Chapter 7

Quinn

I blinked my eyes open slowly, the dream of my childhood still lingering in that fuzzy way that dreams did. Nothing specific, just vague images and muffled sounds. But I remembered the smell. Lavender and something sickly sweet that I wouldn’t learn until I was older was the smell of the drugs. The way my mother always smelled when she’d give me a hug as a child.

It took me a moment to remember where I was as I turned my head on the pillow but then I smiled. I was in a bed. Leo's bed. We'd finally made it there last night. Eventually. My body was sore as I stretched but sore in a good way. Sore in a way that reminded me of exactly what we did last night to put those aches and pains there.

A buzzing interrupted my reminiscing and my smile dipped as I grabbed, still uncoordinated with sleep, for my cell phone.

“Damn it, Jonah.” Six missed calls, and if I missed my guess, several very angry voice messages to go along with them. For a second, I considered calling him back but I didn’t want to talk to him, not after the argument the day before. With a sigh, I let myself fall back on the pillow, Leo’s spicy, masculine scent rising up to surround me and suddenly that smile was back.

I was happy. Despite everything, the failure of flunking out of college and the embarrassment, the bombshell about my parents and the property, I was happy. And I knew it was because of Leo. I didn’t want anything to dim the glow that was filling me up from the inside, and the fastest way to do that was talking to my overprotective older brother.

The smell of something sweet and delicious wafting from the other room interrupted my thoughts, drawing me from the warmth of the blankets and I hastily grabbed a large t-shirt and threw it on. I looked down, realizing it was one of Leo’s, the bottom hem barely skimming the tops of my thighs but shrugged. It would take me too long to discover where he’d tossed my clothes the night before. Probably still littering the floor in front of the door.

That smile was back at the thought but I wasn't even aware of it as I made my way to the kitchen, pausing for a moment as I drank in the sight. Leo stood with his back to me and I got a good look of just how broad those shoulders of his really were. He was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer briefs that clung to his thighs and my smile grew into a wicked smirk as my gaze traveled lower, tracing every muscled inch of his body.

“Sexy as hell, and can cook?” My voice was hoarse with humor and desire as I spoke, “There must be a god after all.”

He shot me a lopsided grin over his shoulder before turning back the skillet in front of him. "Wait until you taste it before you pass judgment. I'm not exactly known for my culinary talent."

“I’m sure it will taste great. I’m starving.” I wrapped my arms around his bare waist as he cooked, laying a soft kiss against his shoulder before my eyes landed on the cup of coffee steaming on the kitchen counter. I reached for it like it was a bar of gold, and to me it was. Liquid gold.

“Hmm. Delicious.” I hummed happily in the back of my throat after taking a sip of the hot coffee. Leo rolled his eyes but there was a good-natured humor shining in their dark depths as he chastised me.

“That was mine, you know.”

"Keyword there being was.” I grinned at him from behind the mug before taking another sip. Just then my stomach growled, loud and hungry, as I eyed the pancake batter that Leo was pouring on the hot skillet.

"I really am starving," I said, practically drooling although I wasn't sure if it was from the smell of the pancakes filling the small kitchen of the sight of Leo, bare from the waist up. My fingers trailed along the muscles of his back, unable to stop their foray as they moved up and down. Exploring every dip and valley before sliding lower.

“If you don’t stop that I’m going to give you something else to fill you up,” Leo growled and the words had desire flooding my center and coating the inside of my thighs.

I looked up at him, knowing full well that my need was written plainly on my face but I didn’t give a damn. All I wanted was him.

“Is that a promise?” The words fell out of my mouth without a moment’s thought and I watched Leo’s dark gaze flare with heat. He stalked towards me, his jaw tense as he took the coffee mug from my suddenly numb fingers and placed it on the counter with an audible noise.

"It's more than a promise, sunshine, and I always keep my word." He grinned suddenly, fast and deadly, and the rapid-fire change had the breath catching in my throat, "That's why I never make any promises."

“Except for this one,” I teased and his grin widened wolfishly.

“I told you sunshine, that wasn’t a promise.”

“Oh yeah? What was it then?” He was right in front of me now, so close that his bare chest brushed the soft, thin material of his t-shirt, the only thing separating them.

“It was a threat.”

“Really?” My pulse raced as he closed the small distance between us, back me step by step towards the kitchen counter at my back. “I don’t feel threatened.”

“What do you feel, Quinn?” Leo rasped the words like hot honey against my ear, drawing sweet kisses and sharp bites down my neck.

