14. Quinn
Quinn
Isnuggled into the warmth surrounding me.
I normally woke up cold, no matter the time of year, but this morning I was comfortable and feeling well rested.
It had been over a week since I woke up feeling this good.
I opened my eyes to see soft light reflecting off white walls and then remembered that I wasn’t in my own room.
Now that those first few blissful moments of consciousness had worn off, the night came back.
My arms felt stiff, even though I was resting on a hard chest, I knew it was because of Lucas grabbing me.
But what had me biting my lip and smiling was the man that I was using as a pillow and the kiss we shared last night.
That kiss… that’s what was really burned into my memory from last night. The way he commanded me, the confidence he had as his tongue made gentle contact with mine, the way his hand went to my throat, gently, almost teasing me.
Hands down the best kiss of my life. And it had helped wash away the awfulness that happened before.
The man was intoxicating.
Not to mention the bulge I felt when we were pressed together was… impressive to say the least. I’d already wondered how big he was, because a man with his type of confidence didn’t have it with nothing to show for it, and I think he had something big to show for it.
“Morning, Love.” His accent was even better in the morning. Deep and rumbly accompanied by day-old scruff along his chiselled jaw.
I tilted my head so I could see his side profile. His hair looked like it had last night, had the man even moved? I didn’t think so since I was still resting on his chest. He looked like he’d been awake for longer than I had.
“Were you watching me sleep?” I asked through a yawn.
“No.” I lifted an eyebrow at him. “Fine. I may have, but not in a way that makes me a creep.”
I rolled off his chest and stretched on the bed beside him as I glanced over at him, he was wearing a white T-shirt and grey sweatpants.
Of course he’d wear grey sweatpants. But what really caught my attention was the imposing tent in his pants.
My face flushed and I tried not to squirm thinking about his size again, my heart rate picking up.
He caught my glance and smirked. “It’s definitely harder this morning waking up next to you.”
My stomach tightened at the heat behind his words, but I figured it would be best for both of us just to move on. Now was not the time to jump him, I hadn’t even brushed my teeth. I decided to circle us back to his earlier comment.
“So how long have you been watching me, in a not creepy way?” I turned my head to see his eyes running over my legs, the shirt he’d given me was soft and smelt like him. I was planning on stealing it. It had also ridden up, showing off the lacy black underwear I had on last night.
I cleared my throat and he looked up at me, not at all apologetic. Guess we were even now that we’d both ogled each other a bit this morning.
“My secret. I don’t sleep much at night but for some reason I couldn’t leave my bed. I was a few minutes from waking you up anyway.”
“Oh…” Was he about to kick me out? Of course, he probably had things to do. I should probably make an exit before things got awkward. “Yeah, I’ve got a lot of things to do today anyway. I can get myself home—”
Theo put his hand over my mouth. I hadn’t even noticed him move toward me since I was looking anywhere but him.
“Quinn. Can you stop overthinking for a second?” I glared but nodded my head.
He held my gaze for a moment, trying to make sure I was telling him the truth before he removed his hand.
“I was going to wake you up because we have a few errands we need to run before everyone gets here at eleven. They’re animals and I have no food. ”
“We? What if I had plans for the day?”
“Cancel them.” He leaned over, dropped a kiss on my head and then pulled himself out of bed with a groan.
I pulled my skirt on but kept his T-shirt, claiming it was more comfortable than my top.
Which, to be fair, was true. We then brushed our teeth in the bathroom together before getting in his truck.
It was all very domestic, feeling strangely natural, like we’d been moving around each other for years.
The second we were in the car and I looked at my phone, I had a bunch of missed calls and texts from Aubrey.
She answered on the first ring, then fumed about the stupidity of Lucas and demanded to know how I was.
I spent a good ten minutes reassuring her that I was fine, that although I’d been upset last night, I was okay now that Theo was taking care of me.
She didn’t believe me and demanded to speak to him.
When I put it on speaker, Theo told her about how bad the bruises looked on my arms but also reassured her that I was doing okay. Only then did she believe me. She let me go after I promised to text her regular updates on how I was.
