Zee

One quick glance around the bedroom and I should have realized it was me who’d intruded. With the lights off, I hadn’t noticed all the female crap spread around the room. Little tubes of makeup on the dresser, a lacey bra hanging from the mirror, and the half open closet piled three feet deep with shoes and purses.

Quinn glares at me now, dark eyes flashing with anger. Her hair is longer now, hanging in dark waves down her back to her waist. Full lips purse at me, and her chest rises and falls in sharp, angry breaths.

She’d always been pretty. Even when she was a teenager. It’s one of the reasons I put distance between us when she was younger, because I knew the woman she’d grow into. A temptation I didn’t need. One I’d have a fucking hard time resisting if given the chance.

I was right.

Quinn Savage is breathtaking. And just as stubborn, hot tempered and mouthy as ever.

“Did you really just tell me to suck an egg?” A grin tugs at my lips, but I pull it back.

Her right eye twitches. “What are you doing here?”

“I was trying to sleep.”

“In my bed.”

Rubbing the back of my neck, I wince. “I didn’t know you were staying here.”

“How would you when you haven’t been home in six years?”

I wince at that. “I knocked. No one answered. Didn’t look like anyone was staying here.”

“The boxes didn’t clue you in?” She moves towards me, then brushes past me as she goes back to her bedroom.

I follow.

Trying to keep a steady face when I see the damn vibrator that’s still buzzing on the bed.

She mutters something under her breath as she turns it off, then shoves it in a drawer.

“Give me my shirt back and I’ll leave,” I say.

Her head whips round and she snorts. “Not happening. I like this shirt. I think I’ll keep it.”

Yeah, stubborn. It used to make me laugh when she was younger, especially when it was directed at one of her brothers. But I have a feeling I’m not going to find it as amusing aimed at me.

I raise a brow. “You’re keeping my shirt hostage?”

“Yes.”

I hold her gaze, but she doesn’t flinch.

“Fine.” There’s no sense arguing with her, especially since I can tell she’s consumed a good portion of the Avion Silver herself. Drunks don’t fight fair. I should know. “Keep it.”

“I will.”

I turn from the room to find my bag.

Quinn follows me. “You’re going to leave again?”

“I can’t stay here.” I crouch over the bag and pull out a clean black t-shirt.

“I mean Port Clover.”

“Yes.” I sigh.

“Why?”

I glance over my shoulders at her. “Because this town is better off without me.”

“You’re wrong,” she says quietly, suddenly pensive. “People missed you.”

Pulling the shirt over my head, I stand and raise a brow at her. “People?”

She shakes her head. “You hurt them when you left.”

“Trust me, I did everyone a favor.”

She chews on her bottom lip, one hand resting on her arm. “Then why are you back?”

I rough my hands over my face and breathe out heavily. “I’ve got business to deal with.”

It’s only a small lie. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. I’ve had my lawyers draw up papers that will give Kade full ownership of the bar. Just one of the ways to make amends, while also cutting all ties from this hellhole.

“How long are you staying?” Quinn asks, chewing on the inside of her lip.

“Not sure.”

She leans against the wall, and the way she stands causes the t-shirt to hitch up, exposing her upper thighs.

I glance away, my cock already painfully straining against my jeans.

“Where are you going to go tonight?”

“There’s a motel twenty miles—”

“That place has been closed down for years,” she says quickly.

Shit.

“You can stay here.” Her cheeks pinken with the suggestion.

Bad idea, my brain warns.

“Quinn—”

“You can sleep on the couch,” she says quickly, pushing off the wall and retreating into her room, coming back a moment later and tossing a pillow and a blanket at me. “Unless you want to sleep in one of the booths downstairs.”

It would probably be the better choice. Kade already has enough reasons to hate me, last thing I need is him finding me here with his kid sister. Even if my intentions are honorable. My cock calls bullshit the second I think it.

I’ve never done an honorable thing in my life.

Except leaving this town in the first place.

“You should put some ice on your eye.” She walks past me and disappears into the kitchen.

I toss the blanket and pillow on the couch and sit down.

“Here.” Quinn comes out of the kitchen and hands me a bag of frozen vegetables wrapped in a cloth.

“Thanks,” I take it from her and place it on my eye.

“Sorry, for hitting you.” She sits beside me, curling her legs under her.

“With a vibrator,” I add.

She rolls her eyes.

I chuckle. “You’re pretty handy with that thing.”

“Lots of practice,” she deadpans, then averts her face, but not before I see her cheeks turn beat red. And I hear her mumble something that sounds like, “I did not just say that.”

“You had other options tonight.”

She frowns at me.

“Your metaphor,” I say, hating the possessiveness I felt when I’d heard their conversation. But I sum it up to brotherly protectiveness that I should feel for her.

“Oh...Ace.” Her cheeks go an even darker shade of red.

“He your boyfriend?”

“God, no.”

I raise my brows at her quick answer.

“He’s just someone...”

“Who you were going to have sex with.”

“No. Maybe.” She buries her face in her hands. “I don’t know.”

I grunt, not liking the idea of anyone touching her. “Is he the one that got you drunk?”

“I don’t need anyone to get me drunk. I can do that all by myself.”

“Are you even legal?” I ask, knowing damn well how old she is.

“I guess you wouldn’t know, since you missed my last six birthdays.”

Ouch.

“Guess I’ll always think of you as a kid.” I’m not sure why I say it. I know it’ll just piss her off. But the way she’s looking at me has my thoughts going in all kinds of dangerous directions, and I need to put some walls between us.

Big ones.

I see the argument forming in her eyes, but instead of the sarcastic comment I expect, she just shakes her head and gives a small, sad smile. “I guess you’re right.”

Tension strains between us as she holds my gaze, then she stands, pulls the oversized t-shirt over her head and tosses it at me.

“Or, maybe you’re not man enough to take what you want.” Wearing only her lacy bra and thong, she starts to walk away, then says over her shoulder, “I’ve decided you can keep your t-shirt.”

When her door shuts, I groan and flop back on the couch.

Coming back to Port Clover just got a hell of a lot more complicated.