Chapter 5
Quinn
Butterflies swarmed inside me but I didn’t hesitate as I grabbed the cool metal handle of the door and walked into Lucky’s. My whole life I’d been reckless. Jonah had told me more than once that I treated getting into trouble like it was my job. But he didn’t know the half of it.
I know he had tried to keep me on the straight and narrow, as he put it. Or as I put it, boring as hell. And I know he was disappointed in me now, but I also knew I would bounce back. Just like always. A hot flash of anger flared inside me. Jonah was wrong. I didn’t bail when things got hard. There was a difference between bailing, and knowing when something was a lost cause. And that’s what the final year of college had been. A lost cause.
I had been studying business since I was eleven when I opened my first lemonade stand. I’d made six hundred dollars that summer, and had been proud of my accomplishment. No one knew that I’d been raising money to help pay the bills but I’d always know how to make a profit. Always knew how to work the system
College had been different. A system that I couldn’t figure out. I had busted my ass the first two years, had even scored an internship with one of my business professors. But everything had crumbled when he’d hit on me and I’d turned him down. He threatened me with expulsion if I accused him in front of the school board but in the end, it hadn’t mattered. My shot at the internship was over and he’d gone out of his way to flunk me.
After that I had given up, slipping into partying and then drugs. Jonah would have a fit if he ever found out about that. He’d always been a stickler about that and I understood more than he realized. He was terrified of either of us ending up like mom and dad.
No chance of that now. They’re long gone. The thought snuck up on me, taking me aback. Part of me was in turmoil but more than anything I just didn’t want to have to face the storm brewing inside me. I would deal with my feelings, someday, but not today. Sure as hell not tonight. Tonight, I had much better and much more delicious things on the menu.
I glanced around Lucky’s bar. The dive was busier at this time of night than it had been earlier in the afternoon and I let the mingled sounds of mindless chatter and old songs wash over me.
Then I felt it. A chill, like a blast of cold air, had hit me even though it was a balmy spring night outside. Followed by a flash of heat that drew my gaze like a laser to the dark-haired man sitting at the bar.
My eyes clashed with Leo’s, green against brown and my feet were moving before I even realized. I barely paid attention to the crowd as I pushed through the throng of people. Everything had narrowed down to this one man, this one moment. And I was more than glad to melt against him and let everything else disappear for a little while longer.
"Hey there," I whispered the words against his ear and bit my lip as I felt the shiver run through him.
“Hey there back, sunshine.”
I pulled back enough to meet his piercing gaze once more and I couldn’t look away. I cocked my head, flustered but not wanting to show it.
“Why do you call me that? I already told you it’s not my name.” I gave him a grin as I stared at him through a thick fringe of lashes, waiting for his answer.
Leo reached out, tangling the fingers of one hand in my wayward waves before holding up a strand.
“It’s like sunlight.” He finally said, and then cleared his throat as if he’d revealed something he hadn’t meant to.
I paused, as taken aback by this vulnerable side to him as I had been my earlier wayward thought.
I knew men like Leo.
The playboy. The love ‘em and leave ‘em type. Easy to read. Easy to be with. And easy to walk away.
I had told him the truth earlier. I didn’t normally do the whole random hook up thing. I’d dated a bit in college but nothing serious. I’d seen other girls run through men and it never got them anywhere. That wasn’t me. I was going somewhere.
Oh yeah? And where exactly are you going without a college degree? I pushed back the insidious whisper, pasting a forceful grin on my face.
“Can I get a beer?” I asked, putting a ten-dollar bill on the bar. Suddenly, the events of the past day washed over me and I glanced back at the bartender. Stella, I think her name was. “Actually, make that a shot of tequila, please.”
"You got it, sweetheart." The older bartender rolled her eyes in Leo's direction, "Another round for you, stud?"
Leo grinned bashfully, putting in his order before turning back to me.
“Stud, huh?” I asked and Leo just grinned again.
“It’s just a nickname.”
