Chapter 30
Just a few doors down the hall from the kitchen, I opened the door to the security room. Formerly a pantry, our security room was a nice space. Savannah and her team had cleaned out the shelving and replaced it with long tables, upgrading the electricity to handle all the monitors, CPUs, and the rest of the surveillance system.
It was always a little cold in here, the only real drawback, but I liked having a base in the heart of the Manor, liked having my team close by. For now, the team rotated out of Sinclair Security’s headquarters in Atlanta. While they were here, they stayed in rooms Savannah had repurposed farther down the hall. They weren’t damp or dark, but still bore more resemblance to a cell than a bedroom. Savannah was working on opening up rooms in the attics above the guest wing. Back in the day, that space had held the servants” bedrooms.
William Sawyer, the Sawyer who’d designed Heartstone for his bride, had believed the key to a loyal staff was treating them well, and servants’ rooms were small but comfortable, and warmer than those in the lower level. Moving the team up there would have been a great plan, except the electrical and the plumbing on that side of the house were dodgy at best. Pipes refused to drain for no apparent reason. The electricity died without warning and returned just as randomly. Until the plumber and electrician figured out the problem, Savannah didn’t want any more of that wing in use.
None of my team had complained. Especially not once Finn took over the kitchens. We knew when we had it good. Griffen took after William Sawyer when it came to his views on the staff.
Kane looked up from the monitor in front of him when I came in.
“Any news?” I asked.
“Not since you last checked in,” Kane said.
We’d been going back and forth with updates all day. After a few hours of sleep, the whole team had gone out to check the perimeters everywhere we”d had false alarms. They’d confirmed that except for the box left in the clearing, whatever had set off those alarms had been coming from inside the system.
As much as I wanted to fix every problem at hand, tracing the hack in the system was Lucas”s area, not mine. I could set up a security system. I knew how it operated. But when it came to the code itself, I was out of my depth. As far as anyone could tell, the hack hadn’t done any damage to the system. Everything was operating as it should be but remembering how completely the guy had controlled our system left me uneasy.
I caught the team up on what else I’d found out. “Lucas is bringing some extra people down with him,” I said. “So we’ll have more boots on the ground around the clock without spreading everyone too thin. Also, West confirmed that the lawyer, Harvey, still has the necklace. Turns out he’d brought it home. Harvey mentioned to West that both he and his receptionist thought things were out of place at the office the other day when they got in. Nothing they wanted to bother West about, just a few things where they shouldn’t be. But the secretary swears the back door was unlocked when she got there.”
“Huh,” Kane said, considering the new information. “So the guy goes looking for the necklace at Harvey’s office, doesn’t find it, and then assumes Quinn still has it and searches the bungalow?”
“That’s my guess,” I said. Although it didn’t explain the rage. Harvey’s office had barely been touched. Quinn’s space had been destroyed. “I’m going to get something to eat in the kitchen. Lucas will be here the day after tomorrow. Maybe he can find something that’ll lead us to this guy.”
I left Kane and headed back to the kitchen to find Finn sliding plates on the table. The meatloaf had been good on its own, but on lightly toasted bread, with cheese melted on top, it was amazing. I watched Quinn as she bit in, her groan of pleasure giving me ideas that had nothing to do with food. She caught my eyes and her cheeks flushed pink.
It took everything I had not to scoop her up and take her back to the gatehouse. But we needed food, and I wasn’t abandoning this sandwich. Not even for sex with Quinn. I ate, ignoring Finn”s eyes on us, the smirk curving the side of his mouth. If Quinn hadn’t been sitting across from me, I was sure I”d get a ton of crap about mixing business with pleasure, and family staying apart from the staff, and everything else I”d shoveled at him when he”d been falling in love with Savannah.
And he wouldn’t be wrong. It turned out I was the one who”d been wrong, and I deserved a little shit for it. I was sure Finn would get around to me later. But Finn wasn’t the asshole I”d thought he”d been, and he wouldn’t give me a hard time in front of his sister. She’d taken enough knocks for the day. Anyway, I’d learned that feeding people made Finn happy, and when Finn was happy, he wasn’t as much of a dick.
