Quinn blew out a breath. “First the Thornquist matriarch and now the family congressman. I’m winning friends and influencing losers all over the place tonight.”
Jasper gave her a look like he didn’t know what to do with her. In the next second, Quinn was back against the wall, this time facing forward with Jasper pressed against her from hips to shoulders.
Trapped again, but his confinement elicited an entirely different response. “Oh, that’s much better,” she breathed as her entire body flushed with heat. The weight of his cut chest against her breasts sent lovely prickles through her nipples. She wriggled against the edge of his stiffening cock.
He cupped her head in his big hands, fingers firm on her nape, and asked, “You all right?”
“I’m good.” That came out suspiciously like a moan. Quinn worked to get a hold of her rising libido, but honestly, this close to Jasper, resistance was beyond futile.
The corners of his mouth quirked up. “Quit squirming,” he ordered.
“Quit being all—squirmable.” She did another wriggle. His head dipped to her ear and nipped the lobe.
“I’m gonna take a lot more than five minutes next time I’m inside you, but you don’t stop working me, you’ll get a preview right here. I don’t care what the cameras catch.”
Shit, the cameras. “Sadly, I do.” It was sad because she wanted him right now. She always did.
He studied her a moment and then his voice went all soft and soothing and she melted as he asked again, “Sure you’re all right?”
Dammit, the voice always got her. “Absolutely,” she vowed, ignoring the momentary panic that’d almost made her lose her mind. “I’ve been fending off drunks since my first job bar waitressing. He didn’t have time to be much more than disgusting.”
His thumb ghosted over her chin. Her head tilted in his hand to get more of it. “No one touches you, babe. Not like that. Not against your will.”
Though not wrong, Quinn decided not to get into sexual politics and class entitlement. “How did you find me?”
His head jerked toward Junonia. “Nettie saw him come in after you and grabbed one of the other guys who tagged me on coms. Good thing I was close by.”
“Noticed that,” she muttered, and his eyes crinkled at the corners. “I was handling it, you know.”
He grinned, a flash of white in his darkening stubble. “I know it.” The words whispered against her lips before he kissed her, fast but thorough. “Try not to get into any more trouble in the two hours left to this shindig.”
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“It was not,” he firmly agreed. “But that doesn’t matter when a motherfucker like that has you pinned to a wall.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Wait for me when you’re done with cleanup tonight. Don’t fight me,” he said when she opened her mouth to do just that. “That asshole’s got it in him to prove he’s a man. Wouldn’t surprise me he came after you again when there’s less chance of getting caught. I should be here before you’re done, but if not, wait for me.”
She thought back to what he’d said about it not being her fault, then back further to how upset he’d been when she hadn’t waited the night before. She didn’t need a flashing neon sign to figure out this was much more for him than simply making sure she was safe. “I’ll wait,” she agreed.
“Good.” He kissed her again and sauntered off, speaking softly into his wrist. A warm glow settled in Quinn’s belly as she watched him go. She’d been taking care of herself since she was eighteen, sure there was nothing out there in the big bad world that could be worse than what she’d left behind. But it sure was nice to have a badass SEAL at her back. And a lot more than nice to have Jasper at her back, on her front, hell, in her life for however long he decided to stay there.
For however much longer she had one.
She’d been so shocked by his presence at Casa Blanca, Quinn hadn’t stopped to realize the opportunity it presented. There was so much emotion, so much heat between them, even with a year gone since they’d been together. A man didn’t react the way Jasper had been if he didn’t still feel something seriously significant.
And she knew how she’d always felt about him, from that very first wild moment when her eyes had laid on the striking man holding up the end of the bar at the Bellagio.
This was her chance then. She’d be stupid to ignore it, especially given how little time she likely had left. Fate, or whatever, had put them together, same place, same time, giving her this unexpected chance to finally clear the air, to try, for once, to explain why she’d left, and, maybe, if she could manage to rip them out of the hole in which she’d bury those memories, give him some idea of where she came from, the first place where she’d first felt indescribably trapped.
Maybe, before her time was done, she could give this man who’d meant everything to her, some closure.
Yeah. She’d wait for him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I have made an important discovery that alcohol taken in sufficient quantities, produces all the effects of intoxication.
—Oscar Wilde
Jasper took a moment to take in Quinn where she stood, framed in open gate that led from Junonia’s patio to the beach, staring out into the opulent night. He needed that second to get control of his thundering heart.
She’d waited for him.
He’d more than half expected her to be gone. Maybe back to Hibiscus Court, maybe gone for good, but he’d known when he said the words there was no guarantee Quinn would wait. Seeing her standing there like she had all the time in the world rocked him.
Once the ground under him settled, Jasper scuffed his feet so as not to startle her. Getting jumped by that dickhead was bad enough. She didn’t need him scaring the hell outta her again.
She craned her neck around and held out her hand with a smile that shot straight to his dick. “Walk with me.”
The ground beneath him uneven once more, Jasper let her lead him down to the beach. When they reached sand, she released him to slip off her heels. He wasn’t a man who paid too much attention to women’s clothes unless it involved taking them off, but Jasper couldn’t miss the significance of Quinn’s footwear. “I remember those shoes.”
