I broke every speed limit and about ten other traffic laws as I whipped into the valet lot in front of Quinn’s hotel. She had a vise grip around my waist and I can’t deny how much I liked it. Still, my blood roared in my ears and my need to punch something hadn’t waned. The poor kid at the valet desk read me right away.

“Uh ... we don’t,” he stammered.

“Just make sure nobody comes near it,” Quinn said as she climbed off the back of the bike. She stuffed two hundred-dollar bills in the kid’s hand and turned to look at me. I gripped my handlebars tight, willing my temper to settle.

When I squeezed my eyes shut, all I could see were those groping hands, camera flashes, and cell phones all around Quinn. That mob had been willing to tear her apart. They all wanted a piece of her. They would have taken anything they could grab. How could she be so fucking calm?

“Are you coming?” she asked, eyes flashing with fury. She stood in front of the revolving door with her hand on her hip.

“What?”

“We need to talk,” she said, lips pursed in anger. She was angry? At me?

“Come on,” she said, insistent. “I don’t want to stand out here too long. We’ve drawn enough attention already.”

I shot a glance at the valet kid. He was still fingering the c-notes Quinn gave him. When he caught me staring, he took an unsteady step sideways. Yeah. We understood each other. It wasn’t Quinn’s money that would make him look after my bike. He knew exactly who and what I was.

I hooked my helmet on the handlebars and followed Quinn into the lobby. She practically ran to the penthouse elevators and jammed her finger into the button at least a dozen times before the doors opened. She did the same thing as we stepped inside. I swallowed the urge to tell her that didn’t make shit go any faster. She looked damn near ready to explode, so I let her take her shit out on the button.

The doors opened into her suite. I took one step, and froze. “Fuck,” I whispered. This place was a damn palace. We stepped out into a huge living area with cream-colored gilded furniture. Floor-to-ceiling windows opened to a balcony overlooking downtown Corpus Christi and the bay. She had a full kitchen and wet bar. That’s where I headed.

Quinn didn’t stop me as I fished for two rocks glasses and surveyed the bottles with crystal stoppers. Nothing had a fucking label on it. I opened one and sniffed it. Scotch. Perfect. I poured for both of us and handed her a glass.

The shit was smooth. Expensive. The heated trail it left down my throat helped calm my simmering rage. The liquor had the opposite effect on Quinn.

“Do you have any idea the mess you’ve made?” she said. She knocked back the last of her scotch and set her glass down on the bar hard. She plopped on one of the cushioned bar stools. I didn’t ask. I poured her another drink and gestured with my chin. Quinn kept her fiery eyes locked with mine as she tipped her head back and did her shot. A few seconds later, some of the fury dimmed from her expression as the alcohol did its work.

“That I’ve made?” I asked. I leaned forward on my elbows. “Does that shit happen to you a lot?”

“What shit? Paparazzi, you mean? Yes, Domino. It happens to me sometimes on a daily basis. It’s part of the gig.”

“The gig,” I said, straightening. “So you get mobbed like that all the time?”

“Frequently, yes. I told you. It’s part of my job.”

“Bullshit!” The alcohol did nothing to dull my rage. She could have been seriously hurt out there. “What kind of fucked-up job do you have? That shit isn’t normal, Quinn. I saw those fuckers. They wanted to ... touch you. Hurt you. If I hadn’t been there …”

“If you hadn’t been there, I would have smiled, said nothing, got into my car and drove away.”

“They wouldn’t have let you drive away. Jesus. Don’t you have people? Bodyguards. Something.”

Quinn’s gazed settled on the skyline out of the windows. She smirked. “People. Well, my people are responsible for calling them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That was Noel’s handiwork,” she said. “I’m going to have a talk with him about it, but I have a feeling I understand his logic.”

I shook my head, trying to make sense of what she just said. I stepped around the bar and sat on the stool beside her. “Noel, again. Are you trying to say that shithead actually told those vultures where you were? He planned that?”

She shrugged. “Planned isn’t the word I’d use. He probably called one or two of the guys he knows who were in the area. But somebody blabbed. It’s not usually quite as nuts as that. But Noel’s trying to create buzz about this project. I suppose he figured me getting photographed with you would do the trick.”

