With Every Heartbeat

Under me, he let out a breath, a half moan, half sigh. I grinned, keeping my lashes fused together, almost afraid to open them in fear I might find something other than what I knew I was feeling under me. Then his leg shifted and I could feel his shaft against my hip as it hardened.



The insides of my thighs crackled with lightning pleasure and if I’d been wearing panties, they would’ve gotten soaked. My body recalled every moment of last night as I tried to count in my head just how many times Quinn had been inside me. Four? Five?



He’d been so relentless. Passionate. Starving...for me. I think he’d craved me just as much as I’d craved him.



Joy burst inside me. I honestly couldn’t remember ever feeling this happy. I slid my hand down, wanting to wrap my fingers around his growing excitement as I kissed his heartbeat right through his chest.



Just before I reached his morning wood, he curved his hand around my butt in a warm caress and sleepily murmured, “Love you.”



I froze, my fingers halting just below his navel. Opening my eyes, I took in green sheets and the shoulder of the naked man under me. Elation zipped through my veins, buzzed in my ears, and caused an electric jolt to spasm through my chest.



But Quinn loved me?



Should I say it back? I wanted to say it back. I wanted to laugh, and squeal, and scream. The moment was so utterly, breathtakingly perfect, I couldn’t even breathe properly. Unable to believe he’d told me that, I lifted my gaze just enough to take in the side of his jaw. He needed to shave. I looked higher to find his eyes closed. He was still asleep.



Oh my God, he even loved me in his subconscious? That was just...wait.



I knew I was a shy, sheltered, naive person, but I was also fully aware guys didn’t just go falling in love with a girl after one night, even if it had been the best night of my life. I mean, only yesterday, he’d been planning to ask Cora to—



Oh...no.



Cora.



Guilt and fear and pain swirled through me as his declaration of love continued to sting. Twenty-four hours ago, he’d been Cora’s boyfriend, and he’d woken up in Cora’s bed. He was used to being with her. What if he’d been talking to her in his half sleep? I’d heard him tell her he loved her before. It might just be habit to say it to her first thing in the morning. Made sense that he’d been talking to her, not me.



What didn’t make sense was me, waking up with him this morning, or me thinking this had been one of the best moments of my life. What didn’t make sense was me thinking he loved me.



Holding my breath, I lifted my face higher, but his eyes were still closed and his lips were parted as he breathed easily. Then his palm slid limply off my bottom as he drifted back into a deeper slumber.



And just like that, the best feeling in the world was replaced by the worst. I didn’t belong here. I’d just stolen something from both Cora and Quinn that I could never give back. I was a vile, terrible, awful betrayer.



A tear slipped down my cheek. I chased it with my fingers, wiping it away before it could drip off me and onto Quinn. I shuddered out a sniff and gently, slowly tried to ease off him.



We’d been up most of the night, only catching catnaps here and there until one or the other of us woke ravenous for more. I forgot how many times I stirred to the feel of him with his mouth on my breasts, or his tongue between my legs, his cock entering me from behind while his fingers slid around my hips to play with my clit. There was still a tender spot on the back of my shoulder when he’d bitten me from coming so hard in that position.



His hands had possessed me, stroking so much of me that he now owned every inch. His scalding touch had branded me as his.



And yet a part of him still belonged to her. His lips wouldn’t have formed those words if he didn’t. Right?



He slept on as I carefully climbed off him. After last night, he had to be exhausted. I knew I was. Exhausted and sore, especially between the legs and around my breasts.



I cupped both sensitive places to cover myself as I hobbled across his floor and hunted up my clothes.



It didn’t even seem possible that I was about to do the walk of shame. Yesterday at this time, I’d been a virgin and was sure I’d stay one for a very long time.



More tears flooded my cheeks. I kind of wanted him to wake up and catch me, to pull me back onto the bed and into his arms and reassure me that last night had meant as much to him as it had to me. That he’d really been talking to me when he’d spoken those words. But I feared the moment he woke too, because I knew that was the total opposite of what he’d actually do.



I couldn’t handle seeing the regret in his eyes, the guilt, the apology, the disgust and distress. I yanked on my jeans, not even bothering to search for my underwear I couldn’t immediately spot. When something stabbed into my hip through the cloth of my pocket, I nearly lost it all over again. With shaking fingers, I pulled out Quinn’s ring for Cora. It was still buttery from the shrimp scampi it had landed in.