Her head tilted so she could aim that wide grin his way. “Heh. You’d better. You had them digging in your back more than once.”
“Rest of the night goes way I want, I’ll feel them there again.”
“Cocky,” she taunted.
“Gettin’ there,” he agreed, shucking his shoes.
Heels in hand, she took his again, and they walked along the water to the soundtrack of the current lapping against the sand. His arm went around her shoulders and she tilted her head back against his shoulder to gaze up at the sky. “Hunter’s moon,” she said with a chin bob toward the red glowing orb. “There was one last night too.”
He glanced briefly at the moon, but it was the look on Quinn’s face that captured him. He knew how she looked angry and aroused and tired and frustrated and happy (or what he’d thought had been happy). He knew how a thousand expressions looked on her face. But he didn’t know this. He’d never seen soft and yielding gentle her chin or brighten her eyes. It made him feel warm…and very wary.
When the time came, he didn’t need more reasons to find it impossible to get over Quinn.
He tightened his grip on her. The water skirted over their bare feet, warm even in October. She kicked up a foot, splashing lightly in the retreating wave. “I was twenty-one before I saw the ocean,” she said.
“No shit?” He couldn’t fathom not being able to reach the sea for so many years.
She nodded. “There’s not much chance for a seaside vacation on a religious commune. Jasper?” she called when he stopped in his tracks.
He took Quinn in for a moment, this continuing mystery who was once his wife. “Spent a lot of time wondering where you’d gone,” he admitted gruffly. “Figured you might’ve gone back home, wherever th
at was. We somehow never got around to the ‘where are you from’ kinds of questions.”
“I guess not,” she replied, a tinge of regret flashing across her face.
“Of all the places I came up with, religious commune got nowhere near the list.”
“It’s unusual,” she allowed.
“It’s fucked up is what it is. Where was this commune?”
“Upstate New York. It was more like a cult. Not like Heaven’s Gate or Jim Jones.” She huffed half a laugh. “Kool-Aid wasn’t allowed. Too much sugar.”
“Quinn,” he warned.
“Yeesh. Excuse me for trying to lighten the atmosphere. It was basically some very confused people who got hooked by a charismatic man.”
He tried to picture his wild lady trapped in a regimented cult being told what to do and how to do it every day. It must have driven her crazy. “Did you have any contact with the outside world?”
“We weren’t Amish, Jasp,” she scolded.
“There goes that fantasy.”
“We can discuss role-playing some other time. The farm was—is, I suppose—self-sustaining and electronics were scarce but not nonexistent. People there are…reclusive.”
“What made you finally leave?”
She was silent for a few minutes, but he waited her out. “Things changed,” she finally said. “I was a teenager. I suddenly had these.” She waved a hand to indicate her stellar rack. “And that caught some uncomfortable notice. Our leader started to pay me particular attention. I told my parents, but despite the fact that he was thirty years older than me, they saw it as a privilege. His preaching changed too, became less about communal philosophy and more about how he’d been chosen to lead them into a new understanding of a celestial message.”
Rage churned in Jasper’s gut. “Did he touch you?”
She stiffened under his arm. “Some. Nothing overtly sexual. An arm around my shoulder. A touch on my cheek. Creepy and scary, but nothing objectionable. Or at least my parents didn’t object.”
“Tell me you reported him.”
“Who to? The Leader had absolute authority. That’s all we ever called him, ‘the Leader.’ And I was never allowed to leave without supervision. They didn’t exactly encourage independent thought or action. Anyone who even whispered an objection to his teachings was brought before the Leader for ‘special instruction.’ And no, I didn’t know what that meant and prayed I’d never learn.”
“Jesus, Quinn.”
“Not even close. I know it sounds like some Lifetime movie—‘Mother May I Sleep with a Cult Leader?’—but it was all too real.” She turned so her front was against his side. Her hand slid over his stomach and he felt her nails dig into his gut. “I felt so trapped,” she said against his shoulder. “Trapped on the commune, trapped by my parents, who I couldn’t trust. Trapped in the body that had somehow focused his attention on me in the first place.”
“Babe, your body is spectacular. Don’t let some delusional asshole make you feel ashamed for it.”
She broke free to walk onward. He grabbed her hand before she slipped loose. “Not ashamed,” she denied. “Embarrassed at first. That was natural. I was a girl with no sex education and restricted exposure to the outside world. But there was contraband if you knew where to look for it. I snuck in some TV and on the occasional visits to town, managed to bring home some magazines. When I first left, I inhaled pop culture. TV, gossip mags, music, the works.”
“You always did love People.”
“You should’ve seen me first time I got in a movie theater. It was like the mother ship calling me home.”
He snorted. “What movie did you see?”
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Twice.”
“Chick flick.”
“Oh yeah,” she breathed. “I couldn’t believe family loved one another that way. They were loud and annoying and intrusive and outrageous, but my God, they loved her. I’d never seen anything like that.”
“Your parents,” he hesitated, but what the hell, they’d come this far. “They didn’t…treat you well?”
“They didn’t beat me, if that’s what you mean. They were strict, but I wasn’t abused. Not like that.” She took a breath, and he instinctively knew whatever she said next would really piss him off. “Right before my eighteenth birthday, I overheard my parents planning my wedding. To him. Our leader. He’d wanted to marry me two years earlier, but my mother insisted I reach legal age first, so even the outside world couldn’t object.”
“Motherfuckers.”
“At least waiting until I was eighteen meant I was legal age when I left. I was not going to be forced to marry him, especially when I stumbled on him banging my sixteen-year-old cousin.” Jasper growled wordlessly. “Turned out her parents weren’t as keen as mine to wait.”
“Tell me where this commune is right fucking now.”
“No,” she chided. “You’re not taking the place out. Not everyone there is that bad.”
“No one stepped up for you. They’re all complicit.”
“I stepped up for me. I was enough.”
“You shouldn’t have had to be.”
Her fingers linked through his belt loop and tugged playfully. “I’m okay, Jasp. You don’t need to avenge me after all these years.” She reached up to kiss his jaw. “Though it’s incredibly sweet you want to.”
She slipped out from under his arm. He caught her hand as she bent over to poke at something in the sand. He savored the grace of her movements while simultaneously admiring the round curve of her ass as they strolled onward.
Jasper jerked to a sudden stop, stunned by the clarity of revelation. She paused a second later so their arms stretched between them, hands still clasped in the center.
Holy shit, this was it. This was why she’d left him.
“You felt trapped.” Her slight frown told him she didn’t follow his point. “That’s why you left me,” he clarified. “You felt trapped.”
She jolted in place. Unable to keep his gaze, Quinn examined her feet. “Yes,” she said, barely loud enough for him to hear.
His hand squeezed hers hard enough, her chin lifted on a wince.
“I made you feel trapped?”
“I don’t know, Jasp. That’s the truth. I don’t know if it was living in one place for so long or having the proverbial nine to five…” Her dark brown eyes were wide and searching, but it was the lost look in their depths that clenched his heart. “Maybe I loved you too much. I did love you, Jasper. More than anything.”
He let her go to shove his hands in his pockets and step back from the water.
From Quinn.
“Guess it wasn’t enough.”
“It was too much. And then, when you weren’t there to remind me, just by breathing, why it was worth it…it was so hard being without you. You have no idea. Coming home to that empty condo, knowing I couldn’t leave because I had a job and a husband who would be home eventually. Maybe.”
“Quinn, you knew when you married me I’d be deployed. A lot. You liked that. You liked knowing we’d each have time to ourselves.”
“Being told isn’t the same as living it. Especially when you didn’t introduce me to your friends or your teammates or include me in any part of your life outside of us.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “My missions are classified.”
Undaunted, she stepped up into his space. “Are your friends classified?” she asked, clearly pissed. “You’d go out in the middle of the night for them, but won’t introduce them to your new wife? How does that make sense?!”
It didn’t. He didn’t know how to explain that. “You weren’t a part of that. Not yet. I wanted what we had to be between us for a while. Private. Ours.”
“Well, congratulations! Mission accomplished, soldier. You were so successful, when you were deployed, I had no one.”
He hadn’t thought of it that way at the time, had only wanted to keep their relationship under wraps until he was sure it would stick,
sure she would stick. That she wouldn’t change her mind.
Send him back.
Instead, he’d trapped her, his wild lady.
“That’s enough, Quinn.”
But something had snapped in her and she was far from done ripping him a new one, tearing his heart to shreds with every word. “I know what it’s like to be alone, Jasper. I’ve been alone since I was eighteen! And then I had you and it was, it was—everything! You were everything. For the first time, I felt like there was someone in the world who gave a shit about me, and I was desperate to keep it, to stay with you because you had to be there, had to stay in one place for the Navy, except when you didn’t, and you left me behind, alone again and not even able to go. And then when you didn’t even tell me you were being deployed…God, Jasper! What was I supposed to do after that?!” Her shoulders dropped as the fury of emotion left her. “What the hell was I staying for?”
“You could have told me. You could’ve fuckin’ talked to me, Quinn, and let me in on some of this shit before you left me!”
“You wanted me gone,” she scoffed.
Jasper went very, very still. It cost him to ask it, but he managed, “The hell are you talking about?”
She looked like she wanted to take it back, but knew it was too late. “You didn’t tell the Navy you were married. You don’t need to hit me over the head with it. I can get a clue.”
“Total bullshit.”
“Jasper, you didn’t even bother to come after me.” He reeled back and saw she took that as confirmation. “I waited for you. I did. I stayed nearly a week in San Diego at some seedy motel. That Navy secretary took pity on me enough to let me know you were on your way home. I knew if you wanted to find me, you’d find me. And if you didn’t…”
“I found you.”
Her hand flew to her chest. “What?”
“At a seedy motel in San Diego,” he repeated. “Three days after you left. I filed a police report too before I realized you hadn’t been abducted. Then I found you.”
Barefoot Bay: Wild on the Rocks (Kindle Worlds) Page 15