“So you two used me.”

“Not we,” she said, holding her index finger up. “Noel. I swear to God, I had nothing to do with that. I meant what I said. I was just looking for a quiet conversation with you. I promise, I’ll have a talk with Noel.”

“He’ll do it again,” I said. I couldn’t sit still. I still wanted to punch something. Shit. I wanted to punch Noel.

“Calm down,” she said. “I told you. I’m used to this. I’ve been in this bubble since I was twelve years old.”

If she was trying to make me feel better, it wasn’t working. I drove my fist into my thigh. Turning, I studied Quinn. She was tough but so small. If she’d been alone out there, if she’d lost her balance or something, God.

Before I knew what was happening, I went to her. I put a hand on her shoulder. She sucked in a breath and her eyes flicked upward, meeting mine. “That. Is. Not. Normal,” I said. “If I hadn’t gotten you out of there like that, who the fuck knows what could have happened.”

“Well,” she said. “I know what’s going to happen now. Pictures of you losing your shit on that photographer are probably all over the internet. They’ll twist it, Dom. They’ll say I’m having a nervous breakdown or something.”

“What?”

She flapped her hands. “That’s how it works. They’ll use any little scrap of controversy to spin a story that isn’t true. Sometimes they stick.”

“That’s all bullshit. And you’re okay with this?”

“I’m not okay with it,” she said, sliding off the stool. Quinn walked to the window and hugged her arms around herself. “But I told you. It comes with the territory. I suppose I should have warned you.”

I couldn’t stop shaking my head. She lived in this chaos. Every day. She said she wasn’t okay with it, but it made no sense to me. She was alone out there. I saw the terror in her eyes. That same protective rage that had overtaken me back at the club while the guys feasted on her nude scene came back. No one looked after this woman the way she deserved. Even her own people hung her out. She had no father. No brothers.

“You need somebody, Quinn,” I said. When I touched her back, she shivered. With the air conditioner blasting, it was kind of cold here by the windows. I slipped my leather vest off and put it around her shoulders. It was heavy, warm and she grabbed the ends and drew it around her. My shield. My protection. At that moment, it startled me how badly I wanted to give it.

When she twisted at the waist to look up at me, her eyes shimmered with tears she refused to cry. My heart turned. She was scared. She could bluster all she wanted, but what happened out there on the street had freaked her out.

“What do you want from me, James Dormer?” When she whispered my name, it made me shiver. No one ever called me that. I’d almost forgotten what it sounded like.

I stared down at her. She looked so small, so vulnerable. Her image reflected in the window with the twinkling lights of the skyline surrounding her. Quinn herself was like that. She had an image, projected in stars that she put on like a cloak. But then there was the real woman. The one I suspected she didn’t show too many people. Did she even know the difference? She said she’d been at this since she was ten years old. How could someone grow up like that without being twisted up inside?

“I don’t want anything from you,” I said, though I knew it was a lie. “You came looking for me, remember?”

“Did I?” she asked. Her voice took on a dream-like quality. I knew some of it was the alcohol. There was something else behind it too. Quinn brimmed with some strange magic. She put her hand up and touched my face. I gripped her wrist and pulled it back. I could see her slipping into that girl I’d watched on screen.

“Don’t,” I said. “Don’t change the subject. I said you need somebody. Somebody to look out for you that isn’t trying to pick at your bones like some vulture. That guy, Noel. He’s not your partner or your friend. He’s using you. Nobody who really cares about you would have set you up like that. I’ve seen this before.”

She drew her hand away and tucked it under my jacket. “You? You’ve seen this before?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I have. In junkies.”

She blanched and took a step back. “I’m no junkie, Dom.”

“I know that. But this shit you do, the people you surround yourself with. They’re sucking the life out of you just like a drug would. And you’re too close to see it. These people are toxic.”

“Why do you care?” she asked, cocking her head.

I wanted to tell her I didn’t, that it was just a casual observation. That would be a damn lie though. I did care. Way more than I realized until just that moment.

