by Vonnie Davis
She belted him.
Her fingers were curled so tightly when she gave him an uppercut to the jaw, she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to cut or comb hair again. “You ignorant asshole! How dare you say I looked good with my face covered up? Were you referring to the adolescent joke about putting a bag over every woman’s head so we’d all look alike? How dare you?”
He flopped onto his back, his hand to his chin. “Ow! You made me bite my tongue.”
She straddled him, shaking her fist under his nose. “You’re lucky I didn’t hit you in the balls, then you could bite on those for a while. You had no right to leave me tied up like that and then to make that stupid-ass remark.”
“Look, I’m sorry. Okay? I had a bit of a flashback.” He blinked and then winced at his uncustomary admission. “I got jealous when I saw you’d shaved.”
“Flashback? Of what? A parade of bald hootchies!”
His eyes narrowed. “I think it’s time you calmed down. You’re overreacting.”
“Overreacting, my ass. I went through all these preparations for you tonight, you big, unappreciative jerk. I even suffered the advances of Ryder’s godson. And let me tell you, he was one touchy-feely prick.”
He rolled her over, tucking her beneath him. “Calm. The Fuck. Down. Did I ask you to get mixed up with someone else?”
His thick thighs encased her legs, the dark hairs setting off her nerve endings from her scalp to her soles. Why, oh why, did a touch from any part of his body always excite, bringing her sensuality to life? Not that she would think about that now—or pay attention to his cock growing long and thick against her abdomen—not when she was so damn angry with the man inside the firm mound of muscle embracing her.
“Yes, you did. You told me to leave your apartment yesterday and forget about you. So, that’s what I did.” She hiked her chin, hoping to hell she pissed him off half as much as he’d done to her. Paybacks are hell, Quinn Gallagher.
His teeth grazed her chin. “I think you may have misunderstood, bébé.” His accent imitated Micah’s.
Okay, she’d play the game. She knew just the buttons to push. “Oh,” she cooed, inserting a breathy quality to her voice, “you sound just like Micah. I just adore how possessive he is. He’s all man. Not afraid to show his attraction to a woman in the slightest.”
Quinn’s head slowly rose from her neck where he’d been nuzzling and nibbling, his whiskered stubble sending delightful shivers through her system. The grey overtook the blue of his narrowed eyes as they fixated on hers. “You little green-eyed pain in my ass. You want to see possessive?”
His fingers clenched the lapels of her blouse and rent it open. One or two buttons zinged against the wall over her head. He practically vibrated with anger. Even the ink of his tattoo shone darker in the dusky light of his bedroom. “I’ll show you more possession than you ever imagined. Because no one touches you, but me. Do you understand?” His finger slipped into the moisture of her folds. “No one makes you wet like this, but me.” His thumb circled her clit while he repeatedly chanted she was his and no one else’s.
Demanding lips covered hers in a passionate, almost frantic kiss. One hand cupped the back of her neck while the thumb of his other hand continued its slow, torturous odyssey around her clit, moving closer with each pass. His tongue invaded her mouth and stroked every surface, which somehow soothed the burning sensations created by his thumb nearing her core of need. He had her emotions ricocheting from searing desire to sweet appeasement. All she could do was anchor her arms around his massive shoulders and hope she’d survive the whirligig ride he had her on.
He released her lips and pulled back far enough to stare into her eyes. “I’ve been fighting possessiveness for you like a four-alarm fire. Half the time when you’re around me, I’m so damn horny, I can’t think straight. I keep telling myself you’re off limits. Hell, you’re my superior’s sister, for Christ’s sake. And being seven years behind me, you’re too damn young. You entice me like no one I’ve ever met. I adore your combination of fun nature and feistiness.” He lowered his head to kiss her breasts. “God, how I love your sweetness.”
Her hands swept across his straight dark hair, holding him to her breasts for he knew how to do the most fabulous things with his tongue and lips. And, as angry as she was with his earlier behavior, his mouth on her was like a powerful, sensual eraser. “Don’t stop. Take me to that place only you can take me, Quinn.”
