Chapter Seventeen
Waking up with Selena in his arms was possibly the best feeling in the entire world. Well, second best, Quinn thought. First was being inside her, though he would keep that fact to himself. He wanted to have sex with her the whole night, but Selena looked tired. She’d had a long day, after all. They both did. The incident at the subway platform only cemented his suspicions that the car wreck the other night was a deliberate attempt on his life. Still, who would go through so much trouble to make his death look like an accident?
That’s what puzzled Quinn the most. He’d worked with some pretty nasty people in the past. When he did jobs, he didn’t exactly stop and check everyone’s resumes. But, most of those people wouldn’t try to cover up his death and make it look like an accident. No one would bother. After all, he was inconsequential. Aside from his siblings, no one else in the world would care if he died.
He rose from the bed, nudging Selena gently. “It’s seven, kitten,” he whispered. She rolled onto her back and put the pillow over her head.
“No …” she moaned.
He chuckled. “Time to get to work.” And yes, he had work to do, as well. He had to get to the bottom of this.
Selena grumbled and then tossed the pillow onto the floor. But she got up anyway and headed into the bathroom.
After they both got dressed (Selena tried to get frisky in the shower, but he reminded her that it was a workday), they left the loft and headed over to the Lone Wolf office. Evie was already there, and she gave Quinn a dirty look as she passed a duffel bag to Selena.
“Thanks, I’ll go change,” Selena said, grabbing the bag from Evie and walking out the door.
“Wait, a minute,” Evie called after her. “I need to talk to you.”
“Evie!” Killian called. “Can you come in here, please?”
Evie looked at the hallway leading to Killian’s office and back to Selena. “We’ll talk later.” As she passed by Quinn, she flashed him another angry look and disappeared down the hallway.
“I’ll call you an Uber,” he said to Selena. “And text me as soon as you get to the library. Don’t leave after work until I’m there, okay? I’ll be by early, and I’ll wait for you outside.”
“Fine,” Selena said with a pout. “I’ll see you later.”
Quinn sighed, watching as the front door closed and Selena was gone. There was a tightness in his chest now that she wasn’t around. Maybe he should go after her and make sure she was safe. Knowing there was someone out there who may be trying to get to him by harming Selena was making him and Wolf uneasy. Having Selena around helped calm down the animal, but, until she was safe, he would always feel worried. Selena was put at risk twice now, and Wolf wanted to hurt someone, preferably whoever it was trying to kill him.
With a long sigh, he walked to his office and shut the door. It would be a long day, and he wasn’t going to give up until he put a stop to this entire thing.
***
Selena watched the hand on the clock tick by, counting the seconds. Had it only been five minutes since she last checked the time? She thought it had been much longer. It wasn’t even lunch time yet.
“Damn you, clock,” she muttered under her breath. Was five p.m. never going to come? “Arrgghhhh.” She slumped back in her chair.
As she left Quinn’s office this morning, her chest felt like lead—heavy and unforgiving. There was something not quite right with Quinn. For starters, he didn’t even try to get her to round two last night, despite claiming he’d been waiting all week to be inside her. After they had sex, he simply pulled her to his chest and rubbed her back, which only made her sleepy. It felt nice, but orgasms were much nicer. She thought he must have been tired, so she yawned and soon gave in to sleep herself. And this morning, he was acting all strange and antsy. It was like he couldn’t wait to get out of his apartment.
She let out a puff of breath. Was Quinn already getting tired of her? She expected it to happen, but not this soon. Maybe he realized she wasn’t worth all this trouble.
“Dammit!” She got to her feet and grabbed her purse. He said he would come back for her after work, but she couldn’t wait. It was almost lunch anyway. Her resolve in place, Selena walked to Lone Wolf Security. Thanks to her brisk pace, she got there in record time.
She took the ancient elevator and went up to the door, knocking on the glass sharply with her knuckles.
“Selena,” Evie said when she opened the door. Her best friend placed a hand on her hip. “Back so soon?”
Selena stepped into the office. “Where is he?”
“In there.” Evie jerked her thumb toward Quinn’s office. “Hey what are you—”
She ignored Evie and marched to the second door down the hallway. “Quinn,” she called when she entered. “Quinn!”