“I was trying to protect you back there and I don’t think you could see it. You stand there talking to me about buzz and press and your image. That shit was real, Quinn. Those people didn’t give a fuck if you got hurt. They would have kept on snapping pictures. That’s bullshit. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to you.”

“What do you want from me?” she asked again. It hit me then. Jesus. This girl literally didn’t know any better. She’d probably never had a relationship with anyone that wasn’t based on what they could get off her. By the sound of it, even her mother used her to get the fame she couldn’t grab on her own.

“I told you,” I said. “I don’t want anything from you. I was trying to look out for you back there. I think no one ever does.”

She blinked wildly. Again, a tear threatened to fall but she raised her chin and held it back. So strong. So vulnerable at the same time.

“Who are you?” she asked, taking a step toward me.

“I already told you that too.”

She reached for me. This time, I didn’t pull her hand away. I stayed stone still. Quinn raised her arms, sliding her hands up my chest. My leather cut dropped from her shoulders and fell to the ground. With her hands pressed against my shoulders, her eyes flicked over me. It was as if she truly couldn’t figure out what the fuck to make of me.

Heat roared to life inside of me. God. I was a liar. I didn’t want just anything from her. I wanted all of her. I had from the second I laid eyes on her. I went rigid. My heart pounded and my jeans grew tight. Quinn’s hot breath kissed my neck. It took everything in me not to swoop her into my arms, hooking my hands beneath her thighs.

“Kiss me,” she whispered.

Her cheeks colored with a slow blush. She had on a skimpy, glittery tank top. The outline of her pebbled nipples drew my eye. I wanted to rip that off her so bad it got hard to see straight. Somehow, I managed to keep my hands off her.

“I told you,” I said. “I ain’t one of the vultures trying to take something from you.”

She cocked her head to the side as if I’d spoken some foreign language. It occurred to me that’s probably what my statement was to her. As lust coursed through me, that powerful protective instinct did too. I knew with absolute clarity I would never let anyone hurt this woman as long as she’d have me around.

“I know,” she answered. “Somehow, I know.”

She made the first move. If she hadn’t, I’d like to think I would have been strong and stoic enough to push aside my own wants and walk away. Thank Christ I didn’t have to find out. Quinn went back on her tiptoes and slid her hands behind my neck. She pulled me down and I couldn’t hold back the rising tide a second longer. I picked her up; wrapping her legs around my waist, I crushed my lips to hers.

Quinn was needy, searching with her tongue as her hot breath came in quick pants. I whirled around with her, heading back toward the bar. I set her on top of it. She kept her legs wrapped around me, her fingers threaded through my hair. From this height we were eye to eye.

“Dom,” she gasped.

I kissed my way down her neck. She moaned and threw her head back. Once I’d started, there was no going back. Blood thundered through me, heading straight for my cock. The minute she’d whispered my name, I went rock hard. I found the hem of her shirt and slid my fingers beneath it. Her skin was smooth, supple, perfect. When I rolled her left nipple with my thumb, a shudder went through her. Fuck. She wasn’t wearing a bra.

Quinn whipped her shirt off. An instant later, I licked a circle around one breast, then the other, and she leaned back on her elbows. I unbuttoned her jeans. She raised her hips so I could slide them down. They were skin tight and she wasn’t wearing any panties. Her pants caught on her boots and I took a step back.

Fuck. She was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. Her hips rising in anticipation, she lay spread out, her jeans around her ankles, her breasts heaving. Quinn didn’t seem real. Her image on that movie screen had been too beautiful. Her breasts, too round, the nipples perfect, pink circles. But she was real. It was no trick of lighting or make-up or even a body double. Quinn Larsen in real life was just as beautiful as she was on camera. Naked, she was a fucking goddess.

“What is it?” she said, coming back into herself.

“Nothing,” I whispered. “It’s just ... you.”

“Come here,” she said, blushing. “I want to look at you.”

I pulled my t-shirt off and unzipped my jeans. I kicked off my boots at the same time she did. She stretched out on the bar, rolling to her right hip. Her smile widened as my dick sprang free of my boxer-briefs.