Two of his fingers entered her and began a slow rhythm; her hips rose to match every stroke. He released her nipple and laved his tongue over the beaded point. “I have yet to figure out what it is about you that appeases my savage beast. You have a way of soothing my soul, even when I’m in a dark place where I don’t think anyone can reach me.”
So her brother was right. Something had hurt Quinn—ruthlessly, extremely, irrevocably. She’d gladly give him everything she had to get him to open up. He needed to strip off that scab of protectiveness covering the deep wound. Once he did, the poison he so carefully guarded could channel out of his soul. Because she suspected it was slowly eating him alive.
She’d have to proceed with caution. Hadn’t her years of counseling taught her that? Weren’t her biggest breakthroughs a result of unbridled high spirits from something totally unrelated? Would making love give him the same healing euphoria?
“Show me, big guy. Show me how possessive you can be. Make me cry out your name when I climax.”
“You need proof, do you? Proof you belong to me and no one else?”
I guess now isn’t the time to remind him of his nearly packed U-Haul out front.
His lips and hands were like multiple entities, touching her everywhere at once. Her skin scorched from his touch, stung from his gentle biting and succumbed to his kisses. For a fraction of time, it was as if she levitated from the bed, so seduced was she by his agitated, wild lovemaking. Whispered words and promises were shared. Pleas were uttered and surcease offered to ease immediate desires.
When he finally pressed his thumb upon her clit, she trembled and shuddered as his name exploded from her lungs. He held her to him until the tremors eased and all the while he feathered kisses over her face and neck, whispering words of praise and love. At least she thought that’s what they were. She wasn’t quite sure since the buzzing in her mind obliterated part of her hearing. Slowly, she slid from disorientation to reality again. The burning in her lungs eased and her heart rate returned to normal.
On a stretch, Quinn reached to open the drawer of his nightstand and palmed a foil packet. He settled on his back. “Want me to teach you the proper way to put on a condom?”
“There’s a wrong way?”
He smirked as he shifted on the sheet, folding and shoving a pillow under his head to raise it. “Well, there’s the ordinary way to put a rubber on and then there’s the exceptional way.” A slow, sexy-as-hell smile spread. “And, baby, we don’t do anything ordinary.” He passed her the pack. “Straddle my thighs and tear open the wrapper.”
She eyed his cock standing tall and proud like a soldier ready to conquer anyone who came close. Her gaze swept back to his. “Straddle your thighs?”
The blue was back in his mesmerizing eyes. “Do what I tell you, angel.”
After sliding back to straddle his thick, muscular legs, the hairs tickling her bare bottom, she tore the edge off the foil. “The wrapper says the condom’s flavored.”
“Yeah, I bought strawberry, your favorite.” Quinn extended his palm. “Put the edge you just tore off here and slide the condom out without unrolling it. Then give me the rest of the wrapper. See the opening band? You’ll place that in your mouth after you squeeze the tip to get the air out so the condom doesn’t break. Then you’ll basically push against the rolled up rubber ridge until it covers my cock.”
She glanced at the fragrant strawberry latex in her palm and then at him. “So I’m putting this thing on you with my mouth?”
“Damn straight.” Now the
re was a pun if ever she’d heard one.
She put the ribbed edge in her mouth, leaned over him and positioned it over the end of his pecker and rolled it on with her lips. The groans from Quinn indicated her technique was to his liking. She sat back, quite pleased with the strawberry-covered cock. “Condoms do stretch. Right?” She pointed. “Because I swear you just got bigger.”
Male laughter, deep and rich, caressed her. “Straddle me, sweetheart. Take all you want. Fuck me hard or easy. Any way you want it, that’s how I’ll give it to you. Take tops this time so I can watch your beautiful breasts.”
His hands encased them while she slowly eased onto his shaft, his thumb and forefinger pulling and twirling her nipples. “That’s it, go slow so I can enjoy every sweet inch of your tightness. God, it’s like squeezing into a snug glove of heat and moisture.” He could charm her any day with that deep, sexy voice of his.