“Huh?” A blond head popped over the three monitors set up on the table in the middle of the room. Quinn’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. “Selena, what are you doing here?”
He did not sound happy that she was here. “I want to get lunch,” she said in a miffed voice. “But if you’re too busy for me …” She pivoted and made a grab for the door knob. “Jesus!” She started as Quinn suddenly appeared behind her. Damn, Lycans were fast.
“Selena,” he said in a warning voice. “What I meant was you should have waited for me at the library. It’s not safe for you to be out on your own, especially around here. Someone could be watching the office.”
“I’m here now and nothing happened. Take me to lunch,” she demanded.
“I—” A beeping sound from the computer interrupted him, and he quickly walked back to his desk. He leaned down, brows furrowing as his eyes scanned the screen. “Shit!” Suddenly, his phone began to ring and vibrate, dancing across his desk as the device buzzed furiously. “Sorry, Selena, I gotta take this call.”
She couldn’t believe he was just ignoring her like that. He didn’t even notice when she left and slammed the door.
“Selena, we need to talk,” Evie said, blocking her way.
She tried to sidestep around the brunette, but Evie kept blocking her. “Fine. But I need wine with this conversation. I know where I want to go.”
They walked to Muccino’s Italian Restaurant, which was just around the corner from Lone Wolf. Usually, Selena wouldn’t splurge on such a place for lunch, but her bruised ego needed a bit of pampering today. The young hostess led them to a table in the corner and left them with a set of menus. Selena immediately asked for a glass of wine. Moments later, a waiter appeared with her drink and asked if they had decided on what to eat.
“Now,” Evie began after their waiter had taken their orders. “What’s going on, Selena? Connor came knocking at our door last night. He said someone tried to push you off the subway platform and that you’ll be staying with Quinn from now on?”
“Well, that’s about the gist of it,” Selena said glumly, taking a sip of her wine. “Hmmm … you don’t suppose Chef McHottie is around, do you?” She glanced toward the kitchen doors, craning her neck for a sign of Dante Muccino, the restaurant’s handsome head chef and part owner, who also happened to be a Lycan.
“Don’t change the subject, Sel.” Evie grabbed the wine glass. “Now, tell me. Are you sleeping with Quinn?”
Selena went bright red, all the way to the roots of her hair.
“Oh, no,” Evie said, and she took a large swig from the wine glass.
“Hey, that’s mine!” Selena grabbed the glass back. “You’re buying me another one.”
Evie’s cheeks were flush from the alcohol. “You didn’t! Since when?”
“Uh, since Merlin’s?”
“That long? And you didn’t tell me?” Evie pouted.
“Because I knew this is how you’d react! Ugh!” Selena finished off the wine. “Stop judging me. You’re the one who kept going back to Dick even after he broke your heart and cheated on you multiple times.”
“That’s not the same thing,” Evie retorted. “And I told you, I haven’t talked to Richard since that last time. It’s been months. I didn’t even see him when I went back to Kansas.”
“Good,” Selena replied. “Because Dick was an asshole and you deserve better. Someone who will worship the ground you walk on and won’t ever make you cry.”
“Don’t change the subject. So, you finally punched your v-card, huh?” Evie winked at her. “How was it?”
Selena looked at the empty glass of wine and raised it to the passing waiter. Then she turned to Evie. “Fan-fucking-tastic.”
Evie laughed. “Oh my God. Quinn really did a number on you, huh?”
Selena sighed. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that. I think Quinn’s ready to move on to the next conquest.” The bitterness in her voice was evident, and all she could think of was where is that damned waiter with the wine?
“Oh dear. I’m so sorry, Selena.”
Ah, here he is. The waiter topped off her glass, and, when he stopped halfway, she flashed him a freezing look. The young man gulped and poured more wine.
“Go ahead, say it.”
“Say what?”
“I told you so.” Selena looked down at her wine.
“I’d never say that to you.” Evie patted her hand. “Besides, how can you know that he’s going to move on?”
“It’s the only explanation,” she said, taking a large sip. The wine was making her feel all warm and tingly now. “He only had sex with me once last night.”