I went to her, running my hand along the slope of her hip. Goosebumps rose along the trail I made. Her nipples puckered and I leaned down to kiss each one in turn. She shuddered and pulled me close.

“Domino,” she whispered. Her fingers traced the lines of my ink. She found the largest tattoo across my chest. It was the Dark Saints symbol with the fallen angel and great wings behind it. There were other things too, swirling patterns around my father’s name. The image of another warrior with a drawn dagger. Each had a story. Some I’d never told. At that moment, I knew I would tell Quinn though if she asked. She found the worst of the scars too. The cigarette burns I’d earned from my stepfather, Rip Lyons, a few deeper cuts too. Quinn pressed her lips to each.

Then it was my turn. I hooked a hand beneath her elbow and brought her back into a sitting position. She wrapped her legs around my waist. My dick pulsed with need. I knew she felt it as velvet steel against her thigh. God. I felt her heated core. As I traced my finger in a straight line from the center of her breasts all the way down, I found her already wet and open.

“Dom!” she gasped again. I loved the sound of it. Over and over again, I wanted her to scream it. I knew instinctively I could make her.

I spread her thighs wide and took a step back. Oh yes, I wanted to get a full view. Quinn quivered as she braced herself with her palms flat on the bar. She was perfect there too. Shaved, pink, swollen. Like a beautiful, ripe peach. I dipped one finger inside of her and couldn’t hold back my own groan. She was so wet. I’d unlocked a dam inside of her. Quinn bit her lip as her juices flowed. I worked her there, finding the sweet little nub that I knew would send her over the edge. She bucked against my hand, opening her legs even wider.

“That’s it, baby,” I said. Oh yeah. I was a damn liar. I wanted something from her all right. I wanted inside of her. I wanted to own her, to claim, protect her as mine. Maybe I didn’t have that right. But at that moment, the need for it burned through me.

“Domino, please,” she begged. Oh, I liked that too. I ran the pad of my thumb over her hot, swollen clit. She gripped the edge of the bar and thrust against me. With my free hand, I stroked my cock. I could make her come like this, I knew. It would be so sweet to watch. But I couldn’t hold back another second. I wanted to be in her.

Quinn had another idea. She reached for me. Her fingers closed around my shaft and she drew me out. A growl of lust ripped through me as she stroked me. She ran her thumb over the tip as a bead of precum formed. She licked her lips and the image of what she’d look like on her knees before me flared in my mind. God. I almost lost it then and there. But Quinn sensed the crescendo in me and pulled back. She spread her knees wide and beckoned me forward.

I couldn’t hold out another second. I grabbed a condom from my jeans pocket and slid it on. As Quinn wrapped her arms around my shoulders, I drove into her. She was hot, wet, so sweet. She gasped again as I stretched her wide.

“Oh God!” she cried. “You’re big!”

Oh hell, yeah. I slid my hands beneath her ass and angled her so I could get even deeper. Her eyes popped open and a blush came into her cheeks. She was heading straight over the edge. I felt her walls clench and her juices coat me. I’d wanted to take my time. Maybe there’d be a chance to do that later. But I fucked Quinn that night as if this might be the only time.

She bucked and thrust, pulling me in even more. I went up on the balls of my feet and held still as she took her pleasure. She fucked me, taking me balls deep. When she dug her nails into my back, I roared. It was perfect. She was perfect.

She shuddered through her orgasm and I held her close. She peppered me with kisses and whispered my name as she crested down. But I was only getting started.

When I withdrew, she sighed. I hopped up on the bar and spread her knees flat. Her eyes sparked with new desire as I entered her again. There was a mirror on the other side of the bar. Quinn turned her head and watched as I fucked her. God, that was sexy as hell too. She wrapped her legs around me as I drove myself home.

It didn’t take long. From the moment I met her, I knew everything had been leading to this. I had to have her. She fucked like she was born for this. Maybe I was too. If it never went any farther, I meant to make this memory last.

“Yes!” she cried out. “Oh God, yes!” I came hard and strong as Quinn squeezed her thighs and held me close.

Quinn and me. No matter what happened next, for that single hour at the top of the world. We made each other whole.