Stomachs full, we leaned back in our chairs.
“Chocolate cake for dessert tonight,” Finn said out of nowhere.
Quinn smiled. “I can’t imagine eating another bite of anything, but I will definitely be ready for chocolate cake after dinner.”
“I’ll send a tray over. Unless you want to come in and eat in the dining room?”
Quinn shook her head. Finn grinned at me, already knowing I’d rather eat in the gatehouse, or the kitchens—anywhere but in the formal dining room with the family.
Quinn”s eyes moved to me. She looked a little sheepish when she said, “Are you ready to go back? Now that I”m not starving anymore, I really need a shower.”
I had plans for her shower. But first— “Stay here for a minute while I bring over your stuff,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
Quinn settled into her seat, and I left, jogging up the stairs to snag her duffel bags. I dropped them beside the closet in the empty bedroom of the gatehouse. She was sleeping with me, but she could take over the extra room and make it her own. At the least, she could use the closet rather than sharing with me. I didn’t have a ton of clothes, but the gatehouse closets were tiny.
Quinn was sipping another cup of tea when I got back. As soon as she saw me, she put down her teacup and stood.
When she got to me, I put up a hand and stopped her, turning and dropping into a crouch. “Climb on, I’ll give you a ride.”
Her eyes lit at the idea of another piggyback. I didn’t even mind Finn”s smirk. I doubted he could resist a dig, but to my surprise, he just smiled and shook his head.
“Never thought I”d see you reduced to a pack animal,” he said, but the words had no sting. “The things we do, right?”
A jolt of understanding hit me. Not only did Finn know I was totally fucking gone for his sister, but he also liked it, and he wasn’t going to give me a hard time.
Fucking hell. Who would have thought Finn Sawyer would be more mature than me?
I nodded, not ready to put my swirling thoughts into words. I carried Quinn back to the gatehouse and up the stairs to the second level, setting her on her feet in front of the bathroom door.
I hesitated. I knew what I wanted. Knew all the things I”d been imagining doing with Quinn since the moment I swore I’d never touch her again. But I hadn’t said fuck all to her about any of it. Maybe she’d changed her mind. Maybe?—
She stood there staring up at me. Her teeth sank into her lower lip, and she looked shy and uncertain. In a blink, the uncertainty vanished. Quinn’s fingers curled over the hem of her shirt, and she whipped it over her head, leaving her standing there in dusty pants and a plain white bra.
One dark eyebrow lifted, a dare sparking in her bright blue eyes.
I took her dare happily, pulling my own shirt over my head and throwing it across the room. The grin that spread across her face filled my heart. We didn”t have to talk. Not yet. Not as long as we were on the same page here.
Her hands went to the button on her pants, and I took over, unsnapping them and sliding them down. Pressing my cheek to her hip, I stroked my tongue over the juncture of her thighs, loving her gasp of surprise and delight.
“Gotta get this boot off you,” I muttered, tearing at the Velcro and gently sliding her foot up and out of the protective boot.
I stood, taking her with me and carrying her to the shower, cranking the water hot while I took care of the rest of my clothes. She stood there smiling up at me, her cheeks pink, her eyes bright, and said, “You changed your mind.”
I cupped her cheek in my palm and kissed her. “I changed my mind,” I murmured in agreement.
There wasn’t enough room in the shower to do what I wanted to do with her. Another reason I was going to stop being a pain in the ass and let Parker do whatever she wanted to do in the gatehouse, including a much bigger shower, with that tile bench she’d talked about. Things I thought I didn”t need. I hadn’t until now.
I took Quinn”s weight as she balanced on one foot, her right ankle still too weak without the boot on to take much weight. She tipped her head back, wetting her hair, and I let myself look, taking in every inch of her. The delicate curve of her breasts, her pink nipples furled into tight points despite the heat of the water. My hard cock pressed against her belly, but I could wait. I had Quinn in my arms, naked. We’d get to the bed eventually.