She moved her hips in a leisurely pattern. “You know I’m still kinda pissed at you. Gigantic orgasm, or not.” His hands settled at her hips and he winked. No doubt he didn’t give a shit as long as she kept riding him. “And just wait until I see Ryder again. Don’t think I won’t give him a good going over for his stupid-assed ideas to get you in bed.”
A fine sheen of sweat beaded Quinn’s forehead. “Ryder was part of this…” He waved an open hand, the corners of his mouth quirking upward. “Seduction?”
“Hell yes. I stopped at his place for a smoothie after work and he asked where you were. I told him you were moving to get away from me, because you hate me.”
He pulled her toward him and kissed her. “I don’t hate you, angel. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Trust me.”
She increased her movements a little more and decided to face his changing temperament head-on. “Trust you? Mr. Mood Shifter? First you’re jealous, then you’re all over me like you can’t get enough of me, and then you storm out like I’m damn repulsive. You’ve got me raw inside. So emotionally raw, I don’t think I can take much more.”
“Hell, baby, I don’t mean to hurt you. I’m just not good enough—”
She shook her fist under his nose and his eyes widened. “If you give me that stupid song and dance again about how you’re not good enough for me, I’m going to send you out of Clearwater with two black eyes.” She leaned in until they were nose to nose. “Do you hear me, Quinn Hudson Gallagher?”
The man had the audacity to smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m trying to be nice here, but I’ve gotta tell you, I’m tired of listening to men. I don’t think a single one of you knows what the hell you’re talking about.” But, oh how nice they felt when they were inside you—at least this particular annoying man. The muscles in her lower abdomen started to coil with the silent promise of an approaching release.
His dark eyebrow quirked.
“‘Wear sexy clothes,’ Ryder said.” She jerked her hips faster. “‘Wear boner-birther boots,’ he said.” Tremors started low in her belly and, against her will, she flexed harder against him. “‘Make Quinn jealous,’ he said. And what did I get out of it? I got tied to the bed with my shirt pulled over my head and left there while you went off to fantasize about some bitch named Renata.” Her climax started overtaking her. “And now, dammit all to hell, I’m going to come with another woman’s name on my mind. Damn you for that.”
The tears started, and he pulled her down into an embrace. “Don’t, baby. Don’t think of anyone but us. Of this minute.” He rolled her over and positioned her legs on top of his shoulders. “This is just you and me. All that matters is us.”
He braced himself on his elbows. “You and me, angel.” His lips locked on where her neck joined her shoulder, while his hips pistoned into hers, his balls slapping her ass. His eyes pinched closed and his head reared back as he shuddered his orgasm in tandem with hers.
After a minute of rasping breaths filling the air, Quinn kissed her forehead. “Let me go dispose of this condom.”
“The last time you did that, you came back a different man and told me to leave. To never come back.”
“I was scared. Making love to you had shaken me to my core. The only way I knew how to handle it was to act the ass. I’m more in control now. It won’t happen again.” He rolled off the bed and strolled out of the bedroom, turning the corner into the bathroom.
So I’ve had two orgasms and no answers about who the hell Renata is. Quinn Gallagher, you’re a helluva lot of work.
When he stepped back into the bedroom, he was smiling. “Cold, baby?” He tugged the sheet and light blanket over her before he crawled under the bedclothes with her, sliding his arm under her neck to pull her closer. His other hand slipped between them, his index finger stroking between her folds. “You never did tell me who told you to shave your cunt.”
“My customers at the shop, and don’t think I’m not giving them a piece of my mind too. ‘Shave your hootchie,’ they said. ‘It’ll drive your man wild.’”
Quinn threw his head back and laughed, long and loud. “You…you’re taking sex advice from women while you do their hair?” He wiped his eyes. “God, angel, you’re priceless. And stop calling it a hootchie. It’s a cunt. Say it. I shaved my cunt for you.”