“Uh huh. Just a nickname.” I said, but didn’t ask any more questions. Did I really want to know? Just then, trapped in the vee of Leo’s thighs as he sat on the bar stool, his hand playing idly at my hip, I didn’t care about anything all. He was like a drug, obliterating all other thought. Exactly what I needed.
I tilted my head to one side, shooting Leo a heated look as I melted against him even more. I could feel the strong muscles of his chest shudder with his inhale and by the pained expression on his sharply handsome face, I could tell he was as affected by the touch as I was.
I barely waited until Stella set the shot on the bar top before grabbing it, tilting my head back, and drinking it down in one swallow. I noticed Leo watching me, like a hunter watching his prey and it sent a dark thrill shooting through me.
“You missed some,” He whispered, rough and gravelly as he reached out one hand, his thumb just barely brushing across my lower lip to pick up the drop of liquor left there. He brought it to his own lips and my breath hitched in my lungs as he licked it off, slow and sensual.
Damn. He was dangerous. And I loved danger. It was a problem, I knew that. But at that moment, all I could see was the dark light gleaming in his eyes.
“So, what brings you to Coral Springs?” I asked distractedly through a wicked grin, still struggling to get my breath back. He did things to my system that I didn’t understand, but I didn’t care. My body screamed out for him. His touch. His kiss. Everything else that I knew he could give me.
"I just needed a change. I get restless if I stay in one place too long." Leo said with a shrug. His words echoed like a warning bell in the back of my mind. He’s going to leave. That’s what he means. He doesn’t stick around.
I shook off the words. Why the hell would I want him too? This is just fun. A distraction. A very sexy distraction.
Uh huh. Sure. The word was drawn out in my thoughts and I could practically see the way the small, sensible part of me rolled its eyes in disbelief. Deliberately, I leaned against Leo's body, even more, inhaling his unique, spicy scent and feeling the delicious warmth of him envelop me.
"Wanna dance?" I drawled, low and sweet and nearly grinned at the way his eyes narrowed at the inflection in my voice. With Leo's hand still held in mine, we walked out onto the small cleared area in front of the jukebox just as the slow, sultry tones of Billie Holiday filled the air.
For a single moment, all the emotions that were still tumbling chaotically inside me from earlier raged to the surface, stealing my breath for a different reason. But then Leo was pulling me close once more and they disappeared. I knew they were still there, pushed into the farthest, darkest corner of my mind. I knew I’d have to deal with them eventually. But not now. Not tonight. Tonight, I could let myself sink into Leo’s strong arms and pretend that everything was normal. Everything was fine.
But it’s not. That damned reasonable voice was back.
Shut up, I hissed silently, arguing with myself as futile as it was. Just relax and have fun, Quinn.
That's what made you come back to this rinky-dink town in the first place, remember? Too much fun.
I closed my eyes on the thought, the unwanted reminder of my failure, but as I opened them up again he was there. Leo. Towering over me, sheltering me in the broadness of his shoulders. His too sinful lips were pulled up into a soft, lopsided grin and his dark eyes swept over my face, drinking me in like a man dying of thirst. That look had chills racing up and down my body and suddenly I was aware of every single inch of me that was pressed against him.
Everywhere we met, tiny arcs of electricity sent a shock through my body, lighting me up, drawing me even deeper under his spell.
“What were you just thinking about, sunshine?” Leo leaned down, breathing the words soft and raspy against my cheek and I trembled again.
For a second I thought about telling him the truth. Oh, well, you see I flunked out of college and had to come back to the last place in the world I wanted as a complete failure and then I just found out that parents had been dead for three months. Although, in honesty, they might as well have been dead for the past ten years considering they abandoned me and my brother and we haven't heard from or seen them since.
But I bit back the words. Keep things light and fun, Quinn. He’s not going to stick around anyway, no need to scare him off early.
I nodded firmly to myself, firming my resolve to forget all about my troubles and shot Leo a sultry grin.
“I was just thinking about earlier,” I finally said and Leo raised one dark, slashing eyebrow in question. It was obvious he didn’t believe me but he nodded for me to continue anyway.
“What about earlier?”
“Well, I was thinking how lucky it was.” I shrugged, “There I was, walking down the street, minding my own business when you ran into me–.”
