“What’s wrong?” I asked, watching Quinn stride over to the kitchen and start scraping the unfinished food into the trashcan.

He turned to me, and his voice was low and deadly. “What’s wrong? What the fuck do you think is wrong?”

I felt a cold flutter in my stomach when I saw the way he looked at me. He was mad. Livid. It felt as though he was fighting with everything he had to keep his shit together. I still couldn’t quite believe I’d done that. I had never acted like such a bitch in my life before, but something flared up inside of me, something I couldn’t keep down. I couldn’t let Victoria, with her sophisticated face and body, take Quinn from me. I had loved him for years. It was not fair she should have him when she didn’t even know him properly. I wasn’t giving up without a fight.

“Why? Because I told your girlfriend the truth?” I challenged, standing, and pacing around the table.

“I like Victoria,” he said between clenched teeth.

“You can’t have been very serious about her if you were so desperate to go down on me yesterday,” I shouted angrily.

“You knew what you were doing getting me into your bathroom,” he snarled. “I’m a man, Madison. I see a naked woman offering herself on a plate and sometimes I take it, okay?”

He was right, but there was no way I would admit it. I flushed with humiliation, and he turned away and began running the tap into the sink. I chewed my bottom lip. He thought I was a spoiled brat. He didn’t understand that I was just a woman desperately in love. Until I came here he didn’t even know I existed, and I loved it when he noticed me, and wanted me.

I wanted to see that look of desire and need in his eyes again.

“You were the one who ate me out,” I said to get his attention. I wasn’t used to talking dirty, and putting it out there like that made my pussy clench with the memory of it. God, that had been the hottest thing I’d ever felt in my life. I had hooked up with enough fumbling college boys to know no one was like Quinn. No one made me feel the way Quinn did. I never let any of them get past first base. I guess I was always saving myself up for him.

“You’re such a brat.” He shook his head. “What the fuck were you thinking telling her all of that? What if your father found out?”

“You should have thought of that before you did it!” I shot back. My voice rose, and my heart was pounding in my chest.

He took his hands out of the sink and planted them on the counter, pressing against the polished marble. “I shouldn’t have done it. I know that.”

“I’m not complaining. I loved it,” I told him softly, all the anger draining out of me. I stepped toward him. The distance between us felt so far. I could have reached out and touched him, my bare feet pattering softly on the wood beneath me. He didn’t acknowledge my presence.

He turned slowly, finally letting his eyes fall on me. My breath hitched. He inhaled deeply, and let it out slowly, the sound filling the air between us as he did so.

“You scared that perfectly decent woman away, and for what?” he asked. His voice was low and defeated.

“Because she deserved to know the truth!” I insisted. “You only invited her round to piss me off. Didn’t you? Admit it.”

“You think everything’s about you.” He shook his head as though he couldn’t believe he was having this discussion with me. “People have their own lives, Madison. I’m just doing your father a favor. I didn’t want you here in the first place.”

“Maybe I’ll go,” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And I’ll tell my father why I’m going.”

He didn’t react, so I decided to test him. I knew I was being a total bitch, but I wanted to provoke a reaction from him. Anything other than this sickening sensation that my behavior tonight had made me lose him for good. All I ever wanted was for him to tell me he wanted me to stay. That it was about more than just pleasing my father.

I stepped back, keeping his gaze the whole time. He twitched, but didn’t move, and I took another step away from him. Biting my lip I started to turn away when he finally snapped. He shot his hand out and caught my arm in a strong grip.

“Don’t go anywhere,” he whispered hoarsely.

His fingers felt good on my skin, just firm enough to let me know he was serious. I stared up at him. My lips parted as I felt the feelings between us mount to something neither of us could argue with.

Then, before I knew it, his lips were on mine, his tongue pushing into my mouth. I swear, my head swooned, and everything else in the world dropped away. Nothing mattered but us. I wrapped my arms around his neck, clutching him, holding him as tight as I could. I would never again let go. I pressed my body against his, and felt something close to relief as he kissed me hard and deep. His arm snaked around my waist to pull me tight against him.