“Oh wow, only once,” Evie said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Meanwhile, here I am, almost a year of no action.”
“Jesus, Evie, if you want some action, I know another Lycan who could help with that.” Selena hiccuped.
“Don’t you dare!” Evie covered Selena’s mouth with her hand.
Selena let out a muffled sound and shoved Evie’s hand off her face. “You should try sex with a Lycan. It’s amazing. Two words: supernatural refractory period.”
“That’s three words, Sel.”
“Yeah, whatever. Tell me, when Connor knocked on the door last night, did he knock on anything else?”
“Selena, you’re drunk.” Evie took away her wine glass.
Selena giggled. “You li-ike him. You want to ki-iss him. And ma-a-rry him,” she sing-songed.
“Shut up, Selena.”
“Ladies.”
Selena and Evie both gasped. A gorgeous man in a white chef’s shirt was peering down at them, an amused look on his face.
“Chef McHottie!” Selena stood up, nearly falling back. Dante Muccino quickly snaked an arm around her waist to steady her. “Nice to see you again.”
“Glad you came back, ladies,” Dante said, then lowered his voice. “But would you mind keeping it down?”
Selena looked around and saw that the other diners were watching, many of them obviously annoyed.
“Oh shit,” Selena said, slapping her hand over her mouth. She tended to get loud when she was tipsy. “Sorry, Chef.”
He laughed, his mismatched blue and green eyes twinkling. “No worries. I know you’re friends of the clan,” he whispered close to her ear. “So you’re welcome to stay, but, please, do remember there are also other people here.”
“What the fuck is going on here?”
Selena blinked and then turned her head. “Quinn,” she said with a sweet smile. “Nice of you to come out of your office.”
Quinn’s jaw was tight, and his arms were stiff at his sides. His eyes were blazing twin fires. “Get your hands off her,” he said to Dante in a deadly voice. “Or I’ll make you.”
“Excuse me?” Dante let go of Selena and turned to Quinn, pushing up the sleeves of his chef’s whites. “You don’t tell me what to do in my restaurant, Lone Wolf.”
Quinn stepped up and faced Dante. “Oh yeah? Well—”
“Quinn!” Selena hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“You walked out without telling me,” Quinn replied, his eyes never leaving Dante’s. “So I followed you here. Turns out, you didn’t need me at all.”
The air around her felt heavy with the two Lycans asserting their dominance over each other. Selena looked around them. Now everyone in the restaurant was really staring. “Quinn, quit it.”
Quinn growled, but when Selena tugged at his arm, he relaxed. “Enjoy your lunch,” he said, then turned to walk away.
Selena watched him leave. “Shit,” she cursed and then chased after him, ignoring Evie’s calls. She burst through the door and onto the sidewalk. He was already half a block away, and she had to run to catch up to him.
“Quinn!” She caught him by the arm. “Stop, Quinn! What is going on with you?”
He spun around, barely controlled anger masked his face. “What’s going on with me? Why don’t you tell me, huh? He had his damn hands all over you. I can still smell him on you.”
She gasped. “Chef McHot—I mean, Chef Dante was at our table to tell us to tone it down. Then, clumsy me, I almost fell over and he caught me. I swear that’s all it was.”
Quinn grasped the sides of her face, and, for a moment, fear struck her when she saw the rage in his eyes. But he didn’t do anything except rub his wrists down her neck. She inhaled his tantalizing aftershave, and the smell of freshly cut grass and sawdust seemed to stick to her skin. “Quinn …”
He swooped down, catching her mouth in a rough kiss. His lips sought hers, devouring the softness, and she succumbed. Wrapping her arm around his waist, she pressed up against him. “Why were you acting so weird today?”
“I’m sorry, kitten, I didn’t mean to snap at you and ignore you. I just needed to work. I want to get this bastard, whoever he is. To keep you safe.”
“I wish you had said something.” She laid her head on his chest, listening to the beating of his heart. “I’m sorry about Dante. I was getting tipsy and clumsy.”
“I can’t stand anyone else touching you,” he rasped. “I need you so bad.”
“I’ll call in sick,” she whispered. “Let’s go back to your place.”