Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MILES
I quickly sneak back into the bedroom after letting Shadow out for a not-so-quick bathroom break, and I’d do anything if it meant I didn’t have to get out of bed again this morning.
Quinn is sound asleep beside me, her back is to me and her hair is draped across my pillows. Man, I thought I loved the way she looked in one of those pajama sets, but Quinn naked is now my favorite look on her.
I don’t even care if that makes me sound like some caveman.
This woman is one of a kind, and somehow, I’m the lucky bastard she chose to share herself with.
I glance at the clock, and even though my brain registers that it’s past eight and I should have been in the shop hours ago, I have no desire to move. I want to sit here and enjoy this moment.
The reality is, it won’t last forever. Knowing that doesn’t make it any easier, but it sure as hell makes me appreciate what I have while I have it.
Quinn stirs next to me, then slowly rolls over. As soon as her eyes connect with mine, she smiles .
“Good morning.”
“Good morning,” I say, sneaking my hand under the covers to grab her hip and pull her closer to me.
She lets out a small laugh and then buries her face in the sheets.
“Oh, don’t be shy now,” I tell her. “After last night, there are zero things the two of us should ever be shy over.”
“I’m not being shy.” She lifts her chin. “I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact this is real life right now.”
“Waking up next to me?”
She nods.
“I feel the same, but I'll tell you what, I’m loving every moment of it and can’t wait to do it again and again and again.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yes.” I lean forward to kiss her lips and then slowly press her onto her back so that I can roll on top of her.
She spreads her legs for me without hesitation, and I settle there just as I dip my tongue into her mouth.
Morning sex.
Oh, hell.
This is the best.
Her hand slides between us and down until she wraps her fingers around my cock. I swear I grow another size or two just from her touch.
Slowly, her hand moves down and up, her thumb brushing softly over the head before she repeats the motion.
Over and over she does this, and when it becomes too much, I pull my hips away.
She bites her bottom lip.
“You know how much I love it when you play with me, but I’m not coming before you. Now lay back and spread your legs wide. I’m hungry.”
Her eyes flash with surprise before she does as she’s told .
“Good girl,” I growl before I settle my mouth on her.
Her groan is the exact noise I aimed for. I want her to be more relaxed than ever before when we leave this room today.
“Oh, god,” she moans after I add a finger to my feast.
She tastes amazing. So sweet, even after the night we had.
I cannot believe I kept myself from this for so long.
“Yes. Please. More.”
I add another finger and then flick my tongue faster.
“I’m close,” she whispers, and it only fuels me to work harder. I want her to come now, and again when I’m inside her.
She deserves that and so much more.
She deserves to be cherished and worshipped, and I will make sure that’s what happens anytime she’s with me.
“Ah!” she cries out, her back bowing off the bed. I wrap a hand over her hips and continue eating until her hips stop moving.
As soon as they do, I grab a condom from the nightstand.
I slip it on in record time, but before I can slide in, she sits up.
“Lay on your back,” she dictates.
We both know I like to be the one to call the shots in bed, but the look in her eye says I better do what she wants.
Hell, whatever Quinn wants, Quinn gets, as long as it’s with me.
I take a breath as I watch her climb over me. The sight of her on top is new, and my cock loves it. The needy fucker is pointing right at her, more than eager for her to sit on him.
My hands rest on her hips; a wicked grin takes over her pretty pink lips. As she lowers herself slowly, her eyes roll at the pleasure she gives us both.
Watching her enjoy me while I’m inside her will never get old .
She starts to move her hips, and thank God for that. I was seconds away from calling the shots.
Back and forth, she grinds on me and then lifts slightly, dropping back down in one quick move.
“Fuck,” I say and blow out a breath. “That’s it, Quinn. Do that again.”
And she does. Twice. A third time. When she goes to do it a fourth, my eyes fixate on her breasts. I sit up and suck one nipple into my mouth.
“Oh, yes,” she moans, her movement never stalling.
I switch to the other breast and then back as she rides me.
“I want you to come with me, Quinn. What do we need to do to make that happen?”
She stops, her eyes locking with mine.
“Flip me around and fuck me from behind.”
I should be shocked at her blunt words. At how much more confident and comfortable with me she is this morning.
But I’m not.
Instead, I’m a man on a mission to give her what she wants and proud as hell that she feels this way with me.
I lift and turn her, not wasting a single moment as I slam myself back inside her.
“Yes!” she calls out, her back arching and nearly sending me over the edge. “Just like that.”
My hips slam against her harder and harder, and within seconds I feel her walls clamping down around me. The suction sends me over the edge with her, and the room becomes nothing but our cries of pleasure.
I pull out and get off the bed to dispose of the condom. When I get back, Quinn is snuggled in bed and smiling at me.
“Now this is a view that will never get old,” I say as I crawl under the sheets to join her .
She laughs and covers her face.
“I’m not sure if I’ll ever get over this version of you, Miles.”
“What version?”
I slide myself right next to her so that I can hold her.
“The version who is more than happy to see me.”
“The fucking hasn’t made that clear?”
She laughs even harder.
“Oh, it made it very clear how you feel.”
“So then why is it hard to believe?”
“Because, we fought for so long, this is something I never imagined for us.”
“I did.”
“You did?”
I nod. “Well, maybe not exactly.”
“Okay, go on.” She leans back.
“The first time I saw you was at the ice cream shop. You ordered pistachio ice cream with cookie dough bites. I was fascinated from that moment. I just never did anything about it, and you know the rest.”