She washed her hair and combed conditioner through before turning her attention to me, squeezing shower gel into her palms and stroking the foamy suds over my skin with long, slow sweeps of her hands. I closed my eyes and let the water run over my face, drinking in her touch. I washed my hair, helped her rinse her own, and shut off the water.
Lifting Quinn out of the shower, I set her on the edge of the counter. She leaned back against the sink, her eyes alive, scanning me from head to toe. I was already hard, but if I hadn’t been, the greedy look in her eyes would have been enough to get me there.
I could be patient just a little bit longer. I needed to do this, to take care of her, to show her what I didn”t have the words to say. I squeezed her hair with the towel and combed it back from her face. Quinn watched me, her eyes still sparkling but serious and maybe a little confused. I”d been gentle with her before. Always. I was always gentle with Quinn, except maybe in bed. But not like this.
I picked up a bottle of lotion from the counter where she left it after her last shower. “This one?” I asked.
She nodded. Squeezing some into my hand, I stroked it over her damp skin, lingering over her small, round breasts that filled my hand exactly the way I wanted them to, her nipples hard and begging for my mouth. They”d have to wait. I smoothed lotion on her shoulders, down her arms to her elbows, and over every individual finger. When I got to her legs, I was tempted to bury my face between her thighs, to feel her come like that, against my mouth.
But she was getting cold, and the countertop wasn’t big enough. Another reason we needed a new bathroom. If we had a wider bathroom counter, I could lay her out, spread her thighs?—
I didn’t need a counter. The bed was only steps away. Every inch of her skin moisturized, I stood, picking her up and carrying her to my bed. Quinn lay back, her wet hair spread around her.
“You really changed your mind,” she said.
I didn”t answer. We could talk later. I was going to do what I’d been thinking of since I’d peeled off her clothes earlier. Sliding my hands around her hips, I dragged her to the edge of the bed, lifting her legs to drape over my shoulders as I sank to my knees. I knew exactly what I wanted. My mouth on that sweet, perfect pussy.
Quinn let out a cry at the touch of my tongue to her clit. At the sound, I knew I loved this woman. I was done lying to myself about her. She was everything, and I could do more for her than just keep her safe. I could give her this, too. She tasted like heaven, like Quinn, and I lingered over her, licking and sucking her clit, rubbing my tongue against it. I traced her damp flesh with my fingertip until her hips rocked up, begging me to slide it inside and fill her. I fucked her with one finger, then two, dragging her to the edge of orgasm and then moving back, leaving her pussy to press kisses up the insides of her thighs until she was begging.
“Hawk, please, Hawk.” And then finally, with a snap of temper, “Stop teasing me and let me come!”
I liked her demand so much, I gave her what she wanted, loving the way she unraveled against my mouth, around my fingers. Loving the way she screamed as her pussy clamped down on my fingers, her tight grip almost dragging me over the edge along with her. I rose over her, pulling her up the bed and spreading her legs wide, pressing inside her through the last pulses of her orgasm.
I managed to hold back, needing to feel her body relax around me. Buried inside her, I looked down into her beautiful eyes and kissed her, murmuring her name against her lips between tender kisses. “Quinn, my Quinn.”
After a minute, I started to move, pushing her knees back, filling her completely, grinding into her swollen clit until her head tipped back and she cried my name.
“Oh, God, Hawk.”
This time when her pussy clamped tight around me and her words dissolved into breathless moans, I gave in to her pull and came with her.
When I could move again, I got up, wetting a washcloth in the bathroom. Her cheeks flushed a shade of pink that was fucking adorable, but she let me take care of her as she had before. I liked cleaning her up, liked seeing a part of me inside her so intimately. More, I loved knowing she trusted me that much.
When I was done, I tossed the washcloth back toward the bathroom and slid beneath the sheets, drawing up the covers. I started to pull her into my arms, but her hand came up and hit me flat on my chest, holding me back.