We spent the next hour and a half running errands in a way that felt really normal, like this was our weekend routine.
We first stopped for coffee and then went to the grocery store where Theo ended up pushing the cart as I grabbed food.
He refused to let me pay, which I grumbled about as he made a run into the liquor store.
We chatted the whole time about nothing of importance and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face.
Being around him in public seemed to turn my normally overthinking brain off and just allowed me to enjoy the moment.
He took over the job of paying attention to the world and creating plans so I could just follow along.
It was new to me, my brain wasn’t sure what to do about it, but I think it was refreshing.
He made a stop at my apartment, where after assuring me it was a very casual hang out, I went upstairs to change. I folded his shirt on my pillow, hoping that his scent would keep me company tonight and changed into leggings and a cropped white T-shirt.
The sleeves were longer so it mostly covered the nasty bruises that had formed on my arms but if I moved you could still see them. It was too warm today to wear a long sleeve so it would have to do.
Once we were back at his place, I quickly snooped around the kitchen as Theo brought all the bags in and started unpacking and placing things on the counter as I requested.
It was odd how comfortable we were together.
I had never felt so at ease with a man, especially so early on in the… whatever this was.
“How much time do I have?” I bit my lip thinking about my options.
“I told you that you don’t have to cook us anything,” Theo said over his shoulder as he got the coffee brewing. “But they’ll be here in forty-five minutes.”
“What do the guys normally bring when they come?” I asked as I moved to tackle the egg muffins I was planning on making first.
“I don’t know, beer.” I threw him a look over my shoulder as I took a pause from cracking eggs into a bowl. He was leaning on the counter in the corner, smirking at me. “They also bring crisps, crackers. Sometimes someone will bring fruit but not often.” I shook my head.
“How are you all not malnourished?”
“It’s the beer.”
Rolling my eyes, I moved him out of the way while I put the bacon in the microwave. “If you had given me more warning I could have cooked actual bacon and made more stuff,” I grumbled as Theo watched me.
I could feel his eyes on me as I spent the next thirty minutes making the egg muffins with bacon and cheese.
He’d passed me a cup of coffee at some point, dropped a kiss on my neck and then moved back to leaning on the counter, watching me and listening to me chat.
While those were cooking, I made French toast sticks since they were easy and finger food.
I’d just finished the sticks when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it,” Theo said as he pushed away from his perch and kissed my head again on the way by. It seemed to be his new favorite thing, and he would get no complaints from me.
I checked the timer and saw there were still a few minutes left. That meant I had enough time to follow Theo to the entry instead of hiding in the kitchen.
“I have no fucking clue why you don’t have us here always, asshole.” I heard Noah say as I came toward them. Theo was rolling his eyes and pushing the door closed.
“You rode together?” I heard the surprise in Theo’s voice.
“Fuck no, we arrived at the same time. Noah was on his death trap,” Oli replied.
“Don’t insult my baby!” Noah shoved Oli in the shoulder as Will joined the group. Given Noah’s golden boy looks and attitude, I was surprised he had a motorcycle.
Oli sniffed the air as he slipped off his shoes. “Why does it smell like food in here?”
“Are you cooking for me?” Noah asked as he came toward where I was standing at the back of the entryway, carrying a large case of beer. He pulled me into a one-armed hug before I could respond.
“Watch it, Hutchinson,” Theo grumbled, moving to lift Noah’s arm off me. Once I was free, he gave Noah a playful shove toward the living room.
Will held up a few bags. “Food downstairs?”
“Yeah,” Theo said as a knock sounded at the door a second before it opened and the timer went off. I had no idea what was downstairs since I hadn't exactly gotten time to explore the house. I left Theo to handle his friends and went to check on my food.
“Is he forcing you to cook?” I looked up at Asher as I placed the egg muffins on the cooling rack. His face was serious, like he was actually concerned I’d been forced into the kitchen.
“No, I didn’t get much warning and felt under prepared. I could have done more if I knew but of course he failed to mention this was the plan until we were just waking up.”