“Wait a minute, sunshine. You ran into me.”
“That’s not the way I remember it. But that’s not the point.”
Leo gave a rough laugh under his breath as he reached out, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “What is the point?”
“It was lucky, that’s all. I could have been anywhere, but I wasn’t. I was there, at that exact moment, at that exact place, at the exact time you came barreling out of this place and nearly knocked me on my ass right there on main street.”
Leo threw his head back on a full, sexy as hell laugh at my words and all I could do was watch in fascination as it transformed him right in front of my eyes. Still far too handsome and so sexy it should be illegal, but now, with humor gleaming in his dark eyes, he was something else, something far more dangerous. He was likable. No, it was more than that. He was lovable.
“So you think it was fate?” Leo’s question drew me back to our conversation as we swayed together on the dance floor.
“I don’t know if I believe in fate,” I answered honestly, surprising myself, “But I know I’m glad it happened.”
Leo’s gaze sharpened on mine, and the desire that had been simmering on low suddenly filled me, hot and persistent. His hands slid down my body, dragging sweet sensations from my waist lower across my hips, stopping just short of moving any further south.
My pulse pounded hard and fast as Leo leaned forward, his breath tickling my ear as he opened his mouth to speak.
“Me too, sunshine. I’m very fucking glad.”
He punctuated the words with a ghost of a kiss against my neck and my legs went all rubbery underneath me. It didn’t help that his thumbs had worked their way under the hem of my t-shirt and each stroke of his fingers across my bare skin fanned the flames ever higher.
“You know,” I started breathlessly, “There’s something else about earlier that I can’t get out of my mind.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
I leaned even closer, raising up on the tips of my toes in my heeled boots and even still, he had to bend down so I could whisper the words in his ear.
“I keep thinking about how good it felt to have you inside me. How good it felt to have you fill me all the way up until I was screaming out your name–.”
The words were barely out of my mouth before we were moving, Leo’s hand on mine dragging me towards the stairs at the back of the bar that led up to his apartment. I had to bite back a breathless laugh at the reckless rush that flooded my system. Adrenaline and desire and need all rolled into one. And I knew there was only one thing that would satisfy it. Leo.
He fumbled with the key, impatience thick in the air as he tried to get the door unlocked.
"Damn it," Leo muttered under his breath, but a moment later the door was open and he was pulling me inside. He kicked it shut behind us, not even bothering to flick on the lights before he was pulling me close.
His mouth met mine with a crash like thunder in a summer storm and the answering lightning flashed through my body. My need was electric and all-consuming. Every other thought evaporated like steam by the heat, except one. I wanted him. And damn it, I was going to have him.
"Fuck, sunshine, you can't say shit like that to me in public," Leo growled the words against my kiss-swollen lips, pulling back enough to gaze at me in the dark.
"Why not?" I teased, focused on the task in front of me. My hands never stopped moving, pulling his shirt over his head and getting to work on the button of his jeans. An image had crystallized in my mind and I was going to make it a reality. My mouth watered at the thought. I wanted a taste of him.
Leo’s hand gripped my jaw, tilting my face up until my eyes met his and the hard need that shone back at me from their depths trapped me.
"Because I was a second away from stripping you naked and fucking you right there on the dance floor in front of everybody. That's why." The words were rough as he spoke and they hit me with all the force of a boulder, urging on the reckless streak inside me.
My hands were moving again, tugging down the top of his jeans as I stared up at him.
I spoke into the sudden tense silence. “I wouldn’t have minded.”
"Fuck," Leo said the word like a prayer or a curse. I couldn't tell. I was too busy dropping to my knees in front of him, taking his boxers with me as I went. I didn't wait, sucking him as far into my mouth as I could, wrapping my hand around his thick base as I lashed him with my tongue.
“Holy fuck, Quinn.” The sound of my name hissed from his lips had me sucking even harder as Leo’s fingers tangled in my hair. I could feel his thighs tremble at the pleasure and an answering wave of moisture flooded my pussy. This. This is what I wanted. This was exactly what I needed.