Full Color (ORCA #3)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

DIMITRI

Quin worked fast, relocking Dasselaar’s office door and the door to the library while my mind spun through what I’d seen in that file in Dasselaar’s office. It was stupid to think he wasn’t keeping a file on me and Athina, but I hadn’t realized he’d already made plans for when I was no longer useful to him. His notes said that upon my untimely death, Athina was going to be sent back to Cyprus with nothing. If that happened, she would be immediately arrested for leaving the country illegally and put in jail.

The thought of my baby sister rotting away in some jail cell without the proper medical care for her condition made me physically sick, especially since I wouldn’t be around anymore to do anything about it. I was more upset about her fate than I was about my own, but seeing that file made me certain of one thing.

I was going to need to tell Quin about Athina.

He seemed determined to make sure I got out from under Dasselaar, and I had to hope and pray he’d extend the same offer to Athina.

Quin shoved me hard against the wall in front of the conservatory, his hand covering my mouth when I started to ask what was happening.

“Shh. I hear something.”

I held my breath, listening hard. Quin was right. I heard voices and they were getting louder coming this way.

“Felix,” Quin hissed under his breath, but I could tell from his facial expression that Felix didn’t respond. “Shit.” He looked around, then tugged me into the conservatory and into the shadows against one of the only solid walls in the room, his wider body blanketing mine.

My face was tucked into his neck, and I pulled his scent deep into my lungs. He smelled so damn good—sea salt, and pine, and something a little minty. It reminded me of home, of crystal blue water and sunshine. The feel of his hard body against mine went straight to my head. He felt exactly like I thought he would, and even though it was one hundred percent not the right time, I couldn’t keep my body from responding, my dick thickening behind the zipper of my jeans. With the way Quin was holding himself against me, there was no way he didn’t notice.

Quin’s hand was braced on the wall next to my head, and he leaned into me, dragging his nose along my neck, breathing me in like I was doing to him. His body pressed closer to mine, and I felt his arousal brush my thigh.

Thank god I wasn’t in this alone.

Reaching up, I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled his head up so he was looking at me.

“What—”

But I cut off his question by crashing my lips to his.

At first, his mouth was hard, but in a heartbeat, his lips molded to mine. A moan threatened to crawl up my throat, but I remembered where we were and what we were doing and I held it back. Quin’s tongue teased across the seam of my lips, the slide of his silken tongue against me more than I was prepared for, and my mouth dropped open, giving him access that he took without a second of hesitation, his tongue licking into my mouth and tangling with mine as he deepened the kiss. I felt it in every cell of my body.

Quin’s strong artist’s fingers traced up my side, his hand firm against my body like he was mapping my form so he could sculpt it later, and I melted into the touch. It had been so long since I’d been touched like this, been kissed like this, that if Quin hadn’t been holding me up against the wall I would have dissolved into a puddle at his feet.

He nudged my feet apart and slid a knee between my legs as he bit at my bottom lip, then soothed away the ache with his tongue. His hand came to rest at my hip and he gripped it tight, tugging me against him so I could rock my erection against his thigh, the friction perfect. My underwear was already sticky with precum, but I didn’t care. This felt too good. It was all too good, and I was hurtling toward release with speed that would have embarrassed a teenager.

Quin’s lips tugged at my earlobe, and a bolt of pleasure went straight to my cock, making it twitch. Sensing my reaction, Quin did it again and again until I was so close my vision was starting to go white around the edges. Having Quin in my arms, wrapped around my body and holding me close in his strong arms was better than any of the fantasies I’d made up to get me through the long lonely nights I spent locked up in my room.

But as quickly as it started, it was over.

Quin used his grip on my hip to hold me still, and when I started to protest, he covered my mouth with his, swallowing my words.

The voices were louder now, right beyond the wall where we were hiding, and we both went still, straining to hear what they were saying.

“What about the boy?” I recognized the voice as Scar’s.

“After the gala, make sure he disappears. He’s becoming a liability.” That was Dasselaar. Bile rose in my throat. I’d known my days were numbered, but I thought I had more time to figure out a plan.

Scar said something I couldn’t hear, and Dasselaar laughed, the cold sound sending a shiver down my spine. “If you want him, he’s yours. Just make sure to get rid of him when you’re done.”

