chest, sending sizzling heat through the material of his shirt, he was lost to her. The trail of heat continued as her hand moved up his chest. Her fingers dug into the hair at the base of his head. Her knees hit his legs and a moan left her mouth. Rapidly, she tugged his hair, tilting his neck to the side and no other protest even entered his mind when her lips scorched the side of his throat.
His neck arched without his permission, giving her tongue access to trace wet designs across his skin and nibble the damp, hot areas.
His hands didn’t push her away and stop what was about to happen, instead they to
uched her. Running down her back and up the arms of her silky blouse to grip her neck and send his fingers into her hair.
One of her legs slid over his lap and she settled against him, pressing her hips against his increasing tightness.
He moaned.
She felt amazing.
He cupped her face with both hands, unable to wait any longer, and took her mouth fully in his, kissing her hard.
And in that swift, foggy moment everything around them vanished. Their whereabouts and why they were here, the last two years leading up to this very moment, the debate about whether they could be together or not, and the saddened look of betrayal she’d given him the night the truth about who he really was came to light.
Each stroke of their tongues took him further and further away. Just like old times. They connected quick and sure, knowing exactly what they wanted: Each other...all of each other.
Quinn’s shirt went first. She unbuttoned the front and as her hungry hands moved across his bare skin. She left her mark, an invisible branding that she had no idea kept him from wanting another woman. His body scorched for more of her touch, more of her skin, more of her.
Her silky shirt was next. His hands ran up her back thrusting their bare torsos together as one, sending explosions of heat between them and tearing a string of moans from deep within her chest. He caught every single one with his lips.
It had never been slow and sweet with them and right now was no exception. If anything, their touch was more forceful, their kisses harder, and their need for one another so strong neither pulled away when both should have. When they should have been putting their shirts back on, all he wanted was their pants off.
Quinn stood, lifting Anya up with him. He tried to stay away from the wall, deep down still aware they weren’t alone. But when her legs wrapped around his middle, he turned and drove her back against it. Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as his lips ravished her neck, her collarbone and the mountains her bra rose to his lips.
She breathed his name, begging for more.
He took her mouth in his, carried her to the desk and set her derrière on the wood.
Soft, slow kisses eluded their mouths, instead spicy tongues flavored every inch inside.
Anya’s hands fumbled with his buckle and his with her until he was tearing the material off her legs and running his hands down her velvety skin. His pants fell down around his feet and he stepped out of them before climbing onto the desk with her.
He was hot and ready to take her, ready to delve into her, when he couldn’t ignore her quiet “shhh” against his lips as their bodies knocked the lamp.
Then it came back to him.
They were on Robert’s desk...alright that wouldn’t be the first time...but it was the desk in the hidden room where they’d been searching for the files.
Quinn pulled away from her lips. Oh, how he didn’t want to. He would have much rather removed her panties and let his lips continue the path they were heading down. But he broke their contact, he felt obligated.
“We can’t do this.” The words sounded harsh.
“Yes, we can. I’m a grown woman and I know what I’m getting into.” She kissed his lips, tugging his lower lip as she pulled away. “It’s only sex.” She kissed his chin, licking the scruff and nibbling on his skin. “I’m okay with that.”
Her hands wrapped around his neck, her fingers digging into the back of his head and pulling his lips against hers. She kissed him harder, wanting him more.
He couldn’t do this.
“It’s not only sex,” he said. That wasn’t the best form of shut down he’d ever thought up. He almost groaned at the stupidity of admitting that to her here and now.
She pulled away and groaned, leaning her head back on the desk. Her hands ran over her face as she inhaled deeply before looking back at him.
“Quinn don’t do that. Don’t dip deeper into something you’re not willing to explore.”
He wasn’t positive he didn’t want to explore it more.
You can’t, so get it out of your head. Sex is all you can offer her.
“I don’t want to talk,” she continued. “I just want to feel. I want to feel you.” She slid her hands down his middle and under his briefs. “Don’t you want to feel me?”
He sucked in a breath at her touch.
“Touch me, Quinn,” her throaty voice coaxed. Her hands moved behind her back and she tore her bra away. “Touch me.”
When her hands reached his and pulled him toward her exposed body, he stopped at the sides of her head and stroked her hair.
She was beautiful.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked.
She arched her body against him. “Yes.”
It was more than her touch that he wanted to feel. He wanted to feel who he was when he was with her. That part of him was dying to get out. That part of him kissed her.