The scent of his aftershave filled my nostrils, and I shuddered with pleasure as his thumb caressed my waist and moved down to my hips. I ran my hands through his hair, desperate to feel as much of him as I could, taking in every inch of his body while I still could.

He pulled back suddenly and I practically fell forward. I let out a small, disappointed groan. No. No. No. Not when we’d got so close. Not when it was so obvious this was not passing thing. We were meant to be together. I wanted him badly, and I knew he wanted me too. Why couldn’t we just go ahead and do this?

“We can’t do this,” he said, shaking his head. He started walking away from me, making his way to the balcony. I hurried after him. He opened the doors and stepped outside. The city was spread out below us. It was beautiful and I wished we could have come here in happier times, when this could have been romantic instead of filled with awful tension.

“Why can’t we?” I asked. “I want this and so do you. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“You’re going back to London, Madison,” he replied. His voice hollow and empty. I saw a flicker in his eyes that told me the thought of it hurt him. “I’ll rent out a hotel room, you can have this place. I don’t want to…I don’t want to fuck things up for you.”

“What makes you think you’re going to fuck things up for me?”

“Have you got any idea of what would happen if anyone found out what we’ve done?” He turned away from me and looked at the sky.

I touched his arm and he flinched. “I can handle it.”

“You have no idea.” He shook his head, a mirthless laugh punctuating his words. “You’re…you’re not risking a lot with all of this.”

“And what are you risking?” I asked, cocking my head at him. The way he spoke to me made me feel like I was some kind of irresponsible idiot. I was a woman not a child, but it was clear that that was how he still saw me. If not physically, then emotionally.

“If Kevin finds we’re even having this conversation, he’ll dump me in a minute. I’m not losing him, or the business I’ve work so hard for, just for this moment of weakness.”

“I won’t tell him if you won’t,” I promised, stepping closer to him.

He shook his head. ‘No, I don’t want to lie to him. He’s like a brother to me.”

Despite the topic of conversation, I wanted to wrap my arms around him. I couldn’t hold myself back from him. He was just so irresistible. I’d wanted this for so long, and now that it was so close to actually happening, I had trouble accepting what he said.

“My dad doesn’t decide who I go with. We’re both adults.”

“The age gap…it’s too much. That kid tonight, the one who was here earlier. That’s the kind of guy you should be with, not me.”

“I can make the decision of who I want for myself,” I said softly. Lifting my head to meet his gaze, I placed a hand on his chest. I could feel his heartbeat pick up beneath his shirt, but a split-second later he stepped away from me again, leaving my fingers hanging in the air where he had once stood.

“Of course, you think that. You don’t realize the consequences,” he snapped.

I knew my refusal to see his point of view was pissing him off. Well, when he gave me a good reason, I would accept it. “I don’t understand why you are making something so simple so complicated?” I cried.

“You can’t…shit, you can’t see that it wouldn’t be fair, can you? I have my own life, my own world, Madison. You’re so far away and you’re young. You’re so young. I don’t want you hung up on me when you could be off enjoying yourself and taking the world by storm.”

I clenched my fists at my sides. “I don’t care about any of that. I just want this. You. I need you, Quinn.”

He closed his eyes and exhaled heavily. I wondered if he had to fight as hard as I was to keep his hands off of me. My fingers dug into my palms, and the pain was the only thing keeping me from grabbing for him once more.

“I want this,” I murmured. “I want you. I want to feel your tongue between my legs again, Quinn.”

When I said his name, he seemed to react to it. It was like an incantation on my tongue, and he finally looked up at me. He blinked twice, slowly. Then he ran his tongue over his bottom lip, and I saw that he was having trouble coming up with a good excuse to throw in my direction. He wanted me as much as I wanted him. I parted my lips and stepped toward him. We were so close. I knew he intended to kiss me again.

Both of us jumped when his cell rang in his pocket. Reaching into his blazer he pulled out his phone. He glanced at screen, looked up at me, then back at the screen. He paled.

“It’s your father,” he muttered, and turned his back on me to take the call.

I felt a wash of panic. Could Dad somehow have instinctively sensed our conversation? I hugged myself tightly. I needed to keep my cool. I loved my dad, but I was in love with Quinn and nothing was going to keep me away from him.