“I feel wet.”

Leo hissed in a sharp breath at my words and the next moment he was moving. His strong arms lifted me up onto the edge of the counter, pulling me close until I had to cling to him to keep my balance but it just made the desire swirling inside me burn even hotter than before.

His fingers skimmed up my bare thighs, pulling up the hem of the t-shirt I was wearing right along with them until the fabric was pooled around my hips.

“Damn, sunshine. You drive me crazy.” Leo growled. I opened my mouth to respond but all that came out was a gasped moan of pleasure as he dipped two fingers into my wet and ready pussy. I could feel the shockwaves roll through my body as he thrust in and out, changing his angle so he could rub over every sensitive nerve ending deep inside me with each movement.

The callused pad of his thumb found my clit and worked in tiny circles until my breath was panting fast and sharp out of my lungs. Now, he was the one driving me crazy. As good as it felt to have his fingers inside me, I needed something more. A deeper, razor-sharp need that had me clawing at his back and wrestling the boxer's down his hips until there was nothing left between us.

“Fuck me, Leo,” I panted the words on a pained moan, “Fuck me now.”

My words were all the impetus he needed. In one smooth thrust, Leo slid his big, rock hard cock all the way to the hilt. Stretching me, filling me, stuffing every inch my aching pussy as I trembled in his arms, adjusting to his size. I threw my head back, my mouth open in a wordless cry of ecstasy as waves of pleasure rolled through me, making me drunk on him.

He stayed like that for a long moment, standing still as we both reveled in the incredible sensation of our bodies joining together. But before long, the need for more reared up again, drawing my hips up towards his, searching, begging, demanding.

“Jesus, you’re so tight, sweetheart.” Leo’s words were a backdrop to my pleasure as he murmured against my cheek. Sweet words. Dirty words. They sent me spiraling even higher as he began to rock his body against mine, finally giving me the deep, hard thrusts that I so desperately needed.

“Yes, just like that. Give it to me just like that.” I was incoherent, the words spilling from my lips only to be swallowed down as Leo leaned forward to capture my mouth with his. His tongue thrust in time to his cock, each ramming inside me with the same rhythm that grew frenzied.

I could tell he was close and I wanted to feel him come. To feel him explode inside me. It would push me over the edge right along with him. I knew that. And fuck, I wanted it. All of him. Drenching me in his cum.

“Harder, Leo. Fuck me harder.”

"Holy hell, Quinn." His voice was rough but he followed my command, his hips moving like pistons as his cock slammed deep inside my pussy in quick bursts. Every nerve ending was on fire, crying out for a climax but still, I stayed there, burning up with need, so close it hurt.

One of Leo’s hands trailed down between our bodies as other held me steady as he pounded into me. His fingers just brushed the sensitive bundle of nerves of my clit. Once. Twice. It was the final push that I needed to send a powerful orgasm ripping through me.

I threw my head back, screaming out Leo’s name as every muscle inside me tightened, gripping his cock in a vise-like grip as he drove my pleasure even higher, wrenching every ounce of ecstasy that he could get before freezing, growling out his own climax as he came.

“Fuck, sunshine.” Leo rested his sweat-soaked brow against my own with a gravelly chuckle. I joined in, laughing weakly as my arms fell bonelessly to my sides. I was so wrapped up in my own glow that it took me a moment to realize what I was smelling.

“Burning.”

“Hm? What was that?” Leo gave a confused look through half-shuttered eyes.

“Burning. I smell something burning.”

His dark eyes widened comically as he shot a distraught look behind him. “Shit, the pancakes.”

I was still laughing as he rushed to the stove and the smoking contents of the skillet.

***

Leo

I took another bite of the burnt pancake and grimaced at the slightly acrid taste but damn if I didn't regret a single moment with Quinn, even if it did result in a nearly inedible breakfast. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye, watching the way she inhaled the steam from the ceramic coffee mug clutched in her hands. Her green eyes closing in pleasure. My coffee. But I didn’t say another word as I watched.

She savored every moment, seeming to squeeze every ounce of joy that she could from even the smallest thing. A cup of coffee. Burnt pancakes. A single kiss. It was something I had noticed from the first. And admired, even though it was the opposite of the way I operated. She held nothing back.

Hell, I’d practically made an art of skimming through life. Not making waves. Not leaving an impression when I packed up and moved on. It was easier that way. No mess. I didn’t let myself think about just how much I like the way Quinn loved life. The way she went all or nothing. The way she was making me break my own rules. Rules that I had lived by so long they were practically second nature.