Keys jingled, and I heard the slight creak that indicated the library door had been opened. It creaked again and closed with a click before Quin pulled back.

“We need to get out of here. Is there another way back to your room?”

“Yes. I think so.”

He ducked his head out into the hallway. Light was visible under the library doors, but the corridor was quiet. “Come on. We’ll stick to the shadows.”

Quin let me pass in front of him, and instead of going back the way we’d come, I led him down a hall that curved to the right past the library at the back of the house. Sometimes Dasselaar’s goons brought me this way when they were taking me to the garage, and I said a silent prayer that the back stairs connected here somewhere. Quin spotted a staircase before I did and pushed me toward it. I stumbled on the first step, but he caught me, holding me up and helping me get steady on my feet.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just don’t really know where I am. I told you I didn’t know the house well.”

“It’s okay. We’ll figure it out.”

This wasn’t a staircase I had ever been on before, and trying to place it in the house had me all turned around. I didn’t recognize anything on the first landing, and Quin tugged my hand, pulling me up the next flight of stairs. At the top of the next set of stairs, everything was in shadow. We came out in a little alcove off a main hall, and Quin glanced out into the corridor while I tried to get my bearings.

“Your room is over there. Stay here. I’m going to pick the lock. I’ll come get you when I’m done.” He shoved me back into the alcove and dropped a quick kiss to my forehead that had butterflies taking flight low in my belly.

Quin disappeared, and I stayed tucked into the shadows, counting the seconds and listening for any movement that wasn’t Quin. My fingers started to tingle, and I glanced down to see the iridescent glow was back, so I shoved my hands into my pockets.

“Okay, your door is open and the coast is clear.” Quin’s voice made me jump, but I moved quickly into the hall. If Dasselaar and Scar were awake and wandering the estate, there was no telling who else might be prowling the halls.

The second we were in my room with the door shut behind us, Quin shoved one of his lockpick tools into the doorknob. “If they try the door it will seem locked.”

I nodded. My heart was trying to beat out of my chest as everything I’d read in Dasselaar’s file on my sister and heard him say in the hall finally settled around me, and I started to shake.

Quin crossed the room and wrapped me in his embrace. “You’re okay, Dimitri. You’re okay. I promise. I promise I’m going to get you out of here and out of Amsterdam. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. I’ll kill Dasselaar myself before I let him touch you.”

It was so much more complicated than that, and while I knew I needed to tell him about Athina and beg him to help her too, I held back, letting his comforting touch soothe my frayed edges.

Quin’s hands stroked over my back, and my breathing started to return to normal as I relaxed within his hold.

“You should try to get some more sleep.” He whispered the words next to my ear, and I felt a little thrill shoot down my spine.

I nodded against his chest. “Will you stay with me?” I had no right to make the request. Quin was already putting himself in danger for the op he was trying to pull with his brothers. If he were caught with me, Dasselaar would probably just kill us both, but I still wanted him to say yes.

“Of course.”

I pushed away from his chest to see his face and make sure he wasn’t teasing me. “Really?”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay all night, but I want to hold you until you fall asleep.”

“Please.” The word came out on a sob as I hoped Quin would somehow be able to hold my nightmares back.

“Get undressed, climb into bed, and tell me when you’re ready.” Quin turned around, giving me privacy, even though I really wanted him to watch. I wanted to see his reaction to my body almost as much as I wanted to feel his callused palms on my skin. But I’d already asked for enough tonight, and tomorrow I would need to ask for even more when I told him about my sister. For tonight, letting him hold me would be enough.

When I was naked, I climbed under the duvet and pulled it up around my chest. “I’m ready.”

Quin turned around, double-checking that I was tucked in, and toed off his shoes, leaving them by the door. I watched him cross the room and position himself on the bed. He stayed on top of the duvet but reached over to pull me close, fitting me against his body with the blanket between us. One day, I would ask him to hold me like this with nothing separating us, not a blanket or his clothes, but for now, just having him here was enough. The warmth of his body and the comforting weight of his arm around me made my eyelids heavy.

I’d been wrong to think no one was coming to rescue me.

Quin was here, and he had every intention of getting me out.

Even if he failed, I could die happy knowing what it felt like to be held by him.

And it was enough.