“Let me on top cowboy and I will ride you until morning.”
Quinn laughed. He remembered this dirty talk...it didn’t always come out dirty like she thought.
Anya laughed. “Stop it!” she slapped his chest. “Why do you always do that? Laugh whenever I say something sexy.”
He kissed her nose. “Is that what you call that? Sexy?”
She pouted at him, clearly insulted.
Quinn rolled onto his back, away from the lamp, taking her with him until she was in the riding position she’d asked for. “Better?” he asked.
She straddled him and wiggled against him. The movement drove him wild inside.
“Hmm-mmm...” She kissed his throat. “It was your western shirt,” she whispered.
“That was not a western shirt.”
“Yes it was,” she sat up. “I saw the little white stitching around the shoulders.”
Quinn groaned.
Did she want to talk attire or ride him until the morning?
He sat up, catching her mouth and finishing anymore talking between them.
Maybe the best thing for them wasn’t her falling back asleep. Right now staying up all night like this sounded enticing.
Yee-haw.
Chapter Ten
ANYA AWOKE TO the low hum of Quinn’s heartbeat against her cheek. His bare chest sent a warm glow tingling through her body, sizzling the areas where her arm lay across his torso and her stomach pressed against his side.
She would have darted right out of his arms if his embrace hadn’t felt so good...and if she didn’t feel so safe. For the remainder of the night she’d laid in this position, stretched out on the plush carpet, naked, with his arms wrapped tightly around her and their legs entangled. Only his shirt covered their middle, but she didn’t notice the coolness in the room or the hard floor. Quite the opposite. She felt like she was exactly where she should be, until she began to stir from the haze of the ambience.
What had she done?
Nothing she hadn’t done before. Except she had.
Anya tried to disregard the gloom of her reality, spoiling the tranquility of this moment. Yes, she’d given herself to Quinn. Only this time she was fully aware that there was no possibility of a future with him. That wasn’t even the worst part. When she told him to just feel, to just touch...she’d gone and ignored her own advice. Every time his fingers grazed her skin, every place his lips settled, every thrust and moan and longing for more was followed by his echoing voice in her head, “It’s not only sex.”
She was in trouble.
Savoring in the security of his arms all night, Anya had ignored the hope that when morning came she would discover they could work it out, that Quinn wanted to work it out. That notion was silly, juvenile, naive...wasn’t it?
Quinn liked her. She hadn’t known how deeply until he stared down at her last night, his eyes more readable then she’d ever seen. Yes, he’d wanted her body and her touch, but the look in his striking eyes told her that he wanted so much more. She’d disregarded the glimpses of his affection because it was complicated
between them. Complicated beyond repair...wasn’t it?
Now Anya didn’t want to move. Ever. If she moved it would be over and they would fall into the rolls of mistrusting enemies competing for access to the files.
So she lay silently in Quinn’s arms, closing her eyes and pretending for just this morning that they were back in her suite, lying together under the silk sheets. When he awaked he would start with a sexy, good morning, kissing the side of her head with the promise of a future together. But it was all a dream.
When he spoke first, she sighed inwardly, knowing reality was about to storm through their quiet time together.
“They left an hour ago.” No good morning. No kiss. No future.
That didn’t stop Quinn’s quiet whisper from cascading waves of passion through her body. That was until his actual words registered.
An hour ago? There it was. Reality. They were naked in an office that she was confident at least one of her family members knew about. Any one of the Caliendos could walk in at any moment and find them not only together naked, but hidden in the hidden office. Everything was complicated.
Sit up Anya and get your clothes.
Instead, she took her time tilting her head to look at him, not sure what she would find.
He sent her a sleepy grin and her insides melted.
“What time is it?”
He shrugged. “My phone is in my jeans.” His eyes left her, but only momentarily. “And they’re way across the room.”
Oh how adorably cute this man could be. Why was he being so darn adorably cute?
Her fingers wanted to run through his dishevelled hair and had nothing to do with straightening it. She was ready to climb back on top of him and go for round two.
“We should go,” she said instead.
“I know.” He sounded as disappointed as she felt.
Neither of them moved.
Anya found herself searching his eyes for answers to questions she wasn’t even sure she knew yet. Maybe reassurance that this wasn’t only sex and was really a promise of more to come. But when she found him doing the same, but offering an apology, she realized they were in a sinking ship. The file was his priority. It didn’t make a difference if he liked her, because he wasn’t making any room in his life for her. She was only fooling herself.