Don’t get involved. Don’t get in too deep. And sure as fuck never stay with the same girl more than a few days. Three days was my max. There had been a few times I’d broken that rule before and it had never ended well. Every time I would swear to myself that I’d learned my lesson. That lesson seemed far away and unimportant at that moment.

"Sorry about the pancakes, sunshine," I said with the nod at her plate. I needed to say something to dislodge the track of my wayward thoughts. Quinn glanced up at me from across the small kitchen table and the grin she gave me was so sweet and so sinful all at the same time I wanted to have her all over again.

She took a blissful sip of coffee before answering slowly, deliberately, “I’m not.”

That’s it. It’s official. There’s something about Quinn that makes me hornier than a teenager tumbling around in the hay with his first girlfriend. I already want her again.

The thought flicked through my mind and I was bare seconds from sweeping the plates to the floor and hauling her up on the table so I could feast on her instead. The strident ringing of a cell phone stopped me before I could make a move.

Quinn glanced at the caller ID for a moment before answering.

"Hey you…I know. I'm sorry I didn't call you back earlier…." I forced down another bite of pancakes, trying desperately not to look like I was eavesdropping even though my ears were perked to catch every word. As Quinn spoke, I couldn't help but notice the obvious familiarity with whoever it was on the other end of the call. It had a slick, greasy feeling sinking inside me and with a shock, I realized it was jealousy.

Me? Jealous? That’s impossible. I don’t get jealous. I never get jealous. I’ve always been the love em’ and leave em’ type. That’s my motto. I don’t do clingy and I sure as fuck don’t do relationships.

So why do you care who she’s talking to, then?

Before I could come up with a reasonable answer, Quinn was talking again.

“…I already told you, Jonah. I’ll be there. I promise. I’ll meet you there and we can talk then, okay?...Bye.” Quinn hung up the cell phone and even though I told myself I wouldn’t, I couldn’t stop the words from forming on my lips and I sure as hell couldn’t silence them.

“So, who was that? A friend?” I tried to sound as casual as possible, the whole time wondering what the hell I was even doing. Why did it matter? I didn’t know the answer to the question to that, and if I was honest with myself, that scared me.

Quinn shrugged, oblivious to my inner turmoil. Thank god for small mercies.

“It was my brother. Calling to check in on me for the hundredth time because he still thinks I’m ten years old.” She shook her head in frustration but I was too busy sighing in relief to notice. It didn’t occur to me to wonder why I’d feel relieved but then she was talking again.

“I have to go meet him out on the outskirts of town. Just found out we were left our grandfather’s property but I have no idea what sort of shape it’s in. It’s basically sat abandoned for the past twenty years.”

Her words triggered a memory, a conversation I had, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It sat there, on the tip of my tongue. Quinn spoke more about the property as I tried to work it out but then, like puzzle pieces falling into place, it all came into terrible clarity.

“Wait a minute, did you say Jonah?” Dread quickly replaced the relief that had been so short lived.

“What?”

“Jonah. When you were talking. You called your brother Jonah?”

“Yeah. That’s his name.” Quinn gave me an odd look across the kitchen table and I couldn’t blame her, “Why?”

“Jonah Moore? And that would make you…”

“Quinn Moore. Yep, that’s generally how names work.” She tilted her head to the side, examining me as if I’d suddenly grown two heads. I felt just as confused.

Quinn was Jonah’s little sister.

My best friend’s little sister.

My best friend’s little sister who he had practically raised and treated more like a daughter than a sibling. Hell, overprotective didn’t even begin to cover Jonah’s attitude.

I didn’t know what the hell I was going to do but I did know one thing. If Jonah ever found out about us, I was a dead man. Plain and simple. He would kill me.

“Um, well. I’m sure you have to go and uh, get ready. I should really…My shift at the bar starts pretty soon,” Sure, if by ‘pretty soon’ I mean two hours. But I was in full on panic mode, still trying to process this new turn of events. “I gotta get to work, so…”

“Alright,” Quinn said slowly, still staring at me oddly but at the moment, I didn’t care. I was more worried about keeping my hide intact. “I’ll see you later?”

“Sure, yeah. See you later.” I jumped to my feet, my mind racing as my more than healthy sense of self-preservation kicked in and I tossed Quinn a distracted wave as I threw on jeans and a more or less clean shirt before racing from the apartment and down the stairs to the bar. What the hell did I get myself into? And even worse, what the hell was I going to tell Jonah?