Eli
I stare at her sleeping face, and the love in my heart swells until it swallows me whole, leaving me at her mercy.
So much happened today that I’m struggling to wrap my head around it all. I had no idea she was a virgin. I never even considered the possibility.
Amazement hits me again, knowing that I’m the only man she’s been with. I’m the only one who will get to see her naked, to touch her silky skin, to hear her moan as she orgasms.
I’m a lucky bastard.
I pull her into my arms and bury my face in her hair. I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with her scent as I wrap my body around hers.
She turns into me, and her warm breaths rush over my chest. I can’t bring myself to fall asleep. I don’t want to miss a second of feeling her body against mine.
When she wakes up, she pulls her arms free from where they were locked between us. She stretches before she wraps her arms around my neck.
She presses a sleepy kiss to my chin and whispers, “Morning.”
I stand up and pull her up alongside me. Holding her hand, I walk upstairs and into my room. I walk into the bathroom and turn on the faucets in the shower. I’ve been wanting to do this for quite some time.
I pull her in with me and she looks up at me with a smile and shining eyes.
We wash each other and it’s impossible to hide my erection. Her eyes keep darting down to my cock and I force myself not to smile because she’s being adorably shy.
“Don’t you need to…” she lets the rest of the sentence trail away.
“What?” I ask, tilting my head to try and catch her eyes.
“You know … sex.” With one finger she points at my cock and I can’t keep the smile back anymore.
“You have no idea how fucking cute you are, Quinn Drake.”
“Did I say something wrong?” she asks, scowling up at me.
“Nothing.” I shake my head. “You’re perfect. Your innocence is addictive.”
“Really? I always thought men wanted experienced women.”
I shake my head. “Being experienced would mean that someone touched you. I love knowing that it’s only been me.” I step closer to her and press a soft kiss to her lips. “It will only be me.”
She winks at me. “I like this caveman side of you.”
Dad got a solid lead on Steve. I watch Quinn as she trains and I just can’t bring myself to tell her.
Things have been so good lately. No matter what I do, I know things are going to change. If Dad and I go deal with Steve, then Quinn might not forgive me. If I let her go ahead with this insane plan, she might get hurt or worse, and I can’t risk that.
“Are you listening to me?” she asks, placing her hands on her hips.
“Sorry, babe, I got lost in watching you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Don’t go using my irresistible body as an excuse.”
I get up and walk to her. “Can you blame me?”
“Anyway, I was saying that my cousin called. She’s coming to visit. She can stay at my Dad’s place, but I was hoping she could crash here?”
“Which cousin?” I ask. She told me about a crazy cousin who eats her own hair. Right now I’m praying it’s not her.
“Finlay. The one who lives up north.”
“That’s the sane one right?”
Quinn starts to laugh. “No one in my family is sane, but yeah, Robin’s the one who likes to eat hair.”
“In that case, Finlay is more than welcome to stay here,” I say with relief. “When is she coming?”
Quinn makes a cute face and then looks at her watch. “In about four hours.”
I place a kiss to her forehead before I start to walk away. “I’ve got some things to take care of. Will you need someone to take you?”
“No, you go take care of whatever you have to do. The bus stop is only a ten minute walk away. We’ll be fine.”
“Don’t get into any trouble while I’m gone,” I tease.
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
I take one last look at her smiling face before I leave. As I get into my truck I dial Dad’s number.
“Morning,” he says as he answers.
“Hey, Dad. Quinn’s cousin is coming into town. She’s going to be busy today. I was wondering if you had time to help me take care of that problem.”
“Come over so we can discuss the plan.”
When I pull up in front of my parents’ house, Dad is waiting on the porch.
I type a quick message to Quinn before going in.
I live you, my sunshine.
She responds within seconds and I stare long at the words.
I live you, my shadow.
Dad shakes Sheriff Dean’s hand. “Thanks for coming. Normally, we’d deal with it on our own, but we’d rather have you there, so things don’t go wrong.’
“I’m glad you called. It’s about time we get him off the streets. Where has he been hiding?”
“That’s the problem,” I say. “He’s been hiding at Jerry’s place.”
“Dammit,” Dean snaps. “That man is trigger happy on a good day.”
“We were hoping you could arrest Jerry and let us deal with Steve,” Dad says.
“I can arrest him for harboring a fugitive. I can buy you some time, but you’ll have to be fast. You know how nosy the folks are in this town.”
“We’ll only need a few minutes,” I say.
“We’ll follow you. Park down the street so they don’t see your car,” Dad says.
As we drive over to Jerry’s place, Dad stares blindly in front of him.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He sits forward and pulls his gun from behind him. He checks it again and says, “I’m getting old, Eli.”
“Dad, you’ll be eighty and still kicking ass.”
He only smirks.
We stop down the street and wait for Dean to join us. He’s on the radio.
When he joins us, I ask, “Did you call it in?”
“I just told Brayden and Connor to be on standby.”
“We’ll go around the back. You take the front. Steve will make a run for it.”
Keeping our eyes open, we quickly move in on the house. When we get there, Dean casually walks up to the front door, while we walk around the back. As we get to the backdoor, we hear a crashing noise of a chair falling over. The door is yanked open and I smile.
“Hey, fucker, remember me?” I slam a fist hard into his face and he staggers back.
We go in after him and I tackle him, before he can run to the front of the house.
“Fuck,” he shouts as I slam his face into the floor.
I grab a fistful of oily hair and yank his head back. “Fuck is an understatement,” I growl.
I haul him to his feet and bring my knee up, as I push his face down. I hear something crack and it fills me with savage satisfaction. Steve falls to the floor, holding his hands in front of his face, as blood gushes through his fingers.
“Eli, you want a beer?” Dad asks.
“Sure,” I say, holding out my hand as he tosses the bottle to me.
“They’re a bit hot,” Dad says as he twists the cap off one. He leans against the counter, beer in the one hand and gun in the other.
I crouch next to Steve, grab his jaw and shove the bottle inside his mouth, then I yank until I hear the crunch of his teeth on the cap. As I rip the bottle from his mouth, pieces of his teeth come with. Steve howls with pain and starts to cry.
“Fuck, I forgot. It’s a twist off cap.” I crouch down again and I have to suppress the urge to finish him off. “That’s for biting my girl.”
I stand up as Dean comes in. That’s all the time we’re going to get.
I drop the bottle of beer on Steve’s junk, and he folds in half.
“You should start practicing by shoving that bottle up your ass. You’re going to make some guy very happy in prison, Steve.”
“Thanks, Dean. We owe you one,” Dad says as Dean cuffs Steve.
“Anytime guys, you better get going.”
Dad first walks over to where Dean is hauling Steve up. He picks up the beer I used on Steve and starts to wipe it down.
“Always cover your tracks,” he growls as he walks by me.
We leave the house the same way we came in.
“We better fix up your hand before you go home,” Dad says as we get into the truck.
It’s only then I notice my busted knuckles. Shit, I won’t be able to hide that from Quinn.