Her smile grows. “I remember that day. It was my first time in Lovers, and everyone teased me so much that I never ordered it again.”
“What? No. That was my favorite part of you. You were so confident in who you were and didn’t care.”
“Well, I’d posted it online and people hated it. One of my first posts with a string of hate messages came from ice cream. How crazy is that?”
“People suck,” I say.
“They do.”
“Why did you keep posting if you knew people could be that mean over something so simple?”
“Because social media was how I kept in touch with friends. Being young and not staying in one place for long meant I didn’t get to have lasting friendships, but the ones I did have I could keep up with online. It just snowballed from there. Then I got paid to post, so I kept doing it.”
Do you think you’d ever stop?
The words are on the tip of my tongue, but if someone were to ask if I would ever give up my passion, I already know the answer.
I’m not going to ruin this moment today over something I already know.
I hold her tighter and kiss the top of her head.
“It makes so much more sense now.”
“What else do you want to know?” she asks.
“Everything you want me to know.”
She beams.
“I hope you’re ready for this.”
Oh, I’ve never been more ready.
“Miles, are you in here?” Hudson’s voice carries through the shop later that afternoon.
I grab my towel and wipe my hands as I come around a car to greet him. It’s just after lunch and I’ve barely made a dent in today’s work.
As soon as we made it out of bed, Quinn went into the office for an hour, and then I came to join her, where I locked the door and had a midmorning snack on the top of my desk. Then Quinn followed me to the shop where she sat on a rolling chair, with Shadow curled in her lap as she told me all about her first trip with her parents and how scared she’d been to start this new life. She also told me how she fell in love with traveling by the time that trip was over .
Every story she tells me goes to show how you should never judge someone.
Think of all the years Quinn and I could have had if I hadn’t been a total jackass.
In a way, it reminds me of Hudson and his relationship with Sadie before last summer. Turns out, being nice can go a long way. It can even change your life.
“Hey.” I smile. “You haven't stopped by in a while.”
He nods. “I had some time this afternoon, so I thought I’d swing in and drop some lunch off.”
He hands me a to-go bag from the bar and looks around the space. I instantly know something is on his mind.
“What’s up?” I ask and cross my arms.
He sighs.
“I just came to check on you.”
“Why?”
“Because … you and Quinn seem to be getting closer these days, and I just want to know where your head is at.”
I uncross my arms and move toward my toolbox to get back to it.
“After all these weeks, you’re just now asking me this?”
“Well, yeah. Before you two were faking it, and now that you’re not, I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“Who says that we’re not still faking it?” I ask.
He points at me.
“You. Everything about you says it’s not fake anymore. You forget your family knows you, Miles.”
The worry etched in wrinkles on his forehead starts to smooth as he waits for me to say more.
“I’m fine. Happy.”
Hudson blows out a breath and leans back to rest against the car behind him.
“So, what does this mean? Sadie mentioned a breakup. Don’t even get me started on my thoughts on that. Is Quinn staying here, or is she still planning to leave when summer is over?”
“She’s still planning to leave.”
“And you’re going to let her?”
“Let her? Come on, Hudson, her life is traveling. I can’t ask her to change it because we spend one summer together.”
“Yes, you can. Trust me, one summer is enough time to know you want to change your entire life for someone.”
“That was you. It's not me.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do know that, because I went into this thing with her knowing she’d be leaving.”
“So you’re fine with it?”
“Yes.”
I don’t have a choice. Being okay with it is the only option I have.
“And if she decided to stay, then what? You’d still call it off because you two only planned to spend the summer together?”
I glare at him. Of course I wouldn’t call it off.
“Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be, Hudson.”
“I don’t have to.” Hudson pushes off the car and holds his hands up. “I think you’re doing a fine job of making it complicated on your own.”
I nod.
“We know how it ends,” I repeat, as if that should answer all his questions and give him peace of mind.
He shrugs. “Yeah, well, it’s not over yet.”
Just then the door to the office opens, and Quinn steps out with a giant smile on her face, Shadow following her as fast as his little legs will let him.
He’s become addicted to Quinn after just one day, and I don’t blame him .
“You are not going to believe what I just saw.”
She moves quickly, holding her phone in front of her. She pauses. “Oh, hey, Hudson. How’s it going?”
The worry that had consumed his features smooth into a smile.
“It’s going great, Quinn. How are you?”
“I’m good. Look,” she says and hands me her phone.
There on her screen is a picture of Cherry and Danny cozied up together by the lake. The caption under the photo reads. This summer with you is my favorite.
I can’t help but smile.
Quinn and I started this whole thing because we didn’t want to hurt those two, and now look at them. Looks like this whole thing worked out for the best for more than just us.
I’m about to hand her phone back to her when a notification drops from the top.
They are willing to increase the contract to $60k a year …
I hand the phone back and pretend like I didn't see anything.
Sixty grand a year for one contract. Holy shit.
How many contracts does she have? She mentioned working with multiple companies.
Fuck. That’s not my business, but there is no way she’d give up money like that for life in Lovers.
“Aren’t they cute?” she says, looking at the photo again.
“That’s great,” I say and lean down to kiss her temple. “You did that.”
“We did that.”
She smiles up at me, and even though she’s done it before and even though I said I know how this ends, it still gets to me.
My heart clutches.
I don’t want to think of what life is going to be like without seeing that smile every day .
I clear my throat and glance at Hudson quickly before going back to work.
The worry is back, holding heavy in his eyes, but I ignore it.
Quinn and I know what we are doing.
Everything is going to be fine.
It has to be.
I don’t have a choice.