“I’m not using that word. Men use it as an insult when they want to belittle a woman. I’m not saying it, so get used to hearing hootchie. So, tell me, if I’m so priceless, why are you so insistent on leaving Clearwater and me?” She placed her palms on his cheeks and leaned close to peer into his eyes. “And who the hell is Renata?”
The steely grey of his eyes overtook the blue and his lips formed a thin line. He was pulling away from her, not physically, but emotionally. This time she wasn’t having it.
She grabbed his ears and tugged. “Stay with me. Don’t you dare go to that dark place.”
His eyes narrowed to slits. “How the fuck would you know about dark places?” He lifted a shoulder. “If I was going to one, which I’m not.”
Classic avoidance.
“Haven’t you ever noticed?” She shoved the insides of her arms close to his face to show him the faint scars and leaned closer as she lifted her boobs to display the white lines on the swells of her breasts. “I’m a cutter. Or was.”
Quinn grabbed her arms and studied them, ran a fingertip over her chest. “Cassie, what the hell? I noticed some of them and figured they were just normal childhood scars or recent scratches. Furball always has me ripped to hell. But…” his eyes pinned her. “Cutting?”
She blotted tears that moistened her cheeks. “It’s the family’s dark secret. Not the kind of thing we share, you know? I carried a great deal of guilt after Mom and Dad’s death in that horrible fire.”
“Hell, baby, you didn’t set the fire. Some sick arsonist did.”
“True. But I’d lied to my parents. I told them I was staying at Renee’s house for a pajama party when, in reality, we’d gone to a party held by some senior high kids.” Her fingertips trailed across the whitish lines the razor blades had made several years ago. “If I’d stayed home where I belonged, maybe I’d have smelled the smoke and gotten them out.
“After their deaths, I went into such a dark place, I couldn’t even cry at their funeral. I had emotionally shut down. The last thing I’d said to my parents, my final words to them, were lies. What kind of person did that make me? The only time I could feel, could shed tears of grief was to take a razor blade to bleed out the pain.”
“Angel, I never knew.” His forehead wrinkled as if he were deep in thought.
“More females than males are cutters, or so my counselor told me. Men act out. Yell, curse, beat a fist against a wall. Women go inward. We often hold our pain inside, seeking unhealthy outlets for it. Eating disorders for some. For others, especially teens, it’s cutting.” She bent to kiss his collarbone. “Some men distance themselves from people. They act like a fool to hide the pain.”
“Yeah, like the words of the old blues song Uncle Mat used to sing. ‘I l
augh. Laugh just to keep from crying.’”
Maybe she had him to the point of opening up. Wolf claimed if anyone could reach Quinn, it would be her. She pressed kisses to his forehead and eyelids. “I shared with you. I shared how hard I worked to seduce you tonight and how humiliated you made me feel.” His whisker stubble scratched her lips when she kissed both of his cheeks.
“You never told me where the hell you learned to give such great head.” His lower jaw pushed out like a little boy ready to throw a tantrum.
She slid on top of him and wiggled closer. His eyes drifted shut when she rubbed against his semi-hard cock. “Cassie.” A thrill leaped for joy at his warning tone.
“You’ll laugh at me again.”
“Somehow, I doubt it. Now who the hell taught you to lick and suck cock like that? Because, baby, that was the best I’ve ever had.”
Her lips quirked. “Eva Mae, my Saturday morning regular, demonstrated using a bottle of conditioner as a cock prop. There’s this new brand that has a round top shaped like a…like the head of a man’s penis, and she showed me her technique.”
“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” His eyes shot open as if he’d seen an elephant walk across his ceiling or something.
She shook her head. “No. Ninety percent of what I know about sex I learned from my customers. The other ten percent I learned from you yesterday and today. Although, I have to admit, your ten percent was more fun.” She winked.
“So no other man showed you. Micah didn’t teach you…”
“Oh Quinn, you’ve been my first in every way. If only you’d be my first in trusting me.” She kissed him, her tongue sweeping across his lips. “If only you’d be the first man who ever trusted me enough to open up and show me